Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
I think that radio communication is (it used to be) kept secret by teams but since FIA is nowadays listening to all of the team radios perhaps not anymore. You can try bringing in a scanner but I’m not sure whether they use 2m or 4m radios. Even if they are their frequency might be set out of the default range that a scanner can pick up. Than you must have your scanner “cracked” (there is software for it) and than the range widens dramatically. The original range of scanners is limited because they are sold without a license and the “cracked” range I’m talking about is a “no-no” in some countries (most of the countries).
I think all communication from the car to the pit is encrypted. You will not be able to listen in with a handheld device, unless its really really expensive .
I don’t think that it is encrypted anymore since FIA stewards are for several season now listening to all team radios all the time and the signal is occasionaly broadcasted on TV.
Eavesdropping is part of FIA sporting regulations since Ferrari and Mclaren started messing with team orders several years ago. Frequencies were scrambled and radios protected from jamming but that was years ago.
Anonymous wrote:I think communication between the car and the pit is encrypted. The FIA listens in on an internal network. At least thats my understanding.
/ Fx
But who broadcasts radio communication live on TV? If I can hear it that any team member of any team can hear it.
No delay at what I’ve seen and heard. They do repeat it occasionally but it goes live. Good example is race in Canada when Fisi had problems and Alonso asked for permission to overtake him.
It all happened in a lap or two and having several seconds delay is too short to judge whether what’s been said is secret or not (who should be the judge)? Also, I don’t get how could teams prevent and censure FIA from broadcasting something that happens so fast?
Actually I dont think theres something other than profane language thats not allowed on the air. Works like other liveshows that blank out foul language live by using just a couple of seconds delay to give them time to do their trick.
When Webber said my quote, Steve Matchett, commentator for Speed, said, "Well, that goes to show we're live!" You can hear the McLaren pit in Turkey telling Raikkonen, "Remember, we're live."
So yes, if you hear the cuss words, it's live; I even had to rewind my videotape to make sure I heard what I heard. Same can be said about Bruni in 2004 China.
Bring back wider rear wings, V10s, and tobacco advertisements
The main bands are 146-173MHz and 440-473MHz. McLaren and Ferrari use digital radios which can't be listened to with a scanner, Midland use a scrambled radio which can be unscrambled by some scanners. All the rest are in the clear.
The FIA link to the team radios is via a hard-wire link, and I can confirm that the FOCA feed to the TV broadcast is delayed by a few seconds to pick out the best communications and filter out most swearing (but they obviously miss a few !!). More details here: http://broadcastengineering.com/news/br ... mpionship/
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