Radio scanners are gaining popularity among consumers. You can listen inexpensively to many emergency services, aviation, marine and firefighters, band communications, as well as work. Often family members of those involved in fire protection, emergency medical services, and law enforcement have a scanner so they can hear what’s going on.
Find out in this article how to choose a radio scanner and use a radio scanner. So you can take your scanner on the road and listen from a motel room, take it to all sporting events where radios are used, etc.
The air around you explodes with radio waves. You know you can tune the AM / FM radio in your car and receive dozens of stations. You can use a CB radio and get maybe 40 more. You can turn on a TV and receive numerous broadcast channels. Cell phones can send and receive hundreds of frequencies. But that’s just the tip of the radio spectrum iceberg.
In fact, tens of thousands of other radio broadcasts and conversations are passing you by as you read this article: police officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers, paramedics, health workers, Space Station astronauts, race car drivers, and even kids with their walkie-talkies are broadcasting radio waves around you right now!
A fixed/mobile radio scanner receiver from Uniden. You can find several here.
To tap into this ocean of electromagnetic dialogue and hear what all these people are talking about, all you need is a radio scanner. A scanner is basically a radio receiver that can receive multiple signals. Typically, scanners pick up signals in the range from VHF (or ultrashort waves, 30Mhz to 300MHz) to UHF (300MHz to 300GHz).
Radio scanners are very portable and convenient, and today they can be purchased at a very affordable price even online, eg. here. In this article, we’ll go over the basics of scanner operation, radio scanning as a hobby, and show you how to start listening to public radio waves that you might not otherwise know existed!
How a scanner works and is used
Most scanners can receive frequency bands in the 29 MHz to 512 MHz range, and thus cover the VHF band and the beginning of the UHF band. If you enter a frequency outside this range, an error indication usually appears on the display. More expensive radio scanner models often have a higher range and often include military aircraft frequencies.
A common portable radio scanner.
Radio scanners can be portable, with rechargeable batteries, or desktop, like a regular radio. Many desktop models run on a 12-volt power supply, so a cigarette lighter adapter will allow you to take one to a vehicle. Find a way to run the radio scanner on emergency power if you have a desktop model. This way, you can hear firefighters and other emergency services during power outages and bad weather.
Scanners typically work in three modes: (1) Scan; (2) Manual scan; (3) Research. In scan mode, the receiver constantly changes frequencies in a predetermined order in search of a frequency with someone who is broadcasting. Panel mounted lights or displays show which channel or frequency is in use when the scanner stops at a certain frequency. Frequencies can be preprogrammed on some models or manually set on almost all models.
In manual scan mode, however, the user touches a button or rotates a bezel to manually scroll through the preprogrammed frequencies one frequency at a time. Finally, in the search mode, the receiver is set to search between two sets of frequencies within a given band. This mode is useful when a user does not know a frequency but wants to know which frequencies are active in a certain area. If the frequency at which the scanner stops during a search is of interest, the user can store it in the scanner and use it in scan mode.
A broadband ICOM scanner that receives 10 kHz to 3 GHz. You can find various reasonably priced Icom scanners here.
High-end scanners can be controlled from the serial port of a personal computer using special software. This assists the user in registering stations and duplicating scanner controls within the software application. The controls on a radio scanner can of course vary, but practically all models now have, in addition to the volume adjustment:
Squelch – This is an adjustable control that keeps the speaker off (silent and free of static electricity) when a station is not broadcasting. It works regardless of whether the radio is scanning, searching, or manually switching stored frequencies. CB radios from radio amateurs also have this control.
Numeric keypad- used to enter frequencies or in combination with the “Limit” button, used to enter upper and lower ranges of a search between two frequencies. The keyboard also allows you to enter frequencies found during a search. The more expensive models automatically store the frequencies found during a search.
Search Button – Starts the scanner on a continuous loop between two frequency limits, finding unknown frequencies within a given range. For example, if you were in a car race, you could search 460 to 470 MHz and note when the scanner stops (or you could search the race schedule for assigned frequencies).
Manual Button – This allows the user to manually scroll through a range of frequencies stored in the scanner. Modern scanners have 100 to 300 channels for storing frequencies in internal memory. The more expensive models have even more.
Scan Button – Starts the scanner on a continuous loop through all frequency banks (containing stored frequencies). The scanner stops when it detects a radio signal on a stored frequency; goes to the next stored frequency when the radio signal ends. The user can generally enable or disable certain frequency banks for scanning. Each bank can contain from 10 to 30 frequencies, depending on the brand and model of the radio scanner.
Delay Button – This causes the scanner to freeze for a short time on one frequency before moving on to the next. This delay helps the user hear the other part of the radio conversation on that frequency.
Lock button: temporarily disables the radio scanner on a stored frequency. For example, you may want to block the frequency of a busy airport tower during rush hour on the day you are trying to hear helicopter traffic in your area.
Radio scanners usually come with small whip antennas and an external antenna connector. An omnidirectional outdoor antenna or a directional antenna allows you to hear more broadcasts at a greater distance. The scanners, however, cannot hear everything. The typical consumer-grade scanner cannot hear on 900 MHz cordless phones using DSS (Digital Spread) technology.
A discone antenna is good to start with as it is broadband omnidirectional and covers most of the VHF and UHF frequencies, while not being a specific band.
The analog frequencies of cell phones are also blocked by law on all scanners. Therefore scanners cannot search for assigned frequency bands for analog cellular phone calls. The instruction manual that comes with a scanner typically shows which frequency bands are intended for government, business, aviation, and other users.
Some law enforcement agencies also use audio reverse and other encryption technologies to prevent receiving sensitive communications. You will not be able to decipher these conversations. However, there are a staggering number of radio services that use frequencies that most scanners can hear. Until you buy your own scanner, you can’t find out!
Many people eg. now they use scanners in auto racing events to intercept crew-driver communications during races. In a typical race, there are hundreds of frequencies in use. Each team has two or three frequencies, while the match control, sanctioning organization, medical, fire and runway crew, and many others have assigned frequencies.
In the US, Nascar racing is a great place to use the scanner.
Interesting frequency lists for your country are easy to obtain, often via the Internet. If you buy a handheld scanner, sometimes park near an airport and search the VHF AM aviation band, from about 118 MHz to 135.975 MHz, to hear all the activity going on. In some areas, even some pilot-to-pilot communications can be heard.
Once you have purchased a scanner, read the manual from cover to cover so that you know all the features. Ask questions in one of the many scanner newsgroups on the Internet: there are active newsgroups that many scanner enthusiasts visit, and they are easily accessible via a web browser. Become a frequency collector. Start with a small database program on your computer.
Learn how to search within a certain band – search one 1 MHz segment at a time and record interesting frequencies you find. Consider storing frequencies of a similar type all in the same memory bank. This way, if you only want to listen to firefighters or aviation, you can scan only the frequency memory bank you are interested in and “lock” the others.
Various scanners are used by a radio amateur.
You can’t listen if you can’t hear. Almost all of these types of radios have a replacement antenna for improved performance. Remember that the antenna is as high as possible and that the power or coaxial cable between the antenna and the radio is as short as possible. Choose an antenna that is “adequate” for the frequency bands programmed or that interests you.
Guide to choosing a radio scanner
Scanners are very different from other radios on the market, or even shortwave radios. If you are looking to buy your first scanner, you are probably feeling a little confused and overwhelmed by the features and specs of the models you are considering. As with most consumer items, there is no “best” radio scanner for everyone. In general, we can say that there is no easy answer as to which radio scanner suits you best.
In some situations, an analog scanner will work fine, but in others, you need a digital scanner to monitor state-of-the-art local, regional, and/or state digital radio systems. Many emergency services are using unknown technology even 20 years ago. This means that you must first consider what you want to hear and where to get information to make an informed purchase. In some places, the services you are interested in may have switched to the advanced digital radio system.
A well-known analog / digital scanner from 100 kHz to 1300 MHz.
Some commercial scanners offer a convenient way to monitor different services and a large number of frequencies. In addition to VHF / UHF coverage, they also receive AM and shortwave stations. However, when it comes to public safety scans, they are hiding for several reasons. One is that these radios do not scan fast enough, even if you are only listening on certain frequencies, and they are also incapable of so-called “TrunkTracking”.
The latter is the ability to follow a single conversation moving between different frequencies within a given type of radio system. The two main distributors of Trunktracker are Uniden and Whistler. The Uniden BCD325P2 to SDS200 radios, along with Whistler’s TRX-2 and WS-1040, are all capable of trunking. Normal radio scanners, such as AOR DV-10 and Icom IC-R30, are unable to do this.
When choosing between the different types of scanners, it really depends on how you expect the machine to be used. If you want to take it around the city, to the mall, to a sporting event, or to an air show, buy a laptop. If it will be used almost exclusively on the desk or bedside table at home, a fixed / desktop scanner is the right choice. For mobile use, if the scanner will be housed in the car, a fixed / mobile scanner is recommended.
One handheld scanner from Icom (left) and one from Uniden (right).
A question we are frequently asked is how much a scanner can receive. There are so many factors involved that there is no easy answer to this question. Your elevation, the elevation and power of the transmitting station, the frequency used, and dozens of other factors come into play. Portable and stationary scanners generally receive equally well (except if you want to connect an external antenna to a stationary scanner, significantly increasing its range).
Generally speaking, you expect to receive 15 to 30km, but there may be some sources closer than 15km operating at low power so you will struggle to hear them, and there may be government services operating with high power transmitters that you will hear more than 70 km away. Single-band and external gain antennas and preamps will improve reception. Note that in order to scan the action in a sporting event, you must be present at the event itself.
Years ago programmable scanners replaced quartz ones. Digital programming has opened free access to 50, 100, and even 1000 radio channels. A simple memory into which a frequency can be entered via a keyboard has made managing more than 12 frequencies a challenge. So much so that some scanners offer an option that allows programming via computer. The more frequencies you want to program, the more useful this option becomes.
An example of management software for PC programmable scanners.
Google finds many frequencies in your area. A scanner catalog gives you even more. But are they all the existing ones? Absolutely not. Many frequencies are not heard. Some because they do not have a license, others because they are clandestine, others because they have not been included in the list, perhaps because they have not yet been found. Thus, the ability to quickly analyze all frequencies in a given range is a useful feature for locating unpublished frequencies.
Warnings. In US, the sale of radio scanners, including those that allow listening to police frequencies, is free. However, owning a scanner capable of intercepting law enforcement frequencies is illegal, and carries a prison sentence of between one and five years (Article 617 bis of the Civil Criminal Code). So, if by mistake we were to tune in to these frequencies (and if these still use, in our area, still unencrypted analog voice communications), we certainly could not store them in our scanner, otherwise in case of control by the police. we would be prosecuted, even if we have an amateur radio license. In US, officially you can only listen to the frequencies and bands assigned to radio amateurs, naturally having the radio amateur license,