PLA Forums
Other Stuff That Has Little To Do With PLA => Techinical Shit => Phreaking, Hacking, Social Engineering, Lock Picking => Topic started by: n00b on March 09, 2010, 05:59:44 PM
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With people using handheld Radios (not the hi-tech ones that police use, but they're also not the wallmart walkie-talkies), is there anyway I can find out the frequency they are on and broadcast on it? I'd assume I'd need a scanner and a CB Radio or something like that.. Any help would be appreciated.
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Why not use the googles? http://www.google.com/search?q=frs+frequency+list
I hear they have a lot of secret information like this!
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With people using handheld Radios (not the hi-tech ones that police use, but they're also not the wallmart walkie-talkies), is there anyway I can find out the frequency they are on and broadcast on it? I'd assume I'd need a scanner and a CB Radio or something like that.. Any help would be appreciated.
and what exactly makes the police radio's so high tech? analog 400Mhz radios (NYPD)??? granted there are SOME smaller police departments that upgraded there radios to a digital system - with homeland security money from the phedz that they did not need, cause seriously, aside from NYC, DC, and perhaps a hand full of other major cities in the country there is no need to distribute homeland security money anywhere else... seriously, could you picture alqueda trying to attack iowa or some other ass backwards inbred state?
i have the privlidge of living in a city that does not have a walmart (NYC) so i do not know what kind of "walkie talkies" that they use... but i would assume, they are similar to what the pigs use, just different frequencies...
here is a good place to look for frequencies http://www.cityfreq.com/ (http://www.cityfreq.com/)
then there is also the book that radio shack publishes annually (i think it even came with a CD last time I bought one)
or you could search on the FCCs website...
you will need to know what frequencies that you want to monitor or talk on before you are able to know what equiptment that you will need...
most people end up just using GMRS & FRS radios which use these frequencies http://www.ba-marc.org/writeups/gmrs-frs-freq.htm (http://www.ba-marc.org/writeups/gmrs-frs-freq.htm)
GMRS requires a license - and depending on the equiptment that you purchace/use you may also need a license for FRS
other than that -
here is the frequencies for a 40 channel CB
http://www.techlib.com/reference/CB.htm (http://www.techlib.com/reference/CB.htm)
here are the marine frequencies and NOAA frequencies
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/vhf.htm (http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/vhf.htm)
learning about RF and scanning around can be fun...
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I suggest trying to look it up first. There are plenty of resources on and off line for that kind of thing. Just see the previous posts.
Failing that, you could get a frequency counter, and try to get near them with it when they are transmitting. The only problem is that you have to be pretty close to get a good reading. I have one that can be set to remember a frequency when it gets a strong enough signal. Just keep it in your pocket, and when you see the guy transmitting, walk right by him as close as possible. Then pull out your counter, and make sure you got it.
Keep in mind repeater offsets. If they are not using a repeater, then the frequency from the counter is all you need. However, if the person is using a repeater, you only have the input, or the frequency used to transmit to the repeater. For scanner purposes, you usually want the repeater output, the frequency on which repeater retransmits the signals on. Listening to the output gives you a more consistent and usually stronger signal. If the frequency is near 150 MHz, expect the output to be 600 KHz above or below the input. For around 450 MHz, the offset is usually 5 MHz.
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All the new Radio Shack scanners have that "signal stalker" feature that works just like a frequency counter. But it seems to pick them up from a lot longer range that any of the frequency counters I've owned in the past. I never have to be near the people transmitting anymore.
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All the new Radio Shack scanners have that "signal stalker" feature that works just like a frequency counter. But it seems to pick them up from a lot longer range that any of the frequency counters I've owned in the past. I never have to be near the people transmitting anymore.
good to know... wasn't sure if the "signal stalker" that they advertise on the boxes of the newer scanners was worth anything..
guess i am going to have to upgrade from my pro-95...
any recommendations? i want to try to keep it in the $200 range... most of the scanners that i look at with digital capabilities are like $400-500 and i just do not use the scanner enough to justify that kind of expense (plus not sure what benefit going digital would provide me, since NYPD/NYFD use analog, and MTA uses an analog trunked system)
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All the new Radio Shack scanners have that "signal stalker" feature that works just like a frequency counter. But it seems to pick them up from a lot longer range that any of the frequency counters I've owned in the past. I never have to be near the people transmitting anymore.
good to know... wasn't sure if the "signal stalker" that they advertise on the boxes of the newer scanners was worth anything..
guess i am going to have to upgrade from my pro-95...
any recommendations? i want to try to keep it in the $200 range... most of the scanners that i look at with digital capabilities are like $400-500 and i just do not use the scanner enough to justify that kind of expense (plus not sure what benefit going digital would provide me, since NYPD/NYFD use analog, and MTA uses an analog trunked system)
The signal stalker feature is pretty cool. Heres a good base rig thats non digital that will do a good job for you : http://universal-radio.com/catalog/scanners/0015.html
To the OP: Check out this website: www.radioreference.com
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If you want portability, the handheld version of the one Lestan mentioned would work well for you too.
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=BC346XT
The highest price I saw on Google Shopping wasn't much past $200.00.
With regard to "Signal Stalker," I thought it was a big deal before I had it but, at least on my Pro-106, it doesn't seem to be that effective.
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the BC346XT can not be the portable version of the BCT15X base unit... it does not include the 700Mhz spectrum as the base unit does...
i am not sure that there will be anything worth scanning on the 700Mhz spectrum in the future when 4G comes out... but am concerned that they may block out this range of frequencies in future radios when it starts to be used for cellular - like the 800Mhz band is "censored" from cellular frequencies...
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the BC346XT can not be the portable version of the BCT15X base unit... it does not include the 700Mhz spectrum as the base unit does...
Sorry, I was thinking of the BR330T.
i am not sure that there will be anything worth scanning on the 700Mhz spectrum in the future when 4G comes out... but am concerned that they may block out this range of frequencies in future radios when it starts to be used for cellular - like the 800Mhz band is "censored" from cellular frequencies...
According to Radioreference the BCT15 came out in 2006; the fact that they went out of their way to not include 700mhz in the 346XT, which came out in 2009, says you might be right about this... According to some the majority of 700mhz usage is supposed to be MDT data...
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If money isn't much of an object...
http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm (http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm)
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If money isn't much of an object...
http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm (http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm)
I want.
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you could scan if you equipment allows, i found my old Middle schools freq. by scanning. but this is much better because the freq. my be different were you are located.
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Not sure if you can get them in the US but there are bound to be companies online that will be willing to ship them to you, but the Uniden Bearcat UBC-3500XLT goes from 25MHz - 1.3GHz with no gaps, although most scanners in the UK have no gaps. Uniden scanners mostly have Close Call, which is the same idea as "signal stalker"
If you want something with a wider range the AR8200 Mark 3 will go from 500kHz - 3000MHz with no gaps. If you want to transmit as well the Icom IC-E90 can be easily modified to cover a much wider Tx range and will receive from 0.495-999.990MHz with no gaps. If you really like Icom the IC-R20 scanner goes from 0.150 to 3304.999MHz with no gaps.
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No gaps? According to RadioReference: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/UBC3500XLT
Frequency Coverage
* 25 - 512 MHz
* 806 - 960 MHz
* 1240 - 1300 MHz
Doesn't look perfectly continuous, but it doesn't appear to have the cell range blocked like all modern US scanners.
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If money isn't much of an object...
http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm (http://www.optoelectronics.com/xplorer.htm)
I do like the scouts, they are most badass when you use them with a computer controller and the software. But if you want to save some dough you can do something similar with an AR8200 + serial cable + software, and at the end of the day you still have an extremely capable scanner. The 8200 will run you close to $300 on ebay, but so will the scout/xplorer, and you still wont have an actual scanner.
www.butel.nl/products/ar8200/8200soft.html (http://www.butel.nl/products/ar8200/8200soft.html)
That link will take you to the software.
What freq bands are you trying to mess with exactly? Because if you know what you're going for you could make you life a hell of a lot cheaper and easier. I've found some old school AR 2002's on ebay for as little as $50 that can cover 25-550mhz, 800-1300mhz. Good enough for government work.
RFBURN
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I do like the scouts, they are most badass when you use them with a computer controller and the software. But if you want to save some dough you can do something similar with an AR8200 + serial cable + software, and at the end of the day you still have an extremely capable scanner. The 8200 will run you close to $300 on ebay, but so will the scout/xplorer, and you still wont have an actual scanner.
No doubt, AOR makes good stuff, the AR8200 being no exception but I would think it would be quite difficult to carry around the scanner plus a computer to use the software to find frequencies. It's a lot easier to just take the Xplorer and hook an earbud up to it and walk around big box stores, the mall or wherever and let it log the frequencies, DCS/CTCSS tones, etc. Plus, you don't have to have an idea of what frequency they're using since it scans DC to daylight in under 2 seconds. You say getting the AR8200 saves you from getting a scanner, I'd say why bother even getting a scanner? If your ultimate goal is "messing" with them, then you're going to need a radio capable of transmitting there. Get a VX-7 or something and be done with it. Besides, the VX-7 has a built in "Channel Counter" feature that will lock onto nearby strong signals as long as you can guess the frequency within 5MHz, 25MHz, 100MHz or something like that, with the larger swaths requiring stronger signals.
There are other options too like a real spectrum analyzer or a software defined radio, but for portability it'd be hard to beat the functionality of an Xplorer and a good transceiver combination.
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What I was trying to get across was that the scout/explorer is excellent at what is does, sniffing freqs, but at the end of the day all you know is that there is power on a freq (not to knock on the scout, I use them and like them). Most environments are filled with so much bullshit though that it's not enough. I was just saying that with the right combination of hardware and software, you can still have the capabilities of the scout plus a little more, without forking over the extra $300.
Also, why for over the $200+ for a brand new VX-7 when you could pick up and modify a FT-50 for half the money? I'm all about getting the best gear available, but to buy everything on my wish-list would cost me literally tens of thousands. I look at it the same way I look at tools, If I have something that can do the job, I can't justify buying another tool for the same purpose, even if it is a little better.
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The xplorer and the scout are two very different animals. The xplorer does much more than tell you if "there is power on a freq". It has a speaker, so it does actually receive and demodulate FM signals. It's a near field test receiver, not a frequency counter. Makes it really easy to know if you've got the correct signal or not. Not to mention it decodes, displays and records DCS, CTCSS, LTR and DTMF instantly. As far as the bullshit is concerned, you can have it set to ignore certain ranges, and a $10 FM trap (88-108) takes care of broadcast stuff or its images from making problems. Of course all of this comes at a cost so if you're just looking to play it's probably not a wise investment.
Who says you have to get a brand new VX-7? I personally like the VX-7 because of the wider receive and the 2 extra transmit bands. The Channel Counter feature is just icing on the cake. Not everyone will have a use for the extra capabilities, but I do. To borrow your analogy, if I can find a multitool that will do the job, why would I spend extra in the long run to buy the individual tools? I would just end up with more tools in the toolbox and more money out of my pocket. Dozens of models will work, not just a VX-7 or an FT-50. You could get an old Bearcat from Value Village for $10 or a 20 year old dual band HT off of eBay for $40. That'll do the job for most analog walkie talkies businesses tend to use.