police scanner

MrTwigg said:
I've had scanners on & off over the years it's a good idea.





Perhaps I'm missing something here but, can somebody explain to me how an audio device "works with" an optical device ? [thinking]

(Other than the obvious advantage - using radio com with NV for surveillance - but a scanner is simply a receiver. )

What's the "compatibility" issue ?
Click to expand...

No doubt is has to do with the screen, and brightness.The normal screen would bun out a NVD in no time.
 
Keep in mind that it is against the law to listen in on cordless phone conversations and all of the new scanners block out cordless phone frequencies so you cannot listen in.However there is E-bay![smile]
 
In regards to using a NV w/ scanner,


The NV friendly scanner has 2 leds to backlight the lcd screen. 1 is a regular green led, the other is IR so it will only be seen with a NV device. You can select which one to use depending if you're NV equipped.
 
scanners block out cordless phone frequencies
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Most decently priced scanner do not cover the newer 2.4GHz and 5.*Hz cordless phone frequencies. The older phones worked off a lower frequency. The scanners blocker the cell phone frequencies when they were analog. The newer phones are harder to intercept as they too are on a higher frequency than most scanners can receive.

Years back when working the midnight tour I would at times intercept cell phone conversations (one side only) on my HT ham radio. At three AM some people will not hold back. At least it kept me awake!!!!
 
USMC109 said:
Keep in mind that it is against the law to listen in on cordless phone conversations and all of the new scanners block out cordless phone frequencies so you cannot listen in.However there is E-bay![smile]
Click to expand...

I refuse to buy a "blocked" scanner, even if I don't listen to
cells with it. The law banning such scanners is outdated and
outmoded anyways, as you can't really pick them up because most
newer cells, and even cordless phones are operating in some kind of
digital mode. That whole "scanner ban" crap is a perfect
example of how congress has gotten completely corrupt- it was
all started by some hacks in the cell industry that didn't want to
pony up the cash to encode/encrypt their signals. They ended
up doing it anyways as a matter of necessity. (eg, cell use
exploded, so they had to use digital techniques to increase
the amount of channels, and also conserve battery life on
portables, etc.... )

-Mike
 
Drgrant,

Good luck getting one that isn't blocked. FCC part 15 compliance requires it, and marketing non-compliant equipment is a federal felony.

That isn't to say it is impossible to unblock the equipment, just a pain in the arse. It is more than just cutting out a resistor or adding a wire. Although, in certain cases, it is not much more than that.

In fact one of the first thing(s) I downloaded on my Yaesu RD-50 were the instructions on all the mods (a.k.a. hacks) that were out there. It included the "freeband" mod, which will undo all receive and transmit blocking. I didn't do it, because it also clears the memory, and turns off the automatic repeater offset features (did I mention pain in the arse?).
 
In fact one of the first thing(s) I downloaded on my Yeas RD-50 were the instructions on all the mods (a.k.a. hacks) that were out there. It included the "free band" mod, which will undo all receive and transmit blocking. I didn't do it, because it also clears the memory, and turns off the automatic repeater offset features (did I mention pain in the Ares?).
Click to expand...

The only problem with many of those mods is that they require the removal of a component that is the size of a pinhead. You need a VERY steady hand and knowing the fact that one slip can destroy the radio. While all of mine are modded, the reception out of band is not very good in many cases.
 
Yeah,

It does help to work in an electronics design shop with a surface mount rework station in the lab around the corner. [devil]

An alternative would be to buy a good spectrum analyzer. Some of them have demodulators built in, and they fall under the industrial equipment exemption. Of course buying one of them to use as a scanner would be like buying a large dump truck to go to the local supermarket.
 
n1zfg said:
Drgrant,

Good luck getting one that isn't blocked.
Click to expand...

It's not THAT hard. Yeah, you're not going to be able to
go down to your local radio shack and pick up an unblocked
scanner, but they're still pretty easy to get.


FCC part 15 compliance requires it, and marketing non-compliant equipment is a federal felony.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's an f-bomb, but I know they used to hit the
domestic marketers with fines, etc, civil forfeitures. Most of
them just paid up and moved on with their business sans the
"illegal" product.

IIRC, selling a "preban" unit or an individual sale of such a device
is still allowed. There doesn't appear to be any individual penalty
against "possession" but does appear to be one against modification.
(never seen it enforced, though, except against
people distributing such devices publicly). I know there are
stiff penalties against recording transmissions your not supposed to
and divulging the content, but that's a whole nother ball of wax
by itself.


On the newer radios most of the time a huge part of 800 is still
missing and is often not unblocked by a mere resistor or diode.
Click to expand...

This is the case more often than not, and additionally, the FCC
has often forced manufacturers to cripple the shit out of other
parts of their receivers so they won't even get cell phone images
by accident. This means other RX ranges get blocked out or
detuned, which sucks, although the manufacturers have been
pretty creative about fixing that problem while still being able to
satisfy the whims of the FCC.

I've done plenty of unblock mods back in the day (there was this
period before the ban where companies were doing a Colt-style
voluntary blocking scheme to try to get the FCC to go away, but it
didn't work) and even currently, although on transcievers its
mainly to enable out of band transmit and receive. I don't even
put a radio into use until it's been fully modified- the reason why
is because if you want to mod it down the road then you lose all
the memories, etc, which sucks. (most require a hardware reset).

Strangely enough I like ARS and band edge beeps and all that
crazy crap to be gone. It just gets in the way. [smile]


If you want the full coverage it's easier to not buy something
thats blocked to begin with.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and those that know where to look, or that buy "preban"
[laugh] scanners can get around the problem. I just don't like
paying big money for crippled equipment.

-Mike
 
n1zfg said:
Yeah,

It does help to work in an electronics design shop with a surface mount rework station in the lab around the corner. [devil]
Click to expand...

I've been able to mod every newer radio out there with just a
Weller WTCPT and a stock tip, and some precision tweezers. Don't
ask me to replace those grain of sand diodes, though. [laugh]
Thankfully at least on US marketed stuff removal of a diode is
more likely then having to put one back. The other saving
grace is a lot of times these "diodes" are really just 0 ohm resistors,
or glorified jumper straps. A few years ago I -did- have to
bridge some of those things, and yeah, that was a pain in the
ass. Some radios are an order of magnitude harder to work on
than others.


An alternative would be to buy a good spectrum analyzer. Some of them have demodulators built in, and they fall under the industrial equipment exemption.
Click to expand...

I think it'd be more like buying an F-22 instead of a Cessna. At
least a dump truck would occasionally be useful to a homeowner.
[smile]

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
I've been able to mod every newer radio out there with just a
Weller WTCPT and a stock tip, and some precision tweezers. Don't
ask me to replace those grain of sand diodes, though. [laugh]
Thankfully at least on US marketed stuff removal of a diode is
more likely then having to put one back. The other saving
grace is a lot of times these "diodes" are really just 0 ohm resistors,
or glorified jumper straps. A few years ago I -did- have to
bridge some of those things, and yeah, that was a pain in the
ass. Some radios are an order of magnitude harder to work on
than others.




I think it'd be more like buying an F-22 instead of a Cessna. At
least a dump truck would occasionally be useful to a homeowner.
[smile]

-Mike
Click to expand...

[laugh]
Add a 3x binocular microscope, the roll of solder, some fine gauge solder wick, a little isopropyl (or denatured) alcohol, trimmed acid brush (for the alcohol to clean off flux residue), and you pretty much have the rework station I used.

The tech that taught this lowly engineer to pull them parts would practically dance the iron on both ends of the part alternately re-flowing each side until the action pushed it off the pads, then he'd clean the area up. I can do it, and actually find it easier than trying to yank a through-hole part intact.

And as for needing a steady hand, I don't buy it. I am chronically accused of having "the shakes". I will often support my soldering iron hand with my other, or brace it against whatever is available.
Remember what they say..."You can't eliminate the motion, only minimize it."
 
Chris said:
My Icom R-5 is a neat radio. It's a receiver first and a scanner second. What this means is that it's a lot easier to get nice clean reception on just about any frequency and then you can group 10 or so together into multiple 'banks' and just scan the 'bank' you want. I have some nice software and a USB connector to allow easy programming from your PC.

Best of all, for a Bug Out situation, it's small, light, runs a good 24 hours on 2 AA Energizer lithium batteries, or use any AA from rechargables on up. Power port does both power and recharge. It's only a 6v port, but that's an easy adapter to a vehicle, or use a big old Lantern battery for long term listening. Not waterproof, but it's got rubber seals and plugs.

Icom makes several portable models. One even has a TV built in.


While many of the larger public service organizations are going digital, most of your smaller towns and cities are just using UHF or even VHF FM services that are easily listened to. Even if they have higher frequencies in the 800 or 900 mhz range, few are using anything but FM transmissions.
Click to expand...

Is there a way to tell if your city/town is digital? I was thinking of getting a scanner for the house but I dont want to pick up one and cant hear police/ fire..
 
blindndead said:
Is there a way to tell if your city/town is digital? I was thinking of getting a scanner for the house but I dont want to pick up one and cant hear police/ fire..
Click to expand...

There's a good list here,
http://www.scancapecod.us/wiki/index.php/APCO-25_Stations_In_Our_Listening_Area

There's not much in the Fall River area, but the entire state of Rhode Island is transitioning to a digital trunked system. So, if you're interested in RI listening, it might be worth it.

Gary
 
You could ask your police and fire chiefs, seriously.

Or an even better answer (more technical knowledge usually) can be obtained from the Civil Defense Director in a community (or his/her "radio person").

No need to be bashful, as it is public airwaves and they know that folks monitor it anyway.

There are some online references and hardcopy books out there too, but having not looked in a long time, I am unsure what level of detail they provide besides the frequencies.
 
LenS said:
You could ask your police and fire chiefs, seriously.

Or an even better answer (more technical knowledge usually) can be obtained from the Civil Defense Director in a community (or his/her "radio person").

No need to be bashful, as it is public airwaves and they know that folks monitor it anyway.

There are some online references and hardcopy books out there too, but having not looked in a long time, I am unsure what level of detail they provide besides the frequencies.
Click to expand...

I Learn something new every day. Only on NES, Thank's
 
I had a scanner once, I bought it in Indiana, then when I was in Illinois I didn't have a job and needed money so I returned it to Radio Shack. I actually got more money back when I returned it than when I bought it. I've wanted to buy one again these days but I never knew what was good. I can imagine the fun listening to it yesterday, but I think as was mentioned in a few years everything will be digital and need special decoders.
 
rscalzo said:
If you asked our Chief anything about our radio system you would get a blank stare.....
Click to expand...

At best, you'll get a blank stare. Fire departments are generally far more forth coming than police departments. Police departments treat frequency information as some sort of state secret. LenS is correct in that it's public information, but I've never heard of anyone successfully asking a PD for frequency information. Some FD websites list their frequencies, but again I've never seen a PD do that.

The most current information is generally available than anything printed. www.radioreference.com has a lot of information. In this area www.scancapecod.us has the best information.

Gary
 
blindndead said:
What is 800 Mhz? Do you need that to listen to police/ fire? If I grab one should I get one with 800 mhz? I kind of like the handheld scanners.
Click to expand...

You have to decide what you want to listen to. Do a search on the internet for the agency that you want to monitor. A search of google for (for example) "lowell police Mhz" will give you the info you want. The only agency that I would want to listen to that uses 800Mhz is the MSP. I am not interested enough to dish out the kind of money that I would need for a scanner to listen to them. I would rather spend the money on radios instead.
 

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