Anyone Listen To Police Scanners?

[Phog Allen]

Hey chaps. Tonight I dug out my old Uniden Bearcat 760XLT scanner so I could listen to the weather stations whilst a small storm passed through.

This started me thinking I should look up local frequencies and have a bit of a listen. As I feared, there is not much happening in the old analog "action " bands now that everything has mostly went to digitally trunked ststems. So, is there really anything left to listen to on these older scanners? Are they still usable for monitoring the space stations?

Now to the newer digital scanners. I have not kept up with it at all. What's the latest on that front? Is everything encrypted now? Personally I believe that other than sensitive work like undrcover raids, secret service, etc. that public services should be in the clear.

It is odd. Some of the old scanners like my Radio Shack Pro 2006 still bring fairly substatlntial prices on eBay.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Psychofish]

If you go http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/ you can pull up a lot of scanners from across the globe.

I know from our agency there are so many "secret" channels that you could keep people guessing what chanel you are actually talking on. Some of the larger city agency (Phoenix, Arizona for example) has gone totally secure I believe. Whats changed is that there are a lot more chanels you can talk on. For instance my radio has channels 1-16, I also have options "A, B or C" that will give me 1-16 on each of those letters. I can also then go to different zones, and this radio is programmed for nine of those and each zone also has its own ABC options! So what you might have heard in the past would have been all special details (parades, or ball games) mixed in with normal patrol work, and maybe another tactical operation (raid) that would have shared the same chanels for a while.

Now, for instance say I am on Zone one, channel one. There is bad accident or a scene that may require a handful of people to respond. Dispatch can tell us to go to "Tac-3" So I flip my switch to the letter B and turn the knob to three. I am now on my own little frequency so we can talk freely and not tie up the radio for other calls that may come in. You can usually tell when this happens because right as all the chatter is getting good, it suddenly goes quiet. Those officers have gone to a different chanel that you probably don't have programmed in, or may be a secure link to keep other from knowing whats going on. Confused? Trust me, so am I half the time!

 

[Phog Allen]

It 's about what I expected. I know that many of the agencies are using something called Apco 25 systems and these take special scanners. As long as they are not encrypting I think they will follow the transmissions. I just have no clue what works with what. I looked into WinRadio because the tuner uses a Pc for the interface. In fact, it has to have since it has no other control interface. Ie ; no physical buttons. The cheapest tuner is $750! Yowsa.


Cheers, Todd

 

[Psychofish]

And now you have a lot of agencies switching to "narrow band" frequencies. I still don't understand it fully enough to even try to type here, but I know any HAMs out there will have no problem explaining how we can get more traffic in a smaller area.

 

[raisindot]

Apco 25 is a newer digital standard that many agencies are converting to. You need a digital scanner, such as newer generation of scanners offered by Uniden and GRE, to listen to them if they are unencrypted, as many of them are. (For example, in the Boston area I've heard Apco 25 broadcasts from several towns and, occasionally, the FBI).

There's probably a lot more 'action' on the analog bands than you think. Radioreference.com has a great database that will show all of the active frequencies--both analog and digital--in your area. That can help you determine what kind of scanner you may want to get.

Right now I use a Uniden Home Patrol-1 (which is for sale, by the way) which is about the easiest scanner in the world to use. Simply plug in your zip code and it will automatically tap into its built-in memory to compile a huge list of frequencies in your area (including Apco 25 systems) to monitor. There are no 'channel limitations' at all with this. You can also select which kinds of services you want to hear (police, fire, aircraft, coast guard, business, etc.) and it automatically does the onerous work of programming trunked systems for you. It has a beautiful, large touch screen display and runs on rechargeable batteries or power supply. You can also customize programming using Uniden's free programming software and it updates frequencies through a USB cable.

 

[ouch]

I used to teach Coptalk at the local community college.

The alleged perpetrator feloniously did act.........

 

[Commander Quan]

There are a couple scanner apps for android, and I'm sure there are just as many for apple. I played around with one one day but deleted it shortly thereafter.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I used to teach Coptalk at the local community college.

The alleged perpetrator feloniously did act.........

I never had to take that class, I just sort of have a way with those word thingies.

 

[heybatter]

I'm not as serious as some of y'all seem with it but like Commander Quan I d/l'd the Scanner Radio app for my Android and listen to it occasionally to fall asleep to.

Chicago police radio FTW

 

[dpmtherrien]

After 36 years working in the field not really, but I gotta say that when I catch a listen of a call I kinda perk up to hear whats going on.

 

[BingeAndPurge]

There are a couple scanner apps for android, and I'm sure there are just as many for apple. I played around with one one day but deleted it shortly thereafter.

haha I did the same thing yesterday, which is the only reason I clicked this thread

 

[DogHair]

I have an old Bearcat 101 we turn on during bad weather. Gets me fire, local sheriff and the city trucks. I'm sure digital is coming but not yet.

 

[raisindot]

I have an old Bearcat 101 we turn on during bad weather. Gets me fire, local sheriff and the city trucks. I'm sure digital is coming but not yet.

Oh, man, is that a memory jog! I remember when that thing first came out. For scanner geeks, the thought of not having to buy crystals was the coolest thing ever, even if you needed to understand binary code to program the thing. I never got one (I was just a teen at the time), but I remember listening to the one they had at our local electronics store (now long gone, or course) and wishing I had the $400 for it.

 

[DogHair]

Oh, man, is that a memory jog! I remember when that thing first came out. For scanner geeks, the thought of not having to buy crystals was the coolest thing ever, even if you needed to understand binary code to program the thing. I never got one (I was just a teen at the time), but I remember listening to the one they had at our local electronics store (now long gone, or course) and wishing I had the $400 for it.

They go for $10-20 now and there are websites that do the binary conversion for you. Still pretty cool.