Posted: 4/23/2013 4:48:36 PM EDT
| I had been casually looking at different radio scanners for a while and recent events (Boston) have really spurred my interest again. There seems to be a lot of options available and I seem to be having trouble sifting through them. Any of you guys well versed in scanners? I'm thinking that a portable scanner would be the most desirable. What would I be sacrificing with going portable vs. mobile or base station type? Not real sure I need the ability to plug into computer for programming. Any input welcome. Thanks. |
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You can check out radioreference.com for advice from people that live and breathe scanners.
In short, it depends on where you live and what you want to listen to. If you're in a major metropolitan area, the radio system is likely trunked and/or digital, in which case you'll want a a trunked digital scanner. You will want computer capavility in that case, as loading the scanner is a heck of a task. I use a Uniden BCD996 since my area is both trunked and digital. If you're in a rural area that just uses basic narrowband FM, chances are you only need to listen to a few frequences and a cheap handheld scanner will be fine. Another option if you're computer literate is to get a software-defined radio program running with a TV dongle. This will cost you all of $30 and give you something that's as capable as what a $5000 communications reciever was ten years ago. It's a quickly developing area and not everything is supported yet, but it's on its way. Again, only if you're computer savvy would I suggest this route. Edit: As far as portable v. mobile v. base, it's generally size and in some cases of sensitivity. Mobile units are probably the sweet spot in terms of usability while still being small, but they will need a power supply -- either your car or a plug in unit. Portables usually run on AAs, but not for long. |
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Another option if you're computer literate is to get a software-defined radio program running with a TV dongle. This will cost you all of $30 and give you something that's as capable as what a $5000 communications reciever was ten years ago. It's a quickly developing area and not everything is supported yet, but it's on its way. Again, only if you're computer savvy would I suggest this route. . Any more intel on this? |
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Another option if you're computer literate is to get a software-defined radio program running with a TV dongle. This will cost you all of $30 and give you something that's as capable as what a $5000 communications reciever was ten years ago. It's a quickly developing area and not everything is supported yet, but it's on its way. Again, only if you're computer savvy would I suggest this route. . Any more intel on this? There's a software defined radio thread lurking in the ham radio forum here, but in a nutshell, you get one of these TV dongles and then install appropriate software (there are several different programs, depending if you run linux or Windows, and if you want to use it as a general radio or a scanner. Examples: SDR# RTL-SDR RTL-SDR Scanner Basically $30 and freeware gets you nearly everything. There are more advanced projects that use two of the radio dongles to do trunking, etc. I've not tried them. |
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Wrong forum to ask. Search in radio reference, or ask at your local radio shack. If your local agency of interest is encrypted, forget it, if they are digital trunked, you need a digital trunked scanner. Analog trunking, you can get an analog trunked scanner, or just scan all of the trunking freqs. Some smaller systems are analog only, and anything works (you many need 800 MHz coverage.)
For city systems (almost any city- NYC to Hahira, GA) a handheld is fine withing the coverage area. Rural and statewide and federal-widearea systems are often designed arround mobile radios, and your hand held may lack range, or on some systems only hear the base to card side. In rural areas, outside antennas improve range, in urban areas, they often increase interferance. People often webcast scanner output, but truthifully, if I was the Boston police chief, I would have begged them to take their site down, and begged radio reference not to link to a new webcaster. Literally the whole system became a "tactical frequency" during the hunt for the suspects and some things need to be kept private, at least in real time. |
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I know this is not exactly on topic with your requirement, but do you have a smart phone? Android or Apple? I do have a smart phone and have sampled a few of the different scanner apps. I'm leaning more towards a mobile or a portable scanner that would have the potential to come in handy in more of an emergency type situation. Not really sure how useful the smart phone apps would be in an emergency scenario. |
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I know this is not exactly on topic with your requirement, but do you have a smart phone? Android or Apple? I do have a smart phone and have sampled a few of the different scanner apps. I'm leaning more towards a mobile or a portable scanner that would have the potential to come in handy in more of an emergency type situation. Not really sure how useful the smart phone apps would be in an emergency scenario. SDR recievers will do fine as long as you have power for the smart phone. streaming audio apps require commerical power, the internet, and your carriers data network- not so reliable in an emergency. I've never hear if SDR can be used for trunking- check with radio reference or your local radio shack to see if the primary agencies of interest use trunking. |
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I live just a couple miles from a military base. Will a scanner pick up any Mil traffic? Two miles away, yes, easily. It may be encrypted, but quite I've heard plenty borning unencrypted conversations, usually about building maintenance. You can go over to radioreference.com and see what people in your area hear. |
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I live just a couple miles from a military base. Will a scanner pick up any Mil traffic? There are two kinds of military traffic- land mobile and tactical I'm familiar with only one major land mobile system, and on it only the game wardens and MPs are encrypted. For tactical stuff, encryption is more likely outside the aircraft band. |