Radio bullcrap

[Nubbins]

So I'm going to the NASCAR race on Sunday and because the last few I've been to have been mind numbingly boring, I went out to Fry's today and picked up a cheap scanner so I can listen to the driver radio.

Anyway, now I'm sitting here in my office trying to figure out how the goddamn thing works.  I've been trying to find the police or fire radio for an hour... somehow I got it scanning HAM frequencies and I actually found two dudes talking to each other.  They're talking about some guy they both know through HAM radio.  They keep blasting tones and callsigns and shit... really weird.  It's like sitting and listening in on someone's phone conversation.

[Nubbins]

hahaha, now there are 3 of them.  It's like an internet chat room without smilies.

They're talking about the economy now.  One guy said that based on "the current government" he expects a lot more people to be taking the permanent "dirt nap"... strange.

[Nubbins]

Oh man!  Found another HAM station!

These guys are talking about alternative power sources or something... dammit, I wish I could talk on this thing.

[Nubbins]

"People used to ask me what I do for a living and I'd say artificial insemination of fruit flies and gnats.... they looked at me reeeeal funny."

[nacho]

You're not allowed to talk without a license.  They're crazy about that, too.

I love amateur radio... Keep meaning to get into it, but it can get expensive.  Plus I live in a jar so the regular old antennas are no good, and the apartment people won't let us put up big fuck-off antennas.

[Sirharles]

They need to add something like this in Fallout.  Everytime you find a HAM radio and turn it on, it's just random guys talking.

[Nubbins]

I know!  What the fuck is that all about anyway?  I quit touching them because I had too many computers explode on me... I'm afraid the radios will too.

I don't think the antennaes have to be that big... two of the guys I'm listening to now are in their cars.  Of course, the other guy is apparently building something called a controller for two repeaters he's got.

They were talking a little bit about liscensing and shit... it sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

[nacho]

You know, the more I think about Fallout the more disappointed I am.  Because, yes, no wonder everyone in the Wasteland is a psychopath.  There are only three radio stations playing a continuous nonsensical short loop.

[Nubbins]

I don't want to set the world.... on..... fireeeeeeee

[nacho]

I don't think the antennaes have to be that big... two of the guys I'm listening to now are in their cars.  Of course, the other guy is apparently building something called a controller for two repeaters he's got.

They were talking a little bit about liscensing and shit... it sounds like a huge pain in the ass.

Yeah, in a normal apartment, I could have a simple little one.  Most of the common sets have them built in.  But reception sucks for me.  My wi-fi barely makes it back to the bedroom!

[Nubbins]

Clearly you need a repeater and controllers and stuff, 10-4

[Nubbins]

I love this thing!  Now I kind of wish I'd gotten one of the more expensive ones... I can't pick up any police, but I did get some air traffic to come in on my way home.  The problem is that I think the cops, fire department, etc. are on trunked systems... what that means is their radios transmit to one another on multiple frequencies that change every few seconds.  They send out a code that lets the other radios know what frequency they are going to next... my scanner doesn't have trunking, so I get snippets of conversation and that's it... at least I think that's what's going on.  I can't really tell because I don't know what I'm doing.

I did get a bunch of HAM stations to come in though, and that's pretty sweet.  Makes me want to get a HAM radio.

Still, this should work fine for scanning frequencies at the track.  I can't wait to use it!

[Nubbins]

So I'm reading up on these again today... apparently some of the scanners you can order from Europe and the UK have continuous coverage from 25MHz to 1.3GHz with no gaps.  The shitty one I got yesterday only goes up to about 500MHz and it has some gaps in coverage that I assume are there to prevent me from listening to shit I'm not supposed to hear.

But, with one of these European ones, you can listen in on the 800-960MHz frequencies used by cell phone towers and analog phones.  Ever wonder what the douchebag who cut you off in traffic was talking about on his goddamn cell phone?  Sounds like a recipe for prison.

[Nubbins]

I'm posting this here just for my own reference later when I decide to upgrade.

a few years ago, Radio Shack put out a base scanner called the REALISTIC PRO-2006. It was truly a wonderful scanner in the conventional mode... no trunk tracking then. But it worked great and was able to be modified in order to receive cell phone conversations by clipping 1 leg of a diode. I still use this scanner today for various local scanning needs. The best scanner under my roof at the present time is a UNIDEN UBC3300XLT Trunk Tracking handheld scanner with PC software control. I purchased this scanner new through the internet approx 2 years ago. The Uniden UBC3300XLT is the EURO Version of the BC250D from the U.S.A. and on the EURO Version as one would guess, its got a full frequency range with NO CELLULAR PHONE GAPS, meaning I can program in any frequency I desire with no gaps in my continuous coverage. I love it, and would never ever part with this handheld scanning machine. From Kevin in Ocala, Florida.

[nacho]

More than you want to know:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2506872

And:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2827275&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1