--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00001 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: BILL NEWMAN (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: CORDLESSPHONES On 15 Dec 96 10:34pm, Bill Newman wrote to Glenn Fetty: BF>> Again: BF>> IT'S ILLEGAL (BY THE ECPA) TO LISTEN TO CORDLESS PHONES. GF>> BF> GF>> BF> GF>> BF> BF>> Bill Funk GF>> BF> BF>> ... Did I make myself clear? Good, tell me what I said BF>> --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 BF>> * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 BF>> (1:114/237) BN> Are you sure that the ammendment went through? I thought that it BN> got vetoed as the radio industry was up in arms about it. It BN> would have meant that any scanner would have been illegal as the BN> monitoring of police and fire was also in the admentment. Why? Why would this make a scanner illegal? The law (ECPA) makes it illegal to monitor cell calls, we all agree on that. Yet, scanners that do so are *not* illegal. So, why would making monitoring cordless phones illegal? Remember, there's a huge difference between monitoring something, and having the ability to monitor something. For those who will bring up the FCC ban on importing, manufacturing, etc., scanners capable of tuning to the cell freqs, remember that this did *not* make owning scanners that can tune to cell freqs illegal. Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... What if there were no hypothetical situations? --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00002 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: TONY SZABLOWSKI (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: ANTENNA PROBLEMS On 14 Dec 96 09:54am, TONY SZABLOWSKI wrote to ALL: TS> Hi folks. I've recently moved my discone on the roof and now, what TS> were once strong signals, now have become weak signals. Unless you somehow damaged the antenna, I'd suspect the cable. Make it the best you can afford. Find the loss figures for cable types, and pick the best you can afford. TS> The question: instead of moving it again, can I just say ........duct TS> tape some straightened clothes hangers, onto the long elements that hang TS> down to improve reception? Or any other ideas out there? No, that will alter the freq range of the cone; if the disk is not altered proportionally, you will make the antenna unbalanced, and very inefficient. If you *do* alter the lengths of both the cone and disk, you will change the frequency band of the antenna (lengthening them would lower the band). TS> I doubt it, but would this has some adverse affect on the antenna's TS> performance in any other bands? See above. I'd check the cable. Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... -Copywight 1994 Elmer Fudd. All wights wesewved. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00003 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: BOBBIE BEERS (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: HAPPENINGS On 16 Dec 96 12:53pm, Bobbie Beers wrote to William Viets: -=>> Quoting William Viets to Bobbie Beers <=- BB> Hi Wm. of Done That, WV>> Right you are, Bobbie! Also, there is no exemption for news media WV>> types who go on the (broadcast radio and television) air routinely, WV>> dispensing information they received from guess what, heh-heh. WV>> Occasionally public safety radio traffic is rebroadcast, sometimes WV>> live, during news blurps from on-scene incidents. But that's another WV>> type of violation entirely, eh, what? BB> I have still not figured out how they justify those re-broadcasts. BB> Something to do with the peoples' right to know? The re-broadcasts that BB> really tear me up are the calls to 911. I keep wondering if they are BB> necessary, and why they aren't on the no-no list. Of course, they BB> aren't on scanners, but...... While the law does forbid us to divulge what we hear, the law seems to be being interpreted to mean that there's no sense in prosecuting unless: a) Someone actually uses the infoo to harm someone, or b) Someone uses the infor heard to profit from it. So, since TV news departments, scanner pager nets, etc., do divulge the info, no one is harmed, and no one uses the info to make money. So, there's no prosecution. However, as I understand it, it's still illegal. In many areas, it's illegal to drive an automobile without a person in front waving a red flag. They don't prosecute that, either. ;-) Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... Barney (Bar-Knee) n. 1) Well known purple mutant eggplant from Hell. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00004 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: PETER KIRK (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: CORDLESSPHONES On 16 Dec 96 10:42pm, Peter Kirk wrote to Bill Funk: ... BF>> Again: BF>> IT'S ILLEGAL (BY THE ECPA) TO LISTEN TO CORDLESS PHONES. PK> WRONG AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! PK> AS OF JAN 1996AD THEY DECIDED SINCE PEOPLE SCAN BETWEEN 40-50 MHZ FOR PK> FIRE/POLICE/EMS... THAT THEY COULD NO LONGER HAVE A LAW AGAINST THE PK> ORIG CORD PHONES... THE PRIVACY ACT NO LONGER APPLIES!!!!!!! ALL NEW PK> CELL PHONES ARE NOW DIGITAL NOT ANALOG.... SAME WITH THE NEW CORDLESS PK> PHONES... PK> THE FCC HAS REMOVED THE PREV LAW BECAUSE OF THIS...... You have some sort of cite for this? Where did you hear that all new cell and cordless phones are digital? Also, your logic fails: the prohibition is against monitoring the cordless *calls*, not the frequencies. There are no public service stations on the cordless frequencies, in any rate (not in the US, anyway). Phoenix area is going to start digital cellular service in JAnuary, but that by no means means that everyone will automatically switch over, nor does it mean that no new analog cell phones will be marketed. And there absolutely *are* many analog cordless phones out there being marketed. Sorry, what you say simply doesn't match the reality I live with. Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... P.E.T.A.: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00005 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: BRUCE CLARK (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: CORDLESSPHONES On 17 Dec 96 04:46am, Bruce Clark wrote to Bill Funk: ... BC> Now we need to start billing people for the right to allow BC> electromagnetic radiation to pass thru our bodies, that we BC> don't have access to. I wonder how we'd come up with the actual charges? Maybe a cut of the licensing fees? :-) Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... -Press -- to continue ... --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00006 Date: 12/18/96 From: BILL FUNK Time: 05:34pm \/To: GLENN FETTY (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: CORDLESSPHONES On 17 Dec 96 05:04pm, Glenn Fetty wrote to Bill Newman: ... BN>> Are you sure that the ammendment went through? I thought that it BN>> got vetoed as the radio industry was up in arms about it. It BN>> would have meant that any scanner would have been illegal as the BN>> monitoring of police and fire was also in the admentment. GF> GF> It passed. It amended the ECPA of 1986, which banned cell listening, to GF> include cell-capable scanners. There is also a law banning people from GF> listening to cordless phones. But police and fire scanning have always GF> been lega, despite some attempts to ban it..... GF> Legal to monitor, but, technically, illegal to pass on. Yet, a simple, harmless report seems to be being ignored. If, for example, I were to pass on that I heard on a RDC dispatch channel here in Phoenix, that there was a 3rd alarm fire at such and so address, at 10:34 last night, only here on FIDO would I get in trouble for that. No one else cares. Now, OTOH, if I were to pass on that I heard that Senator Snotnose was talking to his male prostitute five minutes later, I'd be in *real* trouble. Same thing if I overheard, for example, a cell call between two large Areospace companies discussing a hitherto-undisclosed merger, and I used that info to buy stock, making a killing, I'd be in trouble over that, too (if anyone could prove that I did so). In reality, it's a law designed to keep the bigwigs out of trouble, IMHO. It's not being enforced, and, indeed, is next to impossible to enforce (especially as precendent has been set to ignore harmless infractions). Bill Funk: Internet: skypilot@starlink.com ASCIi User Group: http://www.starlink.com:80/~ascii ... -BREAKFAST.COM Halted...Cereal Port Not Responding --- Via Silver Xpress V4.00 SW12853 * Origin: Inn on The Park (tm) Scottsdale, AZ (602)947-3896 (1:114/237) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00007 Date: 12/18/96 From: BRIAN HAIGHT Time: 09:04am \/To: JIM LAWRENCE (Read 12 times) Subj: Hearing Shuttle-Mir-Soyuz?? Hi Jim: Thanks for the info. Will let you know if I hear anything on those freqs. Brian --- * Origin: Multiboard * 519-660-3574 * Internet * 4GB * (1:2401/0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00008 Date: 12/18/96 From: BRIAN HAIGHT Time: 09:08am \/To: MARK CRANWELL (Read 12 times) Subj: cell phone freqs Hi Mark: Thanks for the info. Sorta figured I might have to do that, but I may have to upgrade my whole rig anyways as the cops are going digital around here. Brian --- * Origin: Multiboard * 519-660-3574 * Internet * 4GB * (1:2401/0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00009 Date: 12/18/96 From: BRIAN HAIGHT Time: 09:17am \/To: BILL FUNK (Read 12 times) Subj: RE: DIGITAL SCANNERS Hi Bill: Thanks for the info. Will probably have to upgrade my setup to something that will work with a PC interface. I believe there's a PC interface card that will work with AOR scanners, but I'm not certain on that. Right now I have 2 Realistic scanners (handheld & base) and the action bands in this area (London,Ont.,Canada) are all going digital in January. Brian --- * Origin: Multiboard * 519-660-3574 * Internet * 4GB * (1:2401/0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 154 SCANNERS Ref: DGQ00010 Date: 12/18/96 From: GARY SAFFER Time: 05:48pm \/To: STEVE HARRIS (Read 12 times) Subj: THE NEW RELM SCANNER SH>Hi Gary. I tried looking for the message where you described the SH>features of the new RELM scanner but this bbs must have trimmed his SH>echoes because I can't find it. Does the new RELM have an alpha SH>numberic display like the Uniden's? I don't know about the mobile, but as far as I can tell, the portable doesn't. I still don't have one in hand, so I can't tell you more than that. There were a few messages here a few weeks ago describing the features of the scanner, but there has only been one first hand report from someone who actually has one. I hope to have mine by tomorrow, or Thursday, and as soon as I have played with it for a few days, I will post a message with my impressions. Gary CMPQwk 1.42 129 Wagner's music is better than it sounds. - Twain --- Silver Xpress Mail System 5.4P1a * Origin: 6-200 (1:101/460)