One of my visitors asked me this week about listening-in to radio communications. His question was, ‘Can you listen to two-way radio on a CB?’

Well, a CB radio is already a two-way radio. So that’s what you are listening to… CB or Citizens Band radio service. The FCC assigned 40 channels in the 27 MHz shortwave band (11 meter band) for use in the United States and its dominions as a license-free radio service for recreation and other activities.

However, the intent of the question was to listen to two-way radio, which has hundreds of thousands of available channels or frequencies right across the shortwave (HF), VHF and UHF radio spectrum.

The hobby of listening to shortwave radio is commonly referred to as Shortwave Listening. The people who follow these broadcasts and two-way conversations are referred to as SWLs (Short Wave Listeners). They listen to everything that takes their fancy, from ships at sea, ‘Ham’ amateur radio operators and CBers, HF aircraft frequencies, the military and whoever else they come across.

SWLs use shortwave receivers to listen to the short wave bands between 1.6 MHz (this is actually the top of MF) through all the HF bands to 29.8 MHz, or so which is the top of the radio amateurs’ 10m radio band. You won’t hear much DX up there at the moment because the radio propagation for long-distance (DX) connections are all but dead. They will come good again in a few years time.

The best book for anyone interested in shortwave listening is the World Radio and TV Handbook, abbreviated to WRT. It is THE directory of global broadcasting and, in my opinion, every SWL should have their own copy. It is updated every year.

Then there are the folks who listen in to two way radios in the VHF and UHF parts of the radio spectrum. These radio enthusiasts use radio scanners, these are multi-channel radio receivers which quickly sample hundreds of assigned frequencies one after the other and only make a noise when a channel is active and somebody is talking. Scanner enthusiasts often listen to their local emergency services, including police and fire services. This is quite legal in the USA but can be against the law in many other countries.

In many countries, listening was fine, but doing anything with what you heard and acting upon it – such as rushing out to the scene of a robbery or a fire – could be seen as illegal. Then there are some parts of the world where just possessing shortwave radios or a vhf/uhf scanner will get you arrested or even shot, on the spot, as a spy! You wouldn’t even get a chance to explain to the cops or soldiers. They would just shoot you there and then. (Think parts of Africa and the Middle East.)

So if you want to get into shortwave listening as a hobby, you need to find other short wave listeners who can help guide you in the hobby. The same applies with radio scanner listeners. Search for web sites, magazines and/or clubs where you can get to meet people with the same interests. They will share things like frequencies of interest, advice on radio antennas, and where you can get the best deals on equipment… Or even where to get stuff repaired cheaply.

Finding vhf and uhf frequencies to listen to in your area is easy in the US and other countries where the government freely publishes the frequencies, and shows which organization uses what channels. Radio Shack and other stores selling scanners often have frequency lists for sale, but the best modern scanners usually in the US have the police and fire services pre-programmed already. We used to have them pre-programmed by Uniden Bearcat here in Australia where I live, but the police now encrypt their digital transmissions so not even news reporters or tow truck drivers can listen in to them any more.

So if you have even wondered can people listen in on two way radios, then the answer is yes people can listen in to most transmissions. However the military and certain government agencies have ways to avoid being listened to. Some ways of doing this include digital radio and encryption – just like our local boys in blue, and another technique used by the military is frequency-hopping. This is where the radios at both ends of a conversation keep changing their radio channels all over the place. They stay can stay perfectly synchronized all the time the radios are connected, but anyone trying to listen to them has no way of figuring out what frequency they are using because they switch frequencies so quickly. On top of that the signals can be encrypted as well, and could be digital – like sending sms messages on a cellphone.

Certainly licensed radio hams and other radio users without this level of ultra-expensive fancy equipment should always assume their conversations can be (and will be) overheard by someone else. And if you’re wondering about CB, FRS GMRS and MURS 2 way radio can people listen to you? Of course they can!

If it’s un-encrypted then it is en clair… That means anybody can hear what you’re talking about. So never say anything over the air which you might later regret. It’s about as public as posting remarks on the Internet.

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