unblocked

[trx680]

So the scanners here in the USA have the cellular frequencies blocked. Is there anything other than cellular on those frequencies ?

 

[kayn1n32008]

Nope, and nothing analog. It is all CDMA/HSPA or GSM digital.


Sent from an unknown place...

 

[trx680]

Nope, and nothing analog. It is all CDMA/HSPA or GSM digital.


Sent from an unknown place...

what is CDMA/HSPA or GSM digital?

 

[lep]

CDMA = code division multiple access, a kind of spread spectrum. GSM = is the digital cellular system invented in Europe and now widely used also in the USA. They are digital, can not be decoded, the frequencies for their use are blocked by law in the USA and it would be illegal to decode them even if technically possible.

 

[kayn1n32008]

HSPA= High Speed Packet Access


Sent from an unknown place...

 

[PJH]

Either way it was a law created after some embarassing phone conversations were recorded back in the analog cellphone days and is fairly irrelevant today. With all the misinformation out there, I'd doubt you'd see the law changed anytime soon.

 

[Otto]

Either way it was a law created after some embarassing phone conversations were recorded back in the analog cellphone days and is fairly irrelevant today. With all the misinformation out there, I'd doubt you'd see the law changed anytime soon.

It was Newt Gingrich's creation to have the cell bands blocked from scanners after someone recorded a conversation he was having with his mistress while his wife was at home dying of cancer. This was during his famous "family values" campaign.

 

[n5ims]

Having an unblocked scanner in the US is about as useful as having a TV that can tune in the old analog TV signals. Yes, it can still do it, but there's nothing being transmitted for it to pick up you'd never miss it if that feature didn't exist.

 

[lep]

It was Newt Gingrich's creation to have the cell bands blocked from scanners after someone recorded a conversation he was having with his mistress while his wife was at home dying of cancer. This was during his famous "family values" campaign.

I live in Georgia so I am one who had to "put up" with Newt even before he was a Congressperson [he taught history at a small college in N. Georgia] But, that said, the prosecution for taping a phone call was in Virginia Beach, VA. Newt's phone conversations were actually in Florida. A sad day all around, Newt's present wife (who has the taste for expensive jewels) is the wife who replaced his former one who died).

The law is lon the books but is no longer relevant but there is nothing there to listen too. If you really want a scanner that tunes the 'blocked band' you can purchase it in Canada. Several dealers there Export them to USA customers, such as Radio World distributors, their advertisement can be found in TCA (the Canadian Amateur) or you can search them on the web.

 

[gewecke]

OR, Find out for yourself and buy one of the older but capable and easily modifiable (cellular restore) scanners that can be had for a dime or two on eham, craigslist, fleabay, etc.

Such as the Uniden 890xlt, bc200, realistic Pro-2xxx series and others.

73,
n9zas

 

[MK]

If you really want a scanner that tunes the 'blocked band' you can purchase it in Canada. Several dealers there Export them to USA customers, such as Radio World distributors, their advertisement can be found in TCA (the Canadian Amateur) or you can search them on the web.

I am not interested in ordering anything, but I am wondering if RadioWorld still ships to the USA. Some time ago they added "No international orders" to their policies. Does this include the USA too?

Radioworld Company Policies

Another point is that phone carriers were removing their analog equipment from cell tower sites years ago. There is probably no hardware left to retransmit signals from older cell phones.

 

[ChrisP]

It was Newt Gingrich's creation to have the cell bands blocked from scanners after someone recorded a conversation he was having with his mistress while his wife was at home dying of cancer. This was during his famous "family values" campaign.

To be accurate, and trying not to take this thread even further off topic, that statement is inaccurate. The law banning cell phone reception in scanners was the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), signed into law in 1988. The recordings of Newt Gingrich's phone call occurred in 1996, and became public in 1997. The Florida couple that recorded the calls were prosecuted Justice Department and paid fines.

- Chris

 

[lep]

I am not interested in ordering anything, but I am wondering if RadioWorld still ships to the USA. Some time ago they added "No international orders" to their policies. Does this include the USA too

I don't need to order anything either so I don't know their current policy. Their wholesale 'guy' is my good friend, Pierre Manville but I no longer have a reason to go to Toronto very often so am out of touch.

I do know that after the passage of ECPA they did quite a brisk business in selling unblocked receivers to USA destinations, I always thought the buyers were foolish and maybe disappointed afterwards.

 

[Otto]

The law is lon the books but is no longer relevant but there is nothing there to listen too. If you really want a scanner that tunes the 'blocked band' you can purchase it in Canada. Several dealers there Export them to USA customers, such as Radio World distributors, their advertisement can be found in TCA (the Canadian Amateur) or you can search them on the web.

You're absolutely right. Since analog cell phones are something of the past (I still own one, but I doubt I could order service for it today) there is practically nothing to listen to these days on those bands, unless you had some sort of interest in decoding the digital signal.

 

[detroit780]

Cell phone story

Wow where did you that Story?
Newt's wife died of Cancer this year, the fake cell phone recording was in 1997 and was about a cover up of ethical errors. Not cheating on his wife.

Perhaps you are confusing Newt with John Edwards who actually did cheat on his wife while she was dying of cancer.

It was a fake cell call because they say a Florida couple waled into a radio shack and bought a scanner then were able to follow Newt's call as he was driving and they were driving. The cell phone band had been removed from scanners before then and the only way they could possibly track the call was by monitoring the image frequency, then they would have to change that frequency as they went from cell to cell. They were supposedly novices at monitoring. So the entire story never made sense.

It was Newt Gingrich's creation to have the cell bands blocked from scanners after someone recorded a conversation he was having with his mistress while his wife was at home dying of cancer. This was during his famous "family values" campaign.

 

[kd7rto]

Not all receivers come in a cellular blocked version. Some very fine equipment is kept out of the US market, because of this.

Let's also not forget actions in 2001, "Rules To Further Ensure That Scanning Receivers Do Not Receive Cellular Radio Signals". Federal Register, Volume 66 Issue 116 (Friday, June 15, 2001).

If you're not interested in monitoring cellular, but you are interested in public safety and other 800 MHz traffic, this concerns you. Your cellular blocked receiver is not just unable to tune cellular frequencies directly, it is also mandated to suppress "images" on adjacent frequencies.

That additional filtering will degrade your receiver's performance on the frequencies that you do monitor. For these reasons, we do have cause to lobby for the removal of cellular blocking requirements.

 

[pjtnascar]

There was always far more to hear on the cordless phone frequencies anyway. And those weren't blocked.

 

[AC2OY]

I remember back in 1987 doing a spectrum search from 25.000mHz up the things that that Realistic Pro-2006 used to pick up!!!!

 

[gtaman]

The only good about an unblocked scanner is wireless mic freqs. Interesting things I've heard backstage lol.

 

[AC2OY]

LOL I bet!!