WERE SCANNER MANUFACTURERS PRESSURED
TO LIMIT FREQUENCY COVERAGE?
by Bob Parnass, AJ9S
The 406 - 420 MHz band has long been used by federal govern-
ment agencies for communication of sensitive information.
Until just a few years ago, this range was not receivable on
programmable scanners sold by Electra (Bearcat), Regency, or
Radio Shack.
Speaking at a scanner club meeting in Berkeley, Illinois, an
engineer from Electra confirmed the rumor that it was US
government pressure which persuaded scanner manufacturers,
eager for timely FCC Part 15 certification, to omit this
band from their models.
Tradition was broken in 1982 when Radio Shack imported the
2020 scanner, made by General Research Electronics of Tokyo,
which featured coverage down to 410 MHz. Sales literature
for JIL's imported SX200 even went so far as to openly tell
customers that they could "Tune Military, FBI, ...., DEA,
Defense Department, Justice Department, plus other res-
tricted radio bands no other scanner is programmed to pick
up."
Not to be outdone by the imports, Electra introduced its
American made Bearcat 200 with coverage to 406 MHz.
Regency, whose American scanners were spec'd down to only
440 MHz, made service manuals available which revealed cov-
erage below 440 MHz was possible on all its programmables by
simply striking the "." key before entering the frequency
digits.
Today, government agencies are using digital voice scram-
bling and spread spectrum techniques to ensure privacy of
sensitive communications.
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Bob Parnass, AJ9S - AT&T Bell Laboratories - att!ihuxz!parnass (708)979-54
