Unlicensed ops, 2 meters, Indianapolis area

[IndyRick]

Folks, I'm hearing some obviously unlicensed ops on 148.00 in the greater Indianapolis area. I first heard them on the south side of Indy, but whoever is using this as a business frequency is apparently city wide. I suspect I know what type of agency is using this frequency but I'll refrain from speculating here on the forum.

If you choose to monitor, you might want to be sure no small children are around, they're using some quite salty language. Is anyone else hearing the activity on 148.00?

[W9NES]

Rick, got a report that the 148.000 can be heard in Muncie with a 2 meter beam pointed towards the Indianapolis area. I have also heard radio traffic on the Northwest side of Indy near 79Th and Michigan Road. 148.000 is a military frequency. Could this not be the MP'S at Stout Field for the Indiana National Guard? Would like to hear if anyone elese if you are hearing this frequency in the Metro Indianapolis/Marion County Central Indiana area. This would be a great frequency to program into a scanner and keep a ear on it.

[ecps92]

This was also reported as heard back during the 2012 Superbowl

Originally Posted by W9NES

Rick, got a report that the 148.000 can be heard in Muncie with a 2 meter beam pointed towards the Indianapolis area. I have also heard radio traffic on the Northwest side of Indy near 79Th and Michigan Road. 148.000 is a military frequency. Could this not be the MP'S at Stout Field for the Indiana National Guard? Would like to hear if anyone elese if you are hearing this frequency in the Metro Indianapolis/Marion County Central Indiana area. This would be a great frequency to program into a scanner and keep a ear on it.

[IndyRick]

I didn't realize it had been reported prior to my thread. Tim, I'm certain it's not MP's or other military traffic....the lack of any type of radio protocol and the extremely salty language would point to that.

[parall4x]

From what I can gather, there's no legitimate case for them to intentionally use that frequency:

http://www.spectrumwiki.com/wiki/dis...px?f=148000000

Any idea if these are fixed stations or mobiles in service vehicles or something like that?

[IndyRick]

I've only heard what I believe to be mobile stations so far. I have heard them refer to going back to the "main channel" but I have no clue what that might be.

[W9NES]

Thanks Rick.

[W2IBC]

guess IMPD came back to 2 meters eh?

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by W2IBC

guess IMPD came back to 2 meters eh?

That's certainly who was using 148.0000 MHz when I was there for the Super Bowl this past year. I was able to confirm IMPD units were on it by close call hits and listening to who they were talking about around the stadium perimeter.

- Chris

[W9NES]

DOD Department of Defense was using this frequency during the pan-american games when they were in Indianapolis.

[IndyRick]

They were gone for about a week, now they're back.

[milf]

IMPD also uses the VHF NWES SAR freq for an "car to car/chit chat" chan, and has been busted at least twice for operations on HAM freqs once for sure about 4/5 years ago. That even made a big thread here. Guess they just don't care that they allready have 2 car to car/tactical TG's on the IDPS for each district, one of which is enc 24/7, as well as like 15 netwide tac TG's, and cell phones. Then again, when have they ever really cared about not being totally up and up? Maybe the new PSD will fix it? Maybe?

[W9NES]

155.715 being used by IMPD second shift in the Northwest, North and East Disticts. No vaild license issued to The City of Indianapolis/Marion County by the fcc database.This is not one of the TACT channels that is listed in the RR database. This has been confirmed by W9NES that this is IMPD. One officer identified himself as Frank 247. That would be a Northwest officer for IMPD. Posted Sunday 12-23-12 5:30PM

[DiGiTaLD]

Originally Posted by milf

Guess they just don't care that they allready have 2 car to car/tactical TG's on the IDPS for each district, one of which is enc 24/7, as well as like 15 netwide tac TG's, and cell phones.

Its just easier to have a second radio.

What many don't realize is that the vast majority of patrol cars have no mobile radio. Most LE in Marion County live on portables. When you only have one radio on which to receive runs and important traffic, it makes a lot more sense from a tactical standpoint to have your BS chit-chat on a second, totally separate radio.

I'm not saying its right, but it is common practice in the LE community for individual officers to purchase, install, and use what they call "tac radios", and it is not limited to one department.

[W9NES]

You still need a license to be legal sir. 155.715 is a frequency that is NOT licensed to the City of Indianapolis/Marion Couty.Also officers need to follow written policy of IMPD. This inlcudes getting the radio installed by the garage and submiting a letter of request and have (5) people of rank within IMPD need to approve this. This includes making sure that the polcy has been followed. You cannot just get on ANY frquency and start talking.You need a license. Where is the license? There is no valid license issued by the Federal Communications Commission. A park ranger who is a legal ham radio operator had to submit a letter of request to have his 2 meter mobile in his patrol car. He had to have (5) officers of rank to approve this and he had to show them that he had a license to operate his radio. 155.715 is also known as "Northwest 70" Thank You.

[parall4x]

Originally Posted by DiGiTaLD

Its just easier to have a second radio.

What many don't realize is that the vast majority of patrol cars have no mobile radio. Most LE in Marion County live on portables. When you only have one radio on which to receive runs and important traffic, it makes a lot more sense from a tactical standpoint to have your BS chit-chat on a second, totally separate radio.

I'm not saying its right, but it is common practice in the LE community for individual officers to purchase, install, and use what they call "tac radios", and it is not limited to one department.

That's very enlightening. I guess I've always assumed that law enforcement commissions had mobile radios, but knowing that that assumption isn't always valid really changes one's perspective.

[GTO_04]

Originally Posted by DiGiTaLD

Its just easier to have a second radio.

What many don't realize is that the vast majority of patrol cars have no mobile radio. Most LE in Marion County live on portables. When you only have one radio on which to receive runs and important traffic, it makes a lot more sense from a tactical standpoint to have your BS chit-chat on a second, totally separate radio.

I'm not saying its right, but it is common practice in the LE community for individual officers to purchase, install, and use what they call "tac radios", and it is not limited to one department.

I had no idea! Then I could understand them wanting a second separate radio. So what do they do when the portable's battery dies? Are they riding around with spare batteries I hope?

GTO_04

[gewecke]

Originally Posted by DiGiTaLD

Its just easier to have a second radio.

What many don't realize is that the vast majority of patrol cars have no mobile radio. Most LE in Marion County live on portables. When you only have one radio on which to receive runs and important traffic, it makes a lot more sense from a tactical standpoint to have your BS chit-chat on a second, totally separate radio.

I'm not saying its right, but it is common practice in the LE community for individual officers to purchase, install, and use what they call "tac radios", and it is not limited to one department.

This is true in my area, but only for UC cars. Marked cars have always had a UHF and a VHF mobile in the past before the days of our Starcom system. Our city cars had mobile vhf radios with ispern, ireach, fire & their car to car channel plus a uhf portable on the pd's repeater.
Now they simply have a Starcom mobile, portable or both which also takes care of their car to car needs. None of these guys used their own radios to my knowledge.

73 & Happy Holidays,
n9zas

[DiGiTaLD]

Originally Posted by GTO_04

I had no idea! Then I could understand them wanting a second separate radio. So what do they do when the portable's battery dies? Are they riding around with spare batteries I hope?

Most do. There are also batteries on the market today that will run a radio such as the ubiquitous Motorola XTS 5000 for up to 16 hours or longer. Honeywell makes a great lithium polymer battery that does just that. I think they are a bit pricier than other batteries, but you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by W9NES

You still need a license to be legal sir. 155.715 is a frequency that is NOT licensed to the City of Indianapolis/Marion Couty.Also officers need to follow written policy of IMPD. This inlcudes getting the radio installed by the garage and submiting a letter of request and have (5) people of rank within IMPD need to approve this. This includes making sure that the polcy has been followed. You cannot just get on ANY frquency and start talking.You need a license. Where is the license? There is no valid license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.

We have been down this road before Tim. We all know that to be legal a transmitter needs to be licensed, but in this case, nobody cares. Hams seem to be the only ones who care to follow FCC rules anyway. Its been said a million times, but I'll say it again: complaining on here won't do any good. You have stated your opinion on this matter hundreds of times on this forum alone and it does no good to just keep on complaining about it on here.

If its such a big deal to you then complain to the FCC, because they are the sole authority responsible for enforcing their rules and regulations. If they don't do anything about it, then I guess you're out of luck. As for individual department policies being violated, again, complaining on here won't do any good. If you have a gripe with it, you would be better served to complain to whatever department's internal affairs or professional standards division, as they are usually the ones to handle complaints from the public.

[W9NES]

Listen to 146.52. 2 meter simplex, You will also hear them there along with marine frequencies in the 156-157Mhz.