Book Image

Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

Book Image

Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents - Third Edition

Overview of this book

This book is for all mischievous Raspberry Pi owners who’d like to see their computer transform into a neat spy gadget to be used in a series of practical pranks and projects. No previous skills are required to follow along, and if you’re completely new to Linux, you’ll pick up much of the basics for free. We’ll help you set up your Raspberry Pi Zero, Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 and guide you through a number of pranks and secret agent techniques that are so inconspicuous yet high on mischief. You’ll learn how to configure your operating system for maximum mischief and start exploring audio, video, or Wi-Fi techniques. We’ll show you how to record, listen, or talk to people from a distance and how to set up your own phone network. Then, you’ll plug in your webcam and set up a motion detector with an alarm and find out what the other computers on your Wi-Fi network are up to. Once you’ve mastered the techniques, we’ll combine them with a battery pack and GPS for the ultimate off-road spy kit.
Table of Contents (7 chapters)

Jam the airwaves with a Pi Zero


Our final project in this chapter is the ultimate in mischievous mayhem. We're going to use our Pi Zero to take over the airwaves by transmitting whatever audio we choose to a standard FM radio by using a rather nifty piece of software called PiFm. PiFm was originally written by Oliver Mattos and Oskar Weigl, and updated by a guy called Ryan Grassel.

The Pi Zero is perfect for this, because of its small size, and can be integrated with our wearable audio recorder built in Chapter 2 , Audio Antics, so you can interfere with FM radio reception out in the field.

Note

Very important: The laws for broadcasting FM signals—even over a short distance—vary from country to country. Ensure you check your local regulations before attempting this project.

In order to get range out of your radio jammer you'll need to solder a 20cm piece of wire to pin 4 of your Pi Zero's GPIO connector to act as an antenna. This should give a surprising range—perhaps up to 20 or 30 meters...