238 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
238 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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_____________ _/_/ | | \ \ _/_/ _____________
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| ___________ _/_/ | | \ \ _/_/ ___________ |
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| | _/_/_____ | | > > _/_/_____ | |
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| | /________/ | | / / /________/ | |
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| | c o m m u n i c a t i o n s | |
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| |________________________________________________________________| |
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|____________________________________________________________________|
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...presents... Interesting Things to Do With a Scanner
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by The Mad Hatter
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>>> a cDc publication.......1991 <<<
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-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
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______________________________________________________________________________
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So last Christmas your anally-retentive father (Who by the way is a big-
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time ham radio buff, complete with his call sign on his jacket, hat, license
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plates, and a "I'd rather be hamming" bumper sticker. Blech!) gave you a
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frequency scanner and you're still wondering what the hell to do with it.
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Let's see if I can enlighten you.
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Unless your scanner's a complete pile of shit, it should at least cover
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29-54 MHz, 108-136 MHz, and 406-512 MHz. My Bearcat 800xlt, for instance,
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covers 29-54, 118-174, 406-512, and 806-912 MHz. If your scanner covers the
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800 MHz-and-up band you're in luck. I'm not going to go into the theory of
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radio waves, etc. because it'd take way too long and not even give the subject
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adequate coverage. Buy a book. Also, if your scanner came with one of those
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telescopic antennas, while being adequate, I would suggest running down to your
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local Radio Shack and picking up one of their $20 outside antennas and putting
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it up as high as you can get it (outside of course).
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The first thing I would suggest is picking up the latest copy of
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_Police Call_. This fine book comes in nine volumes, one volume for each
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region of the country. Therein are loads of frequencies that the editors have
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leeched from the FCC. Most of your local police, fire, ambulance, etc.
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frequencies can be found in there. There are other guides, but _Police Call_
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can be found at your local Rat Shack and everybody has one of those piece of
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shit stores in their town.
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Now, while I have all the ho-hum fire, police, ambulance, etc. frequencies
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plugged into my scanner, they are by far the least interesting. (At the end of
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this file is a list of what I have programmed into my scanner.) Following are
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some of the more interesting things to listen to:
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WIRELESS MICROPHONES: These little beauties are usually broadcasting in the
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72-76 Mhz range. These can be anything from the little spy devices to the
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microphone a concert singer uses on stage. If your scanner has a search
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function, plug the 72-76 range in and see what you come up with. (This
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information is from a fellow I know at work, my cheap-ass scanner doesn't
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cover it.) Also, the FCC has allocated 169.45, 169.505, 170.245, 170.305,
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171.405, 171.105, 171.845, and 171.905 for use with wireless mikes. I
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actually found a local delivery service running between 169.5 and 170.0
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MHz. I have yet to hear anything interesting but I live in a boring town.
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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STUFF: Here are some areas the feds hang out on (all in
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MHz): 29.90-30.55, 32.01-32.99, 34.01-34.99, 36.01-36.99, 38.27-38.99,
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40.01-41.99, and anywhere between 100 and 400 MHz. The best thing to do is set
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your scanner up to search those pairs awhile every day and see what comes up.
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For instance, 165.375 Mhz is supposedly the nationwide command post frequency
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for the Secret Service. The FBI is supposed to run between 163 and 168 MHz.
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CORDLESS PHONES: This is why I own a scanner. A common misconception which
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some people make is that why they ratchet-jaw on their phone all day from the
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backyard on their cordless, the conversation is as secure as if they were
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talking on a regular phone. Nada! The Electronic Communications Privacy Act
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of 1986 prohibits the listening of cellular conversations. It does not,
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however, cover cordless phones. Who cares. Set your scanner on Search and
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plug in the frequency range of 46.61 and 46.97 MHz. Sooner or later one of
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your neighbors is going to start flapping her mouth and you're going to hear
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it. Write that frequency down and when the conversation is done, start again.
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Pretty soon you'll have the frequencies for all your neighbors. An example
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is this little fifteen-year-old bitch that lives next to me. She's on the
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phone all the time gabbing with her boyfriend. For a fifteen-year-old some of
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the shit gets juicy. Who knows, someday it might be good blackmail material.
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The exact cordless frequencies are 46.61, 46.63, 46.67, 46.71, 46.73, 46.77,
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46.83, 46.87, 46.93, and 46.97. Be persistent and you will eventually find
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a phone close to you.
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RADIO PHONES: These are the regular radio phones that have been around forever
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and ever. With cellular being so fucking expensive this service has been
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gaining in popularity. Search between 460 and 470 MHz to find the frequencies
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used in your area. 463.75 and 464.12 are used a lot by construction people up
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here in my area. You'll also hear a lot of pagers mixed in with the phone
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frequencies. If you can't hear anything else you should be able to hear
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something between 460 and 470. Here again, some cool stuff can sometimes be
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heard amongst the long-winded assholes. My local police department has its own
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radio phones on 461.35 MHz, and a lot of good shit comes over that frequency.
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Most of your land-mobile business use is in this area also. The above
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frequencies are where I hear a lot of them. That doesn't mean that's the law.
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I've heard them in other bands, but between 460 and 470 Mhz is the most
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prevalent up here.
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CELLULAR PHONES: Lately there's been a lot of hype about the privacy of
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cellular calls. Of course, they're just as easy to hear as cordless and
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radio phones. I tend to concentrate my scanning between 850 and 870 MHz when
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searching for cellular calls, though many calls are carried at another bandwith
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for which it's illegal to sell scanners that can reach those frequencies.
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However, there are mods for many scanners to let them receive these
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frequencies. You can find out where to get this info for your particular
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scanner from ads in the back of ham magazines and some t-files. Back to
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850-870, it's impossible to search for one particular phone call or company.
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For instance, you won't be able to depend like I do on 461.35 MHz for good
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stuff all the time. However there are usually so many calls going on in any
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metro area that there is plenty to hear. There are many interesting t-files on
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the layout of the 800 Mhz band that go way beyond the scope of this
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introductory file, but if there's enough response I can type one up that goes
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more in depth on cellular listening.
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Other interesting shit you oughtta know:
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TUNING THE 406-420 MHZ BAND: These are some of the nastier US Government
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frequencies. However, if your scanner is a cheap piece of shit it won't
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cover them. Look in the manual that came with your scanner for the
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intermediate frequency (IF). 2 x IF = "magic number." Take that magic
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number and tune to the result. For example, your IF is 10.8 (other
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common IF's are 10.7 and 10.85) and you want to tune 407 MHz. Add 21.6
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(2 x 10.8) to 407.00 and you get 428.600 and you'd tune that. The reception
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kind of sucks but it beats buying a new scanner.
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The following are some of the frequencies that I have programmed into my
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scanner or written down in my notes (for Boise, Idaho). All frequencies in
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Mhz:
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453.300 - Boise Police Department Ch. A
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453.350 - Boise Police Department Ch. B
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453.425 - Boise Police Department Ch. C
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453.475 - Boise Police Department Ch. D
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460.450 - Ada County Sheriff (primary)
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460.225 - Ada County Sheriff (information)
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460.275 - Ada County Sheriff (car to car)
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460.100 - Idaho State Police
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460.300 - Idaho State Police
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465.275 - Mutual All Call
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154.430 - Boise Fire Department
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155.265 - Ada County EMS (ambulance)
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155.055 - Lifeflight (helicopter rescue)
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155.760 - Idaho State Penitentiary
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159.390 - Idaho Fish & Game
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460.050 - Nampa Police Department
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460.175 - Caldwell Police Department
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460.325 - Canyon County Sheriff
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460.375 - Gem County Sheriff
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460.475 - Elmore County Sheriff
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460.500 - Owyhee County Sheriff
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118.100 - aircraft, Boise tower
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119.000 - aircraft, Boise tower
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119.600 - aircraft, Boise departure/approach (south)
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121.700 - aircraft, Boise ground control
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122.800 - uncontrolled local airports
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126.900 - aircraft, Boise departure/approach (north)
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152.030 - mobile phone
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152.090 - mobile phone
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153.010 - taxi service
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154.430 - mobile phone
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161.135 - Police mobile phone (juicy)
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145.260 - ham 2-meter repeater
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30.102 - McDonald's drive-up window
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30.840 - Taco Bell drive-up window
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30.860 - Burger King drive-up window
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157.650 - taxi service
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162.550 - NOAA Weather Service
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160.400-
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160.65 - railroad stuff
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164.500 - Boise Air National Guard Security
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Those are the ones I mainly listen to.
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"So, Hatter, why should I care about this shit?" Well, for instance
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say you have your local pigs plugged into your scanner. You get kind of an
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appreciation (not much but some) for the shit they put up with every day. Tons
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of family fights, panicky old women, etc. are the majority of the stuff going
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on up here. If you're doing something where it'd be good to know where the
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police are or if someone's made a report about your activities, you'll be
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aware and can react before a police car comes barrelling in on you. The point
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is, you hear it first while it's happening. Interested in aircraft? Plug in
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your local airport frequencies. If you live by an Air Force Base, thats even
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better. Like to go and watch shit burn? Plug in your local fire and ambulance
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frequencies and find out where the latest human tragedies are. Want to fuck up
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your neighbor? If s/he has a cordless phone eventually you can come up with
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some primo blackmail info. Last week a guy tried outrunning the pigs for
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three or so counties. It was pretty damn exciting to listen to. For you
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hacks, I'm in the process of figuring out how to hook a touch-tone decoder up
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to my scanner. It should prove interesting finding out what some of those
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people are dialing.
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To finish up, here is a kind of overview in MHz of the VHF/UHF band and
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generally what can be found where:
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30-49 - long range communications
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49 - walkie-talkies, like the Spidey one you had when you were 5
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50-54 - six-meter amateur (ham)
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54-88 - television channels 2-6
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72-76 - radio controlled vehicles (airplanes, cars, etc.)
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88-108 - FM broadcast stations
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108-135 - aircraft
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136-138 - weather satellites
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144-148 - two-meter amateur
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156.050-
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157.425 - marine
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162-174 - Federal agencies (Customs, FCC, etc.)
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174-216 - television channels 7 - 13
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220-225 - ham
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420-450 - ham
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462 - CB, garage door openers, etc.
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I hope this helps some people enjoy their scanner as much as I do.
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Questions, etc. can be left to me on Demon Roach Underground or my board,
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22, Acacia Avenue, 208/327-0717, NUP:DOOBIE.
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_ _ ____________________________________________________________________
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/((___))\|Demon Roach Undrgrnd.806/794-4362|Kingdom of Shit.......806/794-1842|
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[ x x ] |NIHILISM.............517/546-0585|The Polka AE{PW:KILL} 806/794-4362|
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\ / |Ripco................312/528-5020|Tequila Willy's GSC...209/526-3194|
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(' ') |The Works............617/861-8976|Blitzkrieg............502/499-8933|
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(U) |====================================================================|
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.ooM |1991 cDc communications by The Mad Hatter 10/31/91-#196|
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\_______/|All Rights Pissed Away. FIVE YEARS of cDc|
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