How to intercept transmissions?
 

I am playing an android character in our latest campaign and my GM has never dealt with one before. I have the telecommunications advantage which I have been using to intercept any and all transmissions being broadcast within the range of my telecommunications (10 miles) but after playing a few sessions in this setting it seems a little overpowered which makes me wonder if perhaps I am not doing this the correct way? I make no rolls right now to do this.

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

Telecommunication is basically a built-in radio, wired into your head so you don't have to speak or listen. (The distinction is useful if someone might overhear you, or if there's a lot of noise -- like explosions -- where you are.) It's a multi-band radio -- AM, FM, UHF, shortwave, whatever -- which is also a bit better than carrying a box (most boxes, anyway, which are limited to one or a few bands). There's also no mention of an antenna, which is awfully convenient, especially for the shorter wavelengths where antennas can be large.

On the other hand, this radio doesn't give you any more ability than any other radio to understand what's being transmitted. If it's not a public transmission standard or modulation scheme, you can't do anything more than detect radio energy. A US TV set will do you no good in France. And while there is a French TV standard that's public, the paranoid Cabal might have their own proprietary format.

At TL 7+, most things considered valuable -- certainly military comms, but also things like cable TV satellite downlinks -- will be encrypted, and the Telecom advantage alone doesn't give you any ability to decrypt others' communications. At TL 8+, likely _all_ transmissions are encrypted, just because it's cheap and easy to do so. (On the 4E scale, this is probably really more like TL 7.5 and 8.5, but there we are.)

At lower tech levels, the military, or cautious/paranoid will likely be using codes, even if they can't encrypt the actual signal. You might be able to pick up the signal just fine, but that doesn't help if you don't have a copy of the code book, the Enigma machine, or happen to speak Navajo.

To be the NSA's dream agent, you'll need some other advantages and skills to help you decode and decrypt signals that you receive. This may lead to adventures where you or your party members have to acquire keys, codebooks, and so on.

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

The ubiquitous encryption thing is the important point, here. Certainly any PC opponent would be likely to use it.

Also, unless you have equipment specially designed for it (i.e. a scanner) you are left to change frequencies by hand until you come across something at the exact moment that someone is talking. That's slow and annoying, and easily frustrated by frequency-hopping techniques. Also, your radio may not work on the same frequencies. Etc.

Note, that signals intelligence uses the Electronics Operation (Electronic Warfare) skill. Your GM should at the very least be making you roll against this- or your default- to find target transmissions, and then Cryptography to defeat codes if appropriate, etc. This is much easier with appropriate equipment; realistically, cracking modern encryption is essentially impossible over tactical timescales. (I used to have this job, back in the day. The Soviets used a lot of unencrypted voice transmissions.)

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

Note that listening in is mentioned in Basic:
Settings which involve encrypted radios usually take this enhancement:

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

At the very least you need to roll against your skill in using the equipment plus probably some sort of search to find interesting transmissions (you cannot listen to more than one at a time without Compartmentalized Mind) plus language plus cryptography for codes and such plus analysis to understand what you pick up. In other words I would say the GM provides whatever the plot requires.

And don't forget, if the transmission is not general broadcast then you have to be in line between the transmitter and receiver. General AM and FM radio is broadcast, interesting transmissions are beamed in a tight beam including a maser. You might catch some interesting transmissions on rare occasions but probably not and the ones you do catch are probably encrypted or burst transmissions.

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

I would propose that if you are using a normal radio (and not specialized SIGINT gear) that it would count as improvised equipment for -5 at best to find a target transmission.

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

That would be the difference between Accessory (Radio) and Telecommunication (Radio).

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

A significant amount of transmissions won't be encrypted even at TL 8; most cell phones aren't yet encrypted, for example, and there are a fair number of transmissions intended for anyone who wants to to be able to listen in. However, there are several other problems with interception:

First of all, remember that there is likely to be a lot of uninteresting stuff out there; radio hearing doesn't give any special way of recognizing 'this transmission is interesting, this transmission is not'.
Secondly, a lot of radio equipment doesn't have much range, and it's tough to snoop on radio from much outside of its normal detection range.
Third, TL 8+ comms are likely to be digital, and even if it's not encrypted, it can be difficult to figure out what a stream of digital data (possibly in an unidentified protocol) is actually saying.

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

I am with Vicky.
Accessory (Radio) is like having a walkie talkie or AM/FM radio.
Telecommunication is far better but without Video or Burst its pretty slow.
I would say to interecpt others transmissions you have the basic tools but to undertsand them you need more if they are encrypted.
As an adnroid do you have Enhanced Time Sense? That lets you take your time for most tasks. Intuitive Mathematician is helpf for some decryption.
But youlld need Electoronics Operation, Cryptography and more then a little luck for some transmissions as noted by others.
But stealing code books is a good adventure seed :)

Re: How to intercept transmissions?
 

CDMA, GSM, GPRS, HPSA, and LTE protocols all encrypt voice and data. They don't provide end-to-end encryption between callers (as a standard feature), but they do encrypt on the airwaves between the mobile and the base station, which is sufficient for the purposes of this thread. Even TDMA had an encryption feature, though I understand AT&T never actually turned it on.

Some of the older specs also have some known issues, but I'd say that's a reason for an easy TDM when you're breaking the crypto, not automatic plaintext without the need for any additional equipment/advantages, hacking skills or effort. For example, the attacks that exploit becoming the mobile's base station by overriding others isn't something you can do with just any old radio. Existence of such authentication holes is enough to get people to say that the system is "broken" and dismiss it as insecure. True enough from an Internet security hipster point of view, but then, the OP is about casual eavesdropping with a standard receiver. There's a difference between something that's encrypted, even if it's weak, and a broadcast that's intended for anyone to be able to receive, no skill roll required.