You don’t have to be a baby!

Tools and equipment to get the job done.
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Necrogue
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You don’t have to be a baby!

Post by Necrogue » Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:55 pm

You don’t have to be (or have) a baby to find useful Ops gear in the infantile aisle. This post is inspired by a comment made by Psychlonic in the Toys R’ Ops thread (I didn’t want to derail that thread and I felt this topic warranted it’s own considerations). In that thread Psychlonic rightly points out that cheap, simple baby monitors are useful tools in facilitating Ops, and I couldn’t agree more! Baby monitors offer an often inexpensive option for a versatile piece of kit that can be used for a wide range of applications ranging from recon and surveillance to OPSEC. And much like the toys discussed in the aforementioned thread, in the right environments a baby monitor can be seen as far less threatening and/or nefarious then some ‘Tacticool’ looking portable surveillance system.


Anyone use baby monitors for Ops before? Share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences!

BROTIP: Inexpensive and gently used baby monitors can often be acquired at yard sales where families whose little ones have out grown the need for them.

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Xanatos
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Re: You don’t have to be a baby!

Post by Xanatos » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:36 pm

They'd be useful for keeping an eye out for cops/security guards if you think you might trip a silent alarm or something. Get a heads-up before they come in through the front door and catch you rummaging through their filing cabinets or whatever. And, since they're cheap, if you do have to GTFO immediately you don't risk leaving behind an expensive piece of equipment.
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Psychlonic
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Re: You don’t have to be a baby!

Post by Psychlonic » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:21 pm

Baby monitors kind of function as a lookout person but there are caveats and it's not a perfect system. You can sync them to an old smartphone you've made "dumb" for the purpose of night ops and have them overlooking choke points you'd expect someone to move through if you've been seen but don't realize you've been seen. People often just give away phones that are a couple generations out of date which are great for such a thing. Only problem is that any of the monitors that aren't expensive or purpose made for the job (i.e. not a baby monitor) won't notify you that someone is on camera so you'd be constantly looking at a screen which is a liability in itself. Range is also pretty minimal for the cheaper ones since they're really only meant to broadcast a couple rooms away inside of a house. Still, you can get around the notification problem by using them in tandem with cheap wireless driveway monitors or whatever that only check for something crossing their path. On that note and in connection with your other thread, you could probably make your own with the right toys as a lot of electronic toys use that same feature for various things these days. I think with some looking around the project could be done for a $20 bill and offers much needed peace of mind and preparedness for the solo operative wanting to snoop around an area he sees as high risk.

They're also great for whenever you're inside of a smaller building looking around and looking at a screen isn't going to be detrimental. Plus, they're "force multipliers" if you have a second person, they're on lookout detail and need to have eyes on multiple areas.

One might also try to increase their range by modifying the antenna to be a bit larger and directional with a tiny, similarly homemade horn. Face the horn toward where you'll be after setting it into place.
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