Analog Cellphone Calls on UHF Channels of a TV

There was a time when over-the-air analog UHF television went up to channel 83. That changed when analog cellphones came into being in 1982. They took over the radio spectrum from 824-894 MHz that had been occupied by channels 70-83. But analog cellphones were basically just FM transcievers. So, I thought, it should theoretically be possible to listen in on analog cellphone calls with an old television set. I picked one up for $20 from a local used goods store, and here are the results. Analog cellphones have now been displaced by digital ones, so this experiment will most likely no longer work. This recording was made in 2007.

[@NANCYDREWCHANNEL]

I accidentally tuned in to those calls with my father's old tv set back in late 90s. I was so bored and nothing's good on tv. I started manual tuning with the hope of finding any new tv station. It was the phone sex I stumbled upon. No picture, just audio like the FM broadcast. Same person almost same timing for several late nights. Me and my younger brother were laughing listened to how that guy talked dirty. It was so hilarious.

[@423tech]

At about 6 seconds in... you can hear the data/paging channel that the phones camp on to listen for their serial numbers when they receive calls. Cool video!

[@markgreen7858]

I think they can still be pick up it just depends on where you live in

[@markgreen7858]

Because i have pick up stuff

[@markgreen7858]

yeah it just all depends the in the city you live in like i live stpetersburg Florida

[@jaystepher]

tried this back in the 80s. lots of fun when you were a kid. later i obtained an analog police radio capable of receiving up to 1300mhz that had full 800mhz coverage right before the FCC ordered those bands to be blocked.. kind of sad and glad cell service moved to digital on an upper band.

[@HillbillyRednecking]

I remember picking up cell phone calls on my UHF handheld radios...

[@Joeyrobertparks]

Me too, but on my cordless house phone. I’d walk to the edge of the reception, pretty much the edge of my yard, and I’d get local analog cell calls. I also did the UHF thing on my tv. At night, it was creepy as fuck, like something out of poltergeist. 😈

[@OuroborosChoked]

RIP that guy's privacy

[@TheCRTman]

That is awesome!! My first thought would have been radio interference from phones, but I didn't think of the actual channel being made for cell phones.

[@CoopyKat]

In 1987 I had a cordless phone (landline) and a neighbor told me he heard my telephone conversation on Channel 2 on his television. He even repeated specific things I had been saying in my phone conversation. I hope those days are long gone.....but who knows!??

[@morganrussman]

Yeah, I do think those days are gone. I'm pretty sure anything wireless in regards to phones use higher frequencies then analog TVs can pick up these days.

[@phillyfans5641]

Well only police listen now

[@CoopyKat]

@@phillyfans5641 LOLLL

[@RoxyJones532]

Wth lol

[@photadyta]

I used to do this forfun in the 90s!

[@ataparag232]

isn't that considered call tapping

[@photadyta]

EliXir dunno I was 10

[@RsRj-qd2cg]

Did you any hear anything interesting?

[@guadalupe8589]

Same!! Hours of fun as a kid!

[@photadyta]

Guadalupe Sandoval nice! Weird kids unite

[@arthurvasey]

Here in the UK, if you could get anything on analogue outside of the (originally) three channels that we could get, it was usually one of the following: A neighbouring region (often in bad weather); A freak transmission - a woman in Surrey, following an investigation on her part, was receiving Tyne Tees - she had been watching The Beverly Hillbillies and wondered where it was coming from - must have had one of the Sunday papers and found it on Tyne Tees and phoned them up; We never got anything unusual - though I was able to get our video to play the BBC World Service by - and I swear this is true - putting my left hand on the video and raising my right hand in the air, like an antenna - I barely believe it myself! Sometimes, after closedown, you could pick up foreign stations! On FM radio, in some areas, in the 100 + MHz range, you could pick up police signals, but it was hard to get anything cohesive - people often told me it was illegal to listen - but why put something on public wavebands, yet make it illegal to listen? If they didn’t want the public to listen, why broadcast it on frequencies receivable on any standard FM radios? The actual law was that it was not illegal to listen, but it was illegal to act on any information received! Eventually, the police frequency was moved to a spot beyond 108 FM and those frequencies were made available to expand the number of FM stations, move some of the existing ones higher up the dial and even allow Radio 1 full time carriage on FM - it had only been available on medium wave, for some stupid reason - Radios 1 & 2 shared the 88 - 91 frequency on FM - but it was mostly Radio 2!

[@hawaiifiles]

Yep. I used to listen in to random, mostly one sided conversations scrambled over each other. It was cool.

[@danalee1000]

Just an old Sony black and white analog television set I got in a used goods store for $20.

[@Mythdon]

This is just very showing of what uses the unused TV channels have or had come to. The weird stuff that would go on on those unused analog TV channels. Reminds me of how I'd mess around on my old analog TVs and change the channel settings to cable and then listen to the radio sounds on the channels in the 90-99 range. This shows how theres a good reason why those unused channels are reserved for other purposes

[@jackmamma2777]

My father received a VCR which had four channel modes: TV (2-69), CATV-STD (2-125), and two that went from 1-125: HRC and IRC. In the three cable modes, channels 65-94 corresponded to UHF channels 14-43, and 100-125 corresponded to UHF 44-69. He also had a cable-ready television manufactured about 1986 which only had a 2-digit LED channel display. The regular mode went from 2-83 and the cable mode from 1-99 without 65-94. WPHL channel 17 was available on the three cable modes on channel 68.

[@jackmamma2777]

Licensed hams (amateur radio operators) can often hook their radios to cable-ready TVs, put them in cable mode, and tune them to channels 57-61, at least that's what I know from high school.

[@danalee1000]

I think you're probably right. Good to know that somebody else tried this out, though. Thanks for the comment!

[@the_hell_is_that]

In the philippines, I got that calls at channel 20, and 46 at CATV. (used JVC Musee TV)

[@the_hell_is_that]

Even, I remember the moment that I got that ham radio audio at channel 15 CATV. XD

[@MrJavaman5]

I remember being able to do this. Growing up, we had a television that went up to channel 83 and I remember channels 81,82 and 83, I could pick up peoples phone calls. This was back in the mid to early 90's. I don't think you can do this anymore. I think most cell phone carriers went completely digital now so you can't pick up digital with an analog tv without some kind of converter.

[@5roundsrapid263]

MrJavaman5 The FCC turned off 70-83 in the 80s, and it became the analog cellphone band. After 2009, 52-69 became what is now the LTE cellphone band.

[@windows10person30]

You could "pick it up" but it in no way, computer-based or human - be useful.

[@windows10person30]

@@5roundsrapid263 so that's why my TV picks up channel 64 analog and proceeds to spew a shit ton of interference when i use my phone. Fun fact, my *modern (2010's)* VIZIO TV still has analog channels that high.

[@jobr2394]

I did this when I was a kid for hours on 81, 82 and 83. I would get about ten to thirty seconds and it would cut out. You could hear some crazy stuff at night!!!

[@brickson98m]

People still used analogue phones in ‘07? 2G digital was the standard by then. I’m surprised cell providers still supported analogue, as you’re very limited in how many calls you can have going at once in one cell. Not to mention the privacy concerns.

[@kameronterrell7853]

wow that's scary to know how easy someone can listen in

[@kevindavis4709]

You gave me an idea

[@notmasterdelectronics]

Could*

[@morganrussman]

This was years ago, I'm pretty sure this method is obsolete now.

[@969thewhip]

I remember doing this as a kid. Usually it was anywhere from ch 80 to ch 83.

[@shenghe9876]

The FCC does not allow scanner radios or TVs made after 1983 to tune into the cellular frequencies (which are above channel 70 on the TV). If they required old TVs sold in electronic stores to have a notch filter installed, this would require modding the old TV sets, which would be hard and could possibly void the warranty.

[@RsRj-qd2cg]

I used to have short range UHF radios that came with a laser tag set. I was once playing and heard a lady asking if someone had gotten the shrimp for dinner. This was in 2006. I went on the air and asked who she was, and she said sorry. I think it was an analog cell call from someone nearby.

[@radiosification]

Realistically that was probably just someone else on walkie talkies using the same channel as you. There are only a handful of channels that can be used on short range UHF radios that are licence free.

[@Dhaos620]

Maybe that was a code

[@RoxyJones532]

Amazing lol

[@Megacooltommydee]

I'll bet the NSA used to do this, so they can listen to other people's conversations.

[@p0llenp0ny]

Tommy Dee They still do it.

[@etofoya8217]

I lived in a rural area. This was my entertainment. When I was a teen.

[@visaman]

Which episode of Sanford & Son was that?

[@japanfanatic1415]

It really does sound like Redd Foxx

[@itsanamayathing7997]

We had a tv we listened to convos on snowy days lol!

[@MrPillowStudios]

Just imagine if your convos was heard from there...

[@jasonl5967]

i had a portable colour TV here in the UK which had a VHF tuner built in, i was able to pick up aircraft overhead talking to a control tower, and the analogue police radio's back in the early 90's

[@windestruct]

*s e a r c h f o r j a s o n l o n g , o f f i c e r*

[@5roundsrapid263]

My parents had a scanner back then. Besides police, fire, weather and TV, I could pick up cordless phones and baby monitors!

[@pequalsa]

Also discovered this in the 90s on our old tv

[@CapstoneTider]

I did this around 2000 and I had never heard so much cheating in my life.

[@PAGANONYMOUS]

Well! All I can say in my defence is that the year 2000 was a very busy year for me.

[@jamesb8305]

Back in the day, I had an old moto bag which I put into test mode and did some funny shit with... intercepting calls, playing porn sounds, forcing calls to drop, and other things. Those were the days.

[@supermemememe605]

lol long day gone

[@Demy1970]

Sounded like fun

[@Nicholas3412]

I picked up a video signal from my monitor with one of these.

[@fancysnake1]

+Nicholas3412 I have a VGA to video on a modulator connected to my right monitor that I sometimes forget to disconnect. I hope no one saw anything bad...

[@gabrielgomez2483]

lol in America if they find using that they beat ur butt with a bat...

[@zetametallic]

I did by total accident in the late 80's/early 90's when I was DX-ING. Picked up a conversation between two women one telling her friend that she could take the frozen peas and freezer stuff if she wanted whilst she was on her holidays next week😂. Thankfully, as I was in the UK my butt avoided the bat but it was obviously illegal.

[@charlesloukas1946]

The audio on this recording sounds better than a scanner due to the TV having wbfm

[@msgproductions3515]

You can hear one side to the conversation anyway. You can at least hear the person who's in range. I wonder how far that signal travels. The guy could be a block or two away.

[@markjerno]

Hands down the best programming on OTA television is right here!

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

Also UHF TV 14 and 15 on Australian UHF CB Walkie talkie Two way radio.

[@sondrayork6317]

lol i do remember when u could do that with a tv set, u dont even need to modify an old police scanner to do that either, just go to the higher channels on an old analog NTSC type tv and listen for cell phones. and yes, dont get caught, it IS illegal and extremely rude to eavesdrop on cell phones, and has been for quite some time even in the days of AMPS Analog. so dont get caught doing that with your analog tv., one better use for an old tv like that too is use with the telesensory cctv video magnifier for the blind. use it for that if ur gonna use it for anything at all. but use headphones if ur gonna eavesdrop on cell phones lol

[@supermemememe605]

it doesnt work since like 15 years ago lol btw how will they caught you if you are in your room with the door closed and the windows closed?

[@markgreen7858]

LOl

[@markgreen7858]

an you probably still can it just depends

[@markgreen7858]

that's what iam hoping to hear

[@windestruct]

FBI in 90s

[@chadthomas8359]

Since when did cell phones have dial tone? You can hear one at 0:15.

[@computerkid1416]

Likely a relic of the analog cell phone days when they acted more like landlines.

[@sleetskate]

why does the static look different on some channels

[@windestruct]

Because this is analog TV?

[@sleetskate]

yeah but why would the static look completely different on some channels? why does it change at 0:52

[@windestruct]

@@sleetskate I think the sound of calls changed the static.

[@lutello3012]

So they still had analog cell service until 2008?

[@Jeff-xy7fv]

Yep, that went away around the same time as analog TV went away. Now everything is all digital.

[@morganrussman]

In the U.S., it was June of 2009. All full power over the air tv stations had to be shut down by June 12th of 2009. I guess there are still some low power over the air tv stations still up and running to this day (4/2020).

[@Jeff-xy7fv]

@Omco Digital TV still IS free! And if you have a flat-panel TV set, then you don't need a separate box; they all have digital tuners built in.

[@ceesgamingchannel1742]

Omco You can still get free tv with rabbit ears (digital) I tried

[@shenghe9876]

Is it actually illegal to sell these old TVs that could tune into cellular frequencies? (I know that is illegal to sell scanners that could tune into cellular frequencies but it might not be enforced anymore since all mobile services are digital.)

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

No? I don’t think so

[@gkcnalaka]

😂😂good old days

[@kevmichael2064]

I remember this in California. ..I would teck the Tubblers to get Channel 83....and get it to get 900mhz....I heard everything in the band .... also Ham TV.... My TV U can see and hear everything around U....it was fun back than....then I got some old UHF Radios...then did mods to them...I don't know if U can hear anything in that range because of Digital?....it would be cool if a Digital TV can be made to get these channels?

[@staticradiolistening6204]

Miss analog static.

[@redcowcat8705]

Why did it pick up this call in particular

[@morganrussman]

It mentions in the description that this video was originally recorded in 2007, that being before what I'm pretty sure was the analog to digital transition for over the air tv, and I think most analog phones were eventually made obsolete in 2008 I think.

[@アレン-f2x]

i miss when technology was so much easier to “hack.” stealing cable was so easy,, now its a lot harder since its digital now and lots more security…

[@アレン-f2x]

well i guess you could make a copy of an active access card and stick it in another cable box…may try it out sometime.

[@gyrospinup]

I would pick up cordless house phones that used frequencies in the 900's using a handheld police scanner that I had. It had nothing to do with cellular towers or cell phones. The cordless phones eventually were sold with non scanable freqs. Anybody still using a old cordless that happens to work can still be heard.

[@afdashtech5322]

amps phone has no encryption at all

[@dantdmsbeardthatisinthesew1303]

Are there any of these in Miami or specifically Hialeah?

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

Also on Multisystem PAL/NTSC JVC Interiart 21 inch TV from Saudi Arabia?

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

900 MHz Transmitter

[@p0llenp0ny]

I used to do this when I was a kid.

[@filipstefanovski2077]

Really?

[@RadioWhiz]

Can you please another video like this

[@morganrussman]

I think back in 2009 not long after the digital transition, I went up to he upper 70s or 80s channels(?) And I could hear conversations, I honestly thought it may have been cross interference with cb radios, that was not long after the analog to digital transition of June of 2009, I know different now in April of 2022.

[@ronsmith4325]

I remember discovering this as a kid lol...

[@NTTN63010]

What channel was this on?

[@chapotsvp41]

0:07 its sound standard amps

[@markgreen7858]

Oh man in I think I got some analog converters

[@Wizardof]

Uh oh sounds like a conspiracy man when it comes to outta townerz.

[@SnepperStepTV]

They should still do this tbh. Literally what's the big deal, you gonna be miffed someone knows you're having ricaroni for dinner?

[@KittyBankz]

This would happen when I was young. Our whole family would witness a glitch in TV where de sounds would be interfered with phone conversation. Just a part of technology development. Of course you will find therapists today who were too privileged to understand these things that would ruin your whole world, not that some people aren't schizophrenic just that some doctor's over analyze opinions. So, be careful who you share this with.

[@CaesarNeptuneStudios]

This might still work if you have any analog cellphones lying around.

[@computerkid1416]

No, because the cell towers themselves no longer support analog.

[@morganrussman]

Computer kid is right, though you probably could stil do this, unfortunately the idea of using analog cell phones is obsolete these days, I think they have been since 2008 or so in America.

[@Demy1970]

I have a Sony watchman, would it work? Just tries but nothing

[@markgreen7858]

I have a rca I had for a while in one in a while I pick up things just got to play around with it alot that's what I do

[@markgreen7858]

I keep messing with it

[@markgreen7858]

In you will here thinks because I do

[@fungo6631]

Analog cell phone networks were shut down long ago

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

@@fungo6631not if you have an analog Cordless landline phone

[@lanhikari7537]

WOW VERY IMPRESSIVE , I BARELY REMEMBER ONE TIME IT HAPPEN ON MY HOUSE LIVINGROMM BUT IT WAS OVERLAP WITH OTHER CATV CH SO I CANT LISTEN ALOT WW LOL :)

[@autex.lewis06]

Creepy.......

[@Retikulum01]

0:00 Bro your tv is turnng on as fast as hell. Mine takes like 3-7 seconds

[@DonSolo52]

do you have more of this stuff?

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

Wonder if that would work with an old UHF radio?

[@mrblack9791]

1.21 giggle whats

[@Oldschoolmuseum]

Plz tell witch channel

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

In the Philippines, Globe Telecom uses 700 MHz. (UHF 52 to 69)?

[@radiotehnik2000]

700 MHz - UHF 50 (Советский стандарт, правда..)

[@windows10person30]

UHF 69 , nice channel...

[@markgreen7858]

Man iam going try that out

[@markgreen7858]

can you still hear babe monitors

[@GTAManRCR]

I doubt it's still possible in the year 2023 as all the cell towers are digital

[@MissterX]

Trying this today would be a dud.

[@アレン-f2x]

not unless you live in costa rica. analog cellular towers are still being used.

[@redcowcat8705]

I wish i had a tv like that

[@lizzillaandleo2283]

Oh there not to much without antenna there under 100$ usually

[@filipstefanovski2077]

well this is just beacose the tv somehow is picking a phone frequency

[@morganrussman]

@@filipstefanovski2077 There's a note in the description that mentions that the video was recorded in 2007, pretty sure that was back when analog phones were in use.

[@MrPillowStudios]

Just imagine if you heard yourself!

[@kevindavis4709]

If love too hear how me and my buddy sounds on there 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@edwardcole4623]

yee yee

[@hidayathidayat281]

Wow spy

[@criticaldamage4018]

Before ASH SHA 512, 1024,,, Yeah old not cryptet connneciont.... GPS... Ya Nigga!

[@krystalmoon7262]

THIS is GOVERNMENT control...why they want u all on digital...now u starting to wake up? :) U can't do this on digital....I used to listen to TONS of conversations at the airport when I worked as a security officer on a lil black and white TV in my shack...lolz :)

[@filipstefanovski2077]

really

[@stphinkle]

I also think they can accomodate more calls on digital as it uses compression and it is more secure (I think most cell phone calls are encrypted) Plus digital calls cannot be picked up as easy on an analog scanner as they are sent as 1 and 0 pulses.

[@josephkurdziolek4483]

That's a person's right to privacy 🔏 that is both extremely disrespectful and a violation of a amendment right the government did something right for once

[@computerkid1416]

Calm down, this video was recorded in 2007...