[TheList] Wellington frequencies

Wed Nov 25 10:14:17 AEDT 2009

Aside from knowing 'what that frequency is being used for' and 'what
frequencies are in use' what are you actually hoping to achieve?

If a significant proportion of the traffic is encrypted and inaudiable why
would you waste time listening to it?

Curious.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:31 PM, Grant Carroll <grant.carroll at xtra.co.nz>wrote:

>  So, Greg, I presume you have never listened to digital transmissions on a
> scanner.
>
> UHF frequencies in the ESC Band have been in use for over a year in
> Christchurch and having both an analogue and a digital scanner I have
> "listened" to these extensively in that time. With an analogue
> scanner, digital transmissions make a hissing (like white noise) sound but
> it is still easy to determine what frequencies are active, whether in the
> scan or manual mode, but obviously you can't hear what is being transmitted.
>
> With a digital scanner, the digital transmissions obviously can't be
> listened to if they are encrypted but can be heard perfectly if they are
> unencrypted. Virtually all the radio traffic is encrypted but the scanner
> still locks on to them in the scan mode, they are heard as a series of
> "gurgling" noises and you can see "ENC" on the scanner display. If the
> scanner is in the hold mode you hear very little but still see the "ENC"
> when the frequency is active.
>
> The reason I still scan these frequencies, and wanted to know what the ESB
> Band ones already in use in the Wellington area were, is that occasionally,
> on all of the channels in use in Christchurch, I have heard a portable in
> use with the encryption (probably inadvertently) turned off. You can then
> hear that side of the conversation perfectly and this makes it possible to
> detemine what that frequency is being used for.
>
> So you see, whether using an analogue scanner or a digital scanner, it is
> still possible to determine what frequencies are in use and that is what
> I was asking. It is not all "The Sound of Silence" as some believe.
>
> Cheers.
>
> Grunter1.
>
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