Open police comms on FSR ch 04

[dkcorlfla]

Hi all, thought some might find this interesting. Had my scanner running and it found police activity on FSR/GMRS ch 04. The audio was clear and spot on 462.6375. Traffic stops, DL and tag info sent in the clear.

Yikes! If I get pulled over I not giving up my ID ;-)

I know what department it is and it's small but FSR channel 4?

Seemed kinda crazy to me.

 

[merlin]

That could be a fallback channel, licensed before GMRS/FRS became their own thing.

 

[W9WSS]

I wonder if it was possibly an image, or someone re-broadcasting the police repeater on that frequency?

 

[mcjones2013]

A local agency in my area used FRS radios on their DUI checkpoints as talk around radios (saying which car is the last in the group to be stopped, which cars have to go in for additional search, etc), but they'd still have their department radio on in case they needed to contact dispatch. I haven't been through that agency's checkpoints in a while, so not sure if that's still their standard or not.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Hi all, thought some might find this interesting. Had my scanner running and it found police activity on FSR/GMRS ch 04. The audio was clear and spot on 462.6375. Traffic stops, DL and tag info sent in the clear.

Yikes! If I get pulled over I not giving up my ID ;-)

I know what department it is and it's small but FSR channel 4?

Seemed kinda crazy to me.

What agency? Orange county is encrypted 800 MHz so likelihood of an image is nil to zero.

 

[dkcorlfla]

I wonder if it was possibly an image, or someone re-broadcasting the police repeater on that frequency?

I think Merlin has it right, just an old system setup before FSR/GMRS

Don't think it is an image as I get the same with the scanner and a SDR. It's also not just short range unit to unit handhelds as I hear dispatch and a unique tone at the end of each TX. I think it's some type of low power repeater with the antenna up about 100 feet as I know of a building in the area I think it is that has an antenna farm on it. I have a cheap handheld GMRS radio that should have the channel in it. I will have to take it on one of my long walks and see if I can receive when near the building.

 

[BenScan]

Might just be training, especially if you're close to an academy or police explorer program training area.

 

[dkcorlfla]

Correction, it just got very busy as there was a car vs ped. accident. After a good listen I believe I'm only hearing 1/2 of the conversation. I'm getting the input channel with mobile units calling dispatch but I do not hear dispatch. I will have to try and figure out the likely output and see if I can split my antenna feed so I can monitor both at the same time.

Been interesting trying to figure it out.

BTW - I'm not sure I should post who I believe it is on a public forum.

 

[N9JIG]

Might just be training, especially if you're close to an academy or police explorer program training area.

I agree. The possibility of it being a legacy system from before GMRS and FRS was a thing is highly unlikely as GMRS dates from the 1960's on 460 MHz. and FRS channels were never assigned to any use prior to the 1990's.

I would wager on cadet or explorer training.

 

[nd5y]

That could be a fallback channel, licensed before GMRS/FRS became their own thing.

Any local government with a grandfathered GMRS license (before 1987?) would NOT be on a 12.5 kHz interstitial channel.

It's probably somebody rebroadcasting stuff on a FRS radio.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I think Merlin has it right, just an old system setup before FSR/GMRS

Don't think it is an image as I get the same with the scanner and a SDR. It's also not just short range unit to unit handhelds as I hear dispatch and a unique tone at the end of each TX. I think it's some type of low power repeater with the antenna up about 100 feet as I know of a building in the area I think it is that has an antenna farm on it. I have a cheap handheld GMRS radio that should have the channel in it. I will have to take it on one of my long walks and see if I can receive when near the building.

I would be curious as to what you find. Identifying the agency would be helpful,

 

[rk911]

Hi all, thought some might find this interesting. Had my scanner running and it found police activity on FSR/GMRS ch 04. The audio was clear and spot on 462.6375. Traffic stops, DL and tag info sent in the clear.

Yikes! If I get pulled over I not giving up my ID ;-)

I know what department it is and it's small but FSR channel 4?

Seemed kinda crazy to me.

That does sound crazy but I doubt that any PD is deliberately using FRS/GMRS frequencies. Something in the scanner is causing that to happen. BTW, in case you weren't kidding, refusing to produce a DL, ID or to identify yourself when requested by a LEO is a violation of law in most if not all states. Refusal to exit the vehicle when requested to do so by a LEO is also a violation.

 

[DeoVindice]

That does sound crazy but I doubt that any PD is deliberately using FRS/GMRS frequencies. Something in the scanner is causing that to happen. BTW, in case you weren't kidding, refusing to produce a DL, ID or to identify yourself when requested by a LEO is a violation of law in most if not all states. Refusal to exit the vehicle when requested to do so by a LEO is also a violation.

Refusal to protect PII/CJI is not acceptable either.

 

[RichardKramer]

I remember an incident awhile back when a PD officer's kid set his frs radio on vox by the officer's radio and sent out the calls on an frs freq.

 

[dkcorlfla]

I remember an incident awhile back when a PD officer's kid set his frs radio on vox by the officer's radio and sent out the calls on an frs freq.

That may well be the cause. I'm trying to sort this out and have both the scanner and my SDR monitoring two different frequencies using two different antennas but so far nothing but silence.

 

[N4DES]

There was a similar issue like this where Marine 16 was being re-broadcasted on FRS. It was quietly delt with.

 

[Chronic]

might be a rebroadcast over Zello or similar

 

[dkcorlfla]

After looking for the signal and not finding anything and thinking back on what I did hear I now believe Richard Kramer had it right. A FSR radio left in the police car with VOX on would be consistence with what I heard. I only had half of the transmission. The signal lasted a couple of days (about what I would expect from a good battery pack on the FSR) That or it was found by the cleaning crew, or the kid got all worked up over the lost FSR radio and Daddy found it in the car. DOH!

I always have the GMRS scan running as it only takes a fraction of a second so if the signal comes back I will try and investigate but I believe it was a FSR radio left by mistake.

 

[mmckenna]

A FSR radio

Just a heads up, it's not FSR, it's FRS, Family Radio Service:

Family Radio Service (FRS)

The Family Radio Service (FRS) is a private, two-way, very short-distance voice and data communications service for facilitating family and group activities. The most common use for FRS channels is short-distance, two-way voice communications using small hand-held radios that are similar to...

www.fcc.gov

 

[dkcorlfla]

Darn, and I though it was GMSR too ;-) My bad.