Section F -- Radio

F-01. What are these radios I see all of the hacker types carrying around?

These radios serve two functions:

1. They serve as scanners, to listen to interesting radio traffic such as police and emergency bands.
2. They serve as tranceivers, to allow hackers to talk with each other over the amateur radio bands.

Yaesu
http://www.yaesu.com/amateur/handheld.html

Kenwood
http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur.html

Icom
http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/dualhand/index.html

F-02. Do I need a license to use one of these radios?

All radio spectrum is legislated or controlled. In order to operate on the amateur (HAM) bands, you should be a legally licensed HAM. Likewise, licensing is required to operate within business bands. Some of the unlicensed radio services include:

While unlicensed, there are still restrictions placed on usage and equipment.

1. Not difficult.
2. Educational.

I recommend becoming licensed because it will increase your enjoyment of amateur radio.

For more information, visit the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) at http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html

In most cases, you do not need to be licensed to operate a scanner. Some juristictions place restrictions on scanner usage. "Mobile" usage (i.e., while in a vehicle) is prohibited in some areas. Check you local laws. Also, it is generally illegal to utilize a scanner "in the commision of a crime".

F-03. What about modifying ("modding") these radios?

The best of these radios can be extensively modified by end users. These modifications usually allows greater receive or transmit ranges, but may enable access to an array of possible features.

The absolute best source for radio mod information is http://www.mods.dk

A Yaesu specific modding page is at http://www.icongrp.com/~sllewd/

F-04. What are better radios for scanning?

My recommendations for general purpose scanners are the PC controlled models. They give you many more options for playing and they are a great band for your scanning buck. Of course, you can't carry these units around on your belt!

Icom PCR-1000
http://www.icomamerica.com/receivers/pc/icpcr1000main.html

WinRadio
http://www.winradio.com/

F-05. What is trunking?

Traditional radio equipment works because both parties of the communication agree on what frequencies they will utilize. Traditional radio scanners work by scanning for and then listening to those frequencies.

Trunking radios, on the other hand, constantly renegotiate the frequencies utilized by both parties. This allows for more efficient utilization of limited frequencies because each conversation does not require a dedicated channel. However, it also makes it very difficult to scan trunked conversations because you never quite know what frequency the next portion of the conversation will appear on.

Trunked radio systems are utilize one or more "Control" or "Data" channels. The data passed via the control channel instructs each radio in the system which frequency to switch to in order to remain on the selected channel. Several utilities are available to monitor and decode some of the common trunking protocols:

In addition to monitoring control channel data, some of these programs can be utilized with two scanners to listen to trunked radio systems - one scanner will monitor the control channel, while the second will be tuned to the appropiate voice channels by the software.

Some scanners are able to follow the trunking control messages sent out by the trunking radios and automatically switch to the new signal. The technology leader in trunked scanners is Uniden.

Uniden BC-245XLT Handheld Scanner
http://www.uniden.com/product.cfm?product=BC245XLT

Uniden BC-780XLT Desktop Scanner
http://www.uniden.com/product.cfm?product=BC780XLT

F-06. What is pirate radio?

Pirate radio is broadcasting outside of the rules laid down by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Pirate radio usually occurs on the FM band because that is where the most receivers are.

Under Part 15 of the FCC rules, you can legally broadcast on the FM band if you broadcast using less that 100 milliwatts of output power and and antenna less than 3' long. By contrast, commercial FM broadcasters are required to broadcast using at least 100 watts of output power. 100 milliwatts will give your signal an effective range of less than one mile.

You can build the gear needed to transmit pirate radio or you can buy much of what you need from Radio Free Berkeley. An entire broadcasting system can be put together for well under $1,000.

For more information, check out Radio Free Berkeley at http://www.freeradio.org.

F-07. What frequencies are used for what purposes?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses the frequency spectrum in the United States. Useful charts showing frequency alloactions are availabe from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.html.