That's right! I'm interested in getting a scanner radio to listen in on the radio frequencies at the park just for the heck of it. Any recommendations for the best scanner to use that wouldn't throw security for a loop when I walk in the front door?

Gee, I don't really know, that's a subject I was going to look into soon myself. I do know you'll need a "Trunk Tracker" radio that can talk Motorola trunked systems, all my "antique" scanners don't do trunked.

I can put up some Common Sense "Don't" items to keep from making any trouble...


Don't walk in with the scanner in sight - Put it in your backpack or purse for the Bag Check and Main Gate folks.
Don't leave it set for the Disneyland or Anaheim PD channels when it powers up, lock out those channels - You want it to power up on something innocuous like NOAA Weather, a broadcast radio station feed of some sort, or your company/club/amateur frequency.
Don't use the scanner in plain sight, no belt holsters - Get a good earphone and leave it inside the backpack. Out of sight, out of mind.
Don't run to an incident and gawk at the happenings - walk, stay way back, and be respectful of the other Guests and CM's dignity and/or privacy.
Don't have a speaker blaring out the radio calls to anyone within earshot - Buy a good earphone and always use it.
Don't talk to DL CM's or other guests about what you just heard - Keep it to yourself, no matter how tempting. There are privacy laws that cover intercepted radio transmissions, and DL doesn't want you listening in and might take away your toys.


:fez: --<< Bruce >>--

I was thinking about doing that this vacation too. Does anyone have any good freq. for DLR?

It's illegal to listen on to radio transmitions that are not being directed to you isn't it ?

Depends on the nature of the transmission. If it's broadcast on an open channel, it should be fair game. If it's on a cellular phone, it's definitely private, and listening in constitutes wiretapping.

Yeah, all radio traffic is open under public information, unless the broadcast indicates otherwise in the transmission, or somehow effects the Feds (ie; Homeland Security, FBI, etc.).

But DL radio is private isn't it? It's not transmitted for public but only targeted to certain specific group of people, ie those that work at the park. Well, what ever the legal conclusion, at the very least it is illegal to listen on transmittions and discloses information. So, just keep whatever you hear to yourself.

As long as they operate under the FCC (as they do) citizens do have the right to listen. It is the same as a Police Dept., private info. gets transmitted over that as well, but we still have a right to listen.

At least that is my understanding.

k

It's actually a murky area of the law. In the USA it is legal to listen for yourself, for non commercial uses. Where it gets murky is when you pass on information you hear to a third party, or act on that information for personal gain - like a news stringer going to a fire from hearing the FD dispatcher via a scanner, and then selling the pictures or video. Or hearing insider information about a company and buying or selling stock based on that information.

Obviously. the people exchanging that information over the radio (especially the commercial industrial and telephone industries) don't want you listening in on their "sensitive communications", so they keep trying to write laws against using a scanner to do it - but they are still public airways, and the laws invariably get overturned or weakened...

Back in the days of all Analog cellular (no encryption at all), the cellular telephone industry figured making listening in illegal was cheaper than encryption of signals, so they tried to get laws passed making it totally illegal to listen in - they did manage to get the cellular telephone segments of the radio spectrum blocked out of all consumer grade scanners sold in the USA so you couldn't even try...

But now cellphones have gone mostly digital (CDMA or TDMA) which is pretty effective encryption anyways. They can still be intercepted and listened in on, but only if you want to throw a whole lot of money at the problem. The average Joe on the street doesn't have that kind of money.

And Trunked radio systems also make it difficult to follow a full conversation, as different users get shifted to different channels (up to 10 or 12) for each snippet of talk. But with the Trunk Tracker scanners that listen to the "control" or "data" channel, and can follow one Channel ID Code between the different frequencies, that is no longer a problem - unless you are trying to follow conversations on several busy channel codes at the same time.

:fez: --<< Bruce >>--

here is some info on frequencies for anyone interested.
http://www.oitc.com/Disney/Disneyland/DL_Freqs.html

here is some info on frequencies for anyone interested.
http://www.oitc.com/Disney/Disneyland/DL_Freqs.html
That was interesting. I love the code "V" thing.:D

I like the H code too. "Recycled Hay" hmmmm. That's an interesting way to put it. :)

Recommend a Radioshack Pro-93 or Pro-95 trunking handheld scanner

Pro-93 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2129
Pro-95 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2828

Also see these links:
http://www.freqofnature.com/frequencies/ca/orange/disneyland.html
http://www.mouseplanet.com/al/docs/scan.htm
http://www.signalharbor.com/ttt/00mar/
http://www.bearcat1.com/radioca.htm

I recommend a Pro-96.
http://strongsignals.net/access/clubs/pro-96/index.cgi

With software at:
www.starrsoft.com
...you can open up frequency range.

You could also get a Uniden 296.
http://strongsignals.net/access/clubs/bc296d/index.cgi

A good comparison is here:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=12413

These are top of the line units, and you'll
pay 400-500. The advantage to these radios is that you can use them to
monitor WDW too.

If you're on a budget, don't want to monitor anything but the trunked system,
and don't want alpha tags (see below), you can get a BC245XLT:
http://strongsignals.net/access/reviews/reviews.cgi?type=display&rtype=rev&class=recv&num=029

Here is a vendor I recommend:
http://www.scannersunlimited.com/scanlist.html
...it shows the 245 is $220, Pro-96 is $499, and 296 is $549.

DL uses a trunked radio system. There is a central computer that assigns
frequency channel information via a control channel. However, the audio
is sent via an analog FM signal. The WDW system uses ASTRO digital
encoding for voice. The Uniden 296 and Pro-96 will decode them.

Here is a good reference on trunking:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1

I'm not so familiar with the other Pro-9x models, but make sure any radio
you get supports alphanumeric tagging and computer download. There are
almost 100 talk group IDs at Disneyland. There are about 20 of them that
are commonly used. There are about about half a dozen headset frequencies.
If your radio allows you to tag IDs and frequencies, much easier to keep
track of everything.

You can go here to get some data on the radios in this thread:
http://strongsignals.net/access/reviews/reviews.cgi

More information on DL's system is here:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=362

We're all talking about the trunked system, but DL uses a lot of RF. It is a
'target rich' environment. Wireless microphones, and stage headsets are
also fun to monitor.

If you have any more questions just ask. If a folks are interested in
exchanging information on DL radio, let me know...

here is some info on frequencies for anyone interested.
http://www.oitc.com/Disney/Disneyland/DL_Freqs.html

Not bad for the radio 'codes', but the radioreference link is better. :)

Also see these links:
http://www.freqofnature.com/frequencies/ca/orange/disneyland.html
http://www.mouseplanet.com/al/docs/scan.htm
http://www.signalharbor.com/ttt/00mar/
http://www.bearcat1.com/radioca.htm

fyi, I wrote the document on Mouseplanet. :)

The freqofnature link is a mixed bag. The wireless mic list and the 15x and
4xx frequencies are all old history. They were used prior to the introduction
of the trunked radio system.

The Talk Group IDs are also 'mostly' accurate, but some holes and mislabels.

I think the radio reference site is a better reference.

Recommend a Radioshack Pro-93 or Pro-95 trunking handheld scanner

Pro-93 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2129
Pro-95 http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2828



Here is a link to current models:
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F010%5F003&Page=1

Pro-94,-95 and -96 are current.

By the looks of this:
http://www.starrsoft.com/

...I'd stay away from Pro-94 since it doesn't look like you can program it
with the computer interface.

ebay could also be your friend if you don't mind used equipment.