Top Ten TSCM Mistake
1) Not using a ladder to get above the ceiling, inside the soffits,
tops of doors, etc.
2) Not inspecting the tops of ceiling tiles or the tops of lighting fixtures
3) Not checking for Carrier current signals on phone lines of power lines.
4) Not performing an audit of every single wire of conductor entering
or leaving the suspect area.
5) Performing an incomplete physical inspection
6) Not spending enough time performing the sweep because the customer
is too cheap to pay for an appropriate amount of time.
7) Not having the equipment available to perform a proper sweep, and
relying too heavily of spy shop equipment instead of old fashion
laboratory grade test equipment.
8) Trying to perform sweeps after only having 2-3 weeks of training,
and having little or know actual technical training beyond that.
9) Not getting a comprehensive description of the project BEFORE you
quote a price, and then getting stuck on a huge residential sweep for
several days because the customer lied about the size of the area, or
that they have 900 telephones in the building, etc.
10) Never, ever take any assignment on a contingency basis, always
get paid up front (always), make sure their check is good before you
start work, avoid taking credit cards for sweeps,
Other Wisdom and Advice:
11) Never trust an attorney, even your own. Remember, that in any
given courthouse half the attorneys are lying, and that finding an
honest attorney is like find a prostitute who is still a virgin.
12) Do not try to parlay a amateur radio background, training, or
equipment into something related to TSCM as the customer is not that
stupid. Hams can "fake good", but will eventually get caught.
13) Do not parlay a background in law enforcement, or security into
TSCM skills. TSCM is a hard-core technical field, for hard-core
technical people, not out of work cops or security guards.
14) Beware of mental patients, they will waste your time, and the
more time you give them the further away they will be from getting
the medical help they need.
15) Beware of customers who plant bugs to test you, if they do, don't
ever work for them again, walk off the job your on, and give them
their money back.
16) Always assume a place, thing, or person is bugged until you can
prove otherwise.
17) Assume that your customers are honest, law abiding people, who
have a legitimate concern that their privacy is being invaded.
Develop a sixth sense about statement, and when it is not true.
18) Infrared, pay attention to infrared... most TSCM people have no
clue how to find it.
19) Buy at least one or two real microwave spectrum analyzers by
HP/Aligent, Tek, or R&S, learn how to use it well, and know how to
find extremely low power sub milli-watt devices at distance.
20) Never, ever rely on any single piece of equipment to find a bug
21) There are tons of bugs above 2 or 3 GHz, deal with it. Just because
your equipment manufacture claims otherwise, does not make it true
22) Always show up for meeting with customers 15 minutes early. Show
up for sweeps 1 hours early when possible.
23) Audio can be fed down power lines, deal with it. Same with HVAC
wiring, cable TV, and any other wire in an area.
24) The computer can be the bug
25) The bug may simply be the executive who is using a blue tooth
headset, a cellular telephone, or a cordless phone.
26) Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
27) Assume the bug is under remote control and is turned off while
you are there... find it anyway.
28) The spy has had a very long time to install his bug, you have
limited time to find it, deal with it.
29) If, at the end of the day you back hurts,your knees are in pain,
your ankles are killing, your shoulders and neck are in a knot, your
eyes hurt from squinting all day, and you are dead tired then you are
doing something right.
30) When in doubt where a conservative dark suit, white shirt, tie,
and dark leather shoes with rubber soles.
31) Learn CPR, this way you can save your customers life when you
present them with the bill and they have a heart attack.
32) Learn to fight, well, and with your hands. At some point, perhaps
often, someone will try to rob you off your equipment or money.
Stomping a mugger is less effort than filling out police reports and
insurance reports.
33) Buy antenna, big antenna's, that require heavy tripods, find out
why. Use premium cables, with premium connectors.
34) Only an idiot uses a BNC connector above 1 GHz, find out why.
35) Substance is more important than appearance.
36) If your equipment, tools, and equipment cases look new, then you
are a fraud... you just don't know it yet.
37) Snake oil often comes in black containers, so does quite a bit of
sweep gear. It is no coincidence.
38) People who write movies do not perform bug sweeps, and are
creating an illusion, deal with it.
39) Just because someone was a consultant on a movie, or got
mentioned in the media does not mean they are either honest of competent.
40) Nothing impresses an executive more than an extremely brief
personalized letter on 100% cotton bond paper, in a 100% bond #10
envelope with one business card and nothing more.
41) Cold calling is for losers, despite what you learned with selling
used cars and insurance.
42) Your level of reputation is directly inverse to the number of
movie stars and celebrities you have as customers.
43) Learn to keep your mouth shut about your clients affairs, always.
44) Keep a written journal of everything you do during a sweep, make
your equipment generate tons of hard copy, put it in the journal.
45) Assume there are always three bugs.
46) When you find a bug, remember to breath.
47) Have more than one vehicle that you can use for sweeps, keep them
in perfect repair. They may not be pretty, but keep them so that you
can drive 3000 miles without doing anything more than stop for gas once a day.
48) Keep your TSCM equipment in good repair, so that you can load up
and be on the road in less than one hour (under 5 minutes is best).
49) Minimize your use of plastic, and keep your total debt load below
what you would earn on two solid weeks of sweeps.
50) Be able to go to Home Depot, Lowes, or other large home
improvement store and be able to intelligently discuss at least 3/4th
of everything in every aisle.
51) Knowing how many sheet rock screws are needed to mount rock is
just as important to TSCM as knowing how to use a NLJD.
52) Learn to lay carpet, well.
53) Learn to paint and put up mud, well.
54) Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or some other community
charity where you help build or repair houses for people. Bring all
of your own tools, and become skillful with how houses are built.
Then volunteer to help build/rebuild businesses, schools, churches,
and other non residencies buildings. Spend at least two weeks a year
working with these teams. Don't be afraid to hit your thumb with a hammer.
55) Learn to wear flannel shirts, and a tool belt, and grow a slight
beer belly. The babes actually love a man who can build stuff like
houses, and your TSCM customers will love it too.
56) Give away as much as you can, as often as you can... not just
money, but your time, your tears, your blood, and whatever else you
can. It's isn't charity is you only give a little, it's only charity
if you give until it hurts, and then you give some more.
57) Never be afraid to help others get in to the business, there is
plenty or work to go around.
58) You can never claim that a customer is 100% free of bugs, get it
through your head.
59) Someone who spent 30 years slopping toilets at the NSA, CIA or
FBI as a janitor is still someone who can claim to have worked for
the agency. They may not know anything about doing bug sweeps, but
they can still claim that they worked for the NSA, FBI, or CIA.
60) A felon with 50 glowing letters of reference is still just a
felon with 50 letters of reference from his sheep despite what the
letters say.
61) If an employee will steal for you, they will steal from you.
62) Always pay employees more then they are worth, but don't let them
forget who the boss is. Give your employees a raise before they ask
for it, it will cost you less in the end.
63) Know, and memorize the names of your employees wife and children,
and know if they are having any kind of problems, so you can help
them sort the problem out before it becomes your problem. If an
employee of his family members goes to the hospital have someone from
your company on hand at the hospital to help them, pay for a private
nurse, and do everything in your power to show them how much you
truly care about them... and be sincere about it. An employer who
doesn't really care sends flowers, one who cares brings them up
himself during visiting hours, and pays for the private nurse, and a
private room out of his own pocket.
64) Tactfully remind your employee's about their spouses birthday and
anniversary, give them the time off to go shopping for a gift, and
slip them some gift certificates or a couple of C-Notes so they can
have an evening out on
the company, and do this often.
65) Don't be a miser, we all die someday, and your going to be just a
comfortable in a cheap, plain wooden coffin then you will be in most
expensive one made.
66) Success is measured by what you do for others, not the size of
your bank account.
67) Bug sweeps in a vocation, not something you do to make money, deal with it.
68) Do not lie to your customers, tell them the unvarnished ugly
truth, they may not have you back, but at least they will respect you
and speak well of you.
69) Do not loan people money, give it to them instead, and tell them
that you do not expect to be repaid... ever. Consider it to be a blessing
when they pay you back, but don't hold it over their head.
70) Keep your skills sharp, and hone them often and in creative ways.
71) Life is short, live it while alive, you can sleep all your want after death
72) Alcohol and sweep gear does not work well together, keep one away
from the other. If you show up with a hangover after getting shit
faced the night before your not going to do your job well. Alcohol is
an organic solvent that can dissolve many things... including your career.
73) A badge does not an honest man make, neither does a gun.
74) If a cop isn't willing to get you a protective order you can
assume the bug is illegal, and the cop is engaging in criminal
activity. Not all cops are honest, deal with it.
75) A wimp is afraid to Frankenstein his equipment, or to modify it
to the point that his warranty was voided three days after he bought it.
76) You just haven't live until you have fallen off a telephone pole,
had a strand ladder collapse, been knocked across the room by voltage
you knew wasn't there, and burned the crap out of your finger when
your screwdriver closed the path between phase and the metal wall
box, or got into a bare knuckled fist fight with an opponent (and won).
77) Parachutes are for jumping out of planes about to crash, and
bungie cords are for tying things down, not for hanging stupid humans
upside down from bridges.
78) Learn to drive, well. Both on paved roads, dirt roads, snow, ice,
and open terrain. If you do sweeps on a regular basis you know why.
79) Get a commercial driver license, know how to keep a log book, and
learn to drive a standard transmission without riding the clutch or
making rude grinding sounds with the transmission.
80) Learn to enjoy staying in cheap hotels, and to visit a local
grocery store instead of ordering room service. Never stay at a hotel
that has waterbeds, adult movies, or bullet proof glass at the front desk.
81) At the end of the day remove all sweep equipment from your
vehicle, no matter how tired you are
82) Have a quality alarm, Lojack, and GPS tracker installed in/on
every vehicle you own. Make sure the GPS system can be tracked by
your cell phone via a browser or SMS. It may be the only way to
retrieve your equipment.
83) If you travel to perform a sweep, drive there, and do not ship
your equipment unless you are willing to loose all of it. Don't be
afraid to drive 1500 miles for a sweep, and to charge your client travel time.
84) If you travel internationally do not travel with TSCM equipment,
if you do you are an idiot, and you are the reason why the gene pool
needs a little bleach.
85) Word of mouth is always the best way to advertise
86) Yellow pages ads, billboards, and magazine ads are the worse
place to advertise
87) Do not do illegal things, even if you think you will never get
caught... eventually you will.
88) Your reputation is more important than your checkbook, or the
size of your house, or the size of your girlfriend or wives breast implants.
89) The college you went to is only important when you are looking
for your first job, and nobody knows or really cares what school you
attended after you are 25 years old.
90) A customer is a customer when they first hear your name, or first
speak to you. If they spend any money with you is secondary, and it
is totally up to you. Do not ever forget this.
91) A rose by any other name is still a rose. Shit by any other name,
appearance, or scent is still just shit.
92) Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and
taste good with ketchup
93) Do not claim to have invented, written, or designed a thing that
you did not, you may be stupid, but your customers are not.
94) God is watching you, so is the media. God may forgive you, but
the media will eat you alive.
95) You sins will always find you out, it may take a while, but they
will always find you out. When they do find you, you may find that
they are pissed that you ignored them for so long.
96) A wolf in sheep's clothing is still just a well dressed wolf.
97) The most important person in a James Bond movie was Q, and
perhaps Ms. Moneypenny... not 007. Figure out why.
98) The most important person on the Starship Enterprise was the
Chief Engineer Scotty, not Kirk, not Spock, not Bones. Why?
99) Jim Atkinson is a nerd, who likes to design BattleBots out of
Titanium alloy billet, and who has way too much time on his hands
this morning.
-jma
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We Expertly Hunt Real Spies, Real Eavesdroppers, and Real Wiretappers.
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James M. Atkinson Phone: (978) 546-3803
Granite Island Group Fax: (978) 546-9467
127 Eastern Avenue #291 Web:
http://www.tscm.com/
Gloucester, MA 01931-8008 Email: mailto:jm..._at_tscm.com
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World Class, Professional, Ethical, and Competent Bug Sweeps, and
Wiretap Detection using Sophisticated Laboratory Grade Test Equipment.
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:16 CST