Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
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Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
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Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#2*in the USA.
Radio receivers and scanners sold outside the USA, even if they are made inside the USA, have no restrictions. US manufacturers usually label these radios as "export" versions.
It reminds me of the early days of web browsers when "export" versions of Netscape and IE only supported a maximum of 56-bit encryption for SSL.
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#3The requirement that scanners not be a silly modifiable to restore the AMPS bands was loosely interpreted. On certain older RadioShack scanners, you could unsolder some diodes on the main logic board and full coverage would be restored.
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#4This blogpost is unfortunately barely readable on a small screen, because of the fixed line widths.
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#5Back when analog cell phones were still a thing on the few scanners you couldn't make a trivial modification to enable receiving the cellular frequencies (e.g. switch them into export mode) you could often just tune into some harmonic.
I wonder if truckers still call a lot of phone sex?
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#6*in the USA. Radio receivers and scanners sold outside the USA, even if they are made inside the USA, have no restrictions. US manufacturers usually label these radios as "export" versions. It reminds me of the early days of web browsers when "export" versions of Netscape and IE only supported a maximum of 56-bit encryption for SSL.
I take it that was related to the munitions classification for encryption?
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#7*in the USA. Radio receivers and scanners sold outside the USA, even if they are made inside the USA, have no restrictions. US manufacturers usually label these radios as "export" versions. It reminds me of the early days of web browsers when "export" versions of Netscape and IE only supported a maximum of 56-bit encryption for SSL.
I take it that was related to the munitions classification for encryption?
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#8In 1988 I bought a Uniden Bearcat 800XLT, specifically because it didn't lock out cellular frequencies. Listened to lots of (one side of) phone calls.
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#9Back when analog cell phones were still a thing on the few scanners you couldn't make a trivial modification to enable receiving the cellular frequencies (e.g. switch them into export mode) you could often just tune into some harmonic. I wonder if truckers still call a lot of phone sex?
In the age of camgirls? I’d doubt it.
Re: Why radio receivers won’t tune 800-900 MHz
#10I had (and probably still have) a Radio Shack Pro-2006 scanner from the late 80's. Even pre-Internet, instructions on how to bypass the cellular band block were easily found on Fidonet and local BBSes, and all it involved was removing a single diode.
https://www.wentztech.com/radio/Equipment/Pro2006/pro2006mod...
It was really a golden time for snoop...er..listening to cellular phones because they were so enormously expensive, including per-minute usage fees, that only drug dealers, doctors, and the 1%-ers could actually afford to use them. So there was always interesting things to hear.
Ordinary cordless phones were much more affordable and fairly common at this time. They broadcast in the clear at 49 MHz (at least in the USA) and had no legal protections like the 800 MHz cellular phones.