What part of the conversation was I picking up.

dragon48

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I'm getting back into the scanning hobby a little and remembered an old mystery that I'm certain somebody can explain:

This was a long time ago with a borrowed radio shack handheld scanner. I don't remember the model, but it was a fantastic radio! I don't remember what frequency I was tuned into, but it was in either 1992 or 1993, so perhaps it was one of the old cell frequencies that are still blocked.

I was listening in on one of those paid sex line conversations. I heard both the caller and the woman he paid to speak with. At some point though, I heard a different man's voice that was coaching the woman on what to say, in order to prolong the conversation and get more money from the caller. I don't remember whether I heard the woman talk back to the third party. The caller obviously didn't hear the other party. So, can somebody please explain what specifically I had tuned into where I heard all the conversations, including the one that the caller was unable to hear?
 
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wtp

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Port Charlotte FL
without the freq, it could have been a cable channel !
46.61 to 46.97 and 49.67 to 49.99 would have been a house phone
152.51 to 152.81 an old car phone
824 to 849 and 868 to 894 analog cell
902 to 928 house phone.
or maybe an IFB for broadcasting.
 

IC-R20

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You were probably picking up whatever wireless phone system the call center had or some wireless feed they had running for whoever was managing to monitor the callers.
 

freqs

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warren michigan
OH BOY the baby monitors as well you could hear everything in the whole house .
I Modified my pro2006 to monitor Cell Phones .Cordless in a Trailer Park in the 80s was priceless.
buy why are the old Cell Phone freqs still blocked nothing there
 

tvengr

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OH BOY the baby monitors as well you could hear everything in the whole house .
The 46 & 49 MHz cordless phones were great. I heard neighbors making drug deals. The old 152 MHz mobile phones were equally interesting. You had to contact the mobile operator to make the call for you.
 
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RFI-EMI-GUY

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You were probably picking up whatever wireless phone system the call center had or some wireless feed they had running for whoever was managing to monitor the callers.
I recall that some illegal operations would use long range cordless phones to isolate the location in case police raided the location where the calls terminated.

As a side, there was some rebel political organization that used answering machines with security DTMF codes to communicate between different agents. They would get a beep on a pager, call a number, retrieve a message, leave another. The location of the answering machines was linked by cordless phone technology. So if govt agents traced a call to a building, they would find some equipment, but no people.
 

IC-R20

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I recall that some illegal operations would use long range cordless phones to isolate the location in case police raided the location where the calls terminated.

As a side, there was some rebel political organization that used answering machines with security DTMF codes to communicate between different agents. They would get a beep on a pager, call a number, retrieve a message, leave another. The location of the answering machines was linked by cordless phone technology. So if govt agents traced a call to a building, they would find some equipment, but no people.
Interesting, similar to how pirate stations would operate on FM.

I remember Senao used to make those cordless phones. Duplexed between 260 and 360 MHz analog FM. The base was like 5 watts and the handheld 3 watts. They were popular in Japan and Hong Kong in the 90s and I even found one in a US apartment duplex with the base connected to a roof antenna 7 years ago.

They also made 50 watt base stations that could go base to base as well as a mobile base station. It basically just acts like a landline extension and you could plug whatever phone into it. I briefly considered one back in 2013 for my remote trailer 25 miles north of town but wasn't about to get busted interfering with Mil-Air.
 

ladn

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OH BOY the baby monitors as well you could hear everything in the whole house .
I Modified my pro2006 to monitor Cell Phones .Cordless in a Trailer Park in the 80s was priceless.
buy why are the old Cell Phone freqs still blocked nothing there
The cell frequencies are still blocked because the ECPA is still in effect. Not that there'd be anything to monitor even if the frequencies were unblocked.

The ECPA was, in my opinion, an example of Federal overreach. Heavy lobbying from the new cell phone industry plus some lawmakers being caught making compromising phone calls was strong motivation to enact the legislation. The transition to digital cell technology quickly rendered much of the ECPA moot.
 
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