TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Jan 95 00:29:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 45 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges (John Lundgren) Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges (John David Galt) Re: Legal Problem due to modified radio (ROsman@swri.edu) Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto (Carl Moore) Re: Anyone Have Experience With LDDS/Metromedia? (Jack Pestaner) Re: Inter-LATA Rates in California (Michael Henry) Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan (Ramesh Pillutla) Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan (Jeremy Schertzinger) Re: How Can I Encrypt a T-1? (Daniel R. Oelke) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ********************************************************************** *** * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ********************************************************************** *** Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jlundgre@kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges Date: 18 Jan 1995 15:48:53 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Catching up with several recent comments in this thread: I'm dealing with contractors that have cellular phones, the little ones in their briefcases and toolboxes. The older cell phones mounted in the car are becoming less and less common nowadays. I've noticed that most of the conversations are on the go, from the conference room or job site to the guy's car -- on foot! This would, of course, still be in the same cell. And a lot of their conversations are short because it costs money, so those blabbermouths that are on the phone for long periods are rare. So I don't believe that much conversation is missed when someone monitors a cellular channel. PB Emerton (pb-emert@uwe-bristol.ac.uk) wrote: > Tony Pelliccio (Tony_Pelliccio@brown.edu) wrote: >> Actually the AOR-2500 comes through with the cell band intact. Or at >> least it did until the FCC attempted to clamp down on it. The nice >> thing is the AOR-2500 is considered a communications receiver and not >> a scanner and last I heard the whole thing was still tied up in >> hearings. >> Of course if you really want to follow a cell call just get a DDI and >> hook it up to your PC. The interesting thing is that the company that >> sells the DDI will only release software with ESN capability to law >> enforcement people. Makes you wonder doesn't it? > What company is it? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please see the referenced remarks of Tony > Pelliccio above: 'FCC tried to clamp down ... still tied up in court'. > A word to the wise: you don't want to mess with those people *too much*. > A little maybe, but not too much. > Like some people here who have disagreed with me over the past couple > days on this, I seriously doubt the FCC is going to stage any massive > actions to get cellular phone equipped scanners out of circulation, etc. The reality is that the CB shops used to sell the GRE downconverters that would convert the cellular band to freqs 400 MHz lower, and they were about $70 or so. THey're not very sophisticated and don't cost much. They work. So even if you have a non-cellular scanner, it can still pick up the cellular band. But there is talk among some hams that you can take an old UHF tuner and use it for downconverting, too. But it would have to be the old 83 channel kind. And then it might not be stable enough. But it might be something to experiment with. > But what I can tell you is they can be a nasty bunch of buggers when > they want to be. In the past they have gone into pirate radio stations > and started pulling wires and fuses out of the control board while the > station was on the air ... kicked the door down and walked in. They > have spent hours driving around in a van through some neighborhood to > triangulate or get a fix on some signal when they wanted the guy. Like > all government agencies, they have loads of money and an infinite amount > of time and resources to spend when they decide they will get their way. I wish you would tell this th Steve Dunifer of FRB over on rec.radio.pirate. ng. He thinks he's going to break the FCC's back with micropower stations on the air. The FCC is already pursuing legal stuff against him, from what I've read. > As Tony points out, they are still fighting in court over the > AOR-2500. When the FCC gets a vendetta of some kind started, for > whatever reason, they will do a number on all concerned. Bureaucrats > will be bureaucrats, and there is nothing worse than a bureaucrat > scorned. :) There was some talk that the FCC wouldn't get so involved, but hand over the prosecution to the Dept of Justice. > Selective enforcement of their own code (the Communications Act) at times? > Sure ... all government agencies selectively enforce the law ... so sue > them. But if a time comes for whatever reason that you are a big target > the FCC would like to get under control and instead of just raiding your > premises with a United States Marshall in tow costing you all kinds of > grief and money -- the way another government agency did to Steve Jackson; > remember him? -- if instead they contact your attorney and tell him to get > you on the straight and narrow 'so we do not have to take this further' then > you know what you do? First you Praise Jesus ... then you think over very > carefully how far you want to push it. PAT] From the way Dunifer talks, that will never happen in his case. He sounds utterly righteous, and he also has an attorney. There is a _whole_ lot of diffwerence between S Jackson Games, who never did a thing to provoke the actions taken against him, and Dunifer, who keeps acting like Kevorkian in that he's constantly challenging the laws. David Moon (moon@gdc.com) wrote: > Bill Sohl contributed a FAQ about scanners, and part of Pat's response > was: >> Illegal modification (i.e. modification by an unlicensed person) voids >> your FCC authority to operate the radio. Furthermore, no *licensed* >> person is going to make illegal modifications to a radio and risk having >> such handiwork be traced back to his bench, at the possible risk of his >> loss of his license. > I'm sure this is true for radio transmitters, but for receivers? Are > you saying I need FCC authority to operate a receiver? What kind of > license are you talking about? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You don't need a printed license. Your > 'authority' is granted by the FCC by default. The FCC claims absolute > control over all radio devices and the airwaves, etc. As discussed > in an earlier message today, they claim in section 15.21 of their > code that they can revoke your (default) authority. Transmitter, > receiver, cordless phone, baby monitor, whatever. PAT] So far I've been reading a lot and not getting any info from anyone about what or if this has had anything decided in the courts. The FCC claiming absolute authority over the airwaves is, to, me, a lot like the police claiming absolute authority over drug sales. Hmmph. I was reading some state supreme court rulings somewhere here, and they are interesting. The state Environmental Protection Admin getting ruled against for overstepping their authority, or cities getting told that they don't have the authority to do certain things. Then I've seen what happened to our own college district when they laid off all of our gardeners and hired a contractor to do the job. Not a very bright move. They got told by the courts that they can lay off the gardeners if their positions have been eliminated, but they just can't do it to save money, and then turn around and hire a contractor to do the job. They violated the law. The lawns weren't eliminated! So they had to reinstate the gardeners with back pay and benefits. And this isn't the only dumb thing that they have done. I won't even get into Orange County's bankruptcy, another debacle. Until I've seen some court ruling on this, I will treat it as just what it is: opinions. Bob Keller (rjk@telcomlaw.com) wrote: > In TELECOM Digest V15 #32, Bill Sohl wrote: >> I have no problem with this statement and I'll state unequivocally >> that scanners and/or other types of radio receivers are not (if >> designed properly) included in the catagory "intentional or >> unintential radiator" and they are not, therefore, licensed. > I did not realize this was such a heated matter or I never would have > stuck my nose into it ... but, now that I'm here ... > A scanner most definitely is a "radiator". If nothing else, the micro- > processor circuitry that makes it scan constitutes an unintentional > radiator within the meaning of the rules. I have difficulty accepting this statement. There are several reasons. The scanners are usually wide band receivers, capable of receiving large parts of the spectrum. Many of the scanners are hand-held and operate off batteries. The microprocessors in both kinds are extremely low power ones because of at least a couple reasons that I can think of. One is to conserve pattery power. They are usually CMOS, and draw only microamps of current from the supply. Another reason they draw little power is that they don't have to have much calculating capability or MIPS because they do a simple job. They also draw very little power because the less power they draw, the less RF energy they radiate, and that means the less they might interfere with their own receiver. Since the receiver is very sensitive, the RF radiated from the microprocessor must be very low since it's only inches away from the receiver. Another thing I get from the part 15 rules as far as intentional radiation is concerned is that the FCC is basically saying that they don't want anything to do with them. In other words, in the instructions where it says you must not interfere and you must tolerate interference, they are saying that no one has any legal recourse if they are getting interference. The only recourse that the user has is to either turn the interference off or move the interference source or device receiving the interference farther apart from each other. The last paragraph about building or modifying has an explanation that's more to my liking. > I am _not_ saying that home-built devices and/or user-modified devices > are therefore automatically unlawful. In building or modifying a > device, however, the user is responsible for keeping the technical > parameters of the device within the radiation limits prescribed by > Part 15 and, if those limits are exceeded, the user no-longer enjoys > the right conferred by Part 15 to use the device without a license. > With the possible exception of cellular scanners (which is an issue > contaminated by political/industry pressures and other laws having > nothing to do with the regulatory purposes of Part 15), I don't think > there is any intent on the part of the government to prevent someone > from building or modifying non-transmitter devices (on a > non-commercial basis) in ways that do not cause interference, nor do I > think there is any governmental interest in expending resources > worrying it. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 jlundgre@pop.rancho.cc.ca.us\jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com ------------------------------ From: John_David_Galt@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 01:39:41 PST Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but somewhere in the FCC regs that were posted, it IS now illegal to manufacture a radio that receives cellular frequencies. I'll bet anything you like that building your own, or modifying a scanner that didn't get cellular before you worked on it, is "manufacturing" in the eyes of the law. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 9:05:06 CST From: ROsman@swri.edu Subject: Re: Legal Problem Due to Modified Radio Maybe someone already noticed this, but the officer involved has provided sworn testimony indicating that he violated federal law. He used the radio out-of-band on a channel for which it is not licensed. A copy of the court transcript might interest the FCC's Chicago Field Engineer. The FCC takes a very dim view of modified ham gear on the commercial bands. If the modified radio you own was capable of out of band operation as the result of a receive, CAP or MARS mod, they probably won't care. If, however, specific modification was required to permit out of band transmitting, you may be inviting scrutiny that you would prefer to avoid. They don't care a whit if you listen to the police on on your ham rig, but if you intentionally transmit on frequencies you should not they *WILL* make your life miserable. They will do it more swiftly and with greater impunity than the locals. Just my opinion, Oz@SwRI.edu (Rich Osman) SwRI didn't say it, I did. (210) 522-5050 (w) (210) 699-1302 (h;v/msg/fax) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for that comparison between local and federal law enforcement and justice systems. Indeed, most state and local law enforcement agencies are almost like the Three Stooges by comparison to the federal mechanism. You've heard the joke I guess about the Catholic priest, the Jewish rabbi, and assorted, sundry other preachers who die and go to heaven: at the front desk they see one of these 'take a number and wait your turn' dispensers. They take their numbers and sit down in the waiting room reading old copies of {Time Magazine} and whatever. They sit there a long time while the angel in charge seems to ignore them all as he works on his paperwork. Suddenly an old lady walking with a cane comes wobbling in and up to the counter. Sez the angel, "Oh, Mrs. Brown ... we've all been waiting for you! Come right in, we have your accomodations ready for you now!" She wobbles right on past and into the inner sanctum, where angels get their wings, and all that. The various Men of God all see this, and become quite indignant that they have been kept waiting and Mrs. Brown gets to walk right in. They go up to the front desk and ask what's the idea? Why did she go right in and we are kept waiting all this time? "Well," says the angel, "you see, Mrs. Brown was a federal probation/parole officer for forty years in New York. In a single day's time, she scared more hell out of people by threatening to unsatisfactorily terminate their federal probation than you guys did with a lifetime of preaching!" PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 21:28:50 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto So you were able to get a Seattle number from 360 directory assistance. Maybe 360-555-1212 is at least temporarily being routed identically to 206-555-1212. ------------------------------ From: jackp@telecomm.cse.ogi.edu (Jack Pestaner) Subject: Re: Anyone Have Experience With LDDS/Metromedia? Date: 19 Jan 1995 04:29:52 GMT Organization: Oregon Grad. Inst. Computer Science and Eng., Beaverton Stay away from LDDS if the ability to receive calls (inbound 800) is essential to your business. One of our customers, a major telemarketing company, switched to LDDS. Almost constantly, regions of the US could not get through on the 800 number, and actually got disconnect messages in some cases. You see, LDDS is really an umbrella corporation that has taken over many small regional LD companies. As you can imagine, all the networks are different, and SS7 is just a pipe dream in that environment. They really don't have a network like AT&T, MCI, and Sprint. If you just need cheap outgoing LD, and don't care if it works all the time, LDDS is your company. If you have inbound 800, stick with the big three!!! Good Luck, Jack ------------------------------ From: mhenry@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Michael Henry) Subject: Re: Inter-LATA Rates in California Date: 18 Jan 1995 18:32:32 GMT Organization: UC Berkeley In article , ericp@ucg.com (Eric Paulak) says: > Linc Madison asked: úÿ >> Have the IXC's reduced their rates on calls between LATAs in ^^^^^^^ >> California to be more in line with both the new intra-LATA and >> interstate rates? > The answers a resounding "yes." In fact, AT&T, MCI and Sprint have all > undercut Pac Bell's rates. I haven't seen any new tariffs or price changes from the carriers for calls between LATA's. Michael Henry Analyst Telecommunications, University of California, Berkeley ------------------------------ From: pillutla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Ramesh Pillutla) Subject: Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan Date: 18 Jan 1995 14:14:08 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: pillutla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Hi, I am interested in any press reports/info regarding the state of the terrestrial lines and cellular phone system in Kobe, Japan following the earthquake. I have heard from some of my Japanese friends that the cellular phone system is not fully operational but, roaming is out and a few cells are still operational. Currently, all private phone users have been asked not to use their phones and all available cellular facilities have been commandeered by the emergency services. Land lines are completely out of the question with all major CO's out due to lack of power. If anybody has any information, please post here. Ramesh [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The last I heard today, the death toll is now about 3000. Hospitals are turning people away because they have no resources or supplies left for treatment. They have given up looking for bodies. In many instances, people are simply sitting in front of their (former) homes, protecting the piles of rubble which remain. As one might expect, people are showing how *good* they can be with one another. Several women who have given birth in the past couple days who were unable to obtain service in a hospital have simply been assisted by their neighbors when the time came ... won't they have a story to tell that child in a few years! As you point out, telecommunications services still in operation have been seized by the government for emergency use. I am reminded of the scene here in Chicago the day of the great fire, in October, 1871: people kept trudging along northward, assuming that the fire would stop eventually. The fire jumped the river and proceeded to consume much of the north side. By mid-afternoon that Monday, about a hundred thousand people were milling around in Lincoln Park, homeless with what possessions they could salvage sitting on the ground in front of them. As the flames came closer and the smoke so dense they could not breath, most of them simply walked out into Lake Michigan into water up to their shoulders and stood there, facing away from the fire, with their possessions held out of the water above their head. In an editorial in the {Chicago Tribune}, October 9, 1871 entitled "Chicago Will Rise Again" the writer told of a nine year old girl who stood neck-deep in the lake with her one beloved possession, a parakeet in a cage held in the air out of the water. The bird succombed to the dense smoke and burning embers which were flying through the air, and the little girl wept quietly as the bird lay dead on the bottom of its cage. According to the {Tribune} that day (it had not published the day before, having been burned out of its own quarters on Dearborn Street) "Mayor Mason early Monday called an emergency meeting of the City Council to instruct the aldermen in their duties. They were informed that the city had seized the First Congregational Church to be used as the seat of government pending rebuilding of City Hall, as well as seizing the wires and telegraph facilities of the Western Union Company in Chicago so that communications could continue unabated. Magistrates were charged with the duty of 'taking control of railroad trains passing through the city, seizing any food provisions contained therein for distribution to our citizens'. But most important, the aldermen were instructed to take their horses, ride out to the park and circulate among the citizens to lessen their fears. 'Let the people know the government has been re-instated, that they have not been abandoned and that everything we can do will be done' ..." And the {Tribune} account concluded by noting that later that night it had begun to rain; not heavily but just a steady drizzle, enough to finally extinquish what remained of the fire which had begun two days before. "A hundred thousand of our citizens stayed there in Lincoln Park all night; with no shelter they stood there in the rain with nothing to eat for their supper, none the less with gratitude that their lives and the lives of their families had been spared." There are surely many people in Japan today feeling the same gratitude despite the terrible losses of the past three days. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jeremyps@eskimo.com (Jeremy Schertzinger) Subject: Re: Horrible Eartquake in Japan Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 01:14:57 GMT I have collected about 25 images of the Kobe earthquake from the net for viewing. Many of them are from NHK Television. All files are in GIF or JPEG format. Check them out at ftp.eskimo.com in /jeremyps/quake . Please use these instead of the Japanese servers. They are already overloaded. Thanks. Jeremy Schertzinger jeremyps@eskimo.com -- jeremys@scn.org http://www.eskimo.com/~jeremyps/ Happy New Year! ------------------------------ From: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Daniel R. Oelke) Subject: Re: How Can I Encrypt a T-1? Date: 18 Jan 1995 20:08:19 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Previously in this thread someone mentioned that Rockwell (through a division that had previously been Collins Radio) had a T1 scrambler or encrypter of some sort. Well, that company is now owned by Alcatel Network Systems (my employer). You can call 1-800-Alcatel for your local sales person. Sorry, I work in the Sonet OC-48 area and don't have any idea if we even have such a product anymore. Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke@aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX http://spirit.aud.alcatel.com:8081/~droelke/ ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #45 ***************************** ÿ@FROM :telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Message-ID: <9501190630.AA17189@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Thu Jan 19 02:37:19 1995 Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu (delta.eecs.nwu.edu [129.105.5.103]) by coyote.channel1.com (8.6.9/8.6.4) with SMTP id CAA13522; Thu, 19 Jan 1995 02:37:19 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17196; Thu, 19 Jan 95 00:30:15 CST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA17189; Thu, 19 Jan 95 00:30:12 CST Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 00:30:12 CST From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9501190630.AA17189@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #45 TELECOM Digest Wed, 18 Jan 95 00:29:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 45 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges (John Lundgren) Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges (John David Galt) Re: Legal Problem due to modified radio (ROsman@swri.edu) Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto (Carl Moore) Re: Anyone Have Experience With LDDS/Metromedia? (Jack Pestaner) Re: Inter-LATA Rates in California (Michael Henry) Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan (Ramesh Pillutla) Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan (Jeremy Schertzinger) Re: How Can I Encrypt a T-1? (Daniel R. Oelke) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ********************************************************************** *** * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ********************************************************************** *** Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jlundgre@kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) Subject: Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges Date: 18 Jan 1995 15:48:53 GMT Organization: Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Catching up with several recent comments in this thread: I'm dealing with contractors that have cellular phones, the little ones in their briefcases and toolboxes. The older cell phones mounted in the car are becoming less and less common nowadays. I've noticed that most of the conversations are on the go, from the conference room or job site to the guy's car -- on foot! This would, of course, still be in the same cell. And a lot of their conversations are short because it costs money, so those blabbermouths that are on the phone for long periods are rare. So I don't believe that much conversation is missed when someone monitors a cellular channel. PB Emerton (pb-emert@uwe-bristol.ac.uk) wrote: > Tony Pelliccio (Tony_Pelliccio@brown.edu) wrote: >> Actually the AOR-2500 comes through with the cell band intact. Or at >> least it did until the FCC attempted to clamp down on it. The nice >> thing is the AOR-2500 is considered a communications receiver and not >> a scanner and last I heard the whole thing was still tied up in >> hearings. >> Of course if you really want to follow a cell call just get a DDI and >> hook it up to your PC. The interesting thing is that the company that >> sells the DDI will only release software with ESN capability to law >> enforcement people. Makes you wonder doesn't it? > What company is it? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Please see the referenced remarks of Tony > Pelliccio above: 'FCC tried to clamp down ... still tied up in court'. > A word to the wise: you don't want to mess with those people *too much*. > A little maybe, but not too much. > Like some people here who have disagreed with me over the past couple > days on this, I seriously doubt the FCC is going to stage any massive > actions to get cellular phone equipped scanners out of circulation, etc. The reality is that the CB shops used to sell the GRE downconverters that would convert the cellular band to freqs 400 MHz lower, and they were about $70 or so. THey're not very sophisticated and don't cost much. They work. So even if you have a non-cellular scanner, it can still pick up the cellular band. But there is talk among some hams that you can take an old UHF tuner and use it for downconverting, too. But it would have to be the old 83 channel kind. And then it might not be stable enough. But it might be something to experiment with. > But what I can tell you is they can be a nasty bunch of buggers when > they want to be. In the past they have gone into pirate radio stations > and started pulling wires and fuses out of the control board while the > station was on the air ... kicked the door down and walked in. They > have spent hours driving around in a van through some neighborhood to > triangulate or get a fix on some signal when they wanted the guy. Like > all government agencies, they have loads of money and an infinite amount > of time and resources to spend when they decide they will get their way. I wish you would tell this th Steve Dunifer of FRB over on rec.radio.pirate. ng. He thinks he's going to break the FCC's back with micropower stations on the air. The FCC is already pursuing legal stuff against him, from what I've read. > As Tony points out, they are still fighting in court over the > AOR-2500. When the FCC gets a vendetta of some kind started, for > whatever reason, they will do a number on all concerned. Bureaucrats > will be bureaucrats, and there is nothing worse than a bureaucrat > scorned. :) There was some talk that the FCC wouldn't get so involved, but hand over the prosecution to the Dept of Justice. > Selective enforcement of their own code (the Communications Act) at times? > Sure ... all government agencies selectively enforce the law ... so sue > them. But if a time comes for whatever reason that you are a big target > the FCC would like to get under control and instead of just raiding your > premises with a United States Marshall in tow costing you all kinds of > grief and money -- the way another government agency did to Steve Jackson; > remember him? -- if instead they contact your attorney and tell him to get > you on the straight and narrow 'so we do not have to take this further' then > you know what you do? First you Praise Jesus ... then you think over very > carefully how far you want to push it. PAT] From the way Dunifer talks, that will never happen in his case. He sounds utterly righteous, and he also has an attorney. There is a _whole_ lot of diffwerence between S Jackson Games, who never did a thing to provoke the actions taken against him, and Dunifer, who keeps acting like Kevorkian in that he's constantly challenging the laws. David Moon (moon@gdc.com) wrote: > Bill Sohl contributed a FAQ about scanners, and part of Pat's response > was: >> Illegal modification (i.e. modification by an unlicensed person) voids >> your FCC authority to operate the radio. Furthermore, no *licensed* >> person is going to make illegal modifications to a radio and risk having >> such handiwork be traced back to his bench, at the possible risk of his >> loss of his license. > I'm sure this is true for radio transmitters, but for receivers? Are > you saying I need FCC authority to operate a receiver? What kind of > license are you talking about? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You don't need a printed license. Your > 'authority' is granted by the FCC by default. The FCC claims absolute > control over all radio devices and the airwaves, etc. As discussed > in an earlier message today, they claim in section 15.21 of their > code that they can revoke your (default) authority. Transmitter, > receiver, cordless phone, baby monitor, whatever. PAT] So far I've been reading a lot and not getting any info from anyone about what or if this has had anything decided in the courts. The FCC claiming absolute authority over the airwaves is, to, me, a lot like the police claiming absolute authority over drug sales. Hmmph. I was reading some state supreme court rulings somewhere here, and they are interesting. The state Environmental Protection Admin getting ruled against for overstepping their authority, or cities getting told that they don't have the authority to do certain things. Then I've seen what happened to our own college district when they laid off all of our gardeners and hired a contractor to do the job. Not a very bright move. They got told by the courts that they can lay off the gardeners if their positions have been eliminated, but they just can't do it to save money, and then turn around and hire a contractor to do the job. They violated the law. The lawns weren't eliminated! So they had to reinstate the gardeners with back pay and benefits. And this isn't the only dumb thing that they have done. I won't even get into Orange County's bankruptcy, another debacle. Until I've seen some court ruling on this, I will treat it as just what it is: opinions. Bob Keller (rjk@telcomlaw.com) wrote: > In TELECOM Digest V15 #32, Bill Sohl wrote: >> I have no problem with this statement and I'll state unequivocally >> that scanners and/or other types of radio receivers are not (if >> designed properly) included in the catagory "intentional or >> unintential radiator" and they are not, therefore, licensed. > I did not realize this was such a heated matter or I never would have > stuck my nose into it ... but, now that I'm here ... > A scanner most definitely is a "radiator". If nothing else, the micro- > processor circuitry that makes it scan constitutes an unintentional > radiator within the meaning of the rules. I have difficulty accepting this statement. There are several reasons. The scanners are usually wide band receivers, capable of receiving large parts of the spectrum. Many of the scanners are hand-held and operate off batteries. The microprocessors in both kinds are extremely low power ones because of at least a couple reasons that I can think of. One is to conserve pattery power. They are usually CMOS, and draw only microamps of current from the supply. Another reason they draw little power is that they don't have to have much calculating capability or MIPS because they do a simple job. They also draw very little power because the less power they draw, the less RF energy they radiate, and that means the less they might interfere with their own receiver. Since the receiver is very sensitive, the RF radiated from the microprocessor must be very low since it's only inches away from the receiver. Another thing I get from the part 15 rules as far as intentional radiation is concerned is that the FCC is basically saying that they don't want anything to do with them. In other words, in the instructions where it says you must not interfere and you must tolerate interference, they are saying that no one has any legal recourse if they are getting interference. The only recourse that the user has is to either turn the interference off or move the interference source or device receiving the interference farther apart from each other. The last paragraph about building or modifying has an explanation that's more to my liking. > I am _not_ saying that home-built devices and/or user-modified devices > are therefore automatically unlawful. In building or modifying a > device, however, the user is responsible for keeping the technical > parameters of the device within the radiation limits prescribed by > Part 15 and, if those limits are exceeded, the user no-longer enjoys > the right conferred by Part 15 to use the device without a license. > With the possible exception of cellular scanners (which is an issue > contaminated by political/industry pressures and other laws having > nothing to do with the regulatory purposes of Part 15), I don't think > there is any intent on the part of the government to prevent someone > from building or modifying non-transmitter devices (on a > non-commercial basis) in ways that do not cause interference, nor do I > think there is any governmental interest in expending resources > worrying it. John Lundgren - Elec Tech - Info Tech Svcs Rancho Santiago Community College District 17th St. at Bristol \ Santa Ana, CA 92706 jlundgre@pop.rancho.cc.ca.us\jlundgre@kn.pacbell.com ------------------------------ From: John_David_Galt@cup.portal.com Subject: Re: Chatter Heard on Scanner Leads to Criminal Charges Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 01:39:41 PST Maybe I'm misinterpreting this, but somewhere in the FCC regs that were posted, it IS now illegal to manufacture a radio that receives cellular frequencies. I'll bet anything you like that building your own, or modifying a scanner that didn't get cellular before you worked on it, is "manufacturing" in the eyes of the law. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 9:05:06 CST From: ROsman@swri.edu Subject: Re: Legal Problem Due to Modified Radio Maybe someone already noticed this, but the officer involved has provided sworn testimony indicating that he violated federal law. He used the radio out-of-band on a channel for which it is not licensed. A copy of the court transcript might interest the FCC's Chicago Field Engineer. The FCC takes a very dim view of modified ham gear on the commercial bands. If the modified radio you own was capable of out of band operation as the result of a receive, CAP or MARS mod, they probably won't care. If, however, specific modification was required to permit out of band transmitting, you may be inviting scrutiny that you would prefer to avoid. They don't care a whit if you listen to the police on on your ham rig, but if you intentionally transmit on frequencies you should not they *WILL* make your life miserable. They will do it more swiftly and with greater impunity than the locals. Just my opinion, Oz@SwRI.edu (Rich Osman) SwRI didn't say it, I did. (210) 522-5050 (w) (210) 699-1302 (h;v/msg/fax) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for that comparison between local and federal law enforcement and justice systems. Indeed, most state and local law enforcement agencies are almost like the Three Stooges by comparison to the federal mechanism. You've heard the joke I guess about the Catholic priest, the Jewish rabbi, and assorted, sundry other preachers who die and go to heaven: at the front desk they see one of these 'take a number and wait your turn' dispensers. They take their numbers and sit down in the waiting room reading old copies of {Time Magazine} and whatever. They sit there a long time while the angel in charge seems to ignore them all as he works on his paperwork. Suddenly an old lady walking with a cane comes wobbling in and up to the counter. Sez the angel, "Oh, Mrs. Brown ... we've all been waiting for you! Come right in, we have your accomodations ready for you now!" She wobbles right on past and into the inner sanctum, where angels get their wings, and all that. The various Men of God all see this, and become quite indignant that they have been kept waiting and Mrs. Brown gets to walk right in. They go up to the front desk and ask what's the idea? Why did she go right in and we are kept waiting all this time? "Well," says the angel, "you see, Mrs. Brown was a federal probation/parole officer for forty years in New York. In a single day's time, she scared more hell out of people by threatening to unsatisfactorily terminate their federal probation than you guys did with a lifetime of preaching!" PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 21:28:50 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto So you were able to get a Seattle number from 360 directory assistance. Maybe 360-555-1212 is at least temporarily being routed identically to 206-555-1212. ------------------------------ From: jackp@telecomm.cse.ogi.edu (Jack Pestaner) Subject: Re: Anyone Have Experience With LDDS/Metromedia? Date: 19 Jan 1995 04:29:52 GMT Organization: Oregon Grad. Inst. Computer Science and Eng., Beaverton Stay away from LDDS if the ability to receive calls (inbound 800) is essential to your business. One of our customers, a major telemarketing company, switched to LDDS. Almost constantly, regions of the US could not get through on the 800 number, and actually got disconnect messages in some cases. You see, LDDS is really an umbrella corporation that has taken over many small regional LD companies. As you can imagine, all the networks are different, and SS7 is just a pipe dream in that environment. They really don't have a network like AT&T, MCI, and Sprint. If you just need cheap outgoing LD, and don't care if it works all the time, LDDS is your company. If you have inbound 800, stick with the big three!!! Good Luck, Jack ------------------------------ From: mhenry@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Michael Henry) Subject: Re: Inter-LATA Rates in California Date: 18 Jan 1995 18:32:32 GMT Organization: UC Berkeley In article , ericp@ucg.com (Eric Paulak) says: > Linc Madison asked: úÿ >> Have the IXC's reduced their rates on calls between LATAs in ^^^^^^^ >> California to be more in line with both the new intra-LATA and >> interstate rates? > The answers a resounding "yes." In fact, AT&T, MCI and Sprint have all > undercut Pac Bell's rates. I haven't seen any new tariffs or price changes from the carriers for calls between LATA's. Michael Henry Analyst Telecommunications, University of California, Berkeley ------------------------------ From: pillutla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Ramesh Pillutla) Subject: Re: Horrible Earthquake in Japan Date: 18 Jan 1995 14:14:08 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: pillutla@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Hi, I am interested in any press reports/info regarding the state of the terrestrial lines and cellular phone system in Kobe, Japan following the earthquake. I have heard from some of my Japanese friends that the cellular phone system is not fully operational but, roaming is out and a few cells are still operational. Currently, all private phone users have been asked not to use their phones and all available cellular facilities have been commandeered by the emergency services. Land lines are completely out of the question with all major CO's out due to lack of power. If anybody has any information, please post here. Ramesh [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The last I heard today, the death toll is now about 3000. Hospitals are turning people away because they have no resources or supplies left for treatment. They have given up looking for bodies. In many instances, people are simply sitting in front of their (former) homes, protecting the piles of rubble which remain. As one might expect, people are showing how *good* they can be with one another. Several women who have given birth in the past couple days who were unable to obtain service in a hospital have simply been assisted by their neighbors when the time came ... won't they have a story to tell that child in a few years! As you point out, telecommunications services still in operation have been seized by the government for emergency use. I am reminded of the scene here in Chicago the day of the great fire, in October, 1871: people kept trudging along northward, assuming that the fire would stop eventually. The fire jumped the river and proceeded to consume much of the north side. By mid-afternoon that Monday, about a hundred thousand people were milling around in Lincoln Park, homeless with what possessions they could salvage sitting on the ground in front of them. As the flames came closer and the smoke so dense they could not breath, most of them simply walked out into Lake Michigan into water up to their shoulders and stood there, facing away from the fire, with their possessions held out of the water above their head. In an editorial in the {Chicago Tribune}, October 9, 1871 entitled "Chicago Will Rise Again" the writer told of a nine year old girl who stood neck-deep in the lake with her one beloved possession, a parakeet in a cage held in the air out of the water. The bird succombed to the dense smoke and burning embers which were flying through the air, and the little girl wept quietly as the bird lay dead on the bottom of its cage. According to the {Tribune} that day (it had not published the day before, having been burned out of its own quarters on Dearborn Street) "Mayor Mason early Monday called an emergency meeting of the City Council to instruct the aldermen in their duties. They were informed that the city had seized the First Congregational Church to be used as the seat of government pending rebuilding of City Hall, as well as seizing the wires and telegraph facilities of the Western Union Company in Chicago so that communications could continue unabated. Magistrates were charged with the duty of 'taking control of railroad trains passing through the city, seizing any food provisions contained therein for distribution to our citizens'. But most important, the aldermen were instructed to take their horses, ride out to the park and circulate among the citizens to lessen their fears. 'Let the people know the government has been re-instated, that they have not been abandoned and that everything we can do will be done' ..." And the {Tribune} account concluded by noting that later that night it had begun to rain; not heavily but just a steady drizzle, enough to finally extinquish what remained of the fire which had begun two days before. "A hundred thousand of our citizens stayed there in Lincoln Park all night; with no shelter they stood there in the rain with nothing to eat for their supper, none the less with gratitude that their lives and the lives of their families had been spared." There are surely many people in Japan today feeling the same gratitude despite the terrible losses of the past three days. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jeremyps@eskimo.com (Jeremy Schertzinger) Subject: Re: Horrible Eartquake in Japan Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 01:14:57 GMT I have collected about 25 images of the Kobe earthquake from the net for viewing. Many of them are from NHK Television. All files are in GIF or JPEG format. Check them out at ftp.eskimo.com in /jeremyps/quake . Please use these instead of the Japanese servers. They are already overloaded. Thanks. Jeremy Schertzinger jeremyps@eskimo.com -- jeremys@scn.org http://www.eskimo.com/~jeremyps/ Happy New Year! ------------------------------ From: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Daniel R. Oelke) Subject: Re: How Can I Encrypt a T-1? Date: 18 Jan 1995 20:08:19 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Previously in this thread someone mentioned that Rockwell (through a division that had previously been Collins Radio) had a T1 scrambler or encrypter of some sort. Well, that company is now owned by Alcatel Network Systems (my employer). You can call 1-800-Alcatel for your local sales person. Sorry, I work in the Sonet OC-48 area and don't have any idea if we even have such a product anymore. Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke@aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX http://spirit.aud.alcatel.com:8081/~droelke/ ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #45 *****************************