Baofeng 400-470 MHz

[SA_tx_88116]

Last night I was experimenting with a RadioShack pro 197 and a baofeng 888S so I took the battery out of my handheld radio and the back panel said it’s frequency range was 400-470 MHz so I programmed my scanner to search through these frequencies for activity, once I did that I keyed the mic on my handheld and I could hear myself over my scanner then the scanner reached 406 MHz and it was a static signal with a p25 nac code of 3D0 and as far as I know only emergency services use p25 this was strange, then at around 410 MHz I heard what sounded like police I knew this because they were talking about running a license plate, I checked my radio band chart and 400 to 405 MHz was miscellaneous 406 to 419 MHz was trunked federal government (this is where I heard police) then there’s 420 to 449 MHz which is 70cm amateur radio and lastly 450 to 469 MHz which is UHF standard band whatever that is. Question #1:do any ham operators use this frequency range at all.
Question #2: can a baofeng 888S communicate with radios of different models and types.
Question #3: is the FCC going to raid my house for transmitting on police frequencies even though I have checked all frequencies for my county and neighboring counties and the police all use around 700 to 900 MHz.
Question #4: why did my handheld radio pick up a transmission that sounded like Morse code and how is my scanner virtually pressing down my handhelds PTT button must be some weird kind of interference.

 

[alcahuete]

1: The amateur radio 70cm band in the US is 420-450 MHz. You will generally hear repeaters in the 440-450 MHz range.

2: If they are analog radios, then yes. They will not communicate with digital radios.

3: No. However, don't be stupid and transmit on frequencies you aren't license/authorized to transmit on. If you do interfere with public safety, it likely won't be the FCC who comes knocking on your door. It will generally be another federal agency with itchy trigger fingers and a desire to haul you off to prison.

4: The morse code was almost certainly a repeater output. Repeaters ID themselves with morse code every so often, depending on the radio service in use.

 

[trentbob]

Forgive me for relying on my memory only but as much as I tried to look it up the DEA used to be on 418 MHz repeaters on a tower near me in Penndel, Pennsylvania. We're going early '80s
Basically speaking in Motorola terms this is known as UHF 1, above 450 would be UHF 2.

I can guarantee you any compromise conversations are encrypted so many years later, no more than the United States Coast Guard encrypting their p25 VHF and UHF conventional p25 frequencies.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Forgive me for relying on my memory only but as much as I tried to look it up the DEA used to be on 418 MHz repeaters on a tower near me in Penndel, Pennsylvania. We're going early '80s
Basically speaking in Motorola terms this is known as UHF 1, above 450 would be UHF 2.

I can guarantee you any compromise conversations are encrypted so many years later, no more than the United States Coast Guard encrypting their p25 VHF and UHF conventional p25 frequencies.

 

[mmckenna]

406.1MHz is where EPRIB's and PLB's operate. This is for ground to satellite communications. Your radio should not be transmitting anything there at all, as it can interfere with emergency beacons. Do not F-around in this area with your Baofeng. That absolutely will get noticed and you'll get a visit from someone in a uniform that will not be very happy with you. Don't give hobbyists a bad name.



"Question #2: can a baofeng 888S communicate with radios of different models and types."

Yes. Analog FM radios can communicate together, including these Baofengs.



"Question #3: is the FCC going to raid my house for transmitting on police frequencies even though I have checked all frequencies for my county and neighboring counties and the police all use around 700 to 900 MHz."

No, the FCC rarely comes swooping in like that. Usually (if you get caught) you get several levels of warnings, first.
You should not be transmitting where you are not licensed, even if you think those frequencies are unused:
- If you are using the radio reference database, it's not complete.
- Some parts of the band are used by federal agencies, and their information is not on the FCC database and not always on the RR.com database.
- There's some integrity, self control and common decency that should come into play here. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
- The 70 cm amateur radio band is a SECONDARY allocation. That means that hams are only allowed to use it as long as they do not cause interference to the primary users (feds/military).
- Just because you don't hear someone on the frequency doesn't mean that it is not a repeater input.
- Understand that rules are there for a lot of reasons. They are not there to simply prevent you from using your radio. The rules are to reduce the chances of someone who doesn't know what they are doing interfering with those that do. See above comment about not making hobbyists look bad.


Question #4: why did my handheld radio pick up a transmission that sounded like Morse code and how is my scanner virtually pressing down my handhelds PTT button must be some weird kind of interference.


The scanner picking up something showing as P25 may be the scanner confused about what it is hearing, or more than likely, an image of signals mixing. Your radio transmitting + other strong signals can combine and create false images to the scanner. Especially if you are close. Even without transmitting, the local oscillators in the radios can create issues. These low tier Chinese radios don't have the best quality control and likely lack filtering/shielding, so noise getting out of them is a real possibility.

 

[trentbob]

Very cool that you're hearing Transmission in the clear, it does remind me of the mid 80s when I used to listen to the DEA in the Philadelphia area. Never really said much of anything important.

I guess it's not unusual that you're listening on a antique Radio, just kidding!.

I think today they have their own protocol setup that you will never hear anything compromising to their operations. But I do remember those days.

I had either a bag phone or a brick. But on the scanner, though it wasn't trunked, I listened to 800 MHz cell phone communication on a Radio Shack GRE made Pro 2004.

Thanks for the Memories.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

406.1MHz is where EPRIB's and PLB's operate. This is for ground to satellite communications. Your radio should not be transmitting anything there at all, as it can interfere with emergency beacons. Do not F-around in this area with your Baofeng. That absolutely will get noticed and you'll get a visit from someone in a uniform that will not be very happy with you. Don't give hobbyists a bad name.



"Question #2: can a baofeng 888S communicate with radios of different models and types."

Yes. Analog FM radios can communicate together, including these Baofengs.



"Question #3: is the FCC going to raid my house for transmitting on police frequencies even though I have checked all frequencies for my county and neighboring counties and the police all use around 700 to 900 MHz."

No, the FCC rarely comes swooping in like that. Usually (if you get caught) you get several levels of warnings, first.
You should not be transmitting where you are not licensed, even if you think those frequencies are unused:
- If you are using the radio reference database, it's not complete.
- Some parts of the band are used by federal agencies, and their information is not on the FCC database and not always on the RR.com database.
- There's some integrity, self control and common decency that should come into play here. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
- The 70 cm amateur radio band is a SECONDARY allocation. That means that hams are only allowed to use it as long as they do not cause interference to the primary users (feds/military).
- Just because you don't hear someone on the frequency doesn't mean that it is not a repeater input.
- Understand that rules are there for a lot of reasons. They are not there to simply prevent you from using your radio. The rules are to reduce the chances of someone who doesn't know what they are doing interfering with those that do. See above comment about not making hobbyists look bad.


Question #4: why did my handheld radio pick up a transmission that sounded like Morse code and how is my scanner virtually pressing down my handhelds PTT button must be some weird kind of interference.


The scanner picking up something showing as P25 may be the scanner confused about what it is hearing, or more than likely, an image of signals mixing. Your radio transmitting + other strong signals can combine and create false images to the scanner. Especially if you are close. Even without transmitting, the local oscillators in the radios can create issues. These low tier Chinese radios don't have the best quality control and likely lack filtering/shielding, so noise getting out of them is a real possibility.

What frequency range should I be safe to transmit on then?

 

[SA_tx_88116]

406.1MHz is where EPRIB's and PLB's operate. This is for ground to satellite communications. Your radio should not be transmitting anything there at all, as it can interfere with emergency beacons. Do not F-around in this area with your Baofeng. That absolutely will get noticed and you'll get a visit from someone in a uniform that will not be very happy with you. Don't give hobbyists a bad name.



"Question #2: can a baofeng 888S communicate with radios of different models and types."

Yes. Analog FM radios can communicate together, including these Baofengs.



"Question #3: is the FCC going to raid my house for transmitting on police frequencies even though I have checked all frequencies for my county and neighboring counties and the police all use around 700 to 900 MHz."

No, the FCC rarely comes swooping in like that. Usually (if you get caught) you get several levels of warnings, first.
You should not be transmitting where you are not licensed, even if you think those frequencies are unused:
- If you are using the radio reference database, it's not complete.
- Some parts of the band are used by federal agencies, and their information is not on the FCC database and not always on the RR.com database.
- There's some integrity, self control and common decency that should come into play here. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"
- The 70 cm amateur radio band is a SECONDARY allocation. That means that hams are only allowed to use it as long as they do not cause interference to the primary users (feds/military).
- Just because you don't hear someone on the frequency doesn't mean that it is not a repeater input.
- Understand that rules are there for a lot of reasons. They are not there to simply prevent you from using your radio. The rules are to reduce the chances of someone who doesn't know what they are doing interfering with those that do. See above comment about not making hobbyists look bad.


Question #4: why did my handheld radio pick up a transmission that sounded like Morse code and how is my scanner virtually pressing down my handhelds PTT button must be some weird kind of interference.


The scanner picking up something showing as P25 may be the scanner confused about what it is hearing, or more than likely, an image of signals mixing. Your radio transmitting + other strong signals can combine and create false images to the scanner. Especially if you are close. Even without transmitting, the local oscillators in the radios can create issues. These low tier Chinese radios don't have the best quality control and likely lack filtering/shielding, so noise getting out of them is a real possibility.

First of all how did this even get approved by the FCC

 

[mancow]

You got intermod mixing and causing it to decode something else.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Very cool that you're hearing Transmission in the clear, it does remind me of the mid 80s when I used to listen to the DEA in the Philadelphia area. Never really said much of anything important.

I guess it's not unusual that you're listening on a antique Radio, just kidding!.

I think today they have their own protocol setup that you will never hear anything compromising to their operations. But I do remember those days.

I had either a bag phone or a brick. But on the scanner, though it wasn't trunked, I listened to 800 MHz cell phone communication on a Radio Shack GRE made Pro 2004.

Thanks for the Memories.

Too bad I wasn’t born back whenever you could listen to cellphone calls with a scanner

 

[trentbob]

So go on Google and look for, in several different wordings of the question, about listening to cell phones on scanners and you will come up with amazing radio reference threads. Just keep asking in different ways but you'll find so much fun stuff and great stories. Many I wrote myself.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Just programmed the 2m ham band and I hear guys all the way from wales how can I hear that if I’m in Texas IMG_0344 video of conversation

 

[alcahuete]

What frequency range should I be safe to transmit on then?

There is no frequency you can legally transmit on that radio without a license.

 

[trentbob]

Just programmed the 2m ham band and I hear guys all the way from wales how can I hear that if I’m in Texas IMG_0344 video of conversation

It's because the tropospheric ducting gods are looking down upon you LOL. Google tropospheric ducting. It deals with different types of atmosphere and weather changes that result in Long Distance VHF High not to be confused with sunspot activity and a highly ionized atmosphere causing skip on ham radio frequencies in the 10 or 11 M range.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

It's because the tropospheric ducting gods are looking down upon you LOL. Google tropospheric ducting. It deals with different types of atmosphere and weather changes that result in Long Distance VHF High not to be confused with sunspot activity and a highly ionized atmosphere causing skip on ham radio frequencies in the 10 or 11 M range.

I got 2 questions while monitoring the 2m band I hear something like Morse code which you said was caused by a reapeater why does the repeater do this question 2 why every once in a while do I hear a dialtone

 

[mmckenna]

What frequency range should I be safe to transmit on then?

The only frequencies you are 'safe' to transmit on would depend on what type of FCC license you have.
With that specific radio, you would need to have a valid FCC issued amateur radio license in your name, and then you'd only be allowed to transmit on the 70cm band frequencies, generally 420MHz to 449.999MHz.

That radio is NOT legal for use on FRS or GMRS (even with a GMRS license, the radio is not type accepted for that radio service)

You are welcome to listen to whatever you want, but transmitting is limited to the amateur radio bands with a valid amateur radio license. (not hard to get).

 

[mmckenna]

What frequency range should I be safe to transmit on then?

If you are going to ignore FCC rules/regulations, then PLEASE do so only within the limits of the 70cm amateur radio band. That way you will not impact any public safety services.

It'll piss the hams off to no end, and wind them up into a forth. They'll threaten you with the FCC. They'll threaten to track you down.

Really, it's super simple to get your amateur radio license. There are tons of hams on this site that would love to help you do that. Then you can make real use of the radio and actually talk to someone who will share similar interests. It's a fairly simple 35 question multiple choice test. There are testing sessions where they will teach you the answers and all you have to do is check the right boxes on the test, and "boom!" you are now a ham….

 

[mmckenna]

I got 2 questions while monitoring the 2m band I hear something like Morse code which you said was caused by a reapeater why does the repeater do this

It's sending out the call sign of the repeaters owner.
It lets others know that it is there and running.

question 2 why every once in a while do I hear a dialtone

Some repeaters have telephone interconnects that allow users to make phone calls.
It could also be links to other repeaters.

 

[mmckenna]

Just programmed the 2m ham band and I hear guys all the way from wales how can I hear that if I’m in Texas IMG_0344 video of conversation

Wales, Texas, or Wales UK? (I'm not signing up for that linking service)

Repeaters can be linked together over the internet or other means. Fairly easy to link to very distant repeaters (even those in other countries) and allow someone with a small hand held radio to easily talk to someone in another part of the state/country/world.

 

[pb_lonny]

Simply, don't TX on any frequency you don't have a licence for...