Letter Re: Establishing Private Radio Communications Using Consumer Grade Equipment

Jim:
One thing I see omitted over and over again is about the FRS and GMRS radio “privacy codes”. A lot of people mistakenly think this is a “scrambled” communications form.Not True.It is just what the title says it is: a Privacy Code setting. It means that you cannot hear anyone not set to your code setting (36 possible settings on the standard set) or talk to them. However, your conversations CAN be listened to by anyone on that particular channel.

To clarify, let’s say you are on channel 6 and your privacy code is set at 31. Anyone on channel 6 can hear what you are saying but only people on code setting 31 can talk to you. It seems trivial but anyone hoping to mask their communications by this method needs to be aware that this only locks out two-way communications,not receiving alone. No matter what your code setting, anyone who is in range and on your channel can hear you. Regards, – Ed S.