Ham Radio/Ham Radio CD-ROM (Emerald Software) (1995).ISO/news/inham07/928

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Subject: INFO-HAMS Digest V89 #928
To: [e-mail]

INFO-HAMS Digest            Fri, 24 Nov 89       Volume 89 : Issue 928

Today's Topics:
Radios in crime (was: Re: (#1 in series) Listen to store security guards catch shoplifters
            scanners and privacy (was Military callsigns)
                       Ten Tec Corsair Inquiry
                               Yaesu HT
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 24 Nov 89 18:52:56 GMT
From: rochester!kodak!swamps![e-mail]  (Val Christian)
Subject: Radios in crime (was: Re: (#1 in series) Listen to store security guards catch shoplifters

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jim Grubs) writes:
>> From: [e-mail] (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
> >
> > It's getting near the holiday season -- a great time for listening
> > to store security guards catch shoplifters.  If you have a scanner,
> > or extended coverage ham transceiver, you can get in on the action.
>
>Parnass, you've gone off the deep end with this irresponsible posting. Is your
>hobby of electronic voyerurism so vital to you that it justifies aiding
>criminals to evade detection and apprehension? I think you need to recheck your
>priorities.
>73 de Jim Grubs, W8GRT


While it is conceivable that someone may use a scanner to assist common
shoplifting activities, it seems doubtful that a significant percentage
of shoplifters would employ such techniques.  I'll use a parallel.
In NY State, there is a section of Vehicle and Traffic Law (397 if memory
serves me well), which makes it a misdemenor (NOT a traffic violation)
to have an operable scanner or radio receiver capable of receiving
police frequencies in a motor vehicle.  The law was apparently justified
as a means of prosecuting people who use scanners to evade police in
traffic (and criminal?) matters.

The parallel is that the legislature thought people would use radio
receivers to evade traffic enforcement, or perhaps to evade police in
criminal matters.  Additionally, (somewhere) there is federal
leglislation which says to the effect that the use of radio equipment
in the commission of a crime is also a federal offense.

The irony of all this is that the predominant use of section 397
is in eliminating "call chasers".  One deputy told me he had a car
appear in the vicinity of three jobs in one night.  He pulled the
car over, and found a scanner in the vehicle.  This apparently
is principle use of the law in NYS (at least according to an
undersheriff and an Asst. DA).


In my research on this law, I also found out that there were very
few cases where radios were used in crimes, with the exception
of CB-type radios used for communication, usually in home and
business burglaries.  Therefore, I submit that the publication of
store frequencies would unlikely result in their use for
illegal activities.  Furthermore, if one were to use a scanner
to monitor the store detective frequencies, and were apprehended,
it is possible that additional charges (the federal statues I
can't cite off the top of my head) would be made.


...and about the NY law...the reason I looked into it is that most
new ham equipment is capable of receiving VHF and UHF police
frequencies.  Ham equipment is exempted in the law...but only when
capable of use on exclusive ham frequencies.  If keyboard entries
permit the receiver to tune a police frequency, then...well...
I hope they aren't after you.  Furthermore, 900 MHz equipment
may not be expempted, as an example, because the 900 MHz band
is not exclusively allocated to hams.    [If enough people
want, I can write more on this law, including the text...]

------------------------------

Date: 24 Nov 89 18:48:40 GMT
From: mips!prls![e-mail]  (Gordon Vickers)
Subject: scanners and privacy (was Military callsigns)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (bill gunshannon) writes:
->
->Anyone who uses a cordless phone and thinks that nobody else can hear
->it is a fool.  I don't monitor anything but the ham bands (because I
->don't really care about the rest), but I have frequently heard cordless
->phones at the bottom of 6 meters while tuning around.  I have on
->occasion stopped long enough to hear where they were from.  I have picked
->up cordless phone transmissions from as far away as 8 miles over rather

     Guess what ?  Many of the Baby Monitors broadcast on the same frequancy !
   Yesterday as I was up (and through) the 49M Hz area, I heard an commercial
   FM radio station.  I thought this curious, so I listened in for a while.
   In a few minutes, the music stopped (someone turned off their radio) and
   the conversations begun.  It's amazing how sensitive those baby monitors
   are, I was able to hear conversations from other rooms!

------------------------------

Date: 24 Nov 89 04:04:34 GMT
From: hpda!hpwala!hpnjld![e-mail]  (Ed Gilbert tel [phone])
Subject: Ten Tec Corsair Inquiry

> I'm shipping the Omni back from whence it came, and have located
> instead an excellent deal on a Corsair II- less than half the current
> retail price, too. Thus the Omni question is amended for Corsairs:
>
>  -- difficulties?
>  -- good mods?
>  -- operating hints?
>  -- service hints?
>  &tc.?
>
>      73 de ke8yy
>  Mike Edelman

I have owned a Corsair II for about a year.  I am primarily a CW op,
interested in contesting and DXing.  From my perspective:

Corsair positives
  - Passband tuning is real nice.
  - 3 filters selectable (most xcvrs only have wide/narrow).
  - Tentec service is the best -- fast, inexpensive, reliable.
  - No PLL phase noise (no PLL).

Corsair negatives
  - Main tuning know has terrible feel to it.  I think it's string
    driven.  Sometimes there's backlash, and the tuning is very touchy
    due to 20KHz per dial revolution.
  - CW sidetone has a mushy sound, and gives the effect of heavy weight
    in the keying, which is not at all pleasant at high speeds.
  - The IF filters are only 6-pole, not as steep-sided as on most rigs.
    There is noticeable leakage around the CW filters from signals that
    are 2 or 3 KHz away.
  - You need to buy optional remote VFO to operate split freq.  The
    combination of Corsair, VFO, and power supply takes up lots of desk
    space.
  - The CW offset is set at 750Hz, too high for most people.  Thus you
    end up always using RIT.  You have to remember to go on the minus side
    with RIT on 160, 80, and 40, and on the plus side on 20, 15 and 10.
  - Power output is less than 100 watts.  It's fine with my Titan linear,
    but I can't use it to drive my homebrew 4-1000.
  - Part of its high-SWR protection strategy involves tripping a circuit
    breaker in the power supply.  Sometimes this breaker trips with as
    little as 1.5/1 SWR.  This is a real hassle if you try to adjust
    an antenna tuner with full output, or if your antennas aren't
    perfectly matched.
  - I don't like the AGC action at all.  It clicks on the leading edge
    of a strong signal, and the trailing edge is very abrupt.
  - The gain distribution between the RF, IF, and audio is such that there
    is always an audible white-noise hiss coming from somewhere that doesn't
    disappear if you remove the antenna.  In other words, there's too
    little RF gain, too much IF gain.  This may have been done to give
    the front end better strong signal handling capability, but I don't
    like to hear the hiss.

In summary, the Corsair II is not a bad little rig, but it is an old
design which doesn't have many of the features of the newer rigs, and
it has a number of little annoyances that I have noted above.

                                         Ed Gilbert, WA2SRQ

------------------------------

Date: 24 Nov 89 15:19:10 GMT
From: unmvax!nmtsun![e-mail]  (Todd)
Subject: Yaesu HT

A friend of mine bought a Yaesu FTC-1143 HT, and the friend he bought it from
had lost the programming instructions.

If someone out there can mail them to me, it would make Jason very happy.

It seems that Yaesu and many of the dealers don't want to give out this
information for some reason.

Thanks!

---
    [e-mail]        ....nmtsun!group

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 24 Nov 89 14:59:03 GMT
From: Matt Brunton 0793-411741 <[e-mail]>

Subject: Re: Listen to store security guards catch shoplifters

> From: [e-mail]
>Subject: Re: Listen to store security guards catch shoplifters

 >>>t.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jim Grubs) writes:

 >>> From: [e-mail] (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
 >>>
 >>> It's getting near the holiday season -- a great time for listening
 >>>to store security guards catch shoplifters.  If you have a scanner,
 >>> <rest of message deleted...Matt>

>>Parnass, you've gone off the deep end with this irresponsible posting.
>>Is your hobby of electronic voyerurism so vital to you that it justifies
>>aiding criminals to evade detection and apprehension?
>> <rest of mild flame deleted..Matt>

>What is the purpose of posting these kinds of comments to the net?
>Jim, could you lighten up a little? Direct insults among a public
>forum are not going to change anyone's mind one way or the other...
 <and then....>
> ..................... get mad at the government that releases that
>information to anyone that wants it. The fact that it is considered to
>be one of the freedoms that this country is built around shouldn't
>matter. Argue with the FEDS not Parnass... let us all know how you
>make out.

>Mark Bitterlich
>WA3JPY@WB4UOU
>[e-mail]

Interesting comments from Mark.  Over here in the UK the law lets you
listen to licensed radio amateurs, licensed CB operators and
broadcasters AND THAT IS IT.  I believe the basic letter is 'if its not
meant for you, you mustn't listen to it'. (UK readers of the list
*please* correct me! ;-).  How would Jim (or anyone else on the list)
like our situation??  I'd be interested to know.  Bob is obviously
'on the ball' when it comes to monitoring, mods to radios, etc, as
we can see by his prolific postings, and while most are not of much
use to me, I still find them fascinating.  Keep it up!!

Matt Brunton
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End of INFO-HAMS Digest V89 Issue #928
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