[Tfug] OT: Tucson frequencies

[Bexley Hall]

Hi, Bowie,

--- On Sun, 1/4/09, Bowie J. Poag <bpoag at comcast.net> wrote:

> Analog cell traffic, of which you are likely to hear *zero*
> of anymore, used to occur between about 852 and 862 MHz. The
> last cell carrier that supported analog here in town stopped
> doing so a few years ago.

No, I'm mainly interested in "civil service" stuff.
E.g., "I wonder why those squad cars just flew past the house..."
 
> Unless you're into snooping baby monitors and cordless
> phones, theres not much left out there that's
> interesting, analog-wise.  There's still plenty
> happening on the WiFi front, however. The tools we used to
> use back when are stone-age compared to whats available now.
> They practically do all the dirty work for you these days.
> I remember having to make sure my car radio's clock
> matched the clock on my wardriving rig so I could pencil in
> correct times on my street map of Tucson. Nowadays?
> Noooooo.. Your sniffer has a GPS plugin. Now you can know
> within 4 feet what you picked up, with atomic clock
> accuracy. Takes all the fun out of it. :)

I've a friend (since passed away; RIP) who worked for TPC.
Used to do "security work" (e.g., when the President would
come to town, he would set up the communications, etc.).

I recall him describing early "frequency hopping" cell phones
to me.  Making an effort to impress me with how *hard* it would
be to listen in on any such "chopped up" conversation.  Then,
once I was suitably impressed, showing me black market boxes
that could piece those calls back together in real time!  :<

(sigh)  Just goes to show you that there's always a way to
work around technological obstacles!

--don