Delco Fire POCSAG Decoding?

[kyleyankan]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a ham radio nerd, looking to try a new experiment in radio/computer integration. Basically, my county's fire department uses both Voice and POCSAG broadcasting. The POCSAG broadcasts a text message to our Motorola Advisor II pagers, which alert if it matches our station. However, I'd love to see all the county pages, and be able to process them on my computer. Perhaps to alert myself via text-message when anyone in the township gets a page, or when a good fire is on the air. I run Ubuntu 7.10, and have tried multimon with 2 different scanners on 154.205 (Our POCSAG Dispatch Freq). I used a program called Multimon to try and read the messages, but it does not return any POCSAG codes, but when I test DTMF out using another radio, it works fine. Does anyone know of a slick, efficient way to interpret POCSAG broadcasts? I just need the rough text output, I can parse my way through the rest!

-Kyle Yankanich
KB3LXF
Woodlyn Vol Fire Rescue

 

[Mattsenft]

Try here:
http://www.gsm-antennes.nl/PDW/

 

[ka3jjz]

As I mentioned in the other thread, proceed with caution. It's illegal to decode, then talk about, such broadcasts per ECPA and a couple of other laws. It's part of what got the late Bill Cheek in so much trouble.

Most people who do decode such broadcasts keep it to themselves because of this

73s Mike

 

[gccflscan]

V2.16

Any one have an archive of the PDW 2.16 full version?

V2.2 lacks features that are of use.

 

[HM1529]

As I mentioned in the other thread, proceed with caution. It's illegal to decode, then talk about, such broadcasts per ECPA and a couple of other laws. It's part of what got the late Bill Cheek in so much trouble.

Most people who do decode such broadcasts keep it to themselves because of this

73s Mike

I thought the ECPA only applied to commercial paging services. This is a public safety frequency carrying traffic sent by a public safety agency for non-commercial purposes.

Lebanon County PA's POCSAG system has been decoded and available online for years. The link is on the RR Lebanon Co page.

Kyle, check this link for info: http://home.comcast.net/~wa3rey/TOM/decoder.htm

 

[Audiodave1]

PDW 2.14 works just fine.

 

[ctrabs74]

Lebanon County PA's POCSAG system has been decoded and available online for years. The link is on the RR Lebanon Co page.

Keep in mind that the Lebanon County online POCSAG page is maintained by the county's EMA office (I'm sure Peter can correct me if I'm mistaken). I would think there'd be a big difference between a public safety entity doing this and a civilian doing the same thing...

Having said that, it would be nice if Delaware County did have such a POCSAG page; I doubt it would ever come from the county, since they are notorious about keeping most county-related stuff off their web pages...

 

[HM1529]

Okay, here's why I don't think this is illegal...maybe I'm just interpreting things incorrectly....

Excerpted from US Code, Title 18, Section 2511:

(g) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person—
(i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public;
(ii) to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted—
(I) by any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;
(II) by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public safety communications system, including police and fire, readily accessible to the general public;
(III) by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or
(IV) by any marine or aeronautical communications system;

If you go to the definitions in the ECPA, "readily accessible to the general public" means:

(16) “readily accessible to the general public” means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not—
(A) scrambled or encrypted;
(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(D) transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging system communication; or
(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;

Wouldn't (g)(ii)(II) be applicable here since the transmitting entity is a public safety agency?

 

[53Fireman]

anyone have version 2.16 or earlier?

 

[david89]

More info

Not sure on the legality of htis in other countries, but for a detailed description of how a pager system works, try the link. This forum also has a good detailed breakdown of how to receive these messages: HOW TO: POCSAG/FLEX PAGER MONITORING (and more) - Virtual Teen Forums - could be useful for anyone looking into this.

 

[ocguard]

Okay, here's why I don't think this is illegal...maybe I'm just interpreting things incorrectly....

Excerpted from US Code, Title 18, Section 2511:

(g) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person—
(i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public;
(ii) to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted—
(I) by any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;
(II) by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public safety communications system, including police and fire, readily accessible to the general public;
(III) by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or
(IV) by any marine or aeronautical communications system;

If you go to the definitions in the ECPA, "readily accessible to the general public" means:

(16) “readily accessible to the general public” means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not—
(A) scrambled or encrypted;
(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(D) transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging system communication; or
(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;

Wouldn't (g)(ii)(II) be applicable here since the transmitting entity is a public safety agency?

Many fire departments use alphanumeric paging services through third-part commercial paging carriers (such as Metrocall or USA Mobility) to augment their department/municipally owned radio dispatch systems. These systems carry messages not only for fire dispatching, but also from the general public and other businesses (such as doctors, lawyers, etc). They are connected to the public telephone system, and are therefore covered under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, United States Code, Title 18, Chapter 119. It is illegal to intercept any communication on such a system not intended for you. It is also illegal to manufacture or distribute equipment for this purpose.

Some departments/municipalities have built their own alphanumeric paging systems; where the transmitters are owned by the department or municipality, and pager messages are reserved for fire and EMS dispatch and communications. These systems are not connected to the public telephone switch, and are not used by the general public. It is not illegal to intercept messages from these systems, and would be no different than monitoring the tone/voice pager messages from a fire/EMS dispatch channel.

I hope this clears things up.

 

[ocguard]

anyone have version 2.16 or earlier?

You can download older versions here.