Pagers?

[ThomasMcKean]

Has anyone tried to decode pagers in the Lynchburg/Bedford/Roanoke area?

What are the frequencies? *Blink*

And is it even legal? Not sure I want to go there if it isn't. There is plenty of legal stuff too keep one occupied....

 

[mike_s104]

The last I had heard, it was illegal. However, Universal Radio used to make the M400 decoder that worked well when I used it about 15 years ago in the Staunton area. I'm sure there is software out there now that does the same thing. Its fun for a little bit to figure out how everything seems to work. I'm not sure how much they are used anymore. The frequencies that most used to be on were in the 156-157MHz range with some in the 800s (I think). You could look through the FCC DB for CFW/Ntelos or whomever else might own the towers to find some freqs or just do a search.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/decoders/m400.html

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[ThomasMcKean]

The last I had heard, it was illegal. However, Universal Radio used to make the M400 decoder that worked well when I used it about 15 years ago in the Staunton area. I'm sure there is software out there now that does the same thing. Its fun for a little bit to figure out how everything seems to work. I'm not sure how much they are used anymore. The frequencies that most used to be on were in the 156-157MHz range with some in the 800s (I think). You could look through the FCC DB for CFW/Ntelos or whomever else might own the towers to find some freqs or just do a search.

Universal M-400 Reader M400

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I am still getting conflicting reports as to whether this is allowed or not? Hmmmm... How to get definite answer?

 

[mike_s104]

I'd say its illegal and I would suggest maybe editing your last post while you can.

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[ThomasMcKean]

I'd say its illegal and I would suggest maybe editing your last post while you can.

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Well until I know, good idea!

I'll certainly post when I find out...

 

[ThomasMcKean]

Here is another opinion.

RTL-SDR Tutorial: POCSAG Pager Decoding - rtl-sdr.com

 

[wtp]

1986 ecpa

my understanding of the pager part was that you could not listen.
i guess the reason was that voice paging could be done for free with a scanner instead of paying for the service.

 

[ThomasMcKean]

my understanding of the pager part was that you could not listen.
i guess the reason was that voice paging could be done for free with a scanner instead of paying for the service.

How do yew mean? The guy in the link above does make a good point about lack of encryption.

Are yew saying that because someone somewhere is paying for the pager service, that it is not legal to decode it?

Someone must have an answer with documentation somewhere...

 

[wtp]

google 1986 ecpa and see what it says.

 

[ThomasMcKean]

google 1986 ecpa and see what it says.

That was a good idea and I did. But it is so full of unintelligible legal gobbledeegook that it was just impossible to understand!

 

[reconrider8]

wonder if there is a program to do it with out having a distap though that would be nice for doing that on a laptop or so

 

[wtp]

imo

yes it is hard to read, but what i get is that you can listen to tone only (great musak) but no decode anything or listen to voice pagers.
if one person paid (or found another way) for the service then anyone with a scanner could be paged for free.
yes a lot would not be for them, but free is free.
it would be like having a 50,000 watt megaphone for your friends.
or if you knew a pager freq for like the chief of police and he had voice on it everyone gets to listen.
years ago some news guys were listening to high ups in a big city and got in trouble for this exact thing.
false report given out and they showed up...oops.

 

[ThomasMcKean]

yes it is hard to read, but what i get is that you can listen to tone only (great musak) but no decode anything or listen to voice pagers.
if one person paid (or found another way) for the service then anyone with a scanner could be paged for free.
yes a lot would not be for them, but free is free.
it would be like having a 50,000 watt megaphone for your friends.
or if you knew a pager freq for like the chief of police and he had voice on it everyone gets to listen.
years ago some news guys were listening to high ups in a big city and got in trouble for this exact thing.
false report given out and they showed up...oops.

Yes at the end of the day that is also my own interpretation. I reluctantly unplugged. It is interesting (when it isn't boring), but it isn't worth losing my licenses over. So I am now again in compliance with radio law, complex as it is.

Errrrmmmm.... What ended up happening to those news guys. Do yew know?

 

[wtp]

nyc or boston

arrested
this would be like the uk where you cn't listen and they put out a false ufo landing and folks showed up.

 

[ThomasMcKean]

arrested
this would be like the uk where you cn't listen and they put out a false ufo landing and folks showed up.

ACK! I bet that was even more surprising to them than a UFO woulda been!

 

[gcgrotz]

Having spent 12 years in paging back when the ecpi went into effect, it is illegal to even monitor, much less decode common carrier paging. This was the same law that took cellular channels out of scanners. It put wireless comms under the same umbrella as if you tapped someone's phone line. It seems such a silly law now with all the digital schemes out there.

 

[ThomasMcKean]

Having spent 12 years in paging back when the ecpi went into effect, it is illegal to even monitor, much less decode common carrier paging. This was the same law that took cellular channels out of scanners. It put wireless comms under the same umbrella as if you tapped someone's phone line. It seems such a silly law now with all the digital schemes out there.

Yes I had a heck of a time trying to wade through the ecpi but I finally interpreted it that way, I have unplugged.

I will push the limits of the two licenses I have right up to the edge. And I have, many times. But I won't go past that. I don't want to lose them!

 

[mike_s104]

Or just keep things to yourself.

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[reconrider8]

i second that lol just dont tell anyone your doing it lol i say it would be hard to catch someone just monitoring if you can keep your mouth shut lol but i dont know to much about paging systems

 

[krokus]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (Android 2.3.4; Linux; Opera Mobi/ADR-1309251116) Presto/2.11.355 Version/12.10)

I would be highly surprised if software for decoding Flex was not found overseas. Just don't get caught using it in the U.S.