from Hacker News

Brooklyn Bitcoin Mine Causes Static for T-Mobile Users

by aaronjg on 2/15/18, 10:09 PM with 48 comments

  • by URSpider94 on 2/16/18, 7:33 AM

    People have been speculating about how someone can turn a profit with power rates in NYC. It’s highly likely that this guy rents an apartment that comes with power, or he rigged a connection to an outlet in the common area.

    I had friends who used to run hydroponics rigs in their apartments (for veggies!), it made sense because their landlord footed the bill.

    The only electricity cheaper than hydro, is electricity where someone else pays the bill.

  • by fcbrooklyn on 2/16/18, 2:00 AM

    I wonder if it wasn't the miner at all. Maybe the guy had an (illegal) cellphone jammer as well, and somehow managed to convince the feds that it was his antminer causing the trouble.

  • by lima on 2/16/18, 11:11 AM

    As a ham radio operator, this sort of thing is extremely common. Most cheap Chinese power supplies tend to broadcast a lot of noise.

    Nowadays, it's mostly impossible to operate the short wave bands in a city due to all the static on the air. The regulation agencies have pretty much given up, save for the most egregious cases, due to how prolific the problem is.

    It's pretty sad.

  • by immad on 2/16/18, 1:33 AM

    Instead of shutting it down couldn't he put the miner in a faraday cage?

  • by neom on 2/16/18, 3:48 AM

    I presume this was only messin' with the folks next door or something? Could a device like this impact t-mobile in a meaningful way? If it was just one or two customers, t-mobile managed to get the FCC to actually go find this thing??

  • by kiwidrew on 2/16/18, 1:38 AM

    Somehow it doesn't surprise me that Bitcoin mining hardware is generating harmful RF interference.

    If I was a miner, I'd be quite worried that someone with direction finding equipment could easily discover a hidden mining location. The FCC or another government entity finding you is kind of the best case scenario if you think about it... :)

  • by jkbbwr on 2/16/18, 2:40 PM

    It bugs me people think you need proof of work to run blockchains.

  • by Mtinie on 2/16/18, 1:42 AM

    A single S5 caused the interference? Something doesn’t add up with this story.

    A fleet of Antminers, perhaps, but even that would be unlikely.

    Edit (addendum):

    Details about the stock unit’s noise output; Antminer S5 runs at 61 to 65 dB at 4 feet. Modified S5 with a higher-quality fan dropped the measured sound intensity to 48 dB[0].

    Follow-up Edit:

    I just noticed that I’d clipped a section of my response...which would have made it clear that my doubt was that the S5 put out emissions that interfered with T-Mobile. I referenced sound later, but only intended that to be a point of reference.

    Whoops!

    ——-

    [0] https://www.ccn.com/review-bitcoin-asic-miner-bitmain-antmin...