Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating :  - A text for the serious student of the art
This is the best book in this genre that you will read - not that there's much competition. The title sells the book a bit short because it actually covers a wide range of eavesdropping technology, not just small radio transmitters. This book has many strong points. The author claims to have provided equipment for numerous police forces and his experience shows in his concentration on collecting good audio, so important for courtroom use. Unlike other texts in covering this topic the author has a good grounding in basic physics (eg: circuit noise) which puts this book streets ahead of any others. Points well covered include: microphones including placement, reflectors and resonators; EQ curves; filtering; limiting; dynamic range and analogue techniques to dig out or improve weak audio. There are more advanced techniques in amplifier design and stabilization of high gain blocks than other texts cover. Reflecting standard professional operating procedures where audio is often sent by carrier current, ultrasonics and infrared - all of which are well treated - there is little mention of RF bugs with only a few narrow band FM circuits shown. "Shifty" also mentions repeaters (something you don't read much about) and hardwire, techniques heavily used by government agencies. Some simple but well-tried wiretapping techniques are covered. Counter bugging gets coverage with some interesting circuits, such as a time domain reflectometer. The References should be titled Further Reading. There are some disappointments: all these techniques are old - in fact they are standard procedures from the 1930s updated with modern components. That does not mean they are bad techniques, they are well-proven, but technology has moved on. There is nothing about tapping coax, Cat5 cable or optical fibre. The RF bug section mentions sub-carriers, double sideband, wideband FM and spread spectrum but gives no circuits. There is no mention of microwaves, digital modulation or scrambling, all standard 1960s techniques. There is nothing about video. "Shifty" even dismisses as laboratory curiosities technologies in use since the 1940s. The author's writing style is too idiosyncratic by half. I had to read it twice. Not good for someone who claims to be a journalist. His war stories, though, are entertaining. Still, if you want a Further Eavesdropping 201 textbook, this is it. This book is not for beginners, even though "Shifty" provides some good tutorials (eg: circuit board design). If you have a background in electronics and want to be able to offer professional advice on privacy and security, read this. But for stalkers and wannabe spies - this is out of your league. + See Full Customer Review | 
