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Author Topic: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure  (Read 592 times)

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure
« on: September 10, 2025, 1607 UTC »
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - U.S. officials say solar-powered highway infrastructure including chargers, roadside weather stations, and traffic cameras should be scanned for the presence of rogue devices – such as hidden radios – secreted inside batteries and inverters.

The four-page security note, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, said that undocumented cellular radios had been discovered “in certain foreign-manufactured power inverters and BMS,” referring to battery management systems.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-warns-hidden-radios-may-be-embedded-solar-powered-highway-infrastructure-2025-09-10/
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Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
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Offline ThaDood

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Re: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2025, 1615 UTC »
Well, if you takes those apart, the quickest way to tell that is to find at the edge of a PC board a 2" foil trace, that terminates to nothing, at one end, and just an SMT chip CAP at the other. That, would be the antenna.
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“I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy
is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York and he
meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is
exactly the same, except that there is no cat.”
-Attributed to Albert Einstein, but I ripped it from the latest Splatter .PDF March 2025 issue.

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2025, 1657 UTC »
Part of me says, yeah, looks like a problem, just as the hidden spy chips in Chinese made PCB's that were destined for sensitive Naval equipment (the chips were complete spychips, made small and shaped to look like diodes or SMT transistors) were a problem.

On the other hand, every smartphone, modern car, many modern flatscreens, and other devices are spying on everybody already.

What's the difference, really? It's all a matter of who's selling the data to whom.

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An AM radio Boombox DXer.
+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).

Offline NQC

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Re: US warns hidden radios may be embedded in solar-powered highway infrastructure
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2025, 2307 UTC »
Welcome to the bold new world.

de NQC
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Station main receiver : Bed springs to  blue razor blade detector to 2000 ohm cans to steam  radiator. Grid FN 42
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