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Could anyone here recommend a good portable scanner where I can listen to Railroad,Police,Fire,Airport etc. frequencies. I see on this website people talk about listening to railroad radio and I have been interested in this.
Any good handeld scanners like the railrad crew uses would be great?
Can you tell me what scanner I should get at Radio Shack so that I can punch in the frequencies and possibly use it to communicate with friends in the area as a long-range 2 way radio.
travelplus Member # 3679
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How is the Radio Shack Pro-84. Although it says for Nascar it can also receive frequencies from 25.0-956.0MHZ. It also says it can get Police/Fire frequencies. Does this mean Amtrak frequencies would come in good? If the frequency entry is in steps of or 10 would it miss the channel?
Thanks
Could someone go to radioshack.com and tell me if this is good for my basic needs or if there is better one.
Geoff M Member # 153
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One thing not immediately obvious is the need to have a scanner that can scan through selected channels *quickly*. Otherwise, if you don't know the frequency then you could be missing transmissions. 100 channels per second is a minimum I'd recommend.
Geoff M.
Kiernan Member # 3828
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There are lots of really good scanners, but I'd stay away from Radio Shack. Look at Uniden's website and you can find good information. Check out the website for a magazine called "Monitoring Times." They have good information, and not only that, they've published a couple of my articles.
For aircraft, the scanner MUST receive AM, and not all the scanners do. For what you want to listen to, you should get one that covers 118 to 174 MHz and will receive AM and FM. Most of the scanners will receive much more than that, but not all with receive AM. Many scanners have the weather radio frequencies pre-programmed, and that's handy. Look for one that has an anpha-numeric readout, that way you can name the channels.
You should also realize that most police and fire services in cities have changed over to trunked radio systems and a lot of them are digital. A basic scanner is NOT going to receive trunked radio systems, and a digital trunking scanner will set you back around $500. That scanner will recieve everything else, too.
The railroad frequencies are between 159.810 MHz and 161.565 MHz. The channel separation is 15 KHz. If the scanner has 5 or 15 KHz channel steps, you're OK. The railroad frequency range is not difficult for the scanners to receive. Police and fire are generally around 154 MHz and the weather radio frequencies are at 162 MHz. The circuitry in the scanner actually tunes the receiver front end as the frequency changes.
Since you obviously have a computer, I recommend a scanner that you can program from your computer. It's MUCH easier to type the frequncies in on computer than it is to push the little buttons and turn the knobs.
I'm an amateur radio operator and I use an Icom IC-R20. It's extravagant, but I use it a lot. It covers 150 KHz to 3305 MHz and receives on AM, SSB, CW, and FM. In the trade it's called a "DC to Daylight" scanner.
I'll be glad to help you any way I can.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I have a Radio Shack Pro-94. It has worked effectively and reliably for five years now. It was $150 back then. I see it is just under $100 now. It takes some effort to program, though. It took me several evenings to get everything where I wanted it.
The Pro-94 has trunking and hyperscan (rapid scanning) capability.
Kiernan Member # 3828
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Wow! I didn't think there were any trunking scanners that inexpensive. That sounds like a deal.
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