Scanners

[Ebeo1]

I have been looking into getting small scanner to listen in on different radio stations. Looks like police use a frequency in the 150’s, firefighter’s use a frequency in the 450’s, and aviation is 118-136.

Those channels being the most interesting to listen to I found a few scanners which work in those ranges, of course you can spend as much money as you want on a big desk mount scanner.

I have been trying to find something smaller that can fit in a pocket looks like radio shack has some for $100-$200 dollars.
I just need to be able to find one where I can plug my ear plugs into it and I’ll be ready to go.

 

[Red93stang]

I use or have a app on my phone. 1.99 download

 

[crxtasy169]

Same here I have the Iphone app. Work pretty well.

 

[anrkizm95]

i have the droid app works great

 

[wolfo68]

I stopped carrying mine when it started to annoy me that they were running my plates lol

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

most of the hand held ones from radioshack have a speaker/headphones jack. mine does , its a cheap radioshack pro 94 handheld. bought back in 2002, to listen to all the aviation traffic and crazy happens of the cops catching crazy crimals. when i got bored . still seems like any handheld would be somewhat bulky to carry on a bike. where would you carry it , in a backpack or an attachment holder on the handlebars or where ? radar detector maybe better at finding cops to, or in addition to scanner. also radio shack carries the book radio frequencies of each city state etc.. or you can probably google your city n county frequencies and the program it to scan those frequencies and skip the dead ones too.

 

[Red93stang]

Cell phone, carry it in ur pocket and mine has headphones too. Scanners are a thing of the past since "smart phones" ,that already have 4 radios in them, have come out.

 

[wolfo68]

my radio is assigned to me, and it is also a lot harder to break, so the smart phone is a no.

 

[brightbuell]

Well unless you plan on hitting the pavement i dont think a smart phone is going to break in your pocket. Not only that, but a cell phone is something many people carry these days, so you can xarry one less thing. Do you still have a rotory phone? Ha!

 

[Trill]

I have scanner on droid as well Los Angeles and Chicago are pretty good listening. One day a mailman was shot in the foot, car stolen .. etc. lol

Edit. Just turned it on to chicago and man with gun right now.

 

[black_xb12r]

i have a radioshack hand held one that works pretty good... you can manually enter in ny codes you want on it just by looking them up online for wherever you are... mine was like $100 a few years back... not sure on model number id have to run out to the truck to look...

also if you buy the adapter you can take the antenna off and unhook the CB cable from the CB and hook it up the the scanner for some real good range! lol

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

10-4 good buddy.


sorry had to say it . it made me laugh.

i would say in an emergency / natural or man made disaster old tech can come in very handy. cell batteries usually dont last very long when using apps that use radio/ antenna(especially when constantly searching for signals) &/or lit up screen. and if theirs no electric the cars is the only source to charge them that may cost presious gas you may need. double A batteries are cheap to stock up on. cell phone broadbands and signals get clogged up in high usuage you get texts thru easier though. cb or other personal short range radios and scanners would help locating people(friends family authorities) & other things you might need to know about or find or avoid.

 

[wolfo68]

I'm a firefighter, and mine has taken a beating more than once. the phone however somehow managed to get run over by a truck one night.

and yes I realize most the people here aren't hanging around fire trucks, but I didn't just mean while I'm on the bike.

 

[Red93stang]

cb or other personal short range radios and scanners would help locating people(friends family authorities)

Isnt it easier to just call or text them with ur smart phone?

 

[nativeXb12Rbuell]

yes it would/could be easier, if you can get through if there is not a problem with the cell service network and/or towers n other scenario,
but my point was more of a what if you cant get though and better safe than sorry , like riding with all your gear vs. no gear and you hit the pavement. ??


remember when 9-11 happened and afew other disasters people was all trying to call on cell phones and alot could not get through ,barely could get texts, in NY n wasington. and cell phones requires cell towers(cb & shortrange handheld radio dont use towers and only good for short range up 50-75+miles depending on type and antenna)yes cell phones & networks n such have got better since then but cell towers & swithcboard servers still require electricity and the servers traffic can get overloaded.. like when After the 9-11 attack, the cell phone network of New York City was rapidly overloaded as traffic doubled over normal levels. Cell phone traffic also overloaded across the East Coast leading to crashes of the cell phone network. For people around the country who heard the message ''All circuits are busy,''

poor comunicatons on 9-11 with cell phones

NY Times article

 

[dave_xb12r]

I want