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From the article
I wonder what this Morgan Hill Mayor would think if he knew there is a legal, $29.95 handheld transceiver capable of TRANSMITTING on many public service frequencies - The Baofeng UV-5R.
Agreed. One of several theories on the motive and target (AT&T) of the nutbar in Nashville centers on his lunatic fringe beliefs, which included 5G paranoia, among some other wackadoodle notions. It isn't a huge stretch to imagine other certifiable types trying to block whatever technology they think is part of the grand conspiracy.
Few places are still using those frequencies now. Feds long ago told them they had to switch over. The old frequencies are still not legal to use but, not much on them any more. The Feds used the throw money around approach to coax municipalities to make the switch over which is VERY costly. One thing the new frequencies have not been able to stop though is how easy it is to jam them as was seen here.
Well, I don't know what you mean by 'those frequencies' but I am referring to the VHF - FM band from 150-174 Mhz which is very much in use by LE, Fire, medical, business, marine and a variety of other state & government agencies.
The feds have told them all they have to give those up soon. Can't remember when the final cut off date is but they have all been told the days are numbered and they will be forced off them. The "reason" the FCC gave years ago when they mandated this was they wanted them for "something else". Who knows but, they have been given a date certain that they have to have new equipment. Most large cites and counties switched years ago. Only thing still holding out are smaller communities where its harder to come up with the large lay out of cash. As the deadline gets closer the feds will offer more subsidies to help but, the last hold outs will be off those frequencies. This is for Emergency Responders last I looked. Now as for Commercial customers and marine? Who knows. FCC may allow them to keep using some. Its the Police and Fire that will not be there at all soon.
After thinking about this I recalled something about it and did a little research to refresh my memory and you are partially correct but more specifically it was a regulation to switch to a 'narrow band' deviation on the frequencies they are using and NOT an entire frequency change.
Thanks, most of this goes over my head as this is not my field of expertise by a long stretch. I only knew something was going on as I have long used a scanner to listen. First they all went to one new system, then another, and then another as years went on. All I cared about is finding what they were on to listen and was reading explanations by people who talk in a language I don't understand
Another possibility is bleed over. When you transmit with a lot of power on equipment not designed for it, you can begin to transmit on more than just your intended frequency. So he may have turned the juice up a little too high and started spraying RF all over the place. This was a common occurrence in the early CB days with power mics and jacked-up amplifiers.
When they went trunked here it worked great. So never stopping the lets fix things that aint broke they went to Digital. Then the fun began. Lots of dead spots and problems. Radio's will often not work at all inside buildings. Many of the Cops HATE it as they find they need to use their cell phone when they are inside. Not to mention the damn radios are EXPENSIVE now. Every portable and vehicle unit now costs enough to buy a decent used car. That is a hell of a hole in the budget. When they went with the Trunking it was great for them now having location and ID for each unit. The old system if one Cop was in trouble and they could not understand him the only way they had to track him was call every Officer on that shift one by one till they found the one missing. The one poor guy got shot in the face, slug took out a couple teeth. He was down and trying to call for help but they could not understand him and it took a frustratingly long time to figure out who was in trouble. So they got a system that fixed this, then went to a system that will often leave Officers with no way to call for help inside a damn building.
And to think they probably could have achieved most of their goals with PTT phones.When they went trunked here it worked great. So never stopping the lets fix things that aint broke they went to Digital. Then the fun began. Lots of dead spots and problems. Radio's will often not work at all inside buildings. Many of the Cops HATE it as they find they need to use their cell phone when they are inside. Not to mention the damn radios are EXPENSIVE now. Every portable and vehicle unit now costs enough to buy a decent used car. That is a hell of a hole in the budget. When they went with the Trunking it was great for them now having location and ID for each unit. The old system if one Cop was in trouble and they could not understand him the only way they had to track him was call every Officer on that shift one by one till they found the one missing. The one poor guy got shot in the face, slug took out a couple teeth. He was down and trying to call for help but they could not understand him and it took a frustratingly long time to figure out who was in trouble. So they got a system that fixed this, then went to a system that will often leave Officers with no way to call for help inside a damn building.
I have a pretty good mulit band scanner in my shop I listen to. I have a good 'ol 'Shakespeare' fiberglass vertical marine antenna that is matched for the 150 ish MHz frequency range and I have it about 15' of the ground and I can typically pick up LE & other agencies around the state.
I had a Shakespeare antenna on the roof for a CB base station years ago. That thing had better range than a lot of more expensive ground plane antennas and it had a way higher wind rating.
