Police Scanners ? Which Ones To Buy / Which Not ??

[billt]

I've been in the market for one of these things, but what keeps me away is I know next to nothing about them. I'm told that you really have to be very careful of which one you buy because of some frequency issue that now exists that a lot of police departments are going to. There is a name for this, but it escapes me at the moment.

Do any of you have them, and what kind of results are you getting and range with just a standard antenna? I thought it would be nice to have to gather information with in case of any civil unrest. Not that it would ever happen with the way Hussein is running things.        Bill T.

[Pathfinder]

What you're thinking of is "digital" and encrypted. Only smaller forces still use the analog where you can pick up police chatter.

Even the FDs and some central dispatches (so ambulances too) are going digital. Part of the Federal offensive against the public to keep us in the dark efforts to standardize the telecomms used by emergency and first responders.

I have a couple of radio shacks, one old one, a 10-channel scanner. The other is 100 channels, mostly worthless now with the digital move.

[alfsauve]

Yes, many have gone "digital"  (it's referred to as APCO-25 based on some national standards).

there are digital scanners.   It takes a bit to set them up.  Not like in the old days where you just had to set in a couple of frequencies.
There are still many die-hard scanner buffs listening in.   Once you get all the trunking frequencies entered then you tackle the talk groups.  A talk group is like Precinct 2, or Fire Dispatch, etc.   They all share the frequencies, but the "computer" assigns them as needed (real time) for each talk group in use.

Some jurisdictions have gone totally encrypted though and it is against the law to even attempt to break their encryption.  Some still broadcast in the clear (digitally speaking) but  encrypt during tactical situations or raids.

There are numerous sites with information.   There are also sites (and iPhone and Droid apps) that allow you to listen to other peoples scanners streaming over the net.  No equipment required.  http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/

Here are two links with some info.
http://www.scannermaster.com/
http://www.police-scanner.info/

[Pathfinder]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention they also have digital radios that frequency skip at apparently (but not really) random intervals. Makes listening in a trifle - well, impossible?

[billt]

Alfsauve,

Thanks for the links.   Bill T.

[Sponsor]

[kygunnut]

To check out frequencies and needed setup info for your area visit:

http://www.radioreference.com/

Use their database to look up your local area. They have both digital and conventional info.

They also have quite a few "live feeds" so you may (?) be able to listen to local event without actually owning a scanner.

This also comes in handy when wanting more details on events not in your area.

[billt]

The more I look at these things, the more confusing it gets. They have them from $89.00 up to $14,000.00 and everything in between. Unless you are a radio and electronics buff, it's difficult to even understand the features, let alone what they do and if they're even necessary. Many are for government sale only. (Those are probably the best ones to get!) The frequencies are confusing as the amount as well. Do you need 100 or 1,000? Then there is "trunking"? Does anyone have one they are really satisfied with?  Bill T.