Hiding a scanner on public property

[lucky43113]

You can buy weatherproof gasketed thermoplastic electrical boxes at hardware stores. They are available in all sizes. Usually you will see a medium sized one supported on several pieces of underground PVC electrical conduit sticking out of the soil on traffic medians and in the landscaped islands in parking lots. Usually they contain controls for irrigation systems. No one gives them a second thought.

cool idea

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Do a search for "ammo can repeater"...

In the woods near a tree stand, this would not cause too much concern. In an urban area, in Nervous 'Merika,, well see for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hmcf1mHVoU

 

[pb_lonny]

You can buy weatherproof gasketed thermoplastic electrical boxes at hardware stores. They are available in all sizes. Usually you will see a medium sized one supported on several pieces of underground PVC electrical conduit sticking out of the soil on traffic medians and in the landscaped islands in parking lots. Usually they contain controls for irrigation systems. No one gives them a second thought.

Great idea and exactly the sort of response I was looking for.

 

[bpckty1]

Perhaps they are using cell phones/texting, or MDTs.

 

[Dog]

In the woods near a tree stand, this would not cause too much concern. In an urban area, in Nervous 'Merika,, well see for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hmcf1mHVoU

He isn't in "Merika", and he said it was an outdoor area.

Location is "out of the way" I have checked and they have some bushes on public land which are close to their admin office.

Something camouflage would fit right in hidden in "some bushes".

 

[lu81fitter]

Sounds like quite an undertaking to me just to gather some elusive coms. I am not that ambitious (or nosey enough) to go to those extremes. I guess I will say good luck to you. I hope your friends don't read about you in the paper. Just my opinion.

 

[novaboy032]

Great idea and exactly the sort of response I was looking for.

I must ask, what is the company? And where are they I'll do some digging and see what I can find

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[ecps92]

I applaud the OP for being one of those Die-Hard Scannists who DO spend the time to SEEK and SEARCH out the information that ultimately does populate the RRDB and Wiki. Without those efforts No One would have PL, TG, DPL, NAC, DMR info. You won't find any of that information in the FCC DB

Now as to the method, years ago (Pre 2001) this would have been a nice plan, now...it does open the situation up to other issues. I even remember a Fox-Hunt where the Bomb Squad almost detonated the Ammo Case, so be careful and maybe this is one to move on from for now, until a better monitoring situation can be found.

Sounds like quite an undertaking to me just to gather some elusive coms. I am not that ambitious (or nosey enough) to go to those extremes. I guess I will say good luck to you. I hope your friends don't read about you in the paper. Just my opinion.

 

[radioman2001]

I feel bad for the OP being subjected to all our paranoia here in the the U S, and I wonder how the responding posters feel about Foxhunts? A bunch of people running around in cars with big antenna sticking out of them. You should have seen some of the reactions when myself and another tech in uniform were searching for an interfering signal. Next time we go in soft clothes.
The big G is now making us so afraid to do anything that might give the appearance of doing something that might be mistaked for the big T. They would rather we do all our communications on something they can listen to record and go through. I suspect in the not too distant future we will no longer be able to own or use personal radio devices like so many other countries. All communications will be through G sanctioned vendors with no expectation of privacy.

Quote"I applaud the OP for being one of those Die-Hard Scannists who DO spend the time to SEEK and SEARCH out the information that ultimately does populate the RRDB and Wiki. Without those efforts No One would have PL, TG, DPL, NAC, DMR info. You won't find any of that information in the FCC DB.

Thumbs up on this, plus most don't realize the only reason anyone can monitor a trunked system today is because some smart people( I believe it was a group from MIT) who sat in a van for hours at a time decoding and deciphering the data streams.Not because a vendor gave up the info.

The best advice I can give is what has already been suggested, or parking a vehicle somewhere nearby on public property with an antenna pointed at the building.

 

[pb_lonny]

I feel bad for the OP being subjected to all our paranoia here in the the U S, and I wonder how the responding posters feel about Foxhunts? A bunch of people running around in cars with big antenna sticking out of them. You should have seen some of the reactions when myself and another tech in uniform were searching for an interfering signal. Next time we go in soft clothes.
The big G is now making us so afraid to do anything that might give the appearance of doing something that might be mistaked for the big T. They would rather we do all our communications on something they can listen to record and go through. I suspect in the not too distant future we will no longer be able to own or use personal radio devices like so many other countries. All communications will be through G sanctioned vendors with no expectation of privacy.

Quote"I applaud the OP for being one of those Die-Hard Scannists who DO spend the time to SEEK and SEARCH out the information that ultimately does populate the RRDB and Wiki. Without those efforts No One would have PL, TG, DPL, NAC, DMR info. You won't find any of that information in the FCC DB.

Thumbs up on this, plus most don't realize the only reason anyone can monitor a trunked system today is because some smart people( I believe it was a group from MIT) who sat in a van for hours at a time decoding and deciphering the data streams.Not because a vendor gave up the info.

The best advice I can give is what has already been suggested, or parking a vehicle somewhere nearby on public property with an antenna pointed at the building.

Thank you for the support.

We used to run fox hunts here with some good results and interesting stories to go along with them.

A local fast food place were using a VHF frequency for the drive thru which we had trouble locating so three of us rocked up, purchased some food and sat for an hour with multiple radios trying to find the frequency.

These couple of articles really outline what I am doing (I didn't write either of these):
http://www.scanningtasmania.org/rfdetective
http://www.scanningtasmania.org/stealthscan

 

[pb_lonny]

I applaud the OP for being one of those Die-Hard Scannists who DO spend the time to SEEK and SEARCH out the information that ultimately does populate the RRDB and Wiki. Without those efforts No One would have PL, TG, DPL, NAC, DMR info. You won't find any of that information in the FCC DB

Thank you, glad somebody gets it.

As a side. I did a very early morning recon of this location, the bushes that were out the front last time I drove past have now gone, so hiding the scanner in a case is now not going to work

I will have to find another way to find out what frequency (if any) they are using.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Radioman:

There was a time when Japan had a cellular mobile teleohone system that was prorietary and run by the Govt of Japan. The US was on the cusp of a trade agreement with Japan which would have allowed any US company access to sell phones on the system. Motorola wanted to be the first to develop a phone, however no specifications had been released. So Motorola sent two engineers to japan with some clandestine test equipment. The engineers rented a limo with a phone and paid the driver to take them sightseeing. This enabled the engineers to record all the control channel data including the cellular hand off protocals.

 

[ecps92]

Seem to be bad links, when accessed from the US of A

Thank you for the support.

We used to run fox hunts here with some good results and interesting stories to go along with them.

A local fast food place were using a VHF frequency for the drive thru which we had trouble locating so three of us rocked up, purchased some food and sat for an hour with multiple radios trying to find the frequency.

These couple of articles really outline what I am doing (I didn't write either of these):
http://www.scanningtasmania.org/rfdetective
http://www.scanningtasmania.org/stealthscan

 

[mikewazowski]

Links open fine for me.

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Links open fine for me.

Interesting, I get 403 errors on them...

 

[KevinC]

Interesting, I get 403 errors on them...

I do as well.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

same here apparently the pages are being blocked by some security service or big brother.

 

[pb_lonny]

Not my site so nothing I can do about it...

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

tried Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, same results as Firefox.

 

[RayAir]

Your best bet is to use an RTL-SDR with sdr# and watch areas of the spectrum you think might be in use. You'll need to be somewhat close. Then just watch for the spikes of any nearby signals and investigate as needed.

Or buy an old work van, stencil "Joe's Heating & Cooling 555-1212" on it and outfit the inside of it with SIGINT equipment.