RadioReference Dukes It Out With Canadian Government

Dangerous bills are passing on a fast track in Canada that are similar to those already signed into law in the United States when it comes to Federal Government powers to snoop on internet users. See the link here for more (OpenMedia.ca).

On October 7th, 2011, Lindsay Blanton (Owner and President of RadioReference) received a letter from the York Regional Police (PDF File) stating their unhappy position regarding RadioReference hosting on-line radio feeds of their Department's police radio communications system. The York Regional Police have encountered a problem though: RadioReference is not based in Canada and only offers the feeds, RR does not divulge the contents of radio transmissions. In this context, RadioReference is not bound to Canadian laws.

On October 8th, 2011, Blanton and his legal team fired off this response to the York Regional Police (PDF File). In Canada, it is not illegal for citizens to listen to radio transmissions and many of those who usually do have a radio hobby in Canada are law abiding people. Radio hobbyists in Canada are a mix of folks ranging from licensed radio amateurs to volunteer Public Safety personnel, paid and citizen members of the media, and even your run of the mill citizen who have their own lawful reasons for radio monitoring.

The discussion of this topic at RadioReference can be found here. The issue of cell phone apps for radio monitoring and website feeds dedicated to radio transmissions has become a hot topic world wide. The context and content of these radio feeds vary across the board. Not every feed and cell app is dedicated to things like police, fire, and medical radio. Cellular apps and website feeds at RadioReference and other sites feature other useful, fun items such as Air Traffic Control, Railroad, Maritime radio, Amateur (Ham) Radio, Shortwave Broadcast, and High Frequency SSB listening.

High Frequency (HF) SSB listening covers radio operations / systems focus on a wide range of radio services like civilian air traffic, military operations dedicated to air traffic, naval, army, and other military communications, weather satellites (WEFAX), space communications, and land mobile radio services to name just a few. The main concern of governments is the response of the main stream media and terrorism whether real or imagined. In the process of attempting to deal with these problems, governments at different levels are opting for full time encryption and also upon their over - interpretation of laws concerning the receiving and divulging of radio communications. In the end, innocent citizens and ethical journalists are being shut out of legitimate news.

Don't expect this legal and political fight to end anytime soon as the law in many countries attempts to catch up to modern technology. Is it possible that radio restrictions could take place as they did in World War 2? Will governments go so far as to make an effort to confiscate radio equipment from innocent citizens and journalists? Will the Anonymous organization take an interest in this and take their own brand of action? Only time will tell. 

Shortwave America and PCJ Media wishes to express their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Constable Garrett Styles of the York Regional Police Department in Canada.

Lindsay Blanton's RadioReference To Launch New Features

See the statement from Lindsay

This press statement at the forums comes complete with screen shot previews

Chicago Police Arrest Father Of Chicago Police Sgt: Scanner Radio Possession

Illinois does not have any laws against purchasing, owning, or using a radio receiver otherwise known to most in layman's terms as a "Scanner" or "Police Scanner". Illinois law only states that a person shall not use a scanner or other radio communications device to commit a crime or further a crime. Word has recently been received via the Chicago Metro Section of Radio Reference and confirmed via Second City Cop, that Chicago Police have arrested the father of a Chicago Police Sgt. for "possession of a scanner radio" although there is no such city ordinance or state law.

Word of this arrest came about at Radio Reference during a discussion of Illinois Law in these matters from a user stating he is a press member and wanted to be able to comply with any possible laws in place. At Second City Cop, word of this arrest came about during the commenting session about Chicago Aldermen proposing an earlier curfew for children under 12 years old with the article titled "More Curfew Non-Sense". 

Screen shots are provided below. Shortwave America is investigating this incident.

This is the second time in four years that Chicago Police have acted unreasonably towards a person with wide frequency coverage radio gear. The last incident happened in CPD's 14th District when tactical officers attempted the arrest of a person licensed by the FCC as an Amateur Radio Operator, and in possession of a UHF hand-held transceiver who was operating while walking down Milwaukee Ave. That incident triggered a C.R.# and an investigation of the involved officers for misconduct and violation of FCC PR91-36.

Editor's extra note: Prior to these two incidents, Chicago Police were rumored to have acted in a crackdown in 2004 on Chicago's South side, on a large group of radio enthusiasts belonging to a loosely knit group known as "Chicago Listeners" who were accused of unknown radio related offenses, but never charged. At that time, statements from those involved were said to have blamed a group called "CARMA", an established group of radio enthusiasts with no history of radio related misbehavior and overseen by experienced law enforcement professionals.

***UPDATE***

Shortwave America has spoken with News Affairs Officer O'Brien with the Chicago Police Department who states that "there have not been any notifications made at this time regarding an incident like this". However, O'Brien did say that the information given in these screen captures was too vague to even track down accurate verification and that he would need names, times, and location.

QRZ Broil Spills Over

VK1OD and some others have taken to other means in order that they may freely speak out. That is to say they have left Fred Lloyd's QRZ.com. A relatively new thread at the reference speaks about continued management problems, favoritism, cronyism, and general double standards at the garbage fill known as the zed.

The linked post at the reference is quite accurate about what goes on over there and is quite honest about the fact being that only the callsign look-up is worth anything there. Anyone who has been around for any period of time knows that this is not anything new. What goes on at the zed is a circus of the worst sort for Fred and his friends who are no better than the people who occupy certain portions of bandwidth across the HF bands.

Truth be told, Fred doesn't care at all what happens so long as people keep buying ad space from him. QRZ is a business and the folks there are simply filling empty space, giving him the best thing he can have...FREE advertising! When you use Fred's site, and you go tell others about it, you give him free business! Free for him, but advertisers pay.

The same products marketed by Fred can be found on the net for free and also compiled privately by way of simple copy & paste onto a word doc if someone thinks the information is useful enough to them. There are a million callsign look up's out here...why use Fred's? You get the same information you would get there! Heck, if you wanna see geo coordinates you can go use Google Earth! You can use any other geo location service out here, as many of them are free.

Fred Lloyd has perpetrated the best laid scam ever! Don't you get it? You who hang around the zed are his puppets and he laughs at you! He gets rich while all of you create the downfall of the amateur radio community! The public is watching! Fred has succeeded in making fools of all of you.

The zed has archives for the public to see. Anyone can at anytime, go see the current state of the zed as well as the archives! Some of you may say, "but the zed has a logbook feature"...so what? There are logbooks out there for free or for minimal cost! I have yet to see a logbook that has an extravagant cost attached to it!

If you need help with learning something or using a new piece of equipment...there are amateur radio clubs all over the country! Go congregate with them and make some friends! Most amateur clubs are more than willing to give help to a fellow amateur with the understanding that the person give help to others when they know enough.

All the things provided at the zed can be found elsewhere and you don't risk getting flamed, insulted, harassed, bullied, or banned! Shortwave America readers will notice that there is NO LINK here to the zed...there is a reason for that! QRZ is not a family friendly site and the readers here do not want to click on a link that may provide objectionable content.

The zed is a horrible example of how amateur radio ops act in the real world for the most part.


Here's K1OIK's video which was really about QRZ more than amateur ops in the real world with a few exceptions. Please note that there may be some rude, objectionable remarks made at the video and feel free to ignore the comments section if you need to....Burt does! In real life, Burt is an intelligent man who is kind and a lot of fun to be around. Shortwave America presents this without any endorsement in one direction or another.

Thirty Names Roberto: Does He Have Thirty Personalities Too?

Roberto Irizarry is a name that has become synonymous with the modern day internet troll, AND also a common example of what a person with an inflated self - image, a manic personality, and a possible internet addiction would look like. Roberto owns a small business in which he supplies emergency responder gear to those in the Public Safety profession.

For whatever reason, Roberto has had an obsession with RadioReference owner, Lindsay C. Blanton III, and an excessive need for attention just this side of abnormal. Recently, on December 08th 2010, Roberto started a thread at RadioReference in which the site itself and Lindsay C. Blanton III was blamed for the trend in Public Safety agencies across the country using encryption on their radio communications systems.

As anyone familiar with internet radio forums knows, any message board serving the radio communications community has a mix of personalities and TROLLS! We all know that forums sections allowing political talk, rants, and general topic discussion will eventually see threads that are just troll bait with the only aim and purpose of  getting the forum natives all excited, and annoying the hell out of forum administrators.

Roberto runs a business called "Mutual Aid Supplies", and apparently, according to a quote from RadioReference user K3HY, Roberto treats his customers to unprofessional behavior.

Here is a direct quote from Lindsay Blanton about Roberto's obsessive and unprofessional behavior:

"The community should know who com-21 is.

He is Roberto Irizarry, the Owner/Operator of an outfit called Mutual Aid Supplies

http://www.mutualaidsupplies.com/

He runs a bustling business through his site and ebay selling gear to public safety agencies, and I'm sure he's doing quite well.

However, as you see he has some pretty serious issues with the way that approaches many online communities in the public safety realm.

In our instance, he's registered quite a few usernames for the sole purpose of trolling our boards. They include

Com-4 (original username)
Com-1
easy123

and of course com-21. There might be more... We're not sure why he participates in this behavior, but it is pretty clear that there is some vendetta against RadioReference since his com-21 registration was for the sole purpose to start this thread.

A rant is a rant, but to join RR just to rant about RR is kind of strange to say the least." __________________
Lindsay C. Blanton III
President - RadioReference.com LLC
Facebook: RadioReference | Twitter: @RadioReference

Roberto has sent some pretty nasty letters to the Reference over the years.

According to Reference user "iamhere300", "Izzy" as he has become known in the thread, has even become a PITA over at firehouse.com with a rather spectacular rant about "P25 and Narrowbanding". Here is the complete quote from "iamhere300" directly from the thread:

"Izzy was on Firehouse.com - arguing about narrowbanding, and P25. He thought they were the same - to go narrowband you had to be P25.

Then he started arguing with one of the premier communications attornies in the US, Alan Tilles, about narrowbanding.

Then he said he ate lunch with the upper level brass of Orlando Fire Department, and sat in on the non-public interviews. A current member of the department then sent this,

QUOTE
Where do you get this ? First you post the cold hard facts About Orlando, none of which are true. Second you have sat in on OFD interviews ? I'm calling BS ! OFD interviews are not a public forum. Who have you had dinner with and shared the innerworkings of OFD with ?

Those of you who took the challenge of taking OFD's written / practical and passed congratulations. Hopefully you will be one of the firefighters hired to fill positions in the three new stations we have broke ground on recently.

Those who thought that MutualAidSupply knew anything about OFD and were misled by his "facts" sorry for believing the BS rantings of liar.

I work for OFD and have for the past 8 years. I came to OFD from a small department in south FL and have loved working here. The tradition and brotherhood here are second to none.

If you have any questions about OFD get the truth.


Stay safe
Rob

END QUOTE

Izzy is famous for being ... An idiot!"

On page four of this now famous thread, Roberto actually made a statement that cell phones could be monitored and Lindsay had this to say in return:

"Roberto,

First, there isn't a single service monitor available that can actually *monitor* a live GSM/CDMA cell phone call. GSM and CDMA service monitors are designed to test and emulate handsets and base station equipment - they cannot intercept live calls between subscriber units and base stations. Get your facts straight.

Second, you can spout all day about your credentials in the healthcare/public safety field, but the reality is you own a small business that supplies equipment to a limited number of public safety agencies. The public safety community has seen these types of inflated claims from you before:

From a quote from you on Firehouse.com:

Suggestions for getting hired with Orlando? - Page 2 - Firehouse Forums - Firefighting Discussion
. 
End quoted section of response. Anyone interested can go here to see the complete context of this portion of the discussion.

Roberto's delusional rants don't hold water when examined against the following:

Letters From Public Safety Agencies


Restricted Info - RadioReference Wiki

RadioReference Blog: Explaining the Data Removal Policy Change on RadioReference.com

As anyone can see, Lindsay did the right thing when he handled business in the way he did. Anyone else with a head on their shoulders would have done the same thing.

A final quote at the end of this thread from Lindsay Blanton and the final action:

"This thread certainly delivered. We had the protagonist, a few antagonists, some sideline dwellers that criticized both parties, the level-headed "come on folks" and the end of thread racist remarks. Two thumbs up for an epic rant!"

com-21 is now "Completely Banned For The Greater Good" and it is being reasonably assumed that all of his usernames have also been banned. Excellent job Lindsay!

Lindsay Blanton was invited by Shortwave America to be interviewed about this whole experience with Roberto, but comment was not returned most likely because of the timing of this publication's request with the 2010 Christmas holiday. 

   

RadioReference - An Exhaustive, Comprehensive Look At Today's Radio Communications Information Leader

RadioReference has grown over time, and one feature people enjoy are the Radio Reference internet feeds to various Public Safety Departments, aviation operations, amateur radio repeaters, railroad radio systems, and other offerings. This is a complete directory listing of radio feeds found on  RadioReference, PLUS an exhaustive / comprehensive look at what RadioReference means to the communications world. Being able to tune into a nation full of radio activity is quite exciting and innovative, especially given that we all can't live in every place at once and band openings that allow us to hear many states away don't happen every day.

From Analog to Digital P25 systems, Radio Reference has it all thanks to the miracle of internet radio linking.
There are those who don't care for internet assistance of a radio signal, even for listening. They don't know what they're missing out on! Some of these radio feeds may not be active, some may be off the site permanently due to the use of things such as encryption, OpenSky, Mototrbo, IDen, etc.

Amateur Radio

D-Star Reflector 1C

The Los Angeles NUT repeater, covering most of Southern California. This system is not always family friendly. Often times called the "Renegade Repeater", you'll know why when you listen. 

WB2JPQ IRLP Reflector 9050
This feed is in New York

N2ACF Repeater
Quote from RadioReference Feed:
"N2ACF system simulcasts on 443.850, 449.875, 444.450, 444.850, 445.125, 442.800, 223.820, 146.460, 927.850, 53.370 & 29.640 repeaters. This scanner will be on 443.850mhz. For more information go to www.rra.net"

Peekskill And Cortland Amateur Radio Club repeater feed (PCARA)

See the entire Amateur Radio feed list here

NASA
Kennedy Space Center
Left audio channel is the KSC trunked system, Right audio channel is Aviation AM such as chase planes, etc

Aviation Feeds
Entire Aviation Radio Communications Feed List

Railroad
Railroad Radio Feed List

Marine Radio Feeds
Entire Marine Radio Feed List

New York City.: This is the direct link to the entire list of available feeds for New York, which includes a few Amateur Radio repeaters, key Public Safety Agencies, and Aviation Operations from New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
New York City Feed List

Washington D.C: Capitol Police radio found in this feed
D.C. Metro Police, Fire and EMS

Other Category
Entire Category listing
Mostly severe weather feeds, but there are other items as well.

Official Feeds
Entire List

New Feeds
Follow this link for a listing of newly added feeds

Top Feeds
Entire list of top feeds

Search RadioReference feeds by State, city, Zipcode, Metro Area, and Country!

RadioReference provides feeds from nine different countries counting the U.S. The nice thing about these feeds is that you don't have to be stateside to hear them! Anyone from anywhere in the world can just click and listen. Depending on your operating system, you may be able to use the web player to listen. From it's very inception to this current day, RadioReference is something you don't want to shrug off! When the founder of the original Police Call died and the book went out of print, RadioReference became THE PLACE for people to go whether it be those who are curious about radio, what radio is and how it works; those who are die hard listeners, and those people who are Licensed Amateur Radio Operators, GMRS Licensees, and even industry professionals.

Those people who provide feeds are doing so voluntarily, without any compensation whatsoever. All it takes is a radio covering the bands you take interest in, a USB cable, and an internet connected computer with a sound card. If you wish to provide a feed, you can seek out that information HERE.

Lindsay Blanton is the owner and founder of RadioReference, and he has built a great place for everyone. Lindsay believes in his vision. He takes all sorts of time to make the site what it is, having even fought against legal beagles for the public's right to FCC Database Information and the right to monitor radio traffic that is unencrypted. Lindsay is probably the biggest advocate the radio world has known. So, what's it cost Lindsay to run the site? Read that HERE

As with any other internet audio feed, you'll have to deal with buffering. Some feeds are not always up, some feeds have downtime for technical reasons. RadioReference offers extra features for those people who wish to become Premium Subscribers at a rate of fifteen dollars for a short subscription, and thirty dollars for a 360 day period.

RadioReference - Better Than QRZ

The only thing QRZ has over Lindsay Blanton's RadioReference is an amateur radio callsign database with an interactive forum. Lindsay has more than just an interactive forum and radio audio feeds! There is a wiki page for just about everything radio related, a submittal form that is used for radio listeners to submit frequency and radio system information anonymously. A search for identified frequencies requires that you become a premium subscriber. The RadioReference structure does not rely on flashy graphics that stall your computer, cause browser crashes, etc. RadioReference is supported via it's premium subscribers, and the income Lindsay makes from the site using his corporate strategy. Just over a year ago, Lindsay partnered with ScannerMaster in a deal to distribute his RadioReference Database Disc. What was once a CD-R is now a DVD-R. Also known as "The Reference", Lindsay's site offers a classifieds section for buying and selling radio gear. Buyers and sellers are quick to speak up about those who do not honor their deals, commit fraud, etc.

Read about the "Reference" leadership

"The Reference" is best used when combined with E-Ham, where everyone can get equipment reviews directly from those who have used everything out here, many of these people have even performed complicated technical investigations before writing their user reviews. Shortwave America already has links to "The Reference" in the links section that deal with Shortwave/HF listening. Taken altogether, "The Reference" has far surpassed Fred Lloyd's QRZ and in all reality, it is highly unlikely that Fred could ever surpass or even compete with Lindsay Blanton and his team.

One can only hope that in the future, we will see a fine line of products such as instructional books or DVD's / CD's. It would be nice to see Lindsay Blanton produce a radio show one day with a dedicated focus on all things radio. People can dream can't they?

An Example Of Advocacy


A day came about when Lindsay Blanton received a rather silly letter from "MRA" claiming that U.S. Federal Law was violated when he allowed or caused to happen, the posting of radio frequencies and radio system details about "MRA". Lindsay obtained legal counsel to prove that U.S. Federal Law allows the posting of information made public by way of the United States FCC License Database, and that such information being public record, no violation could even be remotely possible unless someone was posting details of what they heard on the system. In the end, Lindsay deleted or caused to be deleted the LCN numbers for the "MRA" radio system, but kept all other information intact. Because Lindsay knew the law and knew his rights, he was able to stand up for radio hobbyists, and the legal communications practices of law abiding radio enthusiasts.  

See the closed thread: MRA Demands Removal Of Information From Radio Reference
MRA is the acronym of Mobile Relay Associates. Another example would be when Dan Brady, an Illinois politician pushed a law that would have made listening to or causing to be relayed, radio traffic over the internet or even listening with a radio receiver capable of receiving Illinois Public Safety Radio Systems. This knee jerk reaction by Brady came about when a Motorola vendor decided it was a great idea to transmit a working radio on the Illinois Starcom21 system. CARMA partnered with Radio Reference, and RadioReference backed them as did the many members of the forums there. Everyone came together to point out that listening is not illegal and that by banning listening, the State would be unfairly making criminals out of law abiding citizens. Lindsay Blanton, CARMA, and RadioReference members were loud enough, used enough factual information, and presented themselves so well that Brady was able to get the law re-written to read that only an unauthorized radio programmed to actually TRANSMIT on the Illinois Public Safety System is now a crime in Illinois. Federal Laws already make this unlawful to begin with, but leave it to Illinois to double the effort! CARMA is the acronym for the Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association.

Listening and The Law

U.S. Department Of Justice Complete Text Of 47 USC 605
U.S. Department of Justice Complete Text Of  Chapter 119, Title 18 § 251

The most important parts of these laws are below:

Except as authorized by chapter 119, Title 18, no person receiving, assisting in receiving, transmitting, or assisting in transmitting, any interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio shall divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof, except through authorized channels of transmission or reception,......

(g) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person--

(i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public;

(ii) to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted--

(I) by any station for the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;

(II) by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public safety communications system, including police and fire, readily accessible to the general public;

(III) by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or

(IV) by any marine or aeronautical communications system;

(iii) to engage in any conduct which--

(I) is prohibited by section 633 of the Communications Act of 1934; or

(II) is excepted from the application of section 705(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 by section 705(b) of that Act;

(iv) to intercept any wire or electronic communication the transmission of which is causing harmful interference to any lawfully operating station or consumer electronic equipment, to the extent necessary to identify the source of such interference; or

(v) for other users of the same frequency to intercept any radio communication made through a system that utilizes frequencies monitored by individuals engaged in the provision or the use of such system, if such communication is not scrambled or encrypted.

Chapter 119, Title 18 § 2510 defines what "readily accessible to the general public" means as shown below:

(16) "readily accessible to the general public" means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not--

(A) scrambled or encrypted;

(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;

(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;

(D) transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging system communication; or

(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;


In spite of these Federal Laws that permit listening to unencrypted signals that are also not scrambled, the individual states retain their rights to make their own state laws regarding possession & transport of radio receivers capable of receiving public safety or special emergency frequencies to include restrictions on portable and mobile use. portable means to carry a radio receiver while on foot between one place and another outside of one's home or business. See Scanner Laws Of All 50 states

Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are exempt per FCC Docket / FCC Memorandum Opinion, and Order
PR91-36 (This, however does not pertain to scanners)

For information about how to become a Licensed Amateur Radio Operator, Federal Laws Governing Amateur Radio, and other related subjects, please go to the ARRL Website See the Shortwave America links section for a link to Amateur Radio Practice exams.

RadioReference is the people's source for radio learning, enjoyment, information, and listening all in one!

Please note that information at any of the sites linked to may be subject to change at any time and most times without notice. The information at sites linked to may be subject to becoming outdated at any time due to system upgrades, changes, system removal, maintenance, amendments to laws, repeal of laws, etc. The RadioReference logo is Copyright 2010 by Radioreference, LLC, all rights reserved and is used by permission.