On duty cops using GMRS repeater for private use?

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BonziBuddy

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I've been listening to these guys on 462.7250mhz for a while now. They have a lot of private conversations full of cussing and everything... but every once and a while they call each other for license plate look-ups and driver license look-ups etc. They talk about a lot of police related stuff and upper management etc, yet half of their conversations are about how they hate certain people and how bull*** this and *** that. For a while I thought they were just EMS or something, but they talk about pulling people over etc.

Anybody else hear them on 462.7250? they're somewhere in Queens I figure.
 
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gewecke

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And the repeater owner or trustee allows this? I would think the repeater would promptly be shut off at this point!
n9zas
 

SCANdal

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Bud,

That frequency is quite busy in the NY Metro area. Can you pinpoint a tone (CTCSS or DCS) being used by these guys?

SCANdal
 

hockeyshrink

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i got a 110 pl ctcss

It's 2:46 now...I have never heard these guys before who have been ragchewing on 725 for the last 20 mins, but they're in Queens. I think one of them mentioned "Howie's" machine, referring to WB2HWW on the ham bands in Flushing Queens.

P.S. At the end of their ragchew, one guy did actually ID himself!!!!! (Kudos to you, pardner!!!!!!) and he's in Queens. The other one was talking about putting a siren in his car and chasing down criminals. Sounded more like a wacker....
 
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IW_RADIO

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The GMRS repeater is located at the same site as the WB2HWW repeater in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It identifies as the "Police/Fire/EMS GMRS Repeater" (no call-sign) but it is mainly used by a handful of young guys who are members of local volunteer ambulance corps like Glen Oaks, Little Neck and Flushing. Some of them id (rather quickly) and some never id at all.
 

auxscan

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auxiliary cops

some them are hams some aren't. The ones who are on around midnight are auxiliary cops. They talk in NYPD lingo but I guess just goofing around. As a former member of the Auxiliary police. Most of the things they say are true. I left the program not to long ago & alot of people did. So I believe its just a rant. However pulling cars over and adding lights to their personal cars will defently jam them. Even there can be chargers on them if caught. But doing license plate check over gmrs should get them in trouble with the fcc.

@SCANdal
they're on
462.725 MHz with a PL of 110.9 usually around midnight.
 

BonziBuddy

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They must be using hand-held radios I assume? Or do they have buff radios in their squad cars like the Indianapolis police had?
 

captmfa7112

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Anyone know what kind of height their antenna has? They have amazing coverage for a GMRS system, I hear them clearly throughout the city and in parts of Jersey.
 

radioman2001

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If its the group thinking of, they call themselves the BLUE LIGHT group, they have machines all around the tri-state area, and use other peoples bussiness repeater inputs for cross patching. Some are MOF, some aren't. Trying top get them to operate legally is going to be a challenge, after finding their illegal crosspatch on one of a customers repeaters they just relocated to some other one. Obviously they have some connection with the NYC FCC field office, since nothing ever seems to happen when they are caught. They should be on the Rohn 25 tower located on an apartment building around the GCP and Cross Island Pkwy, or could also be on top of Creedmoore Hospital. That site has a great lookout.
 

hockeyshrink

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New York on

If its the group thinking of, they call themselves the BLUE LIGHT group, they have machines all around the tri-state area, <snip>...They should be on the Rohn 25 tower located on an apartment building around the GCP and Cross Island Pkwy, or could also be on top of Creedmoore Hospital. That site has a great lookout.

Is that a different group than the BLUECOM outfit that uses 600 on LI and other freqs in NJ?

<rant ON>

I have no problem with any licensed individual using GMRS for what it was intended, that is "to facilitate the activities of an adult individual and his or her immediate family members, including a spouse, children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and in-laws (47 CFR 95.179). Normally, as a GMRS system licensee, you and your family members would communicate among yourselves over the general area of your residence or during recreational group outings, such as camping or hiking." (From the FCC web page on GMRS, FCC: Wireless Services: General Mobile Radio Service: GMRS Home).

But playing like you own a frequency, chasing legitimate users off a freq by telling them they are "unauthorized," demanding others to ID themselves when you don't, and playing cop or firefighter by signing on and off, using silly unit numbers, or worse - conducting police activities like running license plates, is just wrong and inappropriate if not criminal.

If you are legitimately involved in law enforcement or EMS work, there is plenty of reserved spectrum for you to use without having to play games in GMRS, a personal radio service for the general public.

As far as the FCC, I doubt there is any agreement or understanding between them and these groups. I think it is more the case they simply don't care about what happens on GMRS. That said, they seem to have stepped in and cleaned up the craziness on 675 in NYC, so perhaps there is hope.


I would think the NYPD would be more interested in this than the FCC, especially if these folks are somehow connected to NYPD or EMS. I cannot even imagine the liability issues for conducting police communications outside of designated channels. If they are just wackers or auxillaries playing cops in their POVs or whatever - the guy yesterday was discussing the installation of flashers and a Federal siren, I don't think the NYPD would appreciate that. But again, I could be wrong.


<rant OFF>

I thought I heard one of them say yesterday Howie owns that repeater, in which case it is probably in the same place as WB2HWW, per IW_RADIO's comment.

Just my $0.02 on this issue.
 
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radioman2001

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I totally agree, or their is the possibility that it's a ham group who couldn't get an allocation in the NYC area running it. I used to have a machine on 725 on Alpine, I took it down a few years ago so I really can't comment any more about it,thats is all I remember. I have a CLEAN 470 up there now, no need for GMRS.
 

IW_RADIO

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The majority of the operators are NOT hams which is why they are using GMRS. Some are apparently GMRS licensed (like George in Flushing) and some are not. The repeater has good height and output power. This is a separate stand-alone GMRS repeater not to be confused with the Blue-Comm system on 462.600 MHz which has several sites.
 

auxscan

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Im pretty sure if the NYPD was tip off about these auxiliary, they would be forced out the program. Apparently I've heard racist remarks over the repeater by these APO's. I was personally offended. I hope they clean up their act. As for the Repeater I hear this message "Police/fire/ems GMRS repeater". The location is somewhere in Queens possabily same owned repeater by WB2HWW.

As for 462.675 aka ch 20. Since I live on the borderline of Queens & Brooklyn. Im still able to catch cursing/politics/pirates on this frequency. since its NOT repeater accessed anymore you need to be in the genral area of the transmiter. I was still able to hear activity in LES.
 

auxscan

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vertex

They must be using hand-held radios I assume? Or do they have buff radios in their squad cars like the Indianapolis police had?

yes i believe they're using handhelds, since one said he wanted mdc1200 on his vx-900. The other had a mdc1200 on his radio already.
 

BonziBuddy

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Anyone know what kind of height their antenna has? They have amazing coverage for a GMRS system, I hear them clearly throughout the city and in parts of Jersey.
I think it's strange that I cannot reach their repeater on the GMRS 20 repeater input, yet I'm getting close to full signal from them 20 miles away. They must be using some other frequency for their input... which is against FCC rules isn't it.
 

JoeyC

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I think it's strange that I cannot reach their repeater on the GMRS 20 repeater input, yet I'm getting close to full signal from them 20 miles away. They must be using some other frequency for their input... which is against FCC rules isn't it.

You are probably not transmitting using the correct input PL.
 

auxscan

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GMRS CH 20 repeater is closed. unforunltly the great repeater was closed due pirates and unauthorized chatter. you can't hit the repeater unless you have the correct input PL. the input frequency would be on the 467.XXXX MHz for GMRS. however having FRS radio triggering GMRS repeaters is illegal. the must be the same
output 462.550
input 467.550
 

BonziBuddy

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Another thing to bring up. On GMRS channel 18, some college somewhere has been using this frequency for their public safety operations. Is this legit? I think I remember hearing once that the upper GMRS channels can be used for business use now. Is this true?

I think it might be UMASS.
 
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