RadioBanter - View Single Post - Where can I buy a NON-Cellular-Blocked radio

November 4th 03, 04:57 AM

Nobody You Know wrote:

wrote:

I want receiver that can pick up from about 500 Khz to about 2.5 or 3 GHz,
but does NOT have the cellular freqs blocked. Any suggestions?

Our wonderful guardians of freedom, the US Congress, made it illegal for
stores to sell radios that receive cellphone calls to the general public.
However, I do not know what, if any, laws pertain to radio sales between
private individuals (cellphone-capable receivers were sold prior to the law,
although I bet most would be hesitant to part with their radio).

Since many (most?) cellphones use digital signals nowadays, they would just
sound like noise on any cell-capable radio anyway. And if a cellphone is being
used in a car, the conversation typically keeps switching frequencies as the
car moves from one cell area to another, which makes tracking the conversation
problematical.

The above is what I believe to be true, but others in this group probably have
more knowledge of the subject than I do.

Too, you might get more knowledgable answers in the rec.radio.scanner
newsgroup.

Analog cellphones show up regularly in local thrift stores nowadays,
having been rendered useless by the march of technology. Remember those
big bulky cellphones from Motorola? A lot of those used the old 800Mhz
cell band, part of which once was US TV channels 80-83 before the FCC
decided to cut channels 70-83 from operation and reassign them. In my
hacker days I used to have lots of fun listening to people's
conversations over an old Sears TV while I 'worked" online.