> On Fri, Mar 03, 2000 at 11:42:12PM -0800, Steve Schear wrote:
>
> > Fortunately one can put a little backbone into the ISP with a bit of
> > monkeywrenching. Cable networks are very fragile, especially the upstream
> > lasers. Inject a few volt p-t-p 25-45 MHz CW signal (using an inexpensive
> > Radio Shack signal generator) into your home cable system and the upstream
> > laser will immediately saturate. Make it intermittent and watch the fun begin.
Glass is a good optical conductor, a poor electrical conductor. You're not
going to get an appreciable current in a glass fiber with ANY power supply
that Rat Shack might sell. They don't use glass for home cable in general.
The distribution network might be glass but the curbside distribution
network will remain copper for quite some time.
Copper, which is a good electrical conductor is a TERRIBLE optical
conductor.
This is bull-shit FUD.
More to the point, cable systems are protected to several 10's of
thousands of volts, they're called 'crow-bar circuits'. They're there
because lightning is quite capable of generating a EMP that can saturate
the lines (they do it on power lines also). This might blow a circuit
breaker but it'll reset shortly. If you've EVER been through a Texas
thunder bumper you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
You will NOT kill a DA (distribution amplifier) with this attack (they
have 1:1 matching xfrmrs that eliminate this sort of crap - called a
balun). You might kill your neighbors cable box (doubtful). When the cable
rep's check their logs as well as replace that box they'll know within a
couple dozen to a hundred or so drops as to where the prankster is. So
they come out put a TDR on the line and record it. The next time you try
this your ass is hosed. They use this same technique to catch illegal
cable decoders which have been mod'ed to eliminate their callback ID
function (they have characteristic impedance behaviours).
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The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate
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