Bug Detectors

Bug Detectors and the threats they detect
A bug detector looks for radio broadcasting transmitters. Below is a collection of different listening devices and bugs that were discovered during a bug sweep using several bug detectors. Many of the transmitters pictured were discovered by our bug detectors not because they gave off a strong or weak signal, but because the user of the bug detector was able to detect them. How do you detect a bug or radio transmitter?

All of our bug detectors search for RF or radio frequency, and most of them have the ability to increase or decrease their sensitivity. When you search for a transmitter, a good rule to follow is to begin by setting the bug detector at a very low sensitivity, and as you get closer to any signal you encounter, you will be able to receive an increase from the bug detectors alert function.

This 'adjustment' is a way to calibrate the bug detector, enabling the user to search over a vast area by letting the detector become acquainted with the level of radio frequency or signal strength in a particular area under investigation. Some of our bug detectors let you receive an audible alert. Should the person conducting the bug sweep require discression, it makes sense to use a vibration feature, available on most of our bug detectors, in order to quietly search for bugs and listening devices while not alerting anyone listening in or spying that an electronic sweep for bugs is happening.

Pictured here is a bug found by
a bug detector in a room of an
office building.

Notice the elongated antenna.
Bug detectors are able to pick up
the transmisions from transmitters,
especially with antennas such as
this one because the longer the
antenna on some types of transmitters,
the further the distance the radio
signal will travel.

Many of our bug detectors were
able to detect this radio transmitter
while it was actively broadcasting
next to a 2.4 GHz cordless phone.
The problem with cordless phones are
that they give off radio signals the
same way an electronic bug does.

Bug detectors sometimes encounter
false readings where portable phones,
microwave ovens, and other electronic
equipment exist. 

Can bug detectors differentiate between
different types of bugs? A bug detector
measures the radio environment, and
'notices' the signals being sent over the
air the same manner that an FM radio
operates.

Both pick up radio signals, yet the
bug detector focuses on indicating the
signal in the form of an audible or visual
confirmation that a transmission has
been received.