What can I do with a scanner?
 

Can someone give me some uses for these handheld scanners? Like what
do you guys use them for (non professionally speaking ofcourse).

Can you guys like tap people's phones and stuff (sorry for sounding
like an excited kid, but I get like that with new gadgets ;)

"Saboteur" wrote in message
m...

Can someone give me some uses for these handheld scanners? Like what
do you guys use them for (non professionally speaking ofcourse).

Check out http://www.police-scanner.info/introscan.htm - under "Why You
Should Own A Police Scanner"

-RF
http://www.Police-Scanner.info

I listen to the NOAA weather stations alot, as well as the VHF marine band.
Last week I heard the US Coast Guard make an announcement on ch. 16 that
several flares were seen as well as a life preserver found floating in the
water 20 miles off the Chicago shore in Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, I was
driving inland at the time, and never did find out what became of that. I also
heard a sail boat call Mayday as they ran aground on a sand bar. I hear a lot
of fishing boats on Lake Michigan as well as the big ocean going vessels that
come into port. Besides local police, other interesting listening can be found
on the local busses (metro and school busses). In the winter I listen to the
snow plows and the AAA auto club. They have two transmitters in town. These
are very busy during snow storms. Taxi cabs can be neat to listen to at times.
The air band in cool. Plug in a few ' ops ' frequencies like 123.45 and you may
find several pilots chatting to each other as they fly across the country ...
sometimes in Russian or French ! Check out the ham radio band. There is new
technology called IRLP in which the ham radio repeater is connected to the
internet ... I've heard hams driving home from work in their car from Australia
talking to local hams, or hams in London chatting as they sit in their basement
radio rooms.

If you search carefully, you may find the DEA following known drug dealers
around town ... even placing bugs on the cars and announcing exactly where they
are on the map as they tail them !!! (you didn't hear this from me though ...
just what I've been told ... or did I actually hear it???? )

On the old cordless phone band, I've heard a neighbor chatting with his
girlfriend while his wife was away at work (they've since moved).

I work in the medical field, and my favorite thing to listen to are the
ambulances and Flight for Life helicopters. I've heard several calls where the
EMT's have been defibrillating people while on the radio with the doctor at the
hospital.

LOTS of good stuff out there.

Good listening !

jw
wb9uai

J999w wrote:

I listen to the NOAA weather stations alot, as well as the VHF marine band.
Last week I heard the US Coast Guard make an announcement on ch. 16 that
several flares were seen as well as a life preserver found floating in the
water 20 miles off the Chicago shore in Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, I was
driving inland at the time, and never did find out what became of that. I also
heard a sail boat call Mayday as they ran aground on a sand bar. I hear a lot
of fishing boats on Lake Michigan as well as the big ocean going vessels that
come into port. Besides local police, other interesting listening can be found
on the local busses (metro and school busses). In the winter I listen to the
snow plows and the AAA auto club. They have two transmitters in town. These
are very busy during snow storms. Taxi cabs can be neat to listen to at times.
The air band in cool. Plug in a few ' ops ' frequencies like 123.45 and you may
find several pilots chatting to each other as they fly across the country ...
sometimes in Russian or French ! Check out the ham radio band. There is new
technology called IRLP in which the ham radio repeater is connected to the
internet ... I've heard hams driving home from work in their car from Australia
talking to local hams, or hams in London chatting as they sit in their basement
radio rooms.

If you search carefully, you may find the DEA following known drug dealers
around town ... even placing bugs on the cars and announcing exactly where they
are on the map as they tail them !!! (you didn't hear this from me though ...
just what I've been told ... or did I actually hear it???? )

On the old cordless phone band, I've heard a neighbor chatting with his
girlfriend while his wife was away at work (they've since moved).

I work in the medical field, and my favorite thing to listen to are the
ambulances and Flight for Life helicopters. I've heard several calls where the
EMT's have been defibrillating people while on the radio with the doctor at the
hospital.

LOTS of good stuff out there.

Good listening !

jw
wb9uai

I was just listening to 123.45 and heard an aircraft announce that he was 11,000
feet over the field and jumpers were away. This at 10:08 EST.

Steve
Holland, MI

"Saboteur" wrote:

Just a question here, are you from the UK? Because
I'm not sure if I could hear Police round here...
Though I did once pick up a police frequency about
5 yrs ago using my radio! :D


Are you in the US? If so, it is still possible to listen in on police,
fire, ambulance, and other public service agencies. In most areas, you'll
need a trunk tracking scanner with 800MHz coverage to do so, but you can
still hear some police activity in smaller towns using a conventional
scanner (especially one with 800MHz coverage). In the largest cities, watch
for movement towards digital (requiring the very latest scanners with that
capability).

In addition to police, fire, and such, there are a wide range of other
radio activities to listen to - local sports events, businesses, airports
and aircraft (military or civilian), boats (marine), ham radio, baby
monitors, cordless phones, and so on. Once you get your scanner, you'll have
to scan around to see what you can find in your area.

By the way, may I recommend you drop the "Saboteur" from your sender line.
Saboteurs are not very popular in this country at the moment.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/

Here in Wisconsin, there's lots of police action to be heard without trunk
tracking, the 154mhz range is still full of signals and the fact that the big
cities like Milwaukee have moved to 800mhz, just makes the smaller towns and
surrounding counties easier to be heard.

The 800mhz trunked stuff out of Milwaukee can still be heard without trunking
scanner, it's just harder to follow a series of transmissions, but with most of
the communications being 'one liners' anyway, no big whoop. I just type in the
trunked frequency and listen anyway. Out of 10 transmissions, I'll get 7
police, one municipal bus, and maybe 2 EMS. Fire is still not trunked.

jw
wb9uai
milwaukee

"Saboteur" wrote:

No I'm in the UK, so can I from here?


I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do so. Ask around at some of the
local radio stores to learn which scanners they recommend to listen to
police broadcasts. After you have a few scanners in mind, ask on the
internet to see which one others recommend.


I've had that handle for a long time, I'm not about
to drop it just because "not very popular", I'm
sorry, but I just dont see why I should.


Relax. It wasn't a command you have to obey, my friend.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/

So which scanners do you guys recommend?
My friend brought this really expensive handheld one with a TV screen on it.

Sounds like an Icom R3. You could do MUCH better for less.


"Saboteur" wrote in message
om...
So which scanners do you guys recommend?
My friend brought this really expensive handheld one with a TV screen on
it.

D'oh! Forgot about the Icom:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...rxvr/3333.html

-RF
http://www.Police-Scanner.info
Email: ruben "at" police-scanner.info

"Jim Hackett" wrote in message
link.net...
Sounds like an Icom R3. You could do MUCH better for less.