CellAntenna CEO Featured in Wired Magazine

On paper, it’s a no-brainer: Prisoners have mobile phones they are using to run gangs, call friends, and intimidate witnesses. Tech companies have the equipment to jam the phones by flooding the airwaves, and prisons want to use them. But the 1930s law setting up the nation’s telecommunications bureaucracy makes such jamming illegal.

That drives Howard Melamed, the CEO of CellAntenna, crazy. Witnesses are dying and gangs are flourishing because Congress has yet to put the Safe Prison’s Act bill on President Obama’s desk, Melamed argues. His company, which mostly sells tech to expand cell coverage inside buildings, also does some business in jammers. And over the last seven years, he’s become one of the most public faces of the campaign to rid prisons of rogue cell phones.

“Criminals behind bars are doing what they do best which is break the law,” Melamed said. “People are being killed by criminals using cell phones in prisons to arrange hits on witnesses.”

Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/prison-mobile-phone-debate-jammed-up-in-the-system

NTIA Releases Cell Jamming Report

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has a released a report detailing the results of tests conducted at its Boulder, Colo., lab in December on mobile phone signal jamming equipment. The tests were done as some members of Congress and others push to permit jammers to be allowed to be used in prisons.

The testing, which was done mainly in a radio-anechoic chamber, involved a jammer supplied by CellAntenna Corp. that used both the 800 megahertz cellular and 1900 MHz PCS bands. The equipment operated at a power level of up to 100 watts, and emissions were measured in bands from 100 MHz to 6 gigahertz.

"If jamming were to be performed across the full width of the targeted bands, improved RF output filtering might be needed to reduce the device's out-of-band (OOB) emission levels in the adjacent bands," the report said. "An alternative approach to reducing OOB emissions in the adjacent bands would be to reduce the device's in-band chirp width while using less-effective RF output filtering."

"The device's unwanted emissions are better contained within the cellular and PCS bands when the chirp range is limited to a 2 MHz band segment vs. a full band," the report added. "The diplexer did improve the OOB roll-off in the spectrum immediately adjacent to the jammed bands, although measurable emissions did occur in those bands even with the diplexer installed. Beyond the OOB region of the adjacent bands, and with the exception of one emission near 3000 MHz, installation of the diplexer reduced unwanted spectrum emissions to levels that were below the 100 dB [decibels] dynamic range of the measurement system across the range of 100 MHz to 6 GHz."

The report did not address (1) whether CellAntenna's product was effective at jamming signals, (2) OOB levels for "alternative jammer designs," and (3) "[t]he aggregate radiation level from a jammer installation."

Howard Melamed, CellAntenna's president and chief executive officer, told TRDaily that he was pleased with how his equipment, a high-power device normally used for military purposes, performed.

"What you see from the report is that the unit performed great, but needs to be placed within an engineered solution," he said. "At all times we made sure to point out to the NTIA that the solution to cell phones in prisons is not about a specific product but, rather, an engineered solution. Some of the points they made agreed with us directly. Better filtering ( which we do) reduces the chance of out of band emissions."

He said the same equipment, "configured by our engineers with our own specially designed filters," was used for an NTIA-run test last week at a federal prison in Cumberland, Md. Mr. Melamed called the prison demonstration "an overwhelming success."

"We are proud to have participated in this experiment with the NTIA," he added. "The testing of the equipment has given the NTIA valuable information that they did not have before and now can no doubt supply the right advice to both the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Congress, so that jamming of cell phones can be deployed to keep us safe from criminals behind bars."- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

CellAntenna Combats Threat of Cell Phones in Prisons and Schools

New CJAM™ Cell Phone Threat Scan Service Arms Authorities Against Contraband Cell Phones in Correctional Facilities and Schools

CellAntenna Corporation is helping to combat the use of contraband cell phones in correctional facilities and schools. The company today unveiled its new CJAM™ Cell Phone Threat Scan (CTS) service, an important new offering that builds on the company’s years of leadership in enhancing or denying cellular signals. CJAM-CTS helps to stop crimes by prisoners and brings integrity back into the classroom. It gives prison and school administrators the ability to assess the extent of illegal and unauthorized cellular activity, and take steps to eliminate it from their environment.

CJAM-CTS takes the guesswork out of understanding the scope of unsanctioned or prohibited activities within high risk facilities. The service consists of a detailed site evaluation, RF spectrum analysis, cell phone detection and threat modeling, scenario planning and development of a migration strategy for correctional facilities, schools or any other high risk environment that needs protection against threats caused by cell phones.

“Finally there is a vaccine against the pandemic of cell phones in schools and behind prison walls,” said Howard Melamed, CEO of CellAntenna Corporation . “The CJAM-CTS allows facility and administration directors at institutions of all kinds to understand the threats that cell phones pose, and develop a strategic plan for combating them head on.”

CJAM-CTS proactively places valuable information into the hands of budget planners and decision makers. Performing the evaluation prevents wasteful spending on needless systems in cases where cell phones are proven not to be a threat. With this information, administrators can accurately plan and budget for preventative measures as well as deploy solutions, such as CellAntenna’s CJAM-CPC, cell phone controlling, and once the legislation allowing jamming in prisons is passed, CJAM-NF jamming solutions. CJAM-CTS is currently available in the U.S. and will be available in Europe in Q2 2010.

Strategy and Tactics to Combat the Use of Cell Phones by Terrorists

CellAntenna CEO Howard Melamed Speaks at Fourth Annual Gulf Coast Terrorism Prevention Conference

Aug 20, 2009 – Howard Melamed, President and CEO of CellAntenna Corporation was a keynote speaker today at the Fourth Annual Gulf Coast Terrorism Prevention Conference held in Sarasota Florida and sponsored by the Sarasota Sherriff’s department. His topic was “Strategy and Tactics used to Combat the use of Cell Phones by Terrorists.”

“In today’s world, the use of cell phones by terrorists for triggering of IED’s and for communicating their plans of action, is the terrorist’s weapon of choice,” said Howard Melamed. “We have seen it used in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, Indonesia, Spain, United Kingdom and almost everywhere else to create havoc and devastation. Fortunately there are ways to disrupt and thwart the terrorists with the use of specific equipment.”

Melamed in his speech today outlined several methods and techniques that can thwart terrorist activities. This included the use of the CJAM-NF jamming equipment, and the new CJAM- Cell Phone Controller, equipment used to deny and control cell phone access of illegal cell phone use by terrorists and criminals.

CellAntenna Corporation offers cell phone jammer and cell phone control equipment that can block and control the signals sent to cell phones used to detonate improvised exploding devices by terrorists. Bombs detonated by cell phones have become a weapon of choice for terrorists throughout the world.

CellAntenna has been leading the challenge to the existing 1934 Communications Act that prevents First Responders, including bomb squads from acquiring jamming equipment that can prevent terrorists from remote detonating bombs. Howard Melamed has appeared on radio, TV and newspapers around the world and is noted as one of the foremost experts on the topic. He has been a critic of the cellular industry that opposed his efforts to promote the use of jamming equipment in correctional facilities around the country.

About CellAntenna Corporation
Headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida, and offices in the United Kingdom and Poland, CellAntenna Corporation provides packaged, custom, and even rapid deployment cellular repeater systems for residential, commercial, and government use. The company’s new products provide communication during disasters and where signal enhancement is required for saving lives. CellAntenna is involved in the limiting of cellular communication in prisons and in areas of high security. In addition, CellAntenna works on new and innovative applications for its systems and develops new, cutting-edge technologies. For more information, please visit: www.cellantenna.com.