I haven't heard any telephone conversations with my two Radio Shack
scanners (Pro-91 and a Pro-33) in about seven or eight years.I guess
everybody in my neighborhood has spread spectum (or whatever it is
called) telephones now.I never have heard them on any of my other
radios before.Of course U.S.Mlitary and U.S.fed govt have some devices
that lets them listen to any telephone conversations and there are
U.S.Satellites wayyyyy up there that can do the same thing.
cuhulin

In article 9,
Conan Ford wrote:
If I recall correct from flipping through the Radio Shack catalog at the
age of 8 or so, to look at all the stuff I *couldn't* have, cordless phones
used to be around 27 mhz, and also some were 49 mhz. Same went for Radio-
Shack RC cars. The "better" models ran at 49 mhz.

Back in the '70s and early '80s, cordless phones used, as I remember,
5 channels around 1600-1750 kHz for the base station, and 49 MHz for
the handset. Both FM, but you could receive them fairly well on an
AM receiver. Later they switched to 46 and 49 MHz.

I heard one neighbor, in the 3.5 MHz ham band, complaining that her
phone wasn't working well. It turned out to have a stronger
signal on the second harmonic than on the fundamental.

Some of them of them used frequency inversion scrambling which I found
out was completely useless as, even though it was an FM transmission,
it could be heard perfectly well on an SSB receiver. (Or at least on
my R-1000 which can run SSB with the 12 kHz wide filter).

Now they run on 915 MHz, 2.4 and 5.? GHz. Good riddance.

I also remember reading that some "smart" phones put out a spurious
AM signal on their microprocessor's crystal clock frequency. Pre-bugged
phones.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

www.advanced-intelligence.com (in Thailand,I think that is where they
are located) sells some gadgets.I don't see anything there that I want
though.
cuhulin

Yes, older cordless phones, maybe the first generation oof them,
operated around 1800 kHz, just above the MW band. The base (wall) unit
transmitted both sides of the conversation at a stronger level than the
handset, often for a couple miles or more. These phones are probably
almost all replaced by now wth the later 49 Mhz, and then the 902 Mhz
types. If there is not a lot of traffic on the 49 mHz frequency, they
can also be heard for somewhat lesser distances, but most of the 900+
Mhz phones use encryption schemes and are not listenable.

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:11:31 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:

Yes, older cordless phones, maybe the first generation oof them,
operated around 1800 kHz, just above the MW band. The base (wall) unit
transmitted both sides of the conversation at a stronger level than the
handset, often for a couple miles or more. These phones are probably
almost all replaced by now wth the later 49 Mhz, and then the 902 Mhz
types. If there is not a lot of traffic on the 49 mHz frequency, they
can also be heard for somewhat lesser distances, but most of the 900+
Mhz phones use encryption schemes and are not listenable.

Dream on. Those boogers are a constant source of entertainment.
Unless it's called ''digital'' they aren't encryted.

David wrote in
:

A few additions.

Modern scanners are pushing the 3.5 GHz range, so don't feel protected by
the scanners that operate in the 2 GHz range. I stopped at a radio shack
last year, and the manager had his salespeople telling their customers
that the 2 GHz phones were secure since no one made a scanner that went
that high. I informed him otherwise.

As Pirate Bob says, unless it's digital, someone can probably hear it. On
this point, please note that many manufacturers list "Digital" on the
phone or packaging, but sometimes they are intentionally misleading the
buyer, since the Digital reference may pertain to a "Feature" of the
phone, like a Digital answering system.

Some phones use simple "inversion" scrambling, and some scanners are
available with a feature to unscramble such transmissions. If not part of
the scanner, aftermarket items were/are available to permit these signals
to be descrambled. Failing this, you can probably find the circuit design
online and build it yourself.

Other phones use a frequency jumping scheme to deter listeners. This, in
some forms, was the most ludicrous idea that I have ever heard of, since
the phone makes a series of beeps just before jumping. Since the phone
may be latent on a particular frequency for a long time, too much
information can be gleaned before the change occurs. Also, with a fast
scanner and the right frequency steps, one can probably reacquire the
desired conversation again.

I bought an outdoor antenna years ago for my scanner, and installed it on
the roof of my home (this was in a small town), to improve reception on
the public safety bands. I also experimented with the higher frequencies.

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/reg...te.html#higher
All Amateurs except Novices: 33 centimeter band.
902.0-928.0 MHz: CW, Phone, Image, MCW, RTTY/Data

These are the same as the cordless phone frequencies. We had a cordless
phone and I happened to come across my son speaking with his girlfriend.
By the time I realized what I was hearing, my wife had also overheard the
conversation, and was on the way to annihilate my son for the graphic
nature of his and his girlfriend's speech. I stopped her, but became
rattled that something so personal could be going out over the airwaves.
We gave away our cordless phone and purchased true digital models.

I have apprised my friends, family, coworkers, and occasionally even
strangers at the electronic section of department stores that non-digital
phones compromise their privacy. The usual answer is that they don't have
anything to hide anyway. You would probably be surprised what can be
gleaned by listening to conversations. I would not own a non-Digital
cordless phone.

It is against the law to monitor cordless phone frequencies.

Regards,

Dr. Artaud

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2-wire.htm#1

"Can other people listen to my cordless phone conversations?
Yes, depending on the kind of phone you use. In most cases, your cordless
phone conversations are probably overheard only briefly and accidentally.
But there are people who make it a hobby to listen to cordless phone
calls using radio scanners. These devices pick up the full range of
wireless transmissions from emergency and law enforcement agencies,
aircraft, mobile systems, weather reports, utilities maintenance
services, among others. Signals from analog cordless phones can also be
picked up by other devices including baby monitors, some walkie-talkies,
and other cordless phones.
Newer digital cordless phones have better security, but cheaper or older
phones have few if any security features. Anyone using a radio scanner
can eavesdrop on older analog cordless phone calls, even if the phone has
multiple channels. "

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2-wire.htm#5

"LAWS REGARDING WIRELESS EAVESDROPPING
Is it legal to intercept other people's cordless or cellular phone calls?
The Federal Communications Commission (www.fcc.gov) ruled that as of
April 1994 no radio scanners may be manufactured or imported into the
U.S. that can pick up frequencies used by cellular telephones, or that
can be readily altered to receive such frequencies. (47 CFR Part 15.37
(f)) The law rarely deters the determined eavesdropper, however.
Another federal law, the Counterfeit Access Device Law, was amended to
make it illegal to use a radio scanner "knowingly and with the intent to
defraud" to eavesdrop on wire or electronic communication. (18 USC 1029)
Penalties for the intentional interception of cordless and cellular
telephone calls range from fines to imprisonment depending on the
circumstances. (18 USC 2511, 2701)"


On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:11:31 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:
but most of the 900+
Mhz phones use encryption schemes and are not listenable.

Dream on. Those boogers are a constant source of entertainment.
Unless it's called ''digital'' they aren't encryted.

It is against the law to monitor cordless phone frequencies.

How about smoking pot and listening to baby monitors while tearing
off mattress tags?

I have two of those Radio Shack Amplified Stereo Listerner devices.A few
weeks ago,I bought my second Radio Shack Amplified Stereo Listerner
device model 33-1097 at the Radio Shack store at Metrocenter Mall
www.metromalljackson.com just across Highway 80 from me.I do not own
any illegal items at all! Whatever I can pick up on my legal to own
radios and my legal to own scanner radios and my legal to own CB radios
and my legal to own Transceiver radio is perfectly legal for me to
listen to.
cuhulin

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 17:37:34 -0500, wrote:

I have two of those Radio Shack Amplified Stereo Listerner devices.A few
weeks ago,I bought my second Radio Shack Amplified Stereo Listerner
device model 33-1097 at the Radio Shack store at Metrocenter Mall
www.metromalljackson.com just across Highway 80 from me.I do not own
any illegal items at all! Whatever I can pick up on my legal to own
radios and my legal to own scanner radios and my legal to own CB radios
and my legal to own Transceiver radio is perfectly legal for me to
listen to.
cuhulin

That's not true. You are not allowed to listen to any conversations
to which you are not a party, regardless of your radios' capabilities.

The only exception is for Public Service communications in the clear
(and broadcasters on their main channel.) It is even illegal to
listen to an STL on an RPU.

www.cityfreq.com
cuhulin