There's not much about worth listening to on scanners these days.
Pretty much limited to aircraft, unencrypted PMR (cab companies, shopping centres etc), some fire services, and marine traffic. There are a few bits and pieces here and there, but really depends on your location.
Aircraft and marine are likely to stick around for a few years yet.
Alternative Comms
Re: Alternative Comms
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail - Benjamin Franklin
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the-gnole
Re: Alternative Comms
I knew a freelance photographer who had his for tracking fire brigade/service incidents so he could get the photo's he needed, not the intrusive ones but the general ones.
But as a lot of stuff is going digital it is harder to find.
I was on a race check-point a few years back and the other steward pulled out a scanner and could listen to the person in the house opposite using the walk around telephone.
It was close distance, and not good for more than 50mtrs.
All good fun if you are into that sort of stuff, but not much use in a post fall world.
But as a lot of stuff is going digital it is harder to find.
I was on a race check-point a few years back and the other steward pulled out a scanner and could listen to the person in the house opposite using the walk around telephone.
It was close distance, and not good for more than 50mtrs.
All good fun if you are into that sort of stuff, but not much use in a post fall world.
Re: Alternative Comms
The newer DECT type cordless phones are digital, so cant be listened in on with a scanner either...
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail - Benjamin Franklin
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Ian
Re: Alternative Comms
Back to comms.
The higher the frequency the shorter the range all other things being equal. So 'Ultra High Frequency' (UHF) as found in licence free PMR446 hand-held radios and the 70cm ham radios is the mentioned 5 miles with the wind behind you. TV signals are up there as well and is why we need so many transmitters around the country.
Lower frequencies such as 'Very High Frequency' (VHF) go further, CB and 2m ham for example, say 25 miles for argument. Also VHF car radios, which is why you hear radio stations from the next county but not the other end of the country.
Even lower 'High Frequency' (HF) go much further and will bounce around the Earth if you are careful.
Low Frequency (LF) can be heard for thousands of miles and through rock but the aerials are hundreds of yards long, a but difficult for everyday use.
Increasing power helps but not as much as you think, double the power (Watts) will not double the range.
A good matched aerial and set up also helps a lot.
So what is available. The government in its wisdom has noticed that the amount of space for different radio channels (Bandwidth) is limited so they have, world wide, declared that it belongs to them and charge people to use it. Only a few bits are available to the normal population.
Without license in the UK, PMR446, CB and a few oddities, car door locks, toys, garage door openers etc. Because the available space for these is so small and so many people want them they are restricted in power and efficiency so your car door key will not interfere with others for example. The PMR446 is deliberately cut down to low power and a non-removable awful aerial so the thousands of users won't interfere with each other. You can use more powerful non-approved radios and adapt the aerials for better range but it is a criminal offence to do so. CB is better in that more power is allowed and aerials can be approved.
Otherwise you need to have a license. You may buy one (more later) or get a ham license. The ham license is now easy to get, our club regularly teach 8 and 10 year olds who sail through the exam, you don't even have to be literate, an amanuensis can be supplied if necessary and it is quick and cheap as described by Scobie above. Don't forget the support of other hams to help and support you, invaluable. You will still be restricted on frequencies and power, after all the government don't get any money for the ham license so they won't give anything away.
You may buy a licence called, bloody stupid name, 'Simple UK Light' which lets you use decent hand portable and car radios UHF or VHF and costs £75 for five years. Not too powerful and restricted to a few frequencies but OK. The sort of things taxis use. You will be sharing the frequencies with others but scrambling is available. One downside is that you need to be an 'organisation' to get one but I can see no reason why, for example, UK-Preppers could not buy a 'Simple UK Light' and authorise members to work under that license, user numbers are unlimited under one license, but they must be connected in some fashion and a formal permitting letter would work. Or you could say you were the 23 Acacia Avenue response team or such and get one for your family.
Other options are available such as £9,900 for exclusive use of two frequencies countrywide. I don't think people here are too concerned with those. Other licenses are available such as marine use, satellite comms, aeronautical etc. all illegal for us to use for the typical land based prepper with or without a license.
So real world, legal choices:
Cheap short range PMR446.
Bit more expensive, further range CB.
Cheap to start, a few hundred (to many thousands if you wish) in kit Ham and talk to the world.
Cheapish to start, many hundreds for kit (but building site quality, scrambled if needed etc.) Simple UK Light and talk to the town.
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomm ... ences/?a=0 Look for the FAQ sections
The higher the frequency the shorter the range all other things being equal. So 'Ultra High Frequency' (UHF) as found in licence free PMR446 hand-held radios and the 70cm ham radios is the mentioned 5 miles with the wind behind you. TV signals are up there as well and is why we need so many transmitters around the country.
Lower frequencies such as 'Very High Frequency' (VHF) go further, CB and 2m ham for example, say 25 miles for argument. Also VHF car radios, which is why you hear radio stations from the next county but not the other end of the country.
Even lower 'High Frequency' (HF) go much further and will bounce around the Earth if you are careful.
Low Frequency (LF) can be heard for thousands of miles and through rock but the aerials are hundreds of yards long, a but difficult for everyday use.
Increasing power helps but not as much as you think, double the power (Watts) will not double the range.
A good matched aerial and set up also helps a lot.
So what is available. The government in its wisdom has noticed that the amount of space for different radio channels (Bandwidth) is limited so they have, world wide, declared that it belongs to them and charge people to use it. Only a few bits are available to the normal population.
Without license in the UK, PMR446, CB and a few oddities, car door locks, toys, garage door openers etc. Because the available space for these is so small and so many people want them they are restricted in power and efficiency so your car door key will not interfere with others for example. The PMR446 is deliberately cut down to low power and a non-removable awful aerial so the thousands of users won't interfere with each other. You can use more powerful non-approved radios and adapt the aerials for better range but it is a criminal offence to do so. CB is better in that more power is allowed and aerials can be approved.
Otherwise you need to have a license. You may buy one (more later) or get a ham license. The ham license is now easy to get, our club regularly teach 8 and 10 year olds who sail through the exam, you don't even have to be literate, an amanuensis can be supplied if necessary and it is quick and cheap as described by Scobie above. Don't forget the support of other hams to help and support you, invaluable. You will still be restricted on frequencies and power, after all the government don't get any money for the ham license so they won't give anything away.
You may buy a licence called, bloody stupid name, 'Simple UK Light' which lets you use decent hand portable and car radios UHF or VHF and costs £75 for five years. Not too powerful and restricted to a few frequencies but OK. The sort of things taxis use. You will be sharing the frequencies with others but scrambling is available. One downside is that you need to be an 'organisation' to get one but I can see no reason why, for example, UK-Preppers could not buy a 'Simple UK Light' and authorise members to work under that license, user numbers are unlimited under one license, but they must be connected in some fashion and a formal permitting letter would work. Or you could say you were the 23 Acacia Avenue response team or such and get one for your family.
Other options are available such as £9,900 for exclusive use of two frequencies countrywide. I don't think people here are too concerned with those. Other licenses are available such as marine use, satellite comms, aeronautical etc. all illegal for us to use for the typical land based prepper with or without a license.
So real world, legal choices:
Cheap short range PMR446.
Bit more expensive, further range CB.
Cheap to start, a few hundred (to many thousands if you wish) in kit Ham and talk to the world.
Cheapish to start, many hundreds for kit (but building site quality, scrambled if needed etc.) Simple UK Light and talk to the town.
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomm ... ences/?a=0 Look for the FAQ sections
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the-gnole
Re: Alternative Comms
Thanks for the clarification Ian, I guessed you would come up with that little bit more to get everyone to be legal, after all someone using an illegal set-up could somehow interfer with something important, probably all the garage doors opening at the same time somewhere in the country. 
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Ian
Re: Alternative Comms
It is really easy Gnole. I can use my 5W hand-held UHF radio and just by transmitting, legally, block all the car fobs in TESCOs car park, it just overpowers them. When you consider that I can legally use 400W (80 times the power) on the same frequency you can see the problem. There is such real pressure on the available bandwidth that is is difficult to find a hole that is not used. The problem is increased by OFCOM re-designating the available frequencies from time to time. The old business radio frequencies have been reused for medical data but there are loads of old radios around which are cheap and can be reprogrammed but people buy them and use them as they are, interfering with the real users, some of which may be critical.
The rush to digital television is so OFCOM can sell off the frequencies for the next generation of cell phones as they did for 3G. And more billions when they kill off FM radio. They expect to get billions again as they did before, but I doubt if the phone companies will be as silly to overbid again.
I am currently plagued by an electric fence which puts out massive interference across a wide band of frequencies it must be sparking across a poor connection.
When the chips are down anything goes, but how can you practice and test things beforehand? in reality you probably won't do any harm wild transmitting but the chances are increasing every day and OFCOM are getting stricter and spending more money on chasing people down.
There is big money involved and OFCOM are very prepared to police the spectrum to ensure that there are no barriers to them getting it.
The rush to digital television is so OFCOM can sell off the frequencies for the next generation of cell phones as they did for 3G. And more billions when they kill off FM radio. They expect to get billions again as they did before, but I doubt if the phone companies will be as silly to overbid again.
I am currently plagued by an electric fence which puts out massive interference across a wide band of frequencies it must be sparking across a poor connection.
When the chips are down anything goes, but how can you practice and test things beforehand? in reality you probably won't do any harm wild transmitting but the chances are increasing every day and OFCOM are getting stricter and spending more money on chasing people down.
There is big money involved and OFCOM are very prepared to police the spectrum to ensure that there are no barriers to them getting it.
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metatron
Re: Alternative Comms
https://dedected.org/trac gives you all the information you need to listen into DECT type phones. A license is not required to listen into amateur radio and is not requested on purchase so you can get yourself a HF set for listening reasons, a Clansman PRC320 is a good cheap unit for that. If a time comes when you do have the time to get a license at least you have a basic understanding and you will know it will be a hobby you want to carry on into the future.scoobie wrote:The newer DECT type cordless phones are digital, so cant be listened in on with a scanner either...
A cheap CB radio is ideal for a car when training for what might come and the CB handhelds are fine for mobile use. Its always worth having a few PMR446 radios as if the shtf its the most accessible radio to the public and I'm sure lots would grab them, making it un-useful for person to person comm's but a good way to get out to a lot of people.
Radio is a lot like computers when it comes to people that are into it, they make it sound hard and throw in loads of acronyms to make themselves sound smarter and more specialized, but in truth even if someone was retarded, they could use them.
You can get radio modems for computers if you wanted to go long dissidence they have cards which will operate at 900MHz and 700MHz from Ubiquiti Networks, or you can do long range via directional antennas or mesh networking on 2.4GHz. Its far easier to just use radios and a TNC is its just text.
Re: Alternative Comms
I am aware of this, and what I said still holds true. They cant be listened into with a scanner, it requires a modified DECT PCMCIA card.metatron wrote:https://dedected.org/trac gives you all the information you need to listen into DECT type phones.scoobie wrote:The newer DECT type cordless phones are digital, so cant be listened in on with a scanner either...
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail - Benjamin Franklin
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Ogre
Re: Alternative Comms
Possibly off topic with all this tech talk, but we have a set of uk legal hand held 3K (or summat) hand helds that cost not a lot for legal use. And a stashed and Faraday Caged set of 12mile radius handhelds for PAW use. Got em off e-bay 4 units all working plus delivery for around £30.