Cellular or what?

[JackSmith102]

You've all probably been asked this question before, but from time-to-time when I'm using my BCT7 scanner I've come across what appear to be cellular phone conversations, at least they seem that way. This is actually in the 890mhz-910mhz region, and a friend of mine pointed out that this may be coming from a FM repeater rather than directly from a cell phone, which makes sense.

Also, as has been mentioned several times, very few cell phones are analog these days and as such they cannot be intercepted by scanners. Even the new scanners with digital support can't intercept them because the phones use different digital technology.

Anyhow, upon coming across these conversations, you can also hear people dialing in to check their voice mailboxes - this is not something that a cordless phone does.

So, are these actually cell phones I'm hearing, or what? One time I even heard a call from a lady that's 10 minutes driving distance, and I do not think that could be coming from a cordless phone. That being the case, I think it must be a repeater station of some sort; afterall, the cell phone frequencies are supposedly within the 800mhz region, not 890mhz-910mhz.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[crayon]

An actual frequecy and a location would help with an FCC search ..

 

[dangitdoug]

OK...... We are going way back now...

In 1990 I worked across the street from a large cell tower and office. On our old Uniden brick HT's we were able to pick up phone calls on channel-1 of our HT's. After some searching with my scanner, I found that between 894.1 - 915.0 I was able to hear a lot of cell phone traffic. It would appear you are probably near an old analog transmitting site.

Doug K

 

[nexus]

What you most likely heard was an IMAGE from the cellular band. I use to take my older non trunking scanner and scan between 897 and 920mhz and would hear cellphone conversations all of the time. There aren't many analog cellphones in use these days, so you might be listening in on the tail end of a dying breed.

The only other thing it could of been would be cordless phones, but those would be very close in to you and you wouldn't be hearing someone checking voicemail unless its voicemail that their landline phone provider offers. Most times you can just tell the difference between a cordless phone call and a cell phone. I'm venturing to say what you heard was a cellphone call. Just set your scanner to go between 897 and 920 mhz and you'll probably find more. Including cellular control channels.

 

[JackSmith102]

That makes sense. Well, this morning I turned my scanner on, and within the first few minutes I was getting about three conversations from these frequencies:

909.0875
908.2000
908.1875 (same as above)
907.5625

And actually I think the range is more from 906mhz to 915mhz, not 890mhz to 910mhz as I stated earlier...

So I suppose it is possible these are cell phones, just the analog ones.. I didn't know they would still be around. Interesting.

 

[jas0nr7272]

Isn't that the 900mhz cordless phone band?

 

[JackSmith102]

I suppose it is possible that these are coming from cordless phones, though I am at a loss as to why they would be dialing into voice mailboxes.

Anyway, just a few hours ago I purchased a BCT15 on the internet. This should be a nice step up from my old BCT7!

 

[crayon]

I suppose it is possible that these are coming from cordless phones, though I am at a loss as to why they would be dialing into voice mailboxes.

I dial into my home voicemail anytime there is a message. It is much easier to let the phone company take care of voicemail.

 

[rfaricy]

I suppose it is possible that these are coming from cordless phones, though I am at a loss as to why they would be dialing into voice mailboxes.

Anyway, just a few hours ago I purchased a BCT15 on the internet. This should be a nice step up from my old BCT7!

What? Umm, many people use their phone company for voicemail over an answering machine. Those are indeed cordless phones.