police scanners in their cars.
- Thread starter jojo1818
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forgotten
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Listening to cell phone calls without a court order is illegal. Besides, the equipment required to intercept CDMA, TDMA or GSM phones would be cost prohibitive to install in police cruisers. OnStar calls can be intercepted with relative ease, but that doesn't really apply to your situation.
DJ_177D177A
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...
A cop will not be able to listen in on your cell phone conversation, he is using a police radio on the car which is only set to a certain frequency unless they are on an 800mhz frequency they have several to bounce back and forth on. The do not have the "chip" needed to get in on cell phone frequencies although I will tell you this, I have had a course in college and we had two dea agents come into talk and they said they have scanners that do and some days they will just sit around the local intersate and listen to calls that come in all day. Just be careful its always best to use a hard line or person to person after you make them lift their shirt for a wire !
A cop will not be able to listen in on your cell phone conversation, he is using a police radio on the car which is only set to a certain frequency unless they are on an 800mhz frequency they have several to bounce back and forth on. The do not have the "chip" needed to get in on cell phone frequencies although I will tell you this, I have had a course in college and we had two dea agents come into talk and they said they have scanners that do and some days they will just sit around the local intersate and listen to calls that come in all day. Just be careful its always best to use a hard line or person to person after you make them lift their shirt for a wire !
DJ_177D177A
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and remember about the dea they don't fuck with nickle and dime baggers only the big tymers.
and remember about the dea they don't fuck with nickle and dime baggers only the big tymers.
Re: ...
so if they just sat on the interstate and listened to phone calls, they would get what maybe 30-40 sec, 1 min tops of each conversation... or do they do it just for kicks??? And DEA agents arent out looking for leads on the highway, they are typically investigating existing leads and trying to get info about them.... Your cell phone is a relatively safe instrument to use if your small time... big timers have numerous cell phones and generally dont communicate using them (or so Ive heard)
DJ_177D177A said:
so if they just sat on the interstate and listened to phone calls, they would get what maybe 30-40 sec, 1 min tops of each conversation... or do they do it just for kicks??? And DEA agents arent out looking for leads on the highway, they are typically investigating existing leads and trying to get info about them.... Your cell phone is a relatively safe instrument to use if your small time... big timers have numerous cell phones and generally dont communicate using them (or so Ive heard)
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as forgotten says, you can't just tune into digital mobile calls (e.g. gsm) using a receiver the way you can pick up analog radio.
i'm not sure what this 800Mhz frequency is you are talking about dj_177... digital in the us (so-called pcs) operates at 1900MHz. ah, wait. i believe that older cellular technology operates at 800Mhz - does anybody still use that?
alasdair
i'm not sure what this 800Mhz frequency is you are talking about dj_177... digital in the us (so-called pcs) operates at 1900MHz. ah, wait. i believe that older cellular technology operates at 800Mhz - does anybody still use that?
alasdair
900 mhz were the 2nd generation cordless phones... Back in middle school I had a buddy who had a scanner and could listen to everyone in the neighborhoods cordless phones... I believe first generation analog cell phones are the same way... they can also be listened to... but I believe the police still use analog signals, they just have a number of different frequencies they use...
as for digital cell phones... Im sure it is possible to "listen in".... but as for your average joe cop or dea agent having the power and authority to, I dont think so...
as for digital cell phones... Im sure it is possible to "listen in".... but as for your average joe cop or dea agent having the power and authority to, I dont think so...
forgotten
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DJ_177D177A was referring to police communications equipment when he spoke of 800 Mhz. What he was referring to was a trunked radio system commonly used by state and local governments, that operates between 764-870Mhz.
Many police departments still use analog communications equipment, but this trend is dying out. Many departments are switching to APCO-25 digital systems. While APCO-25 is an open standard, and can be decoded with store bought equipment, all of these new systems have the ability to run full time encryption ( DES-XL, DES-OFB, AES, etc.).
I think those DEA guys were just trying to scare people. The equipment needed to intercept digital cell phones is pretty bulky, and can cost upwards of $100K. Look at this equipment that works only on GSM networks. It's not something that would be taken into the field, in hopes of stumbling across something. You would also need 2 other similar units, to cover all cellular protocols. Such equipment is in high demand, and short supply, making the whole situation very unlikely.
Many police departments still use analog communications equipment, but this trend is dying out. Many departments are switching to APCO-25 digital systems. While APCO-25 is an open standard, and can be decoded with store bought equipment, all of these new systems have the ability to run full time encryption ( DES-XL, DES-OFB, AES, etc.).
I think those DEA guys were just trying to scare people. The equipment needed to intercept digital cell phones is pretty bulky, and can cost upwards of $100K. Look at this equipment that works only on GSM networks. It's not something that would be taken into the field, in hopes of stumbling across something. You would also need 2 other similar units, to cover all cellular protocols. Such equipment is in high demand, and short supply, making the whole situation very unlikely.