Typical question about scanning from a prospective operator

>I'm new in the world of amateur radios and i would find it helpful if you
>could answer a couple of questions I have!!

We will give it a go.

>can the AR8200 be used to listen to police, aeroplanes, traffic wardens etc.?
>If so does a licence need to be purchased to listen in to their frequencies?
>I would be very grateful if you could reply and maybe send some info on
>starting up!!

Yes, the AR8200 can receive most police etc but some services are switching to digital services (such as TETRA - BT-Airwave) which cannot be monitored. While it is possible to receive digital transmissions, they just sound like NOISE, you cannot hear voice. Most airband transmissions use analogue AM services which may be monitored.

Tetra digital radio network signed an agreement in February 2000 with mobile operator O2 (BT Cellnet), the only bidder for its Airwave offering. However this position was challenged in the courts under the monopoly laws and the field was opened up to the French Terapol system. This over-turned the UK government decision to 'force' all local authorities to employ the same digital system. Tetra uses TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) while Terapol uses FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access). The two systems are not compatible, but it is generally felt that the redundancy of a second non-connected system will actually add to the reliability of the emergency communications network and result in value for money due to competition.

For GSM phones, take a look at the DIGITAL technology in use on the following site:

Also, if you have around US$ 420,000 you can have a go at GSM monitoring of A5.2 encryption (A5.1 needs to be switched off). For US$ 7,000 the manufacturer will provide a demo:

More recently, a new product for around US$ 280,000 has been announced which CAN monitor encrypted GSM in a passive mode without the need for network operator co-operation, the system takes about two minutes to decode. One UK columnist has seen the unit in action, UK government is using the product already. Take a look at the following links:

The UK Radiocommunications Agency (now OFCOM) have published a web site listing all UK cell base sites:

Monitoring anything other than authorised broadcasts / radio amateurs is illegal (but many pursue the activity). The official body governing radio in the UK is now OFCOM (since late 2003):

http://www.ofcom.org.uk

The Radio Communications Agency used to produce a leaflet on scanning, its called RA169 but the link from the old RA site no-longer works (http://www.radio.gov.uk/document/ra_info/ra169.htm)

It appears that an archive version is still available, it can be viewed in either HTML or PDF:

Most of the above are available from the LINKS page of the AOR UK web site:

http://www.aoruk.com/links.htm

>THANKS !!!

You are welcome.

If you are interested in monitoring INMARSAT (global communications via satellite), you may want to take a look at the following web pages. Ideally the bandwidth of receiver should be in the order of 30kHz (so the AR5000 is ideal), some high gain aerials (dishes) are also required.

For an overview of Inmarsat, take a look at the following two pages:

http://www.wtec.org/loyola/satcom/ab_inmar.htm

The following page has some excellent pictures, the author uses AOR AR3000 and AR8200 receivers:

Due to continuous developments, AOR reserves the right to make design and specification changes for product improvement without prior notice. The performance specification figures indicated are nominal values of production units. There may be some deviation from these values in individual units.