|Scanning the Radio World


                             by BRAD WILLIS

Scanners  have  made  the  papers  in  the last couple of years with the
revelation  of  Dianagate  and Camillagate, and all the associated moral
questions.It  now seems safe to assume that whole affair was designed to
undermine both the Royal Family and the scanning hobby in the UK.Neither
of  which  seems  to  have  been achieved.  One thing is certain though,
Scanner users are now labelled perverted eavesdroppers.

Although  it's illegal to listen to certain VHF and UHF frequencies it,s
not illegal to buy a scanner.

The  best  shops  to  find  a scanner at a good price is ether Tandys or
Maplins.   Tandy  tend  to stock Realistic, which are good scanners both
the  hand-held  and  homebase  ones.   I  have  an  Icom 7000 which is a
heighened  scanner,  I  also  have  a Realistic pro2006 that I manly use
while  on  my  amiga.  I also have a hand-held scanner that I clip to my
belt and with earphones use at work or in the car.

I  mainly listen to privet phone calls and the police, both of which are
very  interesting.   I should at this point say I have no morals when it
comes  to listening to phone calls and baby monitors,yes that right baby
monitors  people  buy  baby  monitors so they can hear if there child is
awake  or crying when the child is in bed and your in another room.  The
first  unit is a small transmitter placed in the room with the child the
next  unit is a receiver which you keep with you, the receiver will only
pick-up  the  transmission  up to about one hundred yards, But a scanner
can  receive  the transmission up to half a mile.  A lot of these people
don't  switch  the transmitter off at night, so in reality their bugging
their own home.

Most  people  with  mobile  phones know they can be heard by people with
scanners  but  still  read out their name,address and credit card number
when  buying over the phone or paying for a sex call or booking tickets,
so  if  you  own  a mobile phone or a cordless home phone beware someone
might  be  listening who will act on what they've heard.  The police now
class a scanner as a burglars tool, which if used right is.

The law on scanners is some what unclear, if you are found using scanner
with local police frequencies stored in memory, you can bet you'll get a
big fine and your scanner will be confiscated.  So always know where the
memory wipe button is and watch out.


Next is a list of frequencies that cover a good range of channels



   Start freq End freq

   47.4000MHz 47.6000MHz Cordless phones for inhome use

   48.4000MHz 48.5000MHz Cordless microphones TV use

   49.8200MHz 49.9875MHz Walkie talkies & Baby monitors

   70.5100MHz 71.5000MHz Fire brigades of England & Wales

   75.3000MHz 76.7000MHz RAF & USAF police.  Nationwide

   76.7000MHz 76.9500MHz HM customs & BT

   80.0000MHz 82.5000MHZ Fire brigades

   85.0000MHz 86.3000MHz Taxis .  AA .  Waterboard +others

   86.3000MHz 87.9700MHz Taxis GasBoard Council +others

  152.0000MHz 156.0000MHz Police car radios

  165.0000MHz 169.4000MHz Security .Taxis .+others

  445.0000MHz 447.9875MHz Customs .Security .  Transport

  450.0000MHz 453.0000MHz Police walkie talkies Nationwide

  917.0000MHz 935.0000MHz Mobile Telephones


Here are some other things you can listen to at other frequencies

Dog  catchers,  Buses,  Army,  Banks,  Myr space station, Bin men,Soviet
satellite  Securicor, Ambulance, US secret service, Oil riggs, Airports,
Trains,  TV  talkback  Prison, Diplomatic protection channel, Airpolice,
Postoffice, Doctors, Collages

I'm still finding new channels all the time ,and it's great to listen to
while on my computer.

Although  I've  not heard anything like Dianagate I have heard some very
interesting things, But thats another Word.

End