The Die Hard Trilogy and other movies

[C138NC]

This is just a continuation of this thread

http://www.radioreference.com/forums...ml#post1072043

I didnt want everything there but its probably best to put it here but eh we had alot of discussions of hollywood utilizing their "HIPER" system lol

[tekshogun]

Alright, so I have seen some weird things in movies regarding radios.

This isn't about two-ways, but I think I was watching the "cyber thriller" flop 'Untraceable' and near the end, the main character was listening to music on her car's radio on some frequency just above 108MHz, I believe this may have been something like 108.5 or 108.6MHz.

Of course there is the infamous ham radio across time allowing characters to alter the time in Frequency.

There was the family from ALF that heard Alf's signal shortly before crashed into their garage where the radio shack was setup, of course, we can write that off as desensing across the much of the RF spectrum .

Ah yes, in the movie Transformers, there was quite a bit of this HIPER system going on; first there is the scene where characters are stuck in the bunker with the "old" equipment being attacked by one of the enemy. The radios power on but have no mics...... SOOOO, the girl comes up with the bright idea for one of the present "hackers" to rig the old computer up to the radio and transmit via morse code.... oh yes, it gets better, to communicate an air strike to the military. Well they basically rigged up a digital mode setup in a matter of minutes. Got to love that HIPER. Not only were the typing messages and sending them, they were receiving confirmations. The next atrocity is the commando unit in the city has no radios apparently so they raid a store and get some CB HT's which were described as only getting about 25 miles out of them..... and they talk directly to those pricey F-22 Raptors the US Air Force are so fond of with no problem.

I liked Joy Ride where the main characters get a CB radio and proceed to taunt a trucker that ends up hunting them down. That is perhaps one of the most realistic depictions of radio I've seen in movies .

We see "old morse code" (as it was called in the movie) being used to coordinate a massive airstrike in Independence Day.

ok, I'll stop for now

[C138NC]

lol wow you pretty much brought everything down i would think of lol.

Yeah i always wondered about the radios in transformers, I looked at em and said CB... and he said short wave radios and yeah the 25 mile thing, i thought most military jets were running off 200Mhz and CBs are low 20Mhz+

Yet again its all thanks to HIPER, its all linked up somehow

------------------------

Oh i dont remember if we were talking about this one, the first die hard when bruce is in the nakatomi plaza and uhh.. well i cant remember, valjohnson who played as C. winslow in family matters, its funny how they put the use of HIPER with the police and the terrorist radios.

Man i wonder what it would be like if you carried the old military radios, a big battery pack on the back and a huge antenna sticking up in the air then came the new handy talky that was still as big as a brick!

[Astrak]

Not really a movie but I was watching bullrun, and the guys in the Avalanche got the bright idea to use their Moto HT's to talk to truckers because they are, as the driver says "basically a CB radio right". They of course never used the radio's to set up the roadblock they were trying to create, instead they wrote on a piece of paper and that didn't work either. I just got a kick out of them saying that. Maybe they were mislead a little by the HIPER system.

[LouisvilleScanMan]

Ok, here's one of my favs. Die Hard 3: Bruce Willis and Sam L. Jackson are in a taxi and Bruce reaches down to the Cobra 19 ltd CB and flips the CH9 switch and right away a 911 operator answers.

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass1dcr1

Ok, here's one of my favs. Die Hard 3: Bruce Willis and Sam L. Jackson are in a taxi and Bruce reaches down to the Cobra 19 ltd CB and flips the CH9 switch and right away a 911 operator answers.

Heh heh, I know channel 9 is the emergency channel but I don't think any major police department has monitored that frequency for a very long time. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Check this movie out: "Making Waves"

It is a British romance-comedy with ham radio prominently used. I have been wanting to find this movie to watch it. Let me know if anyone else has: Welcome to the Making Waves site

[SigSauer]

I watch movies for the entertainment value rather than the reality value. You should too.

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by SigSauer

I watch movies for the entertainment value rather than the reality value. You should too.

I'm sure you're just being facetious but in all seriousness, I think we all watch movies for entertainment, but I also like noticing little things whether or not they were intentional by the movie makers. It is just funny to see someone using a scanner to talk to someone on their CB radio tuned into 66.6MHz. In fact, there are plenty of movies that are not very entertaining, so the best you can do is find something humorous about it.

With that aside, don't you like watching movies where two people are talking over two-way radios, and then something happens to one of the people, but you hear all of the action through the other's speaker like the person getting killed/attacked is holding down the push to talk button while shooting and screaming, you know, just so everyone else can hear the horror.

[b7spectra]

Ever notice scanners in the movies? Even in the 21st Century, they are still showing the old crystal LED scanners!

I loved it in Smokey and the Bandit (the original) that every police/sheriff department was on the exact same frequency at the exact same time!

Oh,yeah, don't forget the DEA/US Marshal/Police shows where has an officer talking on his portable and the other end is receiving & transmitting on a NexTel.

[CapStar362]

Originally Posted by SigSauer

I watch movies for the entertainment value rather than the reality value. You should too.

i always catch myself observing reality issues aswell. but i choose to watch them for entertainment values

[SigSauer]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

I'm sure you're just being facetious but in all seriousness, I think we all watch movies for entertainment, but I also like noticing little things whether or not they were intentional by the movie makers. It is just funny to see someone using a scanner to talk to someone on their CB radio tuned into 66.6MHz. In fact, there are plenty of movies that are not very entertaining, so the best you can do is find something humorous about it.

With that aside, don't you like watching movies where two people are talking over two-way radios, and then something happens to one of the people, but you hear all of the action through the other's speaker like the person getting killed/attacked is holding down the push to talk button while shooting and screaming, you know, just so everyone else can hear the horror.

It was. I like "smart" movies. Movies that are entertaining, but stay true to reality. I was watching Fracture the other day and was surprised to hear the judge talking about fruit of the poison tree doctrine when Anthony Hopkins says that the officer that took his confession beat him when he was arrested.

Little things like that make movies so much better.

[C138NC]

Originally Posted by Bluegrass1dcr1

Ok, here's one of my favs. Die Hard 3: Bruce Willis and Sam L. Jackson are in a taxi and Bruce reaches down to the Cobra 19 ltd CB and flips the CH9 switch and right away a 911 operator answers.

I never knew it was an actual CB radio, thought it was a maxtrac or something just by looking at the DTMF pad on the mic but its been years since i saw it

[trace1]

Don't forget that Herman Munster was a Ham Radio Operator, W6XRL4...

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by trace1

Don't forget that Herman Munster was a Ham Radio Operator, W6XRL4...

Yep! I actually did an article on this for my club's newsletter some time last year. I'll have to dig that out.

In it I remember talking about Herman Munster, the movies Frequency and Making Waves, I also discussed ALF, and one of my favorites is from a Twilight Zone episode, it's too funny to explain, you must watch: YouTube - Twilight Zone: Why Amateur Radio is Bad (episode 'Black Leather Jackets' and another Twilight Zone episode: YouTube - Ham Radio Set (The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street)

Great stuff

[C138NC]

Originally Posted by trace1

Don't forget that Herman Munster was a Ham Radio Operator, W6XRL4...

Now i never knew that where did you find this at besides his call sign? wonder if it exist still or active, looking that up now

[trace1]

Originally Posted by C138Kaysone

Now i never knew that where did you find this at besides his call sign? wonder if it exist still or active, looking that up now

I remember the episode, I've seen it many times in re-runs.

You may be surprised what your "search" will bring up...

[tekshogun]

Originally Posted by C138Kaysone

Now i never knew that where did you find this at besides his call sign? wonder if it exist still or active, looking that up now

It was all in good fun for TV, not a real callsign in the FCC's database at all. The closest I have ever seen belongs to a General class with the call of W6XLR.

[trace1]

Originally Posted by tekshogun

It was all in good fun for TV, not a real callsign in the FCC's database at all. The closest I have ever seen belongs to a General class with the call of W6XLR.

Look it up on QRZ...

[tekshogun]

heh heh, I know, I know

I like to see people have fun with things like that.

Of course, only if there were a name to the ham radio operator calling CQ at the end of the War of the Worlds radio performance: 2X2L

I know this link works for internet explorer but google chrome is not playing the audio clip: 2X2L

[orangEMT246]

I always enjoyed watching in movies and on tv, how the actors would use and talk on a radio like it was a cell phone.