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Simple circuit to find lost passport

Hello all,

My passport is somewhere inside my apartment but for the life of I can't remember where. I have looked at all the obvious places and I could not find it. Now, this is a new "biometric" passport with the RFID chip inside. So I'm looking for a simple and most of all cheap circuit that could activate the RFID chip and so tell where (roughly) that little bugger is hiding. At least that would narrow down the area to search for, especially if the detection cone is not too wide. I don't actually want to read its serial number nor any data inside, just want to have a circuit that tells me "hey, there's a RFID chip in the vicinity". Then I go look for it and if it's not the passport, well, I look somewhere else.

Do you know of anything that could do this? Maybe something that plugs to a PC under windows or linux?

I have had a look at dedicated RFID readers but on top of being very expensive, they seem to have a reading range of only a few centimeters which is a bit too little for the kind of search I'm looking at.

Many thanks for your help. Olivier

Reply to
OBones
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US passports are supposed to have a shield that prevents them from being read unless the cover is open, also AFAICT they are not supposed to respond until they receive an encrypted key. Maybe you should stop procrastinating and find that passport. ;-)

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Yeah, I've read that, but also read that it just needs to be barely opened to respond. And well, I did not procrastinate, I scourged through all the files in my cabinets, could not find anything. Well, I found an old 5 euros bill, but not my passport.

Reply to
OBones

I have two recurring nightmares: (1) That I missed a final exam; and (2) I can't find my passport and I'm in Qatar ;-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

On a sunny day (Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:45:15 +0100) it happened OBones wrote in :

Probably some Isreali has it and will now go and murder somebody.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Take the 5 euro note and pay someone else to search

Reply to
David Eather

Mine all involve showing up somewhere without pants.

No, wait. Those are fantasies. Never mind. ;-)

--
Paul Hovnanian  paul@hovnanian.com
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Have gnu, will travel.
Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

[snip]

I have become quite adept at mentally rewinding and replaying sexual dreams ;-)

The other dreams... needing to run but the legs won't move, and falling... seem to be standard amongst lots of people. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

[snicker] ...Jim Thompson 
--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Rewind? Your dreams are still on VHS? Get with the times and burn a few DVDs. ;-)

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
In the beginning, there was nothing. And God said, "Let there be Light."
And there was still nothing, but you could see it.
Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

One man's fantasy is another's nightmare. ;-)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

That shield then might make it detectable with a standard metal detector..

Reply to
Robert Baer

The chips are powered by a varying magnetic field generated by the reader, so something capable of activating it from a distance is going to have to produce a massive field.

Somehow I don't think this is a viable development path.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

The shielding is not that good.

formatting link

hamilton

PS: Google "hacking US passports" will bring up lots of ideas.

Reply to
hamilton

A wife

Yep, definitely a wife

It probably slipped into another object, like inside a magazine, in the bag you put it in last time you went through customs.

Reply to
Nemo

Well, I just had it renewed, so I remember coming back to home and when about to put it in the usual place, I distinctly remember telling my wife "I'll put it over there, it's gonna be a better place". Stupid idea that was, cause now I can't remember where that better place is. And my wife, how nice she may be, tells me that it's my problem, I should have put it in the usual place to begin with...

Reply to
OBones

Yes, thanks, but the solutions don't seem all that cheap. I mean, the first hit is a 250$ system, when the passport merely costs 100$ to be done again (provided one declares it as lost)

Reply to
OBones

VHS? They are on B&W film, with no sound. ;-)

--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

"Someone has stolen my socks", from "I do, I do". ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

[snip]

Mention that you may have misplaced some love letters from your mistress in a new but forgotten hiding place. The passport will be located within minutes.

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.
                -- Fletcher Knebel
Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

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