Posted: 11/17/2005 12:31:38 PM EDT
|
I am thinking about buying a good scanner but don't really know where to start. I was looking at this one, but I really dont know what features I want/dont want. www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?cp=2032072&productId=2036234&tab=techSpecs I was wondering why the area around 900-1200MHz was left off... I would like to be able to scan police/fire etc. as well as others. And, if someone wanted to scan cordless phone frequencies, are there any that would do that? And it would be nice if it wasn't too expensive. Anyone know what i need? Thanks, Timmah |
.......? 
|
Absolutely. Check the scanner info websites for info about the agencies in your area to find out what systems they are using. Most larger Metro areas use (at least) trunked systems, and many have gone digital as well. Most smaller cities still use standard untrunked analog that the cheapest scanner can pick up. As far as the cordless phone issue, it's been illegal to make scanners that can listen to these freqs for about 15 years, so you'd need an older model (i.e, used). Plus, 99% of those old cordless phones have been replaced with phones that use other frequencies anyway. Most cordless phones sold today are 2.4 MHz digital phones that you won't be able to hear with a scanner. Again, don't even bother looking at scanner models until you figure out what you want to listen to, and what equipment they are using, because that's what drives your feature needs. -Troy |
| I have a radioshack Pro-94 handheld. It works fine and picks up the police signals from several local cities. It gets the control tower at the airport and most ham bands as well. I only have the stock rubber ducky antenna, but since there is a repeater less than a mile away and i'm on a hill with direct line of sight to the whole San Gabriel valley, I get very good reception. |