Using a scanner to stay aware of goings on in your AO?

[The Stig]

Back in the 1980's I had two portable scanners running and I'd listen in to all the police, fire, EMS, aircraft and business operations I could program in.

Drifted away until about a week ago when I found one of the units in the back of my closet. Part of why I drifted away is that many of these organizations went digital and broadcasted on bands I couldn't access.

My current AO is a touch more rural and low & behold, I can hear communications again.

Mostly it's people being pulled over for speeding or DUI or calls for ambulances.

Need to go back and program in more of the surrounding areas.

Anybody else do this?

Anybody get some good intel from doing this?

[realist]

The one thing about scanners is there are a lot of police agencies who feel they need to encrypt their transmissions. I see this a thing of the future and the scanner going by the wayside. For most of the routine calls I see no problem with open transmissions. However for the SWAT type calls then I see there may be a need for encryption. However who wants to hear the routine calls right? FYI most of the SWAT calls are pretty boring since proper radio discipline is utilized. Enjoy

[bacpacker]

There are some digital scanners on the market now. Not sure how effective they are with the trunk systems.
Locally the cops all went digital several years ago, but most everything g else is still analog, fire, rescue squad, weather, and the ham freqs available.

[ElevenBravo]

many scanners are trunk ready and can be programmed with a pc.

however, have $300 ready to spend on a decent one.

EB

[Stormfeather]

You guys need to move up into the 21st century.

Scanner Radio App. Tells me everything thats going on nationwide. www.broadcastify.com You can set it to alert you once it reaches a certain amount of listeners. I set mine at 1000. So no matter where it is in the USA, once 1k people start listening, it automatically kicks onto my cell phone and alerts with a sit-rep.

[bacpacker]

Are you a premium member Stormy?

[ElevenBravo]

I still want a REAL scanner, but thanks for the linky, checking it out now!

EB

[jamesneuen]

If you have a smartphone you can get updates through a ton of free apps. They relay them.

[ElevenBravo]

only f&r, no pd.

[bacpacker]

I downloaded the app. But have only spent a few minutes listening. Found an area FD. Signal was clear as a bell.

[Stormfeather]

No, I am not a premium member, I just have the free version of the app, but that version works great for me, I catch all the latest, and it comes in clear as a bell.