VK7RJG DMR Repeater
Welcome to VK7AAL, a personal radio blog exploring radio scanning, monitoring and amateur radio from Launceston Tasmania. This site documents what I hear, test, and learn across the VHF and UHF bands, with a focus on receivers, antennas, low-cost experiments and the home of RadioFreakDB. All content reflects my personal interests and monitoring. This is shared for hobby, learning, and technical curiosity purposes only.
Thursday, April 9, 2026
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Monday, April 6, 2026
Looking Back - It Happened Next Door - 2004
In 2004 I was living in what most people would call a lower-class suburb of Launceston. The houses were mostly old Housing Commission places, weatherboards that had seen better decades, patchy lawns, mismatched cars in driveways, and the occasional couch sitting out on the verge waiting for council cleanup.
It wasn’t glamorous, but it was home.
One afternoon I was sitting in my radio room, doing what I often did, monitoring the radio networks around town. At the time Tasmania Police were still operating their EDACS network, and if you spent enough time listening you started to recognise the different talkgroups and unit types.
The scanner stopped on one of the police talkgroups.
“Tango 55, can you meet Juliet 19 at [my street name] with some tools.”
That immediately caught my attention.
“Tango” units were traffic.
“Juliet” units were the Special Operations Group.
Traffic cops don’t normally meet tactical teams with tools.
I rolled my chair back from the desk and looked out the front window.
Nothing.
The street looked exactly the same as it always did. A couple of parked cars. Someone’s dog barking down the road. Kids’ bikes lying on a lawn.
The radio stayed quiet.
No updates. No chatter. Just silence.
A few minutes passed.
Then suddenly two unmarked police 4WDs came flying up the street. They didn’t slow down much either, they turned hard off the road and drove straight into the front yard of the house next door. Gravel and dirt sprayed as they stopped.
Before the engines had even fully died, doors flew open.
Six SOG officers piled out in full tactical gear and moved fast toward the house. No hesitation. Straight to the front door.
Within seconds they forced entry and disappeared inside.
The whole thing happened so quickly it barely felt real.
At that point I might have been checking a few of the SACPAV UHF High Band frequencies as well. I might have caught a few signal bursts on those frequencies.
But everything there was encrypted. Nothing readable.
Less than two minutes later the scanner stopped again on the main talkgroup.
“Juliet 13, offender secured. House cleared. Charlie units can come up.”
That was it.
Just like that.
Then the rest of the circus arrived.
Marked and unmarked police cars started turning into the street one after another. Detectives. Uniforms. More vehicles than our quiet little street had probably seen in years.
By this point people had come out of their houses to see what was going on. Neighbours stood on their lawns watching. Some were whispering. Others were openly staring.
Meanwhile I was sitting ten metres away in my radio room, having listened to the whole thing unfold before anyone else even knew something was happening.
Later it came out that the guy next door had been dealing in stolen property. Police also had information that he might have firearms in the house, which explained why the tactical team had been sent in.
But the part that stuck with me was just how close it all was.
All of it, the planning, the entry, the arrest, happened less than ten metres from where I was sitting at my desk with a scanner.
One quiet radio transmission. A few minutes of waiting. And suddenly, it was happening next door.
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Loggings - 3/4/2026 - 4/4/2026
Frequency: 73.13
Name: B W MANION
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 118.1
Name: TOWER-HOBART
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 118.7
Name: TOWER-LTON
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 121.5
Name: AIR EMERGENCY
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 123.45
Name: AIR SIMP
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 123.8
Name: ATC-LTON APPROACH
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 123.95
Name: FIA-NW
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 125.55
Name: ATC HOBART
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 126.5
Name: ATC-NORTH
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 126.7
Name: CTAF
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 126.9
Name: CTAF NW
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 127.3
Name: CTAF-GT
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 129.5
Name: QANTAS
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 130.125
Name: JETSTAR-HOBART
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 130.225
Name: JETSTAR-LTON
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 130.35
Name: VELOCITY
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 131.65
Name: QANTAS DEVONPORT
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 145.025
Name: 2M HAM SIMPLEX
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 146.4
Name: VK7RAA INPUT
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 146.5
Name: 2M HAM Simplex
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 146.625
Name: VK7RMD 2M HAM NW
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 147
Name: VK7RAA 2M Repeater
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 156.4
Name: MARINE VHF 8
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 156.425
Name: MARINE WEATHER
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 156.6
Name: MARINE VHF 12
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 156.7
Name: MARINE VHF 14
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 156.8
Name: MARINE VHF 16
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 157.5375
Name: RAILSHUNT3
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 157.575
Name: RAILSHUNT4
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 157.9
Name: BORAL - INPUT
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 158
Name: TASRAIL SIMP VHF
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 161.075
Name: ARTEC
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.15
Name: TASRAIL
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.375
Name: TASRAIL-MILLERS BLUFF
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.5
Name: BORAL
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.525
Name: TASRAIL
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.6
Name: TASRAIL-DAZZLER
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.6125
Name: TASRAIL MT ARTHUR
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 162.675
Name: TASRAIL-MILLERS2
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 163.025
Name: LCC MT ARTHUR
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 163.075
Name: LCC FREELANDS
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 163.475
Name: LCC FREELANDS
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 163.575
Name: LCC MT ARTHUR
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 413.1
Name: LTON COLLEGE
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 413.35
Name: LGH SECURITY
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 438.05
Name: VK7RBH 70CM Repeater
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 438.55
Name: VK7RJG 70CM Repeater
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 454.275
Name: METRO (TX)
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 462.05
Name: BUNNINGS LAUNCESTON
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 463.025
Name: LCC QVMAG(D)
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 464.275
Name: METRO ABLES
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 464.375
Name: METRO FREELANDS
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 471.7
Name: PFEIFFER CRANES
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 473.5
Name: TASRAIL UHF
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 474.125
Name: WARREN J SPEERS
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 474.775
Name: UNI SECURITY
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.425
Name: UHF CB CH 1
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.4375
Name: UHF CB CH 41
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.45
Name: UHF CB 02
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.5375
Name: UHF CB CH 45
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.575
Name: UHF CB CH 7
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.6
Name: UHF CB CH 8
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.65
Name: UHF CB CH 10
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.6625
Name: UHF CB CH 50
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.775
Name: UHF CB CH 15
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.8
Name: UHF CB CH 16
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.825
Name: UHF CB CH 17
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.8375
Name: UHF CB CH 57
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.85
Name: UHF CB 18 (TIP)
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 476.9
Name: UHF CB CH 20
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.025
Name: UHF CB CH 25
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.05
Name: UHF CB CH 26
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.0625
Name: UHF CB CH 66
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.075
Name: UHF CB CH 27
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.0875
Name: UHF CB CH 67
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.1
Name: UHF CB CH 28
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.125
Name: UHF CB CH 29
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.15
Name: UHF CB CH 30
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.1625
Name: UHF CB CH 70
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.175
Name: UHF CB CH 31
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.2125
Name: UHF CB CH 72
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.225
Name: UHF CB CH 33
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.2375
Name: UHF CB CH 73
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.275
Name: UHF CB CH 35
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.3125
Name: UHF CB CH 76
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.325
Name: UHF CB CH 37
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.35
Name: UHF CB CH 38
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.375
Name: UHF CB CH 39
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.3875
Name: UHF CB CH 79
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.4
Name: UHF CB CH 40
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 477.4125
Name: UHF CB CH 80
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 485.25
Name: CSE CROSS COM
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 488.55
Name: CSE CROSS COM
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 494.925
Name: LCC AQUATIC CENTRE
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 495.0625
Name: VIZPIX
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 509.875
Name: OFFICE OF RACING INTEGRITY
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 509.8875
Name: UHF SIMPLEX
Service:
Notes:
Frequency: 509.9375
Name: RECYCAL PTY LTD
Service:
Notes:
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)