[FedCom] RE: FCC

[KD7JYK, 49H7KR]

: I was waiting for someone to mention that setup, I was hesitating to do so
: because of OPSEC. But anyhow, a friend of mine here in New England said
: they deploy a similar device in a car as well.

: > Yeah, they had a "hard top convertible" in Kansas City with a vinyl
: covered roof, and the rotating DF antenna was built into the roof

Seems I read about this in Pop Com in 90 or 91, I think they mentioned it
was pretty old then, late seventies, early eigthties...

I saw two attempts of the FCC to find someone in the early 1990's.

I had only been into scanning a couple years at the time and the most
exciting frequencies were 154.57 and 154.60.  These made CB look tame.  You
had the licensed business band users...  then there were the drive-throughs,
the gangs, the gardners, the music broadcasters...  You name it.  Someone
figured out the the local McDonalds was on 154.57 and started messing with
them.  We'd sit in the joint listening on our scanners getting a kick out of
the employees losing their minds over it.  One afternoon while looking for a
table to eat my burger I passed by the strangest looking fellow...  He
looked like that mumbling guy from the movie Office Space, the one that
burned down the building because people kept taking his stapler.  This guy
looked like that, thick glasses and all and wearing a dark blue suit.  He
stood out like a sore thumb  He was holding a three ring binder to his chest
and covering some sort of name badge.  The instant I passed him, I heard the
guy bugging the drivethrough people both in my earphone and through a
receiver the guy had on his belt.  He leaped up and I saw his name badge
with the FCC logo on it.  He started looking around and we heard over the
scanner "F---!  IT'S THE FCC"  The FCC guy said something to the effect of
he knew they were there into his two-way radio.  The guy who started the
problem was somewhere close buy and started trashing the FCC.  There was
other FCC dudes out in the parking lot and in the neighborhood because for
the next fifteen minutes or so he announced where they were.  The FCC left
and we ate our burgers laughing.  As we walked out we saw a fellow step out
of the bushes, look at us squarely, then bolt to the back of the lot,
business band radio in hand and leap over the wall and dodge through some
apartments.

In Los Angeles, things were always exciting.  Music, cussing contests,
jammers, gangs, you name it.  One night I heard some ruckus about someone,
the person suspected the FCC closing in on them.  They metioned some
locations about seven miles from where we were so we went to the area to see
what was going on.  An area of a good half mile square was being canvased by
spook looking vehicles covered in antennas, sedans, suburbans, all a dark
blue black color, tinted windows.  The fellow they were looking for was
announcing the spooks locations and various descriptions as they would pass
certain areas.  Whoever they were looking for appeared to be moving on foot
through the apartments in the area.  They never caught the fellow and left
after an hour or so.

Kurt