Discussion Main / HollywoodCB

Massive natter cut, but probably interesting/relevant enough to be saved here:

• In Live Free Or Die Hard, McClane uses the bad guy's CB's to contact the FBI. Partially justified in that he knew the correct frequency and had a world - class amateur hacker working for him.

  • Even a "world class amateur hacker" couldn't get a CB to operate on the FBI's frequencies (VHF and UHF). If the handy-talkies were actually VHF or UHF radios, then it's just barely possible, if the H Ts have "escape codes" to let them be retuned. If it would need actual hardware mods? Under field conditions with no real tools? Forget it.
    • He didn't have to do it that way. All he really had to do was work it so that McClane's audio came out on the FBI's end and vice versa, right? He had a lot of other tools at his disposal besides CB to work with that he could've used to get that result.
      • The only way to do that is to transmit on the FBI's frequency, with compatible modulation. Period, full stop. (Note that C Bs use AM and sometimes SSB; police tactical radios use FM. AM rejection is an important characteristic of of such radios; they don't even know how to "decode" AM.)
  • Look at all the communications equipment he has. You're telling me he couldn't use any of that equipment to take the raw sound coming from McClane's CB (not the signal, the actual sound coming from the speaker) and put it through something else that would transmit on the FBI's radios? Like I said, he doesn't have to make it as direct as you're saying. Imagine it like strapping two phones together so the mic and speakers are against each other.

    • I have to confess it's been too long since I've seen it and I'd forgotten that bit. There are indeed ham VHF FM transceivers that can be programmed to operate "out of band." And I know of one incident where a ham, who had his HT with him on a mountain hike, called for help on a Sheriff's department frequency after someone else in the group was injured and couldn't hike out. So yes, you're right, it's justified. (The ham was later questioned very closely by the FCC, even though the relevant laws do allow for exactly this sort of thing in case of bona fide emergencies; other laws do make unauthorized transmission on public safety frequencies a much bigger deal than "ordinary" unlicensed operations. He eventually prevailed.)

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Die Hard - not seen, but wouldn't the dispatchers ask that street cop to work Channel 9 on his CB - as Mc Clane had initially raised them on that freq?

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