Combating Harassing Use of Mosquito Noise Device? 1059
amicold asks: "For a while now my neighborhood has had to deal with an elderly neighbor who has displayed a slightly paranoid attitude towards myself and the fellow younger-adults of the neighborhood, believing us to be attempting to harass him in our day-to-day activities. Recently, he installed a Mosquito ultrasonic noise device as an apparent attempt to 'get back at us' for our harassment. As the Mosquito emits a sound that's well out of his hearing range, he can't hear it, while most of the rest of the neighborhood is under 40 and can; at which point it's causing everyone a great deal of discomfort. Unfortunately, because the police also can't hear it, we can't get the authorities to do anything about it, leaving us empty-handed in our attempts at getting some peace and quiet back. What can we do to either help the police realize how disturbing this device is, or counteract it so that it's no longer disturbing us? And is this the first of what may be a growing trend of civilians using high-tech discomfort weapons as a method of neighborhood warfare?"
Ask Slashdot? (Score:5, Insightful)
Observation (Score:5, Insightful)
how about (Score:2, Insightful)
Skip the police. (Score:5, Insightful)
Then, all you need to do is be annoying enough that he moves to Florida. (Unless you already live in Florida, in which case you're screwed.)
PLL (Score:3, Insightful)
He could use microphone and amplifier to pick up the signal and a phase locked loop to divide the frequency by two, then feed the lot into a really big speaker. The only hard part is convincing people that the bad noise is really coming from over there.
OTH how about using the stereo effect? If the neighbour on the other side can go along with it bracket his place with speakers and feed the signal in so it appears to be coming from the original location? I like this article. Lots of hacking potential.
Re:Observation (Score:5, Insightful)
Only if the poster stops complaining. So if the device has an accident with a pair of wire cutters in the middle of the night one should continue to act outraged for a while.
Apply System Engineering: Full Analysis (Score:5, Insightful)
If either you or the neighbor doesn't want to deal: since you've already alerted the authorities that the device is an issue, I'd pass on petty crime or felony-based solutions you likely suspect, you. You and your neighors should keep a running record of your complaints to the police. You might try borrowing/buying a meter that'll measure the dB of the frequency in question. Then, while you can ask for a younger officer that can hear the noise, if you get someone my age, at least the officer will have something to go on.
If you get the device taken offline without dealing with what's pissing your neighbor off, you may just be trading one headache for another.
Re:Skip the police. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ask Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
An annoying neighbor is not there yet (as a first step) unless they start to build fences on your side of the property or something of that level.
Re:You call this a neighbor problem? (Score:2, Insightful)
The situation can be summarised as follows:
If the Arabs put down their weapons there would be peace.
If the Israelis put down their weapons there would be genocide.
Why don't you try... getting along? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't you try talking to the guy-- listen to him-- this simple act will make him more comfortable with you. Apologize to him. Buy him a gift. Show kindness.
Which is of more value to you-- an empty, hollow sense of victory that will bring you no satisfaction, even if it does occur, or peace?
"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love." -Mahatma Gandhi
"Suppose someone, to annoy, Provokes you to do some evil act. Why allow anger to arise and thus Do exactly as he wants you to do? If you get angry Then maybe he will suffer, maybe not. But by feeling anger yourself You certainly do suffer." "For in this world, Hatred is never appeased by more hatred; It is love that conquers hatred. This is an eternal law." -The Buddha
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Have you tried... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess if you're completely amoral and sociopathic...
DUMBASS RTFA! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:You call this a neighbor problem? (Score:1, Insightful)
>
>If the Arabs put down their weapons there would be peace.
>
>If the Israelis put down their weapons there would be genocide.
Please consider:
Both statements are assumptions. Facts can show otherwise.
In the chicken and egg question of who started first the issue of land occupation is paramount.
Re:I can relate... (Score:5, Insightful)
I live in a city, and I think most alarms are simply pacifiers that serve no real purpose. Think about it; If the alarm went off numerous times and nobody ever came, then there obviously wasn't any enforcement. Someone could do whatever they want anyway. An alarm that doesn't summon a person around is next to useless. It won't stop someone from breaking your windows (nobody's going to come), and it won't stop them from burning the building down (can be done from outside). If the alarm summoned the cops every time it went off, it would at least provide some security, and I'm sure the construction company would have fixed its sensitivity, since then it would cost them money for all the false alarms.
If you don't like the alarm tell the guy about it and that it is bird and such setting it off so he can take actions to prevent entry to those birds and such.
You're assuming he didn't ask them already. He very likely did ask them, and they "didn't see a problem" (since they weren't there at night). I would also like to know the fantasy city you live in where construction companies care what "the neighbors" think anyway. Where I live, they run jackhammers first thing in the morning, large generators all day (often away from where they work but next to someone else's place), and pour excess concrete in the gutter, partially ruining the street.
Behave like a man (Score:5, Insightful)
Now if you are completely without fault, and the reason for your problem _is_ indeed just paranoia, then the easiest and best solution is to just stay away. It doesn't cost you much, he feels better, and you feel better because you have done The Right Thing.
Some idiots here suggest you should escalate the problem. The problem with that is you don't know where it will end. If you escalate enough, it can end with destroyed lives, his or yours. Think about that.
Re:Do an end run around him. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:OUCH! (Score:5, Insightful)
Since he can't hear the thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Noise Cancelling won't work (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine throwing two stones into a quiet pond. The two expanding waves will intersect and cancel at some points - but half a wavelength further on they will be in phase and so double. So it will be with the sound - varying from silent to twice as loud depending where you are. As the wavelength will be small, moving your head will be very uncomfortable! You can try the effect if you play the clean MP3 sample you'll find at http://www.star94.com/shows/index.cfm?show=cr&cid
Meanwhile - IGNORE the idiots here suggesting various illegal measures. Those WILL get the police involved, but not in the way you want. However, if you could get the authorities to recognise the problem (get the neighbours to all complain to your local councillor as well as the police), you may be able to persuade them to take out an ASBO against the offender preventing him from continuing the nuisance. (For our US friends, an ASBO is an "Anti-Social Behaviour Order", and ignoring it becomes a criminal offence).
Re:A classic choice (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm replying to you out of many who said this, but...
The problem with this theory is that said neighbour has already invested approx £700 in a device with which to fight this war. A device which, if the war is terminated early will be useless.
Sounds to me like this investment will make resolution harder. The best time to fix this would have been before lots of money was invested in war-making machines.
See also: international relations.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Try this (Score:2, Insightful)
Blahblahblah.. 2 wrongs don't make a right.
Re:Try this (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You call this a neighbor problem? (Score:3, Insightful)
The situation can be summarised as follows:
If the X put down their weapons there would be peace.
If the Y put down their weapons there would be genocide.
And the problem is that X is always us and Y is always them, and everyone believes this to be true, and so won't put down their arms.
Matter of fact is, both sides are extremely wrong and beyond any legitimacy in the mentioned conflict. Just cut it off and start trying to actually take your obligations seriously.
Try asking for a younger police officer... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you ever consider that maybe because he can't HEAR it he doesn't know there is a problem? Can you talk to him about it calmly and respectfully, or have you already become such bitter rivals that you would/could never do that..
Like WTF would putting glue in the door locks accomplish? Nothing..because if you are smart you wouldn't get caught..and he wouldn't have a CLUE that the reason you did it was because of the "ultrasonic jammer". He would just get more irrate and do something MORE irritating. MATURE adults try to talk out their problems..assuming that you aren't living in redneck-city or something.
Signed Sincerely,
Your local naive anonymous coward.
Re:Try this (Score:5, Insightful)
But you just advocated vigilante actions when it doesn't appear that all legal options have been exhausted. Not only did at least one poster suggest other options through the police, there is the community government as well.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:2, Insightful)
When somebody "gets one over" on you, there are a bazillion ways to fight back.
Fantastic. The guy is doing this because he thinks he's being persecuted, so you suggest... persecuting him? That won't escalate matters at all, will it?
Re:OUCH! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Behave like a man (Score:5, Insightful)
The best suggestions here involve getting younger policemen to come out to witness the aural attack. Don't call dispatch. The submitter needs to drive over to the precinct and talk to the person in charge - whomever is on duty. Explain the technology to them, show them news printouts from NPR, CNN, BBC, etc. Bring a sample sound clip of the "mosquito" on his laptop or iPod. He'll have to convince them in person or they'll just dismiss him as a punk kid/crackpot.
If I didn't have a house filled with kids and teenagers I might like to use this "warfare" myself on an annoying neighbor myself. My next door neighbor can't seem to experience any music without a sub woofer. In fact, I swear he has a stereo with sub woofer in every room of his house. Of course, he mounts his stereos on the inside walls. Every few months I have to go over there and remind him to keep it down after 10pm. Then I have to knock on his door at 1am, 2am, 3am... He doesn't get it until I've made such a pain of myself I win for a few months. If I asked this guy earnestly why he feels the need to be so loud so late at night he'd tell me to do anatomically awkward things to myself. No. I'm better off just kindly but sternly asking him to lower the music again. He glares at me but he turns the music down.
Now he's parking his car across two spaces so nobody else can use Guest parking. I don't think he's clueless. I think he just enjoys pissing his neighbors off. It's a power trip. Talking nicely to him only makes him crankier.
Re:Try this (Score:2, Insightful)
Finally, this sort of thing RARELY comes out of the blue.(although that's possible) Often it's the result of a relationship in which people have consistently been less than good neighbors. Reading the suggestions of those who think destroying the individual's property, including car, etc., I suspect a lot of folks are bringing their frustrations with others to their advice.
As to cranking up Hendrix, depending on how old he is, he might be happy for the "Oldies night." He'd probably hate rap more. But, then again, so might your other neighbors. And his hearing, as mentioned, is probably not as acute as yours, so it would probably damage the ears of younger folks more than older ones. Note: This does not apply to those who have already damaged their ears using iPods or other "personal" music players, if used as eardrum destructive devices.(playing them loudly) Hmmm, maybe a good common ground might be, "Which audiologist do you use?"
If, indeed, the original poster wanted the problem handled, perhaps the innocent young folks should find a young person the geezer likes, and have a dialog begun about how to improve your relationships. Often people have no clue that something they are doing is bothering someone else. (witness cell phone conversations, where the talker is louder than the speech of people nearby.
Re:Try this (Score:3, Insightful)
Only for those who disregard the consequences.
Creating a bigger monster to fight a monster will work for fighting the monster.. Only problem is you are now left with a bigger monster then what you started out with, hence having made the situation worse, not better, despite the original 'monster' being gone.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ask Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Have you tried... (Score:5, Insightful)
This new friend could be someone a bit older than all of you, in which case he may sympathize with them more and stop this particular annoying behavior.
Alternately, you might get a friendly and attractive female to go and do the asking. It's amazing how frequently that can resolve a situation with a grumpy old man. I've seen it work more than once.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Beter try to
1. Talk the guy out of this
2. Just destroy the moskito repeler in a fashion that is not apparent to the owner. After all if he doesn't hear it, you just have to take the first opportunity, open the box, and cut the alimentation to the speaker. Your problem is solve. The owner is happy because the nice blue led tells him that the device is working. And after all, if the guy is really paranoid, teens are not *really* invading his property, so he will never realise that the device is not actually working ( like garlic neclace to repel vampire )
Off course if the guy has a real reason because your kids (neighbourhood kids) are drinking in his lawn every night, you have to solve that problem first. In that case, if you destroy the mosquito before, you can be certain the owner will call the police and unlike the sound, they will be able to see that you detroyed you neighbour property.
Re:Try this (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ask Slashdot? (Score:3, Insightful)
And now that the Soviet Union is gone and the West no longer has any reason to keep up its image, the West is fast becoming the new Soviet block, at least as far as legal system and people's rights are concerned. Isn't historical irony wonderfull ?
Re:I don't get it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's only wrong if you get caught.
(I don't actually buy into that attitude, but humor me for a moment.)
Consider for a moment what the poster said - it's well out of his hearing range. So...2 am, wear earplugs. Go over to the unit, if you can, simply short one of the wires running to the speakers. If that's unreasonable, a few drops of super-glue down into the cone of the unit might just do the trick.
The power light still comes on, the old man feels more safe, and the rest of the neighborhood has peace. Win-win.
Re:Try asking for a younger police officer... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Why don't you try... getting along? (Score:3, Insightful)
"Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you." - Jesus.
If I had a friend come to me asking advice on this subject, I'd loan them one of my copies of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. That book has helped me resolve quite a few conflicts, and is definitely worth a read.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember: two wrongs don't make a right.
Re:Try this (Score:2, Insightful)
I dunno, at least here in the US, one could request accomodations. Of course it
really shouldn't be necessary. What is worse is when the monitors are in public
places.
In the case of the problem at hand, file a harassment complaint with the police.
It isn't the job of the officer to decide whether or not it is harassment, just
to determine the facts in the matter. In all likely hood getting a summons from
the local DA's office will stop this behavior.
Otherwise, if the police are not taking it seriously you can always complain to
the local oversight board about them not properly investigating the problem.
Grow the fuck up (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Try this (Score:1, Insightful)
Get out of his yard.
Those devices have limited range, the only reason you are hearing it is because you are trespassing.
Re:We don't live in a perfect world (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bash me if you like, but unless you can suggest a better course of action than "return fire!", I would appreciate a bit more levity. I'm not heartless here.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:3, Insightful)
That Jesus crap doesn't work when you're dealing with senile dickheads who go out of their way to make other people's lives a misery.
Remember that vigilantism is necessary when the police and relevent authorities refuse to do their jobs.
I suggest: (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, you have tried to come to a reasonable accommodation, right?
Fix the problem without him knowing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:4, Insightful)
Or people have young children who can't sleep with crap blaring; or older people who can't sleep with crap blaring; or, just for fun, how about your friendly emergency room nurse or doctor, who happens to pull a night-shift. When THEY can't do their job effectively because of some asshole neighbor, good luck to you.
Perhaps your neighbors did escalate things a bit much when they called animal control. However, you certainly didn't help things by keeping the whole damned neighborhood awake and crabby. Nice job.
I'm glad that police here take noise complaints seriously, no matter what time of day they're reported.
Re:Fix the problem without him knowing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:3, Insightful)
We tried taking to him several times, but he didn't feel he had a choice since the dogs were thrust upon him and he wasn't around during the day to stop it and could not leave the dogs in his house during the day. (I hear they ripped the place apart whenever he was away) So he made his problem my problem.
We finally tried some phonecalls and that got him several warnings which went largely ignored. I talked with other neighbors only to find out that several of us had called in complaints. But they would send no more written warnings now, the only recourse we were left with at that point was filing a written complaint, which would fetch him a fine, and our name would be on the ticket as the complainer. We decided it wasn't worth it and to just deal with the barking. (same for the other neighbors, we did not wish to start a fight) I was very thankful when he finally found a home for the animals (all of them!) a few months later.
Most people that own problem-barking dogs take the view that it is not their problem and that they neither have any control over their animal nor is disturbance created by the dog their responsibility. These are the ones that will respond with "what do you want me to do, tape his mouth shut?" or the one they always come up with, "a dog's gonna bark." For these people, until you make your problem their problem, they will refuse to do anything about it. Consideration for others is not as common of a trait as you might imagine. In these cases you often have to appeal to the more basic "cause and effect" concept that can be used to show reason to even the rock heads.
Where's Scott Baio!? (Score:1, Insightful)
Compassion for the needs of others and a desire to do right will however often win out.
What is this? An ABC After-School special?!
Purple Martins (Score:3, Insightful)
If that doesn't work, a box of 1000 crickets cost about $10. Sneak a few thousand crickets in his flowerbeds and then tell him you read those electric mosquito repellers attract crickets. Crickets can be a little noisy and he might turn off his device hoping the other bugs go away.
Re:Well, you could start by... (Score:2, Insightful)
A more techological solution (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's examine the facts. He can't hear it, and neither can the police. That means you can't prove that it is making a load sound. However, that goes the other way too. He can't prove that it ISN'T making a sound and cannot even notice when it stops working.
Now, if you were to destroy the box, he would notice. If you stole it, again he would notice. If you pulled the power out, he would still notice because it wouldn't light up any more. Any cirucit disruption would cause the power indicator to not glow.
So, here is what you do. You get a 50 ohm resistor, and then sneak over there in the dead of the night with a screwdriver and a soldering iron. These devices are made with ultrasonic transducers. An ultrasonic transducer looks like a small can with holes in the top. It may also use speakers, which are readily identifiable. Simply sever the leads to the transducers/speakers and then solder a 50 ohm resistor in the place of each one. Put the device back together and no one knows that you have tampered with it.
If you do this, all indicator lights that the device has will still work. Every young person will notice the absence of sound, and the older people will be none the wiser. You get your peace back, and he gets to keep his smugness, everyone wins!