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- Short-Wave Radio Hacking -
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by
The Seker
Every day, tons of information is exchanged over the air waves. I have
found news agencies, military computers, businesses, and even hacks.
The standard method of exchange is called RTTY (Radio Teletype). It
usually is used at 66/7 words per min. Instead of using ASCII, Baudot, a 5 bit
character set is more widely used. There are many variations of it in use also.
There are many other types of transmission standards besides RTTY that are
commonly used. A few of the known:
FAX (Facsimile)
Helshcrieber- it's used to transmit pictogram-type alphabets (i.e.
Chinese, Jap, etc.) instead of the American letters.
SSTV- is similiar to Viewdata. Used for transmitting high-resolution
pictures mixed with text.
To start, you'll need to buy (card) a receiver (with a coverage of no less
than 500 kHz-30 MHz and a resolution greater than 100 Hz) and a high quality
antenna. These can usually be found at electronics stores. You will also need
to get an interface and some RTTY software for your particuliar computer. Look
in magazines like 'Amatuer Radio' or 'Ham Radio Today' for more information on
that shit. Another good place to check is a CB store.
NEWS AGENCIES-
From these you can find all sorts of crap. You may even intercept a story
being sent to the presses. They tend to operate at 66/7 words a minute (50
baud). A few of the more common 'fixed' bands they transmit over are:
An easy way to tell if you have located a news agency is by some lame
transmission being continuosly repeated.
i.e. 'RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY' etc.
This is done so they can keep their channels opened for reception.
CONFERENCES-
Another thing I found interesting was the channels that the amatuers
congregated around. I frequently ran into people from foreign countries that
couldn't even speak English. I even ran into other hackers from all over!
A few of the more popular spots that amatuers hang out are:
at kHz:
3590 14090 21090 28090
at MHz:
432.600 433.300
at VHF/UHF:
144.600 145.300
PACKET RADIO-
A new development in radio transmission is the packet radio. From what
I've seen, it's just like digital packet switching networks, i.e. Compuserve,
Telenet, Tymnet, etc.; except slower.
In fact, Compuserve has been researching a way to transmit its services
cheaply.
