Were Princess Diana's Phone Calls Heard On A Radio Scanner?

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[@official_metrkd]

your videos are really so good

[@RingwayManchester]

That means the world to me thank you

[@rog2224]

Cyril rang The Sun. So, he basically had the principles of an alley cat.

[@paulwilliams2663]

😂 totally on the money

[@Mike-H_UK]

A separate phone call between Charles and Camilla was recorded and made public very shortly afterwards. The coincidence was too great. At the time I thought (and still do) that there was more to this than we knew.

[@scottlarson1548]

I never understood the details behind the "tampongate" phone call. I sort of remember that it was picked up on a frequency that had absolutely nothing to do with phone communication, as if someone had recorded it and then rebroadcast it for other people to hear. This didn't make a lot of sense.

[@Mike-H_UK]

@@scottlarson1548 The leaking of the two calls so close together always struck me as an attempt to discredit both Charles and Diana. I'm no detective, but the people who would seem to gain most from this are hostile foreign governments, anti-monarchy organisations and possibly Prince Andrew. Another possibility would be a blackmail plot aimed at C & D that was non-forthcoming. I tend to suspect (1).

[@barrieshepherd7694]

I think that that call was recorded directly from one side of the cordless conversation probably at around 49 or 31 Mhz.

[@lordtherapeutics]

Dark forces were ensuring that these conversations were “accidentally heard” by hams.

[@rjones6219]

I never believed that, the 'eavesdropping' was genuine. I once had a scanner that could receive the old analogue GSM signals. I noted, that it was impossible to lock onto a single conversation. Frequently, after perhaps a couple of minutes, there would be a channel termination signal, and the conversation could be found on a different channel. The reason for the breake of, would very likely be due to a stronger signal being received on that channel.

[@matthaxx7137]

In the '90s It was very easy to pick up just one side of a mobile phone conversation on a handheld scanner. I remember being on a rush hour train from London Bridge and being able to hear BOTH sides of a conversation: one from the guy talking loudly at the end of the carriage and the other in my earphone on the scanner from his girlfriend who had just been dumped. The secret here is NEVER divulge the contents of an overheard transmission it's both unlawful and unethical. The people in this video (despite their protestation to the contrary) were swayed by the huge wodge of cash being waved by a tabloid journo and ultimately regretted it bitterly. Another great video Lewis. I'm enjoying this and the SW stuff.Keep it coming!

[@scottlarson1548]

I do miss eavesdropping on cell phone calls back when they were ordinary FM and all you had to do with a Radio Shack scanner was remove a resistor to permit it to scan the cellular bands. I live near the NBA arena in Portland and back then I'd listen to basketball players' conversations after the game. Of course I hoped to hear drug deals and them talking to strippers. Instead I heard mostly wholesome conversations including our favorite player Clyde Drexler talking to his mom back in Atlanta. Yes, the man called his mom after every game!

[@opalsongs]

I'm reminded of English musician Robin Rimbaud who released a bunch of albums in the 90's under the name "Scanner" which were intercepted conversations mixed with electronic music.

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

We did exactlty the same back in the day. Using an Icom R7000, just the same. We heard all sorts. Calls to wives, explaining that hubby couldn't make it home from whatever, followed by a call to secretary, arranging a bunk up at a hotel.

[@ianryder7454]

My best listen was back in the 80s. The place I worked at used walkie talkies, sorry. My manager called the staff entrance and the lady working there in the office that day. He asked. "Have you got your stockings on?" To me at the time, this was gold, and I would often say it to him leaving him knowingly confused how I knew. I eventually told him and he bought a scanner the same week.

[@RT-qd8yl]

Awesome video Lewis. As an American I never even knew any of this happened, and it's quite interesting!

[@stringlarson1247]

Right? If it dint happen in 'mericuh, it dint happen.

[@boerewors79]

⁠​⁠@@stringlarson1247Please, not all ‘Mericuns’ are like him

[@paulwilliams2663]

I didn't know the intricacies, but "Squidgygate" was box office for that awful tabloid scummy newspaper

[@stringlarson1247]

@@boerewors79 Yep. Every last one of us.

[@stringlarson1247]

@@paulwilliams2663 You just wanted to say 'squidgy'. Admit.

[@maxvideodrome4215]

Full listening to analogue cellular calls years ago - I remember hearing some guy on dating telephone service almost every night - was hilarious to listen to

[@raymondmartin6737]

In 1987 here in the US, Congress passed the ECPA, a privacy act to not allow scanner equipment to be able to listen to analog cell calls then in the 800 MHz band. So the Radio Shack PRO-2004 scanner was delayed for sale, and a jumper was installed to block listening to cell calls in that portion of the band. The jumper could be cut when this model came out, and cell reception was restored. One could also tune an older analog TV tuner up towards channels near 83, and hear calls too. They were not really cell blocked until later scanners and amateur gear was produced as unmodifiable. Actually, just before a cell was dropped, one would hear a noise, and then the conversation was gone transferred to another cell. Even in the 1990's, the Yaesu FT-530 Handheld, HT, could have solder jumper removed to open analog cell frequencies to listen after a fashion.😊

[@stringlarson1247]

Heh. Reminds me of a job I had in No. IL in the mid 70s at an electonics shop. This was a mom-n-pop shop (tho I think pop had buried mom under the basement)... sketchy AF. This is when one would buy discrete crystals for scanners. We always had local detectives coming in buying all manner or parts, drinking beer and sitting around with the owner drinking beer and watching pron on the latest n greatest VHS gear. One day I showed up for work and the door was locked. The manager showed up about an hour later. The owner was never heard from again. I went down the street to the Bar/Surf-n-turf restaurant, told them I was 17 and started my dishwashing/barback career.

[@dr_jaymz]

A radio enthusiast would almost certainly already have or be able to build equipment to receive that band with a handful of regular cheap components.

[@jeanjean9343]

I bought an older scanner that was open through the cellular range. It needed repaired, sent it to Radio Shack, they neutered it to block cellular and fixed the other problem. I wasn't a happy camper.

[@stringlarson1247]

@@jeanjean9343 how nice of them. Fuct.

[@electronixTech]

In 1991, I bought a Uniden BC-200XLT handheld scanner, and it came factory unlocked for the cellular telephone bands. This was in Canada. You would set a range of frequencies to scan, such as 889 MHz to 920 MHz. I could also hear the control signals from the cell site when it passed the conversation to an adjacent cell site if someone was moving between cell sites in a car. It worked on analog cellular frequencies until 2004 when everything had been converted to digital in my area. At that time, cordless phones were analog as well, using 46 and 49 MHz. I remember I had a scanner book that listed the base and handset frequencies, so I programmed them into the scanner on a single bank of frequencies and hit scan to jump between the two frequencies.

[@MattExzy]

I routinely listened in on mobile phone calls in the 90s as a kid on TV sets tuned out of band. I'd visit other kids' houses, tell them and their parents, they doubted me - then I tuned around their telly and picked up phone calls. Cool party trick. Lots of calls sounded one-way, but I figured you could tune up or down to get the other half.

[@mrfrog8502]

What country was this in? TACS starts from 900MHz and TV band goes only up to 800 so not convinced that it was the mobile network that you heard. More likely local taxi companies.

[@StuffnSuch]

@@mrfrog8502hese were cordless handset house phones (the ones before 900mhz ones came out). Around 88-92 mhz or something like that. Part of the reason it was only one way was you mostly picked up the handset. But if you could pick up the base/charger you could get both sides.

[@Peter_S_]

In the mid 1980s a friend was working at the local RadioShack electronics store and somebody came in with some knowledge about eavesdropping on cell phones. In those days the schematic and often annotated pictures of the circuit boards were just part of the standard manual. The visitor pointed out a strapping resistor (a resistor used to set a wire to a known voltage) which disabled the ability to scan the phone band and with screwdrivers and snips right off the store shelf he made the mod to the store's demo unit. I came by and heard what could only be probable "dealers" arranging transactions.

[@Mike-H_UK]

What is less well known is that there was a feature as part of the diagnostics in analogue cellphones during the early 1990s to remotely activate the transmitter section when the phone was linked to a basestation. Actually, this was part of a whole suite of interesting but not particularly sinister debug features. I often wondered what covert use was made of this feature.

[@charleshunziker7416]

In the early nineties I bought a Radio Shack scanner and restoring cellular was as easy as cutting a diode

[@OxfordShortwaveLog]

Hi Lewis, great research and a compelling narrative as usual. Thanks and 73

[@SallySallySallySally]

The mention of the 50Hz hum reminds me of a piece I read about how such artifacts can be used forensically to locate when and where the hum was picked up. The 50HZ frequency is pretty reliable but, in fact, it does vary slightly throughout the day and very meticulous records are maintained at every generating plant. It is possible to pinpoint the date, time and general location of when and where the recording was made by matching this small variation of the frequency with such records. There actually is software designed to do this very thing that is used to produce evidence in criminal court cases.

[@dr_jaymz]

Yes, I thought this was where it was going in this video. It'd be foolish to try to fake. I'd also assume the data bursts were easily decodable. The final question I had was that a wire-tap could be transmitted rather than recorded where the tap is, then you'll pick up mains hum and anything else that the line picks up. I assumed for years this was what happened. Not so sure now.

[@ericgulseth74]

I knew I had heard of this and was wondering it myself.

[@GeneralThargor]

I used to live in a flat in Greenwich SE London and would regularly listen to mobile calls on it. I was more fascinated with POCSAG though and would capture all the pager messages with the radio instead.

[@eliotmansfield]

pocsag still going and still spewing sensitive data information such as names addresses and telephone numbers

[@arthurtwoshedsjackson6266]

@@eliotmansfield yep. Loads of medical info etc. GPDR and Data Protection hahaha

[@emanemanresuresu]

i dont know how it did work, but in the late 90s i once pressed the black knobs where you lay the earpiece of old rotary phones down really slow, while having the earpiece on my head. There was a point where it switched from the dial tone to silence where i could hear other people talking for some reason. Very quietly, but definitely there where other ppls conversations.

[@shloomyshloms]

back in the early 90's I tried listening to cordless phone conversations, and even modified my scanner to listen in on old analog cell phones. 2 things I found out from this: 1 your "private and personal" everyday conversations are absolutely boring. 2 due to the way cell phone networks switch you only got part of one side of a conversation for very short time.

[@ifell3]

Bet the tape was put out by the powers that be as they most likely knew more and this was the gentle 'we are watching you' whispered in her ear.

[@carlospulpo4205]

AMPS analog cellular uses a forward and reverse channel pair, so if you are listening on a conventional HAM radio you will only hear one side of the conversation and only the other caller though leakage depending on if you hear the tower channel or the set channel. To have a full duplex recorded conversation will require 2 radios to collect the forward and another for the reverse channel. Other problems are that you will typically hear the cell to set side much easier then the conversation from the mobile set to tower. Also t typically handoff will occur so you need to monitor the forward control channel in addition to the 2 analog voice channels to track the conversation by decoding data bursts. The easiest way to do this at the time was to use a Motorola bag phone and a custom chip to control the radio control plane in the phone.

[@radioboffinG8KNF]

In the UK the spec is not AMPS but was TACS and later ETACS. On those channels you could clearly hear both sides of the conversation. If a mobile was parked up it may have just stuck on one cell site and on that one channel. At the time of analogue mobile phones I was a senior engineer at a major cellphone provider and it was very easy to monitor phone calls all day long. I suspect it was a doctored recording and our security services had a hand in producing it.

[@J.C...]

Hilariously, I used to record my phone calls over my FM radio. I'd use the cordless phone at home and if I turned to a specific station, it would pick up the conversation loud and clear. Both sides. My friends and I used to prank call people and turn the radio on so, everyone else in the room could hear what the person we called said. It was great fun for a bunch of 12 yr old boys 🤣

[@igotes]

@@J.C... Haha oh yes, I remember occasionally picking up cordless phones at the extremities of the FM radio dial. Heck, my amplified computer speakers would sometimes pick up comms from nearby emergency services. Nothing interesting, it was a small quiet town. It did have a fairly active CB community though.

[@greenpedal370]

@@radioboffinG8KNF AMPS and TACS are almost identical. If one end of the call was on the PSTN it will be possible to hear the full conversation, If both ends of the call were on the PMTN only one half of the conversation would be heard.

[@mrfrog8502]

We're not in America. AMPS wasn't used in the UK. Get basic facts right please. Thanks.

[@ExplosiveAction]

Fascinating! I was only 9/10 years old when this all went down, and I'm in Australia, so wasn't aware of it.

[@RingwayManchester]

I was 2 😂

[@ExplosiveAction]

@@RingwayManchester Hah! I have memories of her death but not much more. Incidentally I was always fascinated with ham radio back then but ended up sticking to 16bit computing as my hobby. Maybe I should get into it now with adult money haha (here via Techmoan recommendation btw)

[@petermainwaringsx]

That photo is of James Hewitt, isn't it? Listening in on the early, analog cellular network was very popular, and before that the old BT Radiophone system. Radiophone base stations transmitted on 163.0375 to 164.425Mhz, with the mobiles transmitting 4.5 Mhz lower. Tuning in to the base Tx frequency would allow an eavesdropper to hear both sides of the conversation. Modified 2 meter amateur transceivers could both listen to, and transmit on these frequencies. The Post Office/BT Radiophone Four system and the way the system was infiltrated by unauthorised users is worthy of a video of its own.

[@RingwayManchester]

It is, my mistaken

[@DoctorBetterverywell]

Listening is one thing, but publicly declaring it is a completely different matter. Only idiots can say what they have heard :-((

[@AdamSWL]

Or in more recent years, streaming audio over the internet so anyone can listen anywhere at anytime. Has caused many services to encrypt or switch to LTE.

[@MyWifeHatesThisCar]

"Oh I feel so awful for recording Princess Diana, maybe I should tell her she can be listened to? Nah, fuck it. I'll go to The S*n and make £50,000." What a prat.

[@Mike-H_UK]

indeed, It isn't a particularly plausible sequence of events.

[@arthurtwoshedsjackson6266]

He was scared and didn’t know what to do. I’ll ring the Sun newspaper 🤣

[@RCAvhstape]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@peterthebricky]

And they only paid him 1600 in the end

[@holysirsalad]

I'm not from the UK and even I can tell that's a load of shit

[@arthurtwoshedsjackson6266]

Squidy. Remember this well. I’ve got The Sun newspaper cuttings of this. So they (Security Services) rebroadcasted the recording of the conversation across the mobile network, so that others would hear it. Was this with a view to the affair being made public ?

[@patricklindahl868]

When I was serving in the navy as electronic engineer in the 1970's we had access to scanners. One day one of my fellow engineers told me that he had picked up an conversation from a mobile phone call where they were talking about me. It was my neighbor that was talking to his wife and what they were talking about was not the most nice things. I didn't confront him about this but from that day I kept a distant to him. That was in the old days with analog systems.

[@scratchdog2216]

Still have my AOR 100XLT from that era. Listened to plenty. Listened. This dude opened his mouth as to what he heard and changed everything.

[@AlexDoltz]

Call Diana, call the Sun... That's the same, right?

[@daveys]

I was drawn in by your pics of an EB200. Cracking bit of kit.

[@g4wwk-k2f]

System 4 radiophone (1981 to 1985) on 158 MHz 4.5MHz split was even better, the cells covered whole areas and you could listen to complete conversations. Ive been told with a modded VHF Marine band radio originally 4.6MHz split, you could also break into conversations!

[@xray606]

I remember when everybody was scrambling to get the non cell blocked radios. I never really understood what the fuss was about. Back then it was extremely rare to be able to capture more than a few seconds of any call, because people were almost always mobile. There would be maybe 10 seconds, then... "Barmp!"... onto the next site. Unlike today where it's normal to sit in one spot and talk. Back then most people were driving. I also thought it was funny that the low band home mobiles were far easier to hear, but nobody talked about them much. Either way, I always found average conversations by most people to be unbelievably boring. Considering that was an era where you could still take your pick of numerous surveillances being done on any given night in a major city, by virtually all of the fed and local agencies... I never knew why people would waste time with phone calls. But I guess it was like the Jerry Springer of radio monitoring.

[@ianliston-smith7921]

Fascinating! Thanks again.

[@rEdf196]

In the late 1980's In British Columbia Canada there was a political scandal in involving MP Bud Smith where there was a radio enthusiasts VHF scanner tape recording of Smith discussing crooked money schemes and other damning incriminating stuff on his mobile phone and that recording went fully public leading to Smith's resignation. This scandal made headlines worldwide especially in the radio hobby community where it got mentioned many times n the 1990's to 2000's.

[@bill-2018]

Many years ago was an article in our local newspaper with the headline; Radio Ham gets in a Pickle. An illegal radio station broadcasting music and prosecuted for it. I wrote in to point out he was not a radio amateur but an illegal radio operator which was printed the following week. I hate it when this is done because people get the wrong idea what amateur radio is about. G4GHB

[@wisteela]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Sun was involved in the rebroadcast, but that would involve having some form of intelligence. Great use of your Police interview recorder and tapes.

[@pm1620]

I have access to a Rohde Schwarz EB200 just like in your Video. Great Wideband RX with excellent shortwave reception.

[@GluteMaximuz]

Aerial view of Didcot Parkway Station, and that's all I'm saying...

[@barrieshepherd7694]

Nothing sinister there - That is where Network Rail have one of their GSM-R control centres - it''s not secret.

[@dav1dbone]

There were old BT cordless phones that worked on 1.6mhz and 31mhz roughly, one frequency was TX and one was RX, it was possible to pick up some at the top end of the mw band,

[@pauls8456]

And easily listen to the 31mhz signal……

[@pauls8456]

I sold an overseas version of these ‘phones and we used to advise farmers that they could add a large length of wire to the telescopic whip to increase range - it worked well due to the 1.6Mhz side of the paired frequencies.

[@dav1dbone]

@@pauls8456 Yes that's what I figured at that frequency 1.6 the signal was bound to travel miles,.at night perhaps even more, not the 50ft they probably envisioned, strange choice of frequency. I looked it up, the other frequency was about 49mhz. Long wire antenna added on that, cheap and cheerful farm communications, I take it you used the intercom feature? Thanks to RM for clearing that up, the phone recording wasn't what it seemed, I was always under the impression that it was a seasoned ham monitoring the 160 metre band and it was the other end of the call he had picked up, from one of these phones on 160mhz.

[@dav1dbone]

1600khz.

[@paulgoodwin3642]

The 1.6mhz were linked to 47mhz and the 31.mhz linked to 39mhz. I seem to remember some long range ones for farms etc around 47mhz

[@SocialistDistancing]

I have that icom radio. In the 90s i used a realistic hand held scanner. I heard lots of phone conversation (both sides). One day , i heard co-workers making plan to meet for coffee. LoL. An i know of some radio personalities that were heard sex talking on cells. Very amusing. LoL

[@montauktimelord]

At the time I was a regular subscriber to Shortwave magazine. It was actually mentioned on in the editorial column that it was common knowledge amongst scanner enthusiasts in the area that the 'squidgeygate' conversation was broadcast repeatedly over several evenings. I don't beleive it had anything to do with 'heightened IRA activity', I think it's obvious somebody wanted to get the conversation noticed and into the media in order to discredit Diana.

[@m7dgz]

Brilliant video! I'd always just assumed they'd recorded the signals from a wireless home phone, interesting to hear about all of the audio analysis that disproved that. I also think the fact that they were never prosecuted for eavesdropping on such a prominent call might well add credence to the theory that this was planted for someone to overhear...

[@HangryGiant]

This was so intresting, thanks for sharing!

[@rambo1152]

It's important to point out the cellular networks at that time were ETACS or (1G if you like). No encryption, it was basically NBFM Lewis, have you done a video yet about the The Capenhurst Tower?

[@RingwayManchester]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4LSZ4CrjZt3f5o

[@scotshabalam2432]

Events like this are why I don't trust "evidence" of paranormal or conspiracies that "researchers"(or what ever they call themselves) uncover. Often I hear the phrase "What would they have to gain?", -lots of stuff or they could just think it's a laugh to do.

[@stuartbridger5177]

Interesting analysis. Rumour has it is that one end of the conversation originated from a farmhouse about a mile from where I live. This is about 6.5 miles from Abingdon as the crow flies. The challenge is that there is a fairly large hill between the two. My knoweldge of RF transmission is not great, would it have needed line of sight to pick that up if the original recording was from the supposed location? Of course if it was "outbound" from the Abingdon end mast, it would be feasible. Mind you given that mobile phone covererage is still incredibly poor in the area, I wouldn't bee surpsied if it was a fake rebroadcast.

[@dougmorris2134]

Hi Lewis, I have lived in Abingdon for many years but can’t remember this story but does remind me of my use of communications receivers that had continuous tuning from LW up to 30MHz and picking up telephone calls in the 1.7MHz region just above the AM broadcast band. These signals must have been very local and both parties could be heard clearly indicating they were BT line equipment to handset origin. No, I didn’t record any of such conversations. My main interest were, and still is receiving various National/international radio broadcasts. The best was Radio Australia Int. on my Russian (Minsk) built Selena B212 using its built-in whip aerial, in the 1980s. I still use the Selena occasionally. Returning to your story, I found the analysis of the recordings very interesting. 73s & good DX from Oxfordshire.

[@PaulTaylor1]

The old analogue cordless phones used to have both sides of the conversation audible, I remember that.

[@shayne109]

1.7MHz was the base to hand unit side of the split frequency link of the old analogue cordless phones of the period. the handset to base link was around 49mHz for the very early ones and later shifted to around 31MHz with the right kit and a little luck one could monitor both sides simultaneously and get the whole conversation the range was very short but if conditions were favorable i have personally heard traffic up to a few miles away. all gone now however since cordless phones went to DECT digital altho i'm sure the tech exists to intercept it.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

With cordless phones it was usually possible to hear both sides of the conversation because of the acoustic coupling across the handset and the cross talk across the telephone hybrid circuit.

[@arthurtwoshedsjackson6266]

Radio scanner or communications receiver ? Reenan owned a Icom IC-R7000 communications receiver. I did too, until I stupidly sold it several years ago. All aligned and serviced by Icom at Herne Bay. You should have the email I sent months back of the scanned Sun Newspaper with it all in?

[@RingwayManchester]

Arthur! I was looking for the scan! Couldn’t for the life of me find it. Can you email me again? I’ve trawled my inbox to no avail! So glad you commented

[@arthurtwoshedsjackson6266]

@@RingwayManchester done

[@TechGorilla1987]

@2:05 - "...at the railway station..." What popped in to my head was Brewer & Shipley with "One Toke Over The Line" "Sittin' downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line..." I'm silly like that.

[@ronwade2206]

900 pound radio wasn't heavy, it cost 900 pounds sterling. Lug that around...

[@mfx1]

Something still doesn't add up, if he recorded something that was played in a loop (for whatever reason) and that recording contained frequencies that his equipment was incapable of resolving then how were those frequencies present in the recording?

[@greatestytcommentator]

ironically, if she had used a mobile... it wouldn't have been recorded.. curious stuff,.. who rebroadcast that!

[@numberstation]

Princess Diana’s “friend”😂

[@bill-2018]

Mobile phone calls are not private. They are radio frequency so can be heard, like any radio transmitter unless coded.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

All current public mobile systems are encoded and fully digital - pretty nigh impossible to decode the call 'off air'. To get actual voice content you would would have to be at the switching centre - and only then if a PSTN party was involved.

[@bill-2018]

@@barrieshepherd7694 Oh, right o.k. I remember hearing my neighbour years ago using hers. It was years ago though, 15 maybe.

[@DonzLockz]

Great video, I never knew of 'squidgy gate' before. Lol Very interesting information my friend.👍🤠

[@kevinstaddon8517]

Unlikely to be able to hear both sides of the conversation. Some time after I was tuning around broadcast radio bands and heard a phone in programme about the subject. I listened on to find out it was radio Leicester, I was in East Devon, the irony.

[@harbselectronicslab3551]

Isnt there a law against recording phone calls ?................the only way this could have been recorded with this ICOM is if one party was on a Household "Wireless" telephone and he was listening to that in the HF band......thats assuming he was close enough

[@AutoShenanigans]

That was grrrrrreat. Frosties.

[@Mike-H_UK]

Don't you have a motorway to get back to? ;-)

[@am4793]

I use to make free phone calls on payphones and mobile phones in the 1990s using US phreaking techniques. BT implemented countermeasures in early 1990s which ended landline exploits. It was not until 1998/99 that mobile networks caught up.

[@radiorob7543]

In the mid to late 1980's, I would listen to IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service) on VHF and UHF, in the Los Angeles market. A very large amount of those users were drug dealers, and pimps. I don't recall hearing a bookie, but I'm sure I did.

[@michaeldibb]

1:34 That looks like James Hewitt, not James Gilbey. Both were lovers, allegedly.

[@RingwayManchester]

You’re right! My mistake

[@michaeldibb]

@@RingwayManchester That's alright. An interesting watch all the same 👍

[@ashleyarchitect]

Great research, very thorough!

[@damiengirvan5020]

You said James Gilbey but you showed a picture of James Hewitt..... Harry's real dad.... I think you got your James's missed up..... Easily done.....

[@Boodieman72]

I used to do similar things back then as well, it was possible to eavesdrop on cellular calls over a long distance. If you use the same tape over and over some of the previous recording can bleed through. No idea if this happened in the case with Lady Di though.

[@mrfrog8502]

You would hear only one side of the conversation...... Usually the one coming from the base station because the signal was about 50W per sector.

[@danskifpv]

If the phonetapped audio was played on a loop over radio and, as was proven, the reveiving radio was filtering out frequencies above 5k then the tapes can not have been recorded as recieved over his icom. Therefore he must have been approached and given the tapes - leading me to believe the phonetapped (and edited) cassette tapes MUST have been given to him by a third party. Its not adding up.

[@paulcharlton4788]

Back in the day ITV News interviewed my about this incident in our shop in Hendon.

[@RingwayManchester]

Could we talk via email [e-mail]

[@deathbyteacup]

I’m not sure I understand this, if they didn’t pick these calls up via radio recording equipment, then what do these old people in sheds have to do with anything, and how did they actually obtain the recordings from GCHQ?

[@PaperworkNinja]

I think the biggest lesson we can all take away from here is this: NEVER TRUST THE SUN.

[@Mike-H_UK]

Why? Nothing that they said was incorrect - they had the tapes to back it up!

[@TR6Telos]

I'm first, Ha. Should of heard what I accidently picked up at the time in the 90s on my FRG7 and scanner, it changed my views of my two neighbours next to my house, I can't say what, but it was about the school teacher arranging to have a good time with another man , and the young lady next door telling her mother her latest man said she was the best ---- ever. Needles to say I made sure I never accidently selected them frequencies of cordless again .

[@tomfox3697]

I feel a double page spread in the Express on Sunday will be along shorly

[@RingwayManchester]

What do you mean Tom

[@colinreece3452]

I did a bit of short wave DXing a few years ago, but one time I was on the medium wave band and I could tune further up, by chance I got local analog phone calls, I never knew who they were, but I did notice they were fairly local but the radio I was usung only had a telscopic antenna, if I attached a long wire the range increased. So it was possible in those day but now it has all gone digital so you need a different receiver.

[@zr1pja]

It is illegal to share publicity what a ham hears on other frequencies except his own. It could lead to jail time or a fine or both. He knew better. They should have mail his arse to the wall.

[@MountainMan7.62x39]

I have a few questions. Are you saying people believe GCHQ spliced multiple records together and then broadcast them on a freq with the hope that some civilian would record them? Also if that's true, why would Cyril apologize for what he did? That is to say if he recorded it over the air, wouldn't he have believed it was a legitimate cell call he was recording?

[@nigelh3253]

I came away very confused from this. I thought recording of phone calls was illegal (without consent of the callers). So I'm surprised the police weren't called in. Or were they?

[@RingwayManchester]

Interesting Nigel, people expected Cyril to face legal action but he never did

[@racerboyeddie]

@@RingwayManchester it might be due to the case predating the Data Protection act and the authorities not knowing what should and shouldn't be allowed. that's my assumption tho

[@SheepThatBleep]

Scanners were cheap in them days. and you could pick up both sides of the conversation. I heard my solicitor once, speaking to a client. So they were on a landline.

[@Rob2]

While in those days it was possible to eavesdrop on first and second generation cell networks that still used analog FM (before GSM), it would normally result in recordings with one party loud and clear and the other very weak. Also, when the caller was mobile (which they usually were, as mobile calls cost a lot more than fixed calls and one would not use a mobile phone at home), the call would transfer between cell towers and one would lose it quickly. However, another case was the "cordless telephone" to be used on the home landline with a wireless receiver that could be carried around the home. In those days these also used NBFM and were easy to receive. The transmitter connected to the fixed line would have both ends of the conversation quite clear and of course it would handle the whole call. As these units were quite low power, they could only be received a couple of blocks away. Different frequencies were used in different countries, but systems on 31 and on 959 MHz were quite popular here (the 31 MHz being the low-cost models and the 959 MHz the more sophisticated and "less interference" ones. they had way more channels too)

[@igotes]

I remember being able to pick up crystal clear reception of the neighbours' phone calls (about 600 yards away) by changing the channel on my dad's cordless telephone handset. I assume they had a very similar model. No juicy gossip, but as a 12 year old I did find it very entertaining.

[@mrfrog8502]

Second generation is digital GSM which uses GSMK nodulation and widely uses frequency hopping so listening to it with the basic scanner is impossible. Thanks

[@Rob2]

@@mrfrog8502 Probably the number of generations differs by country/area.

[@mindblast3901]

Awesome Video cheers Lewis👍

[@markiangooley]

Squidgy is oddly suitable for the late Diana.

[@RCAvhstape]

Very recently radio transmissions from the DC fire department were intercepted during the White House cocaine incident. Would also make for a decent radio story.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@RingwayManchester >>> Great video...👍

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks 👍

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@RingwayManchester >>> YW

[@billmilosz]

What a strange story

[@PaulTaylor1]

Very interesting! What about the Charles and Camilla "press the tit" call? Please do a video on that!

[@maralisil]

A gentleman wouldn't have recorded it, much less made it public. Shame!

[@RingwayManchester]

A agree; I found myself feeling sorry for Cyril but he did the wrong thing. Part of me questions whether he was a pawn in a much bigger game though.

[@Mike-H_UK]

@@RingwayManchester Yes. And then a separate phone call between Charles and Camilla was recorded and made public very shortly afterwards. The coincidence is too great. At the time I thought (and still do) that there was more to this than we knew.

[@rog2224]

@@RingwayManchester If it was being looped, chances are other people did hear it, and chose to do nothing with it. Unless the two people who did contact The Sun were primed to by a third party, it looks more like they were just fundamentally unpleasant.

[@cpcnw]

Hey RM - do you have a tracklist for all your vids please?

[@charleshunziker7416]

Thanks to raygun it became illegal here in USA

[@carlgriffiths8482]

Omg that's a blast from the past I remember that It didn't sit right at the time Same as the then Prince Charles tape The least said about that one the better 😂

[@emanuelsanchez3762]

Is there a device that can receive the frequencies of a SDR but in a small handheld formfactor?

[@human_shaped]

The analysis seems flawed to me. Although based on simple first principles it might seem to make sense, it was actually common to pick up both ends of a conversation even far apart, especially I think when one end was a land line (the more distant end of course). That is likely due to interplay between the inbound and outbound speech on old analog phone lines. The digital bursts always overlaid at a range of intensities, probably due to crosstalk from other cells. I have a feeling this is a case of people overanalysing with too many simplifying assumptions, looking for something sensational and misinterpreting. The factoid about the recordings on different dates is peculiar but so easily also misremembered or misreported.

[@mrfrog8502]

Thankfully someone debunked it. For starters in the analogue system of the time TACS both parties wouldn't transmit on the same frequency and transmission power of the mobile phone is normally in the range of milliwatts. Channels are also quite narrow so nothing over 4kHz would pass through. This story yet again shows human greed and dog eats dog mentality.

[@joeblow8593]

Thanks

[@fabreezethefaintinggoat5484]

What a snitch:))

[@jeanjean9343]

Experts are Ex (has beens) Spurts (drips of water), so an Expert is a "Has Been Drip of Water". I don't profess to know the truth, but I know when the govt gets involved, or the Monarch, they can get the Experts to say anything they want about the origin of the call, and they will make assertions that will sound credible to the masses but ultimately are malarkey. I found the show interesting, but I was not caught up in the technical descriptions by Experts since you can't trust them to say anything but what the government tells them to say. For Instance: “scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue.” yet another site succinctly says "Expert witnesses are invaluable for explaining to a jury any complicated medical, technical, or scientific evidence. As professionals who are necessary for complex litigation, they often charge substantial fees. But in pursuing such fees, expert witnesses may be tempted to stray from the truth in their testimony." Stray from the Truth Indeed. I don't know the truth, but know that people to profess to know the truth are not always reliable.

[@reliablenewsspringfieldmo]

Who has the tapes today?

[@lordtherapeutics]

They will be in a large safe somewhere!

[@lordtherapeutics]

Charles and Camilla were similarly exposed.

[@orourkeda]

Was this the car salesman lad?

[@Kw1161]

Nothing to see here move on! ....:)! I It was best that Cryil dis-owned the tape or he would have passed shortly after it was authinicated

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

What were they so afraid of? Princess Di on a phone call.... Who cares?

[@A_10_PaAng_111]

Because he shouldn't have been able to hear that kind of 2-way phone conversation with the equipment he had. So what did he tune into?

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

@@A_10_PaAng_111 Possible illegally tapped call rebroadcast over the airwaves? If you were a ham in the U.S., there are several frequencies were rogue Amateurs do this kind of thing all the time.

[@rog2224]

@@StalinTheMan0fSteel "there are several frequencies were rogue Amateurs do this kind of thing all the time." Are they called the Asshole Stations?

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

@@rog2224 I prefer to call them "CB Scum!".

[@livetillyoudielovelife2299]

Wheels within wheels, that was a great video

[@buttyboy100]

Anyone genuinely intercepting private radio communications of a y sort is liable to prosecution. It is better for scanning enthusiasts to keep their scanning activities to themselves when it comes to the actual content of messages. If this had been a genuine intercept, passinging it on to a newspaper should have earned the guy a spell in prison or a very hefty fine. With any luck the tabloid rag would also have been prosecuted. I think it's the Wireless Telegraphy Act that forbids such eavesdropping. We all do it, but never disclose anything of a personal nature that you might hear. The case, a few years ago, of a newspaper getting hold of the voicemails of a murdered girl was also a case that warranted prosecution.