Only the agent side?

[FireBuff44]

B3/B4 was active last nite again. i heard them my entire ride from lower east side to bergen county around 9pm. some of the units were on b4 and were told by one of the guys to make sure they were switchin to b3 for the repeater cause they were gonna be fanning out to further away from each other. they were active till at least midnite. all comms analog 167.9 pl.

 

[shell6]

I've never had B4, only B3. Can anyone PM me the full B setup? I'd be happy to oblige with other parts of the spectrum that I have.

 

[KC9NCF]

Has it occurred to you that if you can hear these guys / gals on the input freq, then YOU may possibly be the one being watched? You gotta be awful close to hear the input activity!

 

[SCPD]

Ha! Interesting point. B3 being the input is generally the same as simplex in transmit power. VHF in populated area's can be heard about 2 to 5 miles with a good scanner and antenna. But still, seems the Fed's are close to your proximity so y'all might exercise a little caution.

 

[ecps92]

Then the answer is/was Simplex [and you are out of range of the other units] and/or they were listening to another channel and answering via yours, an older form of Interop [ie: using a Scanner or other Receiver]

I didn't check the CTCSS, I didn't know what it was, my scanner did not have a tone programmed in. Thus, CTCSS has nothing to do with it because my scanner wasn't using it.

 

[ecps92]

NOT and if they want they can Knock on my door. Remember VHF carries a good distance, Simplex and many of the units are still using Mobiles vs Portables which add to the distance. Plenty can be heard on the inputs.

It's also amazing how many Local Public Safety Agencies use the input Simplex w/o Tone or a different Tone.

Has it occurred to you that if you can hear these guys / gals on the input freq, then YOU may possibly be the one being watched? You gotta be awful close to hear the input activity!

 

[shell6]

Just to clear something: I live in manhattan, surveillance was in the Bronx and believe me I don't run a drug spot so I think I'm in the safe. =p

 

[Packetpeeker]

Stations are calculated at distances where interference is not likely to occur.

Think about this,

1st any federal agency can be granted permission from the FCC to use frequencies in almost any way that they desire, and what I mean by this is on a normal repeater set up your mobiles and portables will transmit high (the repeater RECEIVES HIGH) and repeats usually 5 mhz lower and if the dispatcher talks this goes out 5 mhz Lower so therefore the radios receive 5 mhz Lower, however they may be doing just the opposite, Transmitting Low and receiving high.

Also with new radios the splits can be 15khz, 12.5 khz, 6.2 khz, or 5 khz, the most common is 12.5 khz split but again these agencies can basically set up any way they want, also keep in mind anything that is remotely sensitive is most definitly going to be encrypted, so either you will hear what sounds like an open carrier (Completely Digitally Encrypted) or if it sounds like "White noise" the voice is digitally encrypted, in either case don't waste your time trying to listen to it.

I hope that this basic information was helpful to you.

 

[n2nov]

Try this as your layout for Bank B in NYC (all 167.9 PL):
B1 - 172.525 R
B2 - 172.525 S
B3 - 172.475 R
B4 - 172.475 S
B5 - 172.425 R
B6 - 172.425 S
B7 - 170.825 R (Ivanhoe Base)
B8 - 170.825 S

R is repeater output frequency and S is simplex on the output frequency of the repeater.

 

[SCANdal]

1st any federal agency can be granted permission from the FCC to use frequencies in almost any way that they desire, and what I mean by this is on a normal repeater set up your mobiles and portables will transmit high (the repeater RECEIVES HIGH) and repeats usually 5 mhz lower and if the dispatcher talks this goes out 5 mhz Lower so therefore the radios receive 5 mhz Lower, however they may be doing just the opposite, Transmitting Low and receiving high.

shell6,

While I suppose that what Packetpeeker claims maybe technically be true ("...any federal agency can be granted permission from the FCC..."), if a federal agency wishes to operate outside of the federally allocated bands, bear in mind that the Federal Communications Commission actually has very, very little to do with licensing federal agencies and how federal agencies configure their radio systems. The function of "licensing" federal agencies to use frequencies in the federal LMR bands is handled by Office of Spectrum Management of the US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/osmhome.html

In addition, due to the narrow portion of the overall spectrum that is available for federal LMR use, the formula Packetpeeker cites above for repeater offsets (+5 Mhz) is not applicable.

also keep in mind anything that is remotely sensitive is most definitly going to be encrypted, so either you will hear what sounds like an open carrier (Completely Digitally Encrypted) or if it sounds like "White noise" the voice is digitally encrypted, in either case don't waste your time trying to listen to it.

As opposed to partly digitally encrypted?

SCANdal

 

[ecps92]

Maybe in FCC Controled bands, but Federal Monitoring is not controlled / regulated by the FCC as ScanDal has pointed out.

And in the 406-420 [UHF A] they have finally begun to implement a Standard Offset [+9 Mhz] not 5 Mhz

In the VHF Govt [162-174] due to limited frequencies and congestion [Major Cities] there are not many standard in/out off-sets

Stations are calculated at distances where interference is not likely to occur.

Think about this,

1st any federal agency can be granted permission from the FCC to use frequencies in almost any way that they desire, and what I mean by this is on a normal repeater set up your mobiles and portables will transmit high (the repeater RECEIVES HIGH) and repeats usually 5 mhz lower and if the dispatcher talks this goes out 5 mhz Lower so therefore the radios receive 5 mhz Lower, however they may be doing just the opposite, Transmitting Low and receiving high.

Also with new radios the splits can be 15khz, 12.5 khz, 6.2 khz, or 5 khz, the most common is 12.5 khz split but again these agencies can basically set up any way they want, also keep in mind anything that is remotely sensitive is most definitly going to be encrypted, so either you will hear what sounds like an open carrier (Completely Digitally Encrypted) or if it sounds like "White noise" the voice is digitally encrypted, in either case don't waste your time trying to listen to it.

I hope that this basic information was helpful to you.

 

[Packetpeeker]

Sorry for the misinformation guys, was only trying to explain what might be happening with trying to monitor that band.