Cordless Phones and Signal Transmission

Depends on the system being used. If the cordless is on a forwarding system and the corded phone switches over to call the cordless, because the call is not answered on the hard line, they will be seperate.

However if this is a house line or otherwise where the phones both answer to the same number. Once either line is picked up, both will be connected. If the cordless phone is not answered and there is no handset activated to transmit to, then the base will not transmit the signal. That still does not stop anyone from picking up the cordless and listening in on the other line.

Hope this helps

Agree, however, a good base station (corded) will usually warn you that the 'handset in use' if it is transmitting to a handset (cordless).

In a nutshell, NO. The cordless would have to be on as if to answer the call for the base to transmit to it. Other than that, the handsets are always transmitting to the base so that the base "knows" they are there.

Don't worry, the only people who have the gear to listen to your 5.8gHz (spread spectrum) phone are the spooks, heh heh heh...

But what about other nearby 5.8ghz phones (say from an adjoining apartment) - wonder what the chances are of having the same codes (or whatever) as your 5.8ghz phone? Or is communications between two separate cordless phones even possible in this manner?

The chances of having two phones with the same codes close enough to each other that you could hear each others conversations is possible but remote. Also if you recieved or made a call the other phone would not ring. so unless they walked around with the phone to their ear all day they would not know you were on a call. If your phone conversations are so confidential that you dont want anyone listening in then I suggest you resort to letter writing and hand delivery as this is probably the most secure method of communication available with current technology.

The Get Smart "dome of silence" would be one technique, but it usually resulted in no one hearing anything. Or you could use the method they used in Casino where you go to a public place, outside, and cover your mouth with your hand so the lip readers can't see you.

The bigger question to ask may be: Am I really doing something that someone is willing to go to all that trouble to find out? Usually the answer is no. Surveillance is an expensive boring job fraught with difficulties. You have to want to know pretty bad to make the effort.

Thanks rcapper and all other respondents. Based on the comments I will put my concerns to rest.

There is no such thing as a secure line.A phone on-hook still generates enough signal to be intercepted with the right equipment.Every house that has a phone has a potential intercom for the proper intercept equipment.

The only way to at least partially snoop-proof your home is a dry-contact relay that shorts out the house side sets when not in use.You are still vulnerable when the phone is is use, but not when it is on-hook.

Consider this fact:The first orbiter to Mars generated only 5 watts of signal.This was many years ago.How much signal is truly undetectable now?