[Premium-Rx] FCC Radio Gear

[Geoff Fors]

I have received a great deal of e-mail off-list about this subject and also there have been some further postings to the list in the last 24 hours, so I will try to summarize what I have learned about the present FCC receiver inventory:

The receivers I saw in use at the now unmanned Livermore, Calif. FCC facility were the Icom R75.  They are equipped with the CT17 option for remote control/level conversion.  I know, it wasn't really fair of me to call them "consumer grade" receivers and I hope no one other than Icom took offense at that, but after all, they are inexpensive, unimpressive looking and not really in the same class as a Watkins Johnson 8618.

I am informed by people working with the FCC that the stations are also using R7000, R7100 and a few PC1000 receivers.  I don't know what they are doing with them but I also saw a wide variety of lower priced receivers piled up in FCC storage such as the Yaesu FRG-7700 and a Kenwood 1980's era receiver whose model # escapes me at the moment.

The majority of Watkins Johnson receivers still in use are 8618B's, and they are in the process of adding 432 or 488 interface cards to those to allow remote operation.  The vehicles are getting smaller and as a result the bigger W-J receivers are being replaced by Miniceptor 8607 units (and I suspect digital recording equipment as well.)  I was also informed that some of the Watkins Johnson FCC equipment is being transferred to the US Border Patrol.

I am afraid of spinning off topic by discussing the vehicles, even though it appears a lot of us are fascinated by them as well.  Just as the British have train spotter hobbyists, we may need to start an "FCC spotter" reflector.  There seems to be a wide variety of FCC trucks, SUV's, RV's, vans, and decrepit Chevrolet police model Caprices still out there.

Thanks to the people who added their comments and to those kind folks who aren't members of the list but monitor the digests and contacted me directly.  I didn't mention you by name since some of you are associated with the FCC and may prefer to remain anonymous !

By the way, regarding the Echelon system question that was just posted.  Not at the FCC facility I am familiar with.  Echelon is run by the NSA, at least theoretically, and involves a huge amount of equipment intended to monitor telephone and common-carrier traffic, not primarily HF and VHF communications. I would dearly love to comment on Echelon further, but I had better not or I will drift off-topic with it !

Geoff Fors
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