Police Scanner | Scanner Radio | Radio Scanners

Catching The Action - Getting Started With Scanning

The first thing you must decide before purchasing your first scanner radio is what it is you want to listen to. Knowing this will allow you to select the scanner radio that is the right one for you.

Years ago, before things like digital radio and trunking , you could pick up just about any scanner and be pretty sure you would be able to hear all the local action. Things sure have changed since then.

These days you have to know what kind of communication systems are being used by the agencies that you want to listen to. What radio frequencies are they using? Do they use a repeater, or are all their communications in simplex mode? Are their communications in digital mode or are they analog? Do they have a trunked system?

As you can see, a little bit of research is in order before you decide which scanner radio you want to buy.

First you must determine what frequencies are being used by those you want to monitor. Most modern scanners cover just about all the public safety radios bands, so this is not as big a concern as it was back a few decades ago when scanners just covered one or two frequency bands.

The best way to find out what frequencies are in use in your area is to get yourself an up-to-date frequency guide. A number of companies publish these guides and you can get them on CD-ROM as well so you can view the information on your computer and perform searches against the data to speed up the process of finding the frequencies you want to monitor.

Another way would be to find a good website that is dedicated to scanner listening in your area. Not all areas will have a website with good frequency information available, but if you are one of the lucky ones in an area served by a good scanner-related website, you may be able to get all the information you need right on the site. The best way to find sites like this would be to use one of the big search engines. For example, if you lived in Atlanta, Georgia, you might go to a search engine and conduct a search for "atlanta scanner frequencies" and see what turns up.

One you know what frequencies are in use by the agencies you want to listen to, just make sure the scanner you buy covers all of those frequencies. For instance, if you find out that your local police are on 462.475 MHz, make sure the scanner covers the 450 - 470 MHz frequency band and do the same for all the other frequencies you intend to listen to.

As I mentioned earlier, you'll also need to know if any of the agencies you want to monitor are using digital radio or trunked radio systems since you will need a scanner with special capabilities to monitor those signals. A good frequency directory should provide that kind of information. Again, if there is a good website dedicated to scanning in your area, that information is likely included there as well.

When you get your new scanner you can go about programming it with the frequencies you would like to monitor. After you listen for a while, you might want to consider adding additional capability to your scanner by using an external antenna. If you are in an urban area and are only interested in listening to your local police and fire departments, an external antenna may not be a great benefit for you. Most cities use radio systems that include repeaters and the antenna supplies with the scanner may be all that you need to hear the action in your area.