| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Police Scanners
Monty Rand, Photographer
 |
Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 4:42 PM on 07.18.04 |
| ->> Wondering what everyone uses for a police, fire scanner? Looking at buyng a handheld one and was wondering what to look for. I see the term trunked being used. Anyone know what this means? Thanks. |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
 |
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 5:25 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> Trunked radio systems provide access to a group of frequencies, accessed by a control frequency, to a pool of radio channels. When a radio operator keys up their radio the system scans for an open frequency, then matches an assigned Talk, ID to their frequency, to maximize the airspace. By working this way, a system can have multiple channels available to a small fleet, and a massive amount of channels available to a large fleet.
I believe only Portland uses a trunked system in Maine, although I think Portland still simulcasts it's dispatches on a VHF system (154.4300, PL 192.8 *same freq as Keene Mutual Aid in NH, and FDNY Citywide* for Fire Dispatch ; 155.6100 Police F-1 ; 154.0850 Police F-2)
Uniden Trunk Tracker III scanners are great, as are the Radio Shack trunk Trackers. Try and get one which allows you to program in text, as well as numeric, characters for easy recognition when scanning.
Portland's Trunking is on a Motorola Type II Smartnet system requires you have a scanner which can decode digital frequencies, which limits you for the most part to the Uniden 785D, with the "D" card inserted. You can check it out at:
http://www.uniden.com/productpop/00_productpop.cfm?prd_code=BC785D |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 7:38 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> Any scanner bought today, particularly if the primary service you wish to monitor is public safety, should be a trunk tracking scanner.
Steve has the basic concept correct. The primary advantage is that a municipality no longer needs dedicated frequencies for each department. When a trunked radio is "keyed" it transmits a group ID. Radios programmed to listen for that group ID will then "open their squelch" and the transmitting person's voice is then heard. So police, fire, animal control, sanitation, public transit, parks dept., etc. within the same city can use the same base set of frequencies and never hear one another on their radios... unless they so choose. Trunked systems can also work like a cell phone system and sender and receiver can "frequency hop" if a channel they are on encounters coverage problems or interference.
Trunk tracking scanners can decode the Group ID and follow the conversation around the dial as it freq hops. You too can select which group IDs you wish to hear. Non-trunk tracking scanners can also "sorta" be used on trunked systems, but you'll hear digital "chirps" periodically during the transmitions and dead air after the signal "hops".
I great model is the Radio Shack Pro-95. It's a 1,000 channel trunk tracking scanner that's computer programmable, and has a text display. Unlike RS's other scanners, this unit isn't made by Uniden. It's made by respected communications equipment maker GRE (not that Uniden's are bad).
One final thing... before you start toting a scanner, check out your state's scanner laws (if it has one). In many states (Michigan included) it's illegal to use a scanner in your car unless you are a "officer of the peace" or a ham radio operator. |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 7:53 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> Steve,
Just noticed your bit at the end about Portland's system. I see RS's newer Pro-96 supports APCO 25 digital trunking(the same as the Uniden you mentioned)... without the addition of a special card. Would that work in Portland too? (We don't use digital around here.) |
|
Robert Dall, Photographer, Assistant
|
Portage la Prairie | MB | Canada | Posted: 9:22 PM on 07.18.04 |
| ->> We use two different version of the Uniden Bear Cat scanner and the only thing I find is that the batteries are crap. They rarely last an entire shift and the speaker volume isn't the greatest especially in your car. |
|
Rick Burnham, Photographer
|
Enfield | CT | USA | Posted: 10:05 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> I have found with much experience that the Radio Shack scanners suck compared to the Uniden versions. The Uniden's are much more sensitive.
My advice is what ever you do get one with alpha tagging you won't have to learn frequencies that way.
Another option is to see if there is a paging service near you that for about $15/month only puts out actual incidents.
Or you can monitor Maine Fire News Radio for incidents as well. They only put out actual working incidents. You can do a google search for their website. |
|
Jon L Hendricks, Photographer
|
Schererville | IN | USA | Posted: 10:26 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> I use incident paging network (IPN) at http://www.dfwscan.net/
along with a uniden 780XLT and D versions
I pay only $5 month to get region alerts on my PCS capable cell phone. IPN will page you any major events if there are good dispatchers around where you work. And the Uniden picks up anything smaller when I'm actually working. |
|
Anthony Soufflé, Student/Intern, Photographer
|
Collinsville | IL | USA | Posted: 11:12 PM on 07.18.04 |
| ->> Just curious about the IPN that Jon suggested... how effective is this service for smaller towns? And are you paged only for events in your local area or how does that work? |
|
Daniel Bersak, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Medford | MA | USA | Posted: 11:16 PM on 07.18.04 |
->> Monty-
I second IPN - I have it and I love it. On my member page there's a link to my Eddie Adams portfolio - photo #2 is 100% thanks to IPN. I have it sent to both my email address and my pager. I like having both IPN and a scanner, because they send out the radio frequency with every call and I don't have to have the scanner on all the time. Having the pager vibrate is much more discreet, and it's on 24/7. The only down side is that sometimes it takes a few minutes for the page to go through (ie it takes time for the IPN dispatcher to hear the call, key in the message, and for the message to be delivered).
Be careful having IPN sent to cell phones though - some companies charge a fee to receive messages. I have a pager from Yomax - www.yomax.com - and it's the best. I have 2 way paging, so I can send and receive email from anywhere. My IPN messages are sent right to my belt, and I've used the pager when I happened upon spot news with my camera without a notebook (I emailed the caption info to myself). The customer service at Yomax is top notch as well.
The only other thing I'll add to the scanner discussion is to be careful if you have a "distracted driver" law in your state and you have a scanner in your car. If you get into an accident and they think you were messing with the scanner the consequences are much more severe.
--Dan |
|
Daniel Bersak, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Medford | MA | USA | Posted: 12:25 AM on 07.19.04 |
->> Anthony-
Sorry - didn't see your post before I posted. IPN has a network of dispatchers that listen to the scanner and page out when there's something happening. In smaller towns, the level of service depends on how many dispatchers they have listening in on your area. I'm sure if you email them they can tell you how their coverage is for your neck of the woods.
Once you're a subscriber, you can choose to be notified of anything that comes across the IPN system. They allow you to configure your account pretty much however you want. If you'd like, you can receive pages from any combination of towns, cities, and counties in any state. You can also choose which types of pages you'd like to receive - police, fire, EMS, Hazmat, etc. and I believe you can even filter it down to the individual incident type (armed robbery, 1/2/3+ alarm fire, industrial trauma, etc.). If you're traveling to a different part of the country, you can simply log in and choose which areas/types of calls you would like to receive alerts for, and then change it back when you return. Also, IPN will page you if something significant of regional or national interest happens, even if it's out of your selected area(s). For example, I got paged 5 minutes after the big national blackout last summer, and a few months ago there was a huge warehouse fire in Pawtucket RI (40min from Boston), and I got paged for that too.
A typical IPN message looks like this (this one is from the other night):
MAS| Cambridge| S-DEV| FD Ch 14/800TRS| Western Ave @ Soden|Poss device, OIC req no radio transmission from scene| 22:23
That's state, town, type of incident (suspicious device), radio frequency (14 on the 800 trunk), address, details, and time.
If you have any other questions, let me know. Again, I recommend Yomax paging with IPN - both are worth every penny (and I don't work for or benefit from either).
--Dan |
|
Anthony Soufflé, Student/Intern, Photographer
|
Collinsville | IL | USA | Posted: 12:45 AM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> Thanks Dan! You cleared up all my questions. |
|
Mark Bialek, Photographer
|
Kalamazoo | MI | United States | Posted: 2:03 AM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> I use a Radio Shack pro 96 digital trunk scanner. There's a website I use for updating frequencies. It was $450 and has payed for itself a few times over already. |
|
Michael P. King, Photographer, Student/Intern
|
Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 10:49 AM on 07.19.04 |
->> I'm really interested in this paging service. I really don't have the time or knowledge right now to be hooked to a scanner all the time. I would rather continue shooting and be interrupted if anything better happens!
Does IPN have any competitors? I'd like to see if I have a possibility to shop around before I consider subscribing. Also, do you sign a service contract or anything? Can I subscribe month by month and cancel any time if I find it just isn't working for me?
(By the way Anthony, I contacted IPN support by email with the same question you have! Anymore, I spend half my time in Columbus and half my time in Athens, a much smaller college town. In Columbus there really won't be a problem... IPN said there are several dispatchers here in the big city. They didn't respond to my inquiry about Athens. Take that for what its worth.)
--MK |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Mark Bialek, Photographer
|
Kalamazoo | MI | United States | Posted: 1:15 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> What's the procedure like for asking the State coppers for "written permission" to carry the scanner in the car? I'm a little nervous about that. You can't trust them. |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 1:25 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> In every state a Ham licenses allows you to carry a scanner. You can get a No-Code Ham licenses at Radio Shack, just buy the book, fill out a form and send it in.
Also, almost every state has an exemption for out of state vehciles, and legitimate news gathering journalists. Some counties have their own laws as well....you can have a portable but not a mounted mobile, you can't use it while at a scene, etc...all fairly useless laws.
Get a Ham license:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/amateur/
http://www.radioshack.com/search.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&find=Ham+operator+license&hp=search&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=submit&SRC=1 |
|
Mark Bialek, Photographer
|
Kalamazoo | MI | United States | Posted: 1:33 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> Thanks. |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 2:00 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Steve,
Your are correct that Ham's are exempted from scanner laws. FCC "type accepted" 2 Meter (144-148 Mhz) transceivers also usually have a wide receive range that usually extends into the VHF public safety bands. Therefore due to federal pre-emption, the FCC has ruled that states can't prohibit hams from using radios that they say are OK for hams to have.
As for the license itself, it takes more than filling out a from. In order to obtain a "no code" Technician license, you must pass a written exam (not hard) that's administered by FCC approved Volunteer Examiners. In Kalamazoo County there's two groups of VE's. They offer exams on alternating months (one at the County Jail and the other at Portage Central HS).
Here's the text of the Michigan Law:
Act 328 of 1931
750.508 Equipping vehicle with radio able to receive signals on frequencies assigned for police purposes; permit required; exceptions; misdemeanor; penalty; radar detectors not applicable. Sec. 508.
(1) Any person who shall equip a vehicle with a radio receiving set that will receive signals sent on frequencies assigned by the federal communications commission of the United States of America for police purposes, or use the same in this state unless the vehicle is used or owned by a peace officer, or a bona fide amateur radio operator holding a technician class, general, advanced, or extra class amateur license issued by the federal communications commission, without first securing a permit so to do from the director of the department of state police upon application as he or she may prescribe, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(2) This section does not apply to the use of radar detectors.
Unfortunately, our state doesn't offer exemptions to the media, out-of-staters, etc. I wouldn't say that enforcement of the law is "strict" in the state, but I have a couple of fellow Ham friends that have been threatened with arrest for having scanners or 2 Meter radios in their cars by cops not aware of the Ham exemption. All of the members of the local radio club carry copies of the law in our wallets as a precaution.
For Mark, the easist thing to do is get a permit the the State Police. Here's a link for the form: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/com-022_8561_7.pdf |
|
Mark Bialek, Photographer
|
Kalamazoo | MI | United States | Posted: 2:56 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> thanks. Which state police post would handle the request? |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 3:09 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> You need to mail it to the Communications unit at State Police HQ in Lansing. The address is on the form. |
|
Daniel Bersak, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Medford | MA | USA | Posted: 3:15 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Hey-
I second Steve's suggestion of getting a Ham Radio license. I've had mine since I was about 9 years old (back when you had to pass a morse code test to get any license). A few years ago, I convinced SS member Peter Russo to get his license, and he passed the no-code tech test after about 20 minutes of studying. It's not hard. In fact, the entire question pool (ie every question they could possibly ask you on the test) is public knowledge:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/tech2003.txt
Peter browsed that document for a few minutes and then aced the exam. A few bucks and a few days later, he had his "ticket". If anyone would like help or more information, I'm happy to do what I can.
73 DE KA1ZUF |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 3:30 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> "A few bucks and a few days later, he had his 'ticket'."
It's amazing how things have changed. When I passed my "no-code" in 1993 I had to wait 16 weeks before they mailed my license!
73's de KG8PQ |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 3:31 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> When I got my HAM license, back in 92 (I have no idea what my identifier is, I know, I am a poor excuse for a geek :0) ) I got the book at Radio Shack. Read it for about an hour, took the exam, and that was it.
Pretty easy.
I got my HAM because Suffolk County, Long Island, was being a pain in the butt about a mobile mounted scanner in a car. |
|
Daniel Bersak, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Medford | MA | USA | Posted: 4:37 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Geoff-
I hear you - I got my Novice license in 1989 or 1990 and I had to wait forever for it to come in the mail. It was worth the wait though - my first contact was a guy in Anguilla (back when 10 meters had decent worldwide propagation). I still have the QSL card somewhere...
--Dan |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 5:28 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Geoff:
16 weeks? I got mine in '92, I recall it only taking about 2 months (ie: 1/2 the time it took you to get yours).
Don't you love a consistant government agency? |
|
Steve Wasylko, Photographer
|
Aptos | CA | United States | Posted: 5:34 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> . |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 5:37 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Monty:
Back to your question
Do you plan on scanning in MA or NH? What primary areas of ME? |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 6:28 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Steve,
I seem to recall that my problem was compounded by a backlog due to the fact that the wireless division of the FCC moved offices sometime before I took my test and didn't process any new applications during the transition.
If you were a tech and got your license in 1992, then it should have expired in 2002. There's a two year grace period in renewing your license, so depending on when it was issued in 1992 you may still be able to renew it for the cost of a stamp. I pulled out my 1996 Callbook CD and tried to look you up and see when it expired, but I didn't get a hit. |
|
George Green, Photographer
|
Lexington | KY | USA | Posted: 6:45 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> I am also a ham radio operator. KT4MR. I sometimes have a hard time getting the right freq.'s on police, fire and rescue. Is there a good website to get updated freq.'s? I have two handheld Unidens and one desktop. |
|
Tony Sirgedas, Photographer
|
Eatonville | WA | USA | Posted: 6:47 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> We use a Uniden Bearcat BC895XLT here in the fire station I work at. We have them in all of our stations, they recieve well and have a decent speaker ont hem. |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 7:57 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Geoff:
I have my HAM license somewhere. I thought it expired about a year ago. I will probably try and renew, or take the exam again. As stated, my primary reason for getting the license was to deal with a Suffolk County Police Officer who seemed to give me me hell often at scenes (of course I was 17, but I was shooting for legit news outlets, so I'm sure I was the easiest target).
I used to keep the info in my car, until I got my Nassau County Police press credential (he would not take my NYPD one for some reason). |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 8:52 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Steve,
If you find your license and you're within the two year window, you can renew it on-line at: http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/ You'll need to register with the FCC first, but it's not too hard to do. It's a lot easier than finding an exam session again.
I too primarily got into Ham radio for the scanner exemption... but I got into a lot of other aspects of the hobby after I got going!
I have a 1996 Callbook CD, but I can't see a "Frischling" using the name search. If you need help, let me know the address you lived at when you were licensed and I'll take a look for you. |
|
Monty Rand, Photographer
|
Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 8:58 PM on 07.19.04 |
| ->> I plan on just scanning in my local area, Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Old Town here in Maine. After a little more reading looks like only Portland and one other city use the trunking feature. Looks like a 100-200 channel handheld might be the way to go. |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 9:04 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Geoff:
I should be there....I'm pretty sure my name was "Frischling" since June of 1975 :0) |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
|
Amherst | MA | USA | Posted: 9:08 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Monty:
If you want, I can e-mail you a basic scanner layout for your area. I know I have one set up somewhere on my Windows laptop. I can get it out to you in a few days if you want. |
|
Geoff Miller, Photographer
|
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 9:38 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Steve,
That's what I assumed... But I can't get a hit. There's also QRZ's 1993 US Ham database you can try too: http://www.qrz.com/search1993.html |
|
Joe Livingston, Student/Intern, Photographer
|
Douglasville | GA | USA | Posted: 10:07 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> I use the Radio Shack Pro-95 and its awesome.
The local radio Shack guy has built a program that will allow you to pick what County, City, State, Police, Fire, Government, Railroad, Airline etc. you want and he will download it in any order you choose according to your scanning preferences. I picked what I wanted and within 2 minutes I had over 650+ channels complete with what type radio/trunking system they use, it even identifies each individual channel by name and unit and it will show Atlanta PD Dispatch, Atlanta SWAT, Atlanta Detectives etc., it will show every single ID for every channel stored so you can see the ID of who you are listening too. Any time he gets a new or updated frequency he calls me to see if I need it. Its the best $200.00 I have spent in a while. |
|
Jim Fridenmaker, Photographer
|
Portsmouth | OH | USA | Posted: 10:24 PM on 07.19.04 |
->> Mr. Green (and others):
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/reports/index.cfm direct from the FCC. Search by call-sign, county/state, latitude/longitude, frequency, etc.
As Police Call notes, many municipalities run on unlicensed frequencies, on improper bands, but if its in the database, its on the web.
Jim |
|
Jim Fridenmaker, Photographer
|
Monty Rand, Photographer
|
Bangor | ME | USA | Posted: 7:40 AM on 07.20.04 |
->> Steve,
That would be great. Thanks. |
|
Jerry Laizure, Photographer, Assistant
|
Norman | OK | USA | Posted: 10:40 AM on 07.20.04 |
->> For those of you with certain Radio Shack Pro Series scanners, here is a link for PC software for uploading/downloading frequencies, alpha tags, etc.
http://www.starrsoft.com
I found the RS cable to be problematic. You can buy a third party cable here. I have had zero problems with this cable.
http://www.pro96.com
Also, if you don't want to go the PC software route, the RS units can clone scanner to scanner. |
|
Ian Halperin, Photographer
|
Plano(Dallas) | TX | USA | Posted: 1:19 PM on 07.20.04 |
->> And one option that no one has suggested, especially if you are only needing to cover one or two departments, is to get a radio programmed with their frequency. You may have to provide them with a radio (which can be $1,000 or more) but if you have a good relationship with the PIO, you can usually get their dispatch channel programed without transmition. I know at least one TV sation in Dallas that had both the FD and PD dispatch radios. Makes it very easy to follow the action.
And in some areas, FD and PD use the same dispatch channel. |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|