Scanner Tales: Is that a cordless phone or a high-power repeater usurper?

[N9JIG]

Now for something a little different with Scanner Tales: Short one-off stories about specific events. Enjoy!

I got a call from a friend who was at the time the Village President of a small town next to the one I was a police officer in. As a Ham and the trustee of one of the larger ham repeater clubs in the area he and I often had a lot to discuss. One day he called me and asked for help tracking down a transmitter of some sort that was blasting away on the input to one of their repeaters and causing all kinds of havoc. He was able to pinpoint the location of the transmitter to an area on the west side of my town.

I met him in the area and as all I had with me at the time was a PRO43 scanner and all he had was his 440 band handheld we had to improvise a bit. We drove around the area until we were able to hear the transmitter on his handheld. We figured it was slightly off-frequency for his repeater input but strong and close enough to interfere with it. We could hear voices but could not make out what was being said. Was it a different language, distorted by being off-freq or both?

Next we tuned my PRO43 to the same frequency and were able to hear it. We then removed the antenna off the scanner and drove around to where we could hear it without the antenna connected. It turned out to be right in front of a large home. We were pretty sure that this was the source.

We knocked on the door and the resident opened the door. We explained we were trying to locate the source of some radio interference. The lady was Asian and spoke very broken English. I assured her they were not in trouble and we were not there as the police, but just to figure out what was interfering with the radio system. She called her maid, who was bilingual and then they invited us in to try to find the source. Just then it stopped. She called upstairs to her daughter, who came down carrying a cordless phone of a type I had never seen before. We asked her to make a call and as soon as she pressed the button on the phone the noise came up.

They showed us the phone, it turned out to be a Chinese model they brought back from China a month or two before, about the same time the interference had started. We looked at it and from what we could figure out, it transmitted 10-15 watts on 448.31275 (I could be wrong on the freq, it was 40 years or so ago…). We told her that it actually was not allowed to be used in the USA as it was not type accepted and on frequencies not allowed for cordless phones as well as at too high a power level. They agreed to dispose of the phone and we never heard it again. We thanked them and took our leave.

 

[mmckenna]

This wasn't uncommon a while back.

There were some of these "cordless phones" that were being sold that worked in the 2 meter band and ran something around 40 watts. There were small businesses blasting their phone calls all over entire cities with these systems.

 

[kc2asb]

Great story, thanks! First I'm hearing of cordless phones that operated in the 2m or 440 bands, and at those power levels.

 

[PACNWDude]

These higher power cordless phones were also popular in Iraq, during the Global War on Terror(ism)......and they caused problems in more ways than one. But, were easier to direction find than sniffing out a specific cell phone with a "fish" named Harris device or DRT branded receiver.

 

[Wilrobnson]

I used to hunt in a mountainous area of Washington State (above Wilkeson for those in the area). I also found it to be a phenomenal RF spot during the off-season, with a "parking area", aka wide spot in the road, located at around 3800' MSL... 47°04'58"N 121°52'48"W

I used to hear a cordless phone, 15X.xxxx/43.xx split, possibly someone near one of the camps or a cabin somewhere. That thing got out for MILES. During the day it was normal casual conversation, but at night, after the husband had gone to bed (based on COMINT), the wife made much spicier calls.

 

[tvengr]

I used to hear quite a few cordless phones on 46 and 49 Mhz. I have heard neighbors making drug deals. Baby monitors were also popular.

 

[rf_patriot200]

If anyone remembers the old IMTS Vhf radiotelephones, before Cell phones were the rage, they only put out about 3 watts and made calls into local repeaters in the 152/ 157 mhz. range.

 

[tvengr]

If anyone remembers the old IMTS Vhf radiotelephones, before Cell phones were the rage, they only put out about 3 watts and made calls into local repeaters in the 152/ 157 mhz. range.

I remember the old mobile phones in the 152 MHz range. You had to contact a local mobile operator to put the call through for you.

 

[kc2asb]

If anyone remembers the old IMTS Vhf radiotelephones, before Cell phones were the rage, they only put out about 3 watts and made calls into local repeaters in the 152/ 157 mhz. range.

I remember hearing them (NY/NJ metro area) when I got my first scanner in 1988, a Uniden BC-140XLT. They must have been nearing the end of their use by this point.

 

[merlin]

Holly sheet hiiting the fan,, 15 watt cordless phone?? I gotta see that.

 

[kc2asb]

I used to hear quite a few cordless phones on 46 and 49 Mhz. I have heard neighbors making drug deals. Baby monitors were also popular.

Same here. Never heard any drug deals but still some interesting stuff. I used to leave the scanner searching the 46mhz cordless freqs as background noise while doing homework or cramming for exams in college. Good days!

People were wiretapping themselves with those old 49mhz baby monitors

 

[merlin]

If anyone remembers the old IMTS Vhf radiotelephones, before Cell phones were the rage, they only put out about 3 watts and made calls into local repeaters in the 152/ 157 mhz. range.

Yep, remember them well. Bell system. There was also RCC, same bands. I think power was linited to 35 watts.
My RCC phone was a GE Master Exec, UHF, 4 watt, 2 tone speedcall decoder. My number was 2532, Long Beach.

Remember the old briefcase phones, full duplex 8 channel ?? Canyon communications made those.
Glenair had a high end IMTS. Los angeles had 4 channels, 1, operator assist for like long distance.

 

[BinaryMode]

Back in the the 1970s a company known as the American Telephone and Telegraph company (AT&T) created a slogan with the help of the N.W. Ayer advertising agency. The slogan: "Reach out and touch someone." But this cordless phone literally meant it! LOL!

Speaking of, I modified a cordless phone to use a 36" whip! LOL! It was just for comedy, and my parents were mad...

 

[TGuelker]

Before the phone company was broken up, you could not get a phone unless it was from the phone company. I found a hotel phone made by Stromberg-Carlson at a flea market. Ran wiring up to my room. Worked great but must have triggered something at the central office. Got home from school and my mom said the phone company was there. They noticed a large load on the line. They took the phone and used a knife and cut my wiring every 2 inches. This was before the Ring Equivalance Number.

 

[buddrousa]

I remember taking a Uniden Cordless Phone running power and phoneline up my 80 foot tower mounting everything in a waterproof box antenna out of the bottem. The cordless phone would work over 12 blocks away. This was 1979-1980

 

[kc2asb]

Imagine the coverage you would get with the phone featured in the story, especially if it were hooked to an external antenna mounted up high. Maybe it even has potential as a 440 repeater.

I remember taking a Uniden Cordless Phone running power and phoneline up my 80 foot tower mounting everything in a waterproof box antenna out of the bottem. The cordless phone would work over 12 blocks away. This was 1979-1980

 

[kc2asb]

Before the phone company was broken up, you could not get a phone unless it was from the phone company. I found a hotel phone made by Stromberg-Carlson at a flea market. Ran wiring up to my room. Worked great but must have triggered something at the central office. Got home from school and my mom said the phone company was there. They noticed a large load on the line. They took the phone and used a knife and cut my wiring every 2 inches. This was before the Ring Equivalance Number.

Different times! They were proactive, and now it's a struggle to get AT&T or Verizon to come out if you have phone trouble. (for those that still have landlines, like me) Of course, it's almost all fiber optic now. They don't want to service the old copper lines anymore

 

[mmckenna]

I remember taking a Uniden Cordless Phone running power and phoneline up my 80 foot tower mounting everything in a waterproof box antenna out of the bottem. The cordless phone would work over 12 blocks away. This was 1979-1980

That's ****ing legendary right there!

 

[mmckenna]

Before the phone company was broken up, you could not get a phone unless it was from the phone company. I found a hotel phone made by Stromberg-Carlson at a flea market. Ran wiring up to my room. Worked great but must have triggered something at the central office. Got home from school and my mom said the phone company was there. They noticed a large load on the line. They took the phone and used a knife and cut my wiring every 2 inches. This was before the Ring Equivalance Number.

Yeah, trick was to disconnect the ringer. The coils in the ringer would show up. My dad added a second line to our house and didn't tell the phone company, just pulled the leads going to the ringer and they never knew.

As for the chopping your wire every 2 inches, that sounds like you really pissed off the tech.
I've done things to help customers to remember not to mess with our plant, but never quite that petty.

 

[jlp]

I remember taking a Uniden Cordless Phone running power and phoneline up my 80 foot tower mounting everything in a waterproof box antenna out of the bottem. The cordless phone would work over 12 blocks away. This was 1979-1980

If the base unit was mounted 80' up the tower, how did you recharge the handset?