D'you remember. . . .( cordless Phones )

[Phil Perry]

Does anyone remember when cordless home telephones were all the rage. . .? we had all sorts available back in the ealry 1980s,. . . the favourite was the Webcor ct 5000,. . .I had one as well,. . which is why I found out that they were . . well,. . not very private. The handset had a range of around 2 miles, if you put the external aerial from the base unit high enough on your house. . .

 

Being an amateur radio enthusiast, I noticed that the phone was interfering with some of my kit, whilst "She who must be obeyed" was out in the garden talking to her Mum and friends,. . .so I scanned around and found her uplink on 49.3125 Mhz, but couldn't hear the other end of the duplex. . . . so when she had gone to bye byes,. . .I pinched the handset and base unit and took it up to teh radio shack ( ! ) I found that the other end of the duplex was on 1.895 ( ish) Mhz. . . .so I programmed my bearcat scanner for the 49 Mhz end, and used my Kenwood HF radio to tune the low frequency end.

 

[ATTACH]47651._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

I was then able to listen in to what the boss was telling her Mother all about me,. . .and it became fairly obvious that I could also hear everyone else in a radius of about 3/4 mile also. the weak point was the 49 Megahertz part of the circuit, as these are in the low VHF range, and easily absorbed by terrain, and buildings etc. . . the 1.8 meg stuff was audible for miles. . . . but you only got half the duplex so could not hear one party n the conversation. so YES. . .I was an electronic stalker for a while,. . . ( I am disgusted to admit it. . .but if I die without telling you,. . .nobody will ever know what a rat I was. . . .) it was fascinating. . . .I only listened in if I found something REALLY interesting,. . .eg,. .one day, I heard a bloke saying to his lady, " I've got to work late tonight honey, I won't be home till the early hours. . .then a couple of minutes later,. .. the same bloke called another woman, and said, she's swallowed me story, . . .I'll see you round at the flat at about nine, but I'll have to go home around 2 am. . . . .!

 

Regrettably,. . . .I never heard anything that I could blackmail anyone with. . . . .I mean,. . .how would you know who they were, and wehre they lived. . .damn.

 

The when Cellnet came out with their cellular communications,. . .my mate Ray Withers sold thousands of hand scanners which could recieve those communications. . . .

 

Of course, nowadays,. . .due to security technology. . .mobile phones are impossible to scan. . . ( If you believe that,. . .you probably believe in the tooth fairy too. . .) we recently had a lot of trials, of newspaper reporters who had hacked the voicemail on thousands of mobile phones. . . . . Anyway,. . .I have to be honest. . .( ! ) I have not impinged on anyone's private conversatons for over 25 years. . . . I lead such an exciting life myself,. . .I can't imagine anyone else's being worth listening to . . .( don't watch soaps for the same reason ! )

 

Watch out for low cost "RF Baby Alarms" . . .these work on a similar principle, and can transmit speech quite clearly in a room which can be recieved with a basic system up to a mile from your house, or more if you live in an elevated position. . . .

 

[kgwilson]

Most people with a landline have cordless phones in the house running on 2.4GHZ or above. Anything that is not connected directly to another item can be hacked, just as a wired system can be tapped into.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

My cousin and I used to hook two wires over the lines of our hand-cranked party line system, using an old phone handset, and listen to our parents and the neighbours. Pre-empted you Phil, by about 25 years!

 

 

[Phil Perry]

My cousin and I used to hook two wires over the lines of our hand-cranked party line system, using an old phone handset, and listen to our parents and the neighbours. Pre-empted you Phil, by about 25 years!

Oh bugger. . . .OK You're the best.

 

The modern stuff isn't so easy to monitor at those frequencies KG,. . .Not that I'm particularly bothered about trying. . .!

 

The irony of the whole thing was that following the "Sun" article I posted, was that scanner shops all over the UK were inundated with requests to buy one ! ! ! talk about media driven trends. . . .!

 

My mate Ray imported two containerloads of them from Taiwan and made over £25,000 on those alone. . .he was very appreciative of that newspaper article. . . . . just goes to show what the media is capable of. . . . .with much lack of knowledge and irresponsible reportage. . . .

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I am also reminded that as a kid I had a wireless set the size of a cupboard in my bedroom. It had two short wave bands and an electromagnetic speaker. Anyway, the Flying Doctor Service used to have a 10 am session which allowed all the station women and families to chat to each other, and I could listen in. Some of my school mates came from those stations, so you could pick up useful background information. Not that I would use it to gain any advantage, of course.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

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[Phil Perry]

I am also reminded that as a kid I had a wireless set the size of a cupboard in my bedroom. It had two short wave bands and an electromagnetic speaker. Anyway, the Flying Doctor Service used to have a 10 am session which allowed all the station women and families to chat to each other, and I could listen in. Some of my school mates came from those stations, so you could pick up useful background information. Not that I would use it to gain any advantage, of course.

I remember the old "Flying Doctor" TV show in the late fifties, I wonder if any of those old outback station pedal - generators powering the radio sets are still around. . . .

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Those sets, built by Alf Traeger, are probably in museums now. But RFDS still operates a HF radio network across Australia.

 

 

[Cosmick]

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..-. - / -.-- --- ..- / -... . .. -. --. / ... . -.-. .-. . - .. ...- .

 

 

[Cosmick]

When the anologue mobile phones were around, You'll remember the number started 018 or 019, I was using a scanner from tricky dickey and heard some very raunchy conversations. I could hear both parties.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

..-. .- .. .-. ... .... .- -.- . --- ..-. ... .- ..- -.-. . -... --- - - .-.. . -- .. -.-. -.- --..-- .. .... .- ...- . -. --- ... . -.-. .-. . - ...

 

 

[Cosmick]

-.-- . .- .... / ... ..- .-. .

 

 

[Stoney]

..-. - / .. / .-- .. ... .... / -.-- --- ..- / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / -. --- - / -- ..- -- -... .-.. . /

 

.-- .... -.-- / -.-. .. -. - / -.-- --- ..- / ... .--. . .- -.- / -.-. .-.. . .- .-. .-.. -.-- / .-.. .. -.- . / -.-. --- ... -- .. -.-. -.- /?

 

 

[bexrbetter]

While you 2 may think you're dashing, I reckon you're just dotty.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

..-. - / .. / .-- .. ... .... / -.-- --- ..- / .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. / -. --- - / -- ..- -- -... .-.. . /.-- .... -.-- / -.-. .. -. - / -.-- --- ..- / ... .--. . .- -.- / -.-. .-.. . .- .-. .-.. -.-- / .-.. .. -.- . / -.-. --- ... -- .. -.-. -.- /?

Oh, don't encourage him Stoney,. . . .I can still read morse at around 35 wpm aurally. . . . but I can't really be bothered reading it visually,. . .it seems so,. . . .well,. . .yesterday. . . . .OK, we all know Sam's Code,. . .let's just leave it at that OK ? ? otherwise I'll start sending messages in hieroglyphics. . . . . ( No,. No,. . .don't start encouraging the Egyptologisticallists. . . . . )

 

And,. . .( by the way ) what have you got against Cosmick. . .? )

 

 

[Phil Perry]

While you 2 may think you're dashing, I reckon you're just dotty.

Well,. . .all I can say to that is didah di dah dit,. . .dah di dah. . . . . ( well,. . .that's how I used to finish most of my messages anyhow. . . . .)

 

 

[Phil Perry]

When the anologue mobile phones were around, You'll remember the number started 018 or 019, I was using a scanner from tricky dickey and heard some very raunchy conversations. I could hear both parties.

Well you WOULD be able to hear both sides of the convo mate, as the signals you recieved were already re-transmitted from a cell station,. . .so you didn't need TWO radios to pick up both sides of the duplex. . . .the digital magic has alread done that and placed them on what appears to be the same channel, although they are not originally actuallly, that's impossible,. . .. . .but to a scanner listener,. . .they are.

 

Doncha just lurve teknologee. . . . . ?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

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[Guest Deskpilot1]

As a youngster of 17, I went to a marine radio training college with the view of becoming a Radio Officer in the merchant marine. After 9 months, I had a minor break-down due to dit and dar-ing every bloody shop sign, road name etc that came my way. Eventually, I had to leave college as my father was made redundant. Best move I ever made as I went from sea to air via the RAF. Never had to use morse code and would be unhappy not to hear it again.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

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[farri]

I am disgusted to admit it. . .but if I die without telling you,. . .nobody will ever know what a rat I was. . . . it was fascinating. . . . .

...........

 

 

[Phil Perry]

As a youngster of 17, I went to a marine radio training college with the view of becoming a Radio Officer in the merchant marine. After 9 months, I had a minor break-down due to dit and dar-ing every bloody shop sign, road name etc that came my way. Eventually, I had to leave college as my father was made redundant. Best move I ever made as I went from sea to air via the RAF. Never had to use morse code and would be unhappy not to hear it again.

Can understand that mate. . .! But aren't there still any old NDBs / VORs around in OZ using morse Ident ? although that's very slow stuff, sometimes had to listen a couple of times to those as they were really Too slow IMHO . . . Still got some MCW idents here in the UK But, then again, flying RAA aircraft, the probablitiy of a VOR or ADF unit on the panel is a bit remote I suppose. . . .so it would only be commercial bushies and GA who would ever use them. . . Have not seen an RNC chart from Australia for many moons.

 

 

[frank marriott]

Phil

 

Almost everything is voice intent now. So much so that the morse content was removed from the IFR exams before I did mine in about 1990, even though it was only about 15wpm from memory. The ident on the DME was so slow that I sometimes thought that not being able to read morse would have been an advantage.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

About half the NDBs and VORs in Oz are being shut down this year, next month I think. Bendigo NDB was still operating yesterday when I flew in but there is earthwork going on around it, I think they are building a wetland to attract birds to the runway.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

About half the NDBs and VORs in Oz are being shut down this year, next month I think. Bendigo NDB was still operating yesterday when I flew in but there is earthwork going on around it, I think they are building a wetland to attract birds to the runway.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. . . .OK,. . .so NO morse in use in OZ. . . .never mind,. . .it did it's job for around three quarters of a century but nowadays,. . .there's a lot more technology around.

 

I speak to a lot of Airline pilot students who tell me that, although morse at 10 wpm is still in tech exams,. . .it is in use less and less recently due to advancing digital tech. We heard TEN years ago that all the VOR stations in the UK were going to be shut down five years ago,. . .but most of them are still there. ANYWAY,. . .morse code will ALWAYS be useful,.. . .especially when you're banged up in some crappy third world jail somewhere for some reason or other ( like forgetting to ask permission to fly through Indonesian airspace ), and you need to talk to your captitan in the next cell by tapping on the pipework about sharing the hog's hooves, fried insects and porridge. . . . .

 

Advancements in Navtech ( as with everything else ) are becoming more rapid, and morse is, well,. . . .you know.. . . .a bit ancient innit ? I suppose it has had some terrific uses,. . .I read a book recently about some American troops in the Pacific, who used Arapaho indian soldiers to send morse in that language, and the poor old Japanese had no idea what the heck was going on,. . .they just couldn't decode it. . . .smashing story. . . .( Mind you,. . .if they'd used "Black Country-ese",. . .with soldiers from Gornal, or Tipton, the poor Japs would have had a similar problem. . . .but. . .I digress ( as usual )

 

But when the satellites run out of planetary orbital angular momentum (or diesel ) and fall into the Atlantic ( hopefully, and not on my great grandkid's houses. . .) ,. . .I wonder if Pilots in the thirtieth century will know how to communicate in a basic, simple fashion by banging coconuts together in a rhythmic manner.. . . ? ? ? ? Who Knows . . ? . . .with any luck,. . .they'll probably re-invent Reggae, or Rock Steady. . . . . ( or some musical equivalent. . .? )