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World's Most Advanced Portable TV
Eric Schlaepfer writes "Here's another great toy for your wish list! ICOM manufactures the highly advanced IC-R3 portable scanner/television set. Besides picking up radio stations in the frequency range of 0.495-2450MHz, the IC-R3 also receives regular television signals, amateur television, and wireless security camera signals."
I know someone who has one, had it for a couple of years now and built a helicopter that had a network cam attached to it so he could fly it around and checkout the video feed from it. Very cool hack. If you want to get one with cellular unblocked check out this site.. http://www.radioworld.ca/swscan/swsc.php All though not many people are still using analog cellphones.
I forgot to mention this in the submission, but ICOM also makes scanners that you can hook up to a regular PC. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there is any Linux software...
A number of you have noted that the American version blocks the cell phone frequencies, but rumor has it that snipping out a resistor removes the block.
--Eric
at least thats what is says on the page, how hard would a firmware hack be to fix that, and listen to all sorts of people on cellphones? maybe w/ an addon decoded for the digital signal.
I think every analog ( that is, tuned with a variable capacitor ) radio out there that can tune these frequencies will do so. So whats the big deal?
If privacy is a big concern, go scrambled digital. Go ahead and listen if you wanna.. it'll sound like white noise to you unless you have its decryption codes. Many of us that have a desire to tune through the cellular bands have no urge whatsoever to eavesdrop on calls - we are trying to find spectral areas where EMI is causing a problem.. say somebody keys some cellphone in an area and something else goes haywire - this kinda thing is often traced to something as simple as a piece of wire that just happened to be cut to resonance.. ( this works in the RF arena just like a loose piece of metal on your car rattles at a certain speed in the mechanical arena.)
Being this thing is such a wide-range receiver, and apparently also functions as a spectrum analyzer, it sure seems like a moot enforcement of what I consider stupid law to cripple it in such a manner as to render it useless for determining RF "pollution" in such a common area as cellphone spectrum. Especially being there are so many other ways of eavesdropping cell calls if thats what you really wanted to do. This thing would probably be one of the most expensive cell phone monitors you could buy if thats what you wanted it for.
This is such a neat piece of engineering. I just hate to see pesky law poke holes in it. For no good reason at all as I see it.
And you cellphone users: if you want privacy, encrypt your damm calls.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Don't forget the strict limitations in Germany and France. In the case of Germany I'll allow you one guess to who came up with these legal restrictions of the (in my opinion) universal right to information...
Another, not so surprising, example is that many years ago my Sony ICF 2000 was confiscated when entering Saudi Arabia.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
GOD that thing is gorgeous! I first saw this hyped a couple of years ago I think and thought how cool it would be. I just bought a nice new shortwave radio which has rejuvenated my waning interest in radio.
That radio is a thing of beauty! I don't care if it's cellular blocked, I WANT IT!
Fact: Cell frequencies do NOT have to be blocked here in Canada, but sadly, since 99% of our scanners come from the US, they're blocked. Not that it really matters. The imaging (when a frequency appears on a different frequency due to the inner working of the unit) you get on most scanners enables you to hear most cellphones anyway.
Never ceases to amaze me that the communications industry has sold everyone on the fact that these things are PHONES, when in reality, they're just radios, and yet people speak like they're secure. I've heard everything from people admitting to embezzeling money, to a woman who was telling her friend about the several members of the Calgary Flames she'd had sex with the previous night.
Oh yeah, and eavesdropping on people and getting their bank numbers and passcodes is dead easy. All you need is a piece of software to decode the DTMF tones.
Chuck in a TV on a scanner and that'll open up a whole new world of fun!
It's also illegal to listen in on cordless phones.
I'm a long-time HAM, and I also have one of the old scanners that gets cellular (old Radio Shack model), and many can be modified to receive cellular signals (though this is illegal... do a google for scanner mods and you'll see how easy it is).
The Cordless phone prohibition came later... I can't recall the year, but a hue-and-cry came about from people scanning the old 49.x mHz cordless phones. Naturally, the newer 900 mhz and 2.4ghz models with spread-spectrum require a bit more technical expertise than the old turn-on-the-scanner-and-listen routine. Even the Donald-Duck-sounding "scrambled" ones used a simple frequency inversion routine that you could easily decode (probably a DMCA violation these days).
The trunking radio systems put a brief dent in the scanning scene, but you can even get scanners to track those now.
Years ago, a buddy of mine lived in an apartment, and had an enormous dipole tacked up in the attic of his building, tuned specifically to the 49.x band... got every cordless phone for blocks. It was a rough neighborhood, so he sometimes got to hear the drug dealers doing business, and the ex-cons talking to their parole officers. I suppose that's the lazy man's way to get to know who your neighbors are BEFORE you invite them over for a neighborhood BBQ. However, before you run out and set up a similar rig, I can tell you that most people's conversations are relentlessly boring. Nosy, boring, and illegal... hardly worth it.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Then again, if you're the kind of person that drives around with their laptop searching for wifi networks, you might be used to that kind of battery life already.
Why use your laptop when you can use this?
I had one also. I sold it on the internet a long time ago. It does eat batteries and it does have weak reception. I could unplug the antenna from my TV and still get a better picture than the R-3 with the antenna plugged in, on the same channel. I expected MUCH better reception for the huge chunk of cash I paid. I think I paid over $600 for all of the gadgets and goodies.
:(
I also used to have a no gap (cell) wide band scanning receiver. Same deal. If it doesn't work, what's the point?
How much do you have to pay to get a decent radio? The Icom R-8500 is about $1500 without any toys. I'd probably buy one if I knew there was something cool to listen to here. I don't really think there is though.