Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Let's talk about 10 ways that you can use your old analog radio in today's digital scanning environment What You Need To Know Marine monitoring is ...
Jun 08, 2021•45 min•Ep. 181
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- In today’s episode we are answering your submitted questions! What You Need To Know We revisit Chris' question from last month regarding Close Call...
Jun 01, 2021•40 min•Ep. 180
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- The Uniden BR330T is one of those scanners that has a special place in my collection. For many years it was my "go to" scanner. What You Need To Kn...
May 25, 2021•27 min•Ep. 179
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Larry Van Horn is one of the legends in the Scanner Radio Hobby. We are fortunate enough to have him on this week's podcast! What You Need To Know ...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 178
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- In today's podcast, we welcome Loyd Van Horn. He is the founder of dxcentralonline.com, and a former radio guy. He was a columnist with Monitoring ...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 177
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. You may submit questions at www.scannerschool.com/ask This month I answer: Can you use priority...
May 04, 2021•43 min•Ep. 176
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Today we talk about several different numbering schemes. Two of which we find in the scanner radio environment. What You Need To Know Decimal syste...
Apr 27, 2021•26 min•Ep. 175
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Today we break down the similarities and differences when it comes to Scanners and Receivers What You Need To Know Scanners and Receivers are more ...
Apr 20, 2021•28 min•Ep. 174
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- On today’s episode, we talk about the encryption of police and fire department frequencies, and how to get around them and discover new frequencies...
Apr 13, 2021•36 min•Ep. 173
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. You may submit questions at www.scannerschool.com/ask This month I answer: What do you feel are...
Apr 06, 2021•30 min•Ep. 172
Free SDR Course! Our new free course will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radio: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon" is now open for enrollment. Register now at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Today, we introduce our two new SDR courses. This past week, we released a free intro course, and a paid advanced course. These courses will teach ...
Mar 30, 2021•33 min•Ep. 171
On today’s episode, host Phil Lichtenberger interviews Jon Hudson, the co-creator of the SDRplay devices. They talk about the evolution of radio scanning software, the advantages of SDRplay and SDRuno, where they think the scanner hobby is headed, and more. What You Need To Know Jon Hudson is a co-creator of the SDRplay device. SDRplay manufactures both hardware and software. Before about 20 years ago, processing the radio chain was done exclusively on the hardware. Now computers are powerful en...
Mar 23, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 170
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be March 23, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- A cross platform, open source, free SDR software! In this episode, Phil talks to Alex Rouma, author and creator of SDR++. They discuss how Alex got into SDRs, where SDR++ is now and where he hop...
Mar 16, 2021•55 min•Ep. 169
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be March 23, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you want to dive deep on Software Defined Radios? In this episode, Phil talks to listener Greg Weamer about his SDR setup. They get into the history of SDR development, what you can do with a...
Mar 09, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 168
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be March 23, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. You may submit questions at www.scannerschool.com/ask This month I answer: If police and fire stations move to TDMA, does that mean they’re li...
Mar 02, 2021•39 min•Ep. 167
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be March 23, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, we learn about Joe Bearcat, the new Product Service Representative at Uniden America. What you will take away from this week's podcast: Uniden has a new public-facing representa...
Feb 23, 2021•31 min•Ep. 166
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be February 23, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Phil walks through the basics of what an SDR is, its history, and how you can get set up with one. The perfect introduction to his upcoming SDR webinar and course. What you w...
Feb 16, 2021•33 min•Ep. 165
Free SDR webinar! Our new webinar will introduce you to Software Defined Radios. "Why Every Scanner User Needs an SDR: The #1 Underrated Tool that should be in your setup" will be January 26, 2021. Register now at www.scannerschool.com/webinar --------------------------------------------------------------- In this episode, Phil talks to "Fuzz the Pi Guy". Fuzz has a large YouTube channel and has a ton of SDR and Raspberry Pi Videos. Fuzz and I discuss how he uses his Software Defined Radios and ...
Feb 09, 2021•57 min•Ep. 164
Free SDR Training! Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them. This month I answer: What makes the SDS200 so much heavier than the SDS100, and what more are you getting fo...
Feb 02, 2021•32 min•Ep. 163
Free SDR Training! Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Get started with Scanning in 2021 Our "2021 Scanner Radio Crash Course" Webinar will be January 26, 2021 at 8pm Eastern US time. Register for the live webinar or catch the replay at www.scannerschool.c...
Jan 26, 2021•37 min•Ep. 162
Free SDR Training! Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Get started with Scanning in 2021 Our "2021 Scanner Radio Crash Course" Webinar will be January 26, 2021 at 8pm Eastern US time. Register for the live webinar or catch the replay at www.scannerschool.c...
Jan 19, 2021•47 min•Ep. 161
Free SDR Training! Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Get started with Scanning in 2021 Our "2021 Scanner Radio Crash Course" Webinar will be January 26, 2021 at 8pm Eastern US time. Register for the live webinar or catch the replay at www.scannerschool.c...
Jan 12, 2021•42 min•Ep. 160
Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them. This month I answer: The first question is more of a comment regarding the improvements made to the Unication G5 scanner. Will Phil update his review of this scanner to mention these upgrades...
Jan 05, 2021•33 min•Ep. 159
Check out our new course, "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Software Defined Radios: Everything you need to know to get started with SDR in an afternoon." You can enroll for free at https://courses.scannerschool.com Have you wondered how you can best use the search function on your scanner? In this episode, Phil walks through some tips for how to use your scanner to search for new frequencies, from pre-programmed search ranges to scan and search mode, and more. What You Need To Know There is mor...
Dec 29, 2020•19 min•Ep. 158
Uniden Close Call vs Whistler Spectrum Sweeper Which is better: Uniden Close Call or Whistler Spectrum Sweeper? In this episode, Phil puts them to the test in a head-to-head comparison on speed, distance, and technology. Listen in to find out who wins! What You Need To Know Close Call and Spectrum Sweeper are used to seek out nearby frequencies that are stronger than a set value over the scanner’s noise floor. You would use this function to listen to, for example, news helicopters flying overhea...
Dec 22, 2020•26 min•Ep. 157
Whistler Signal Stalker & Spectrum Sweeper Do you want to know how to use Whistler’s signal stalker or spectrum sweeper functions? In this episode, Phil explains how to access and use these features, the options you have, use cases, and more. What You Need To Know The signal stalker and spectrum sweeper features are found on many RadioShack Pro series scanners, as well as GRE Whistler object-oriented scanning. Signal Stalker and spectrum sweeper are the same. The scanner will rapidly search ...
Dec 15, 2020•23 min•Ep. 156
Do you have questions about how to use Uniden’s close call function? In this episode, Phil explains the purpose of close call, shares examples of times he has used it successfully, and what the different close call settings on your scanner mean in practice. What You Need To Know Close call is an option on just about every available Uniden radio. It’s a way to find frequencies that are close to you with a very strong signal. Close call does not work over long distances or with weak signals. Close...
Dec 08, 2020•26 min•Ep. 155
Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them. This month I answer: On the SDS100, what are the most useful items to have shown on the display screen to get the most information out of the scanner as possible? What should someone do if their SDS200 isn’t locking on to the control channel right away? Should the Service Types name be changed on an SDS100? How can someone whose laptop uses the same plug for both the speaker and microphone set up their s...
Dec 01, 2020•45 min•Ep. 154
Splitting and Sharing Antennas Do you need to split or share the signal from a single antenna to multiple scanners? In this episode, Phil explains the hardware you need to achieve this setup, how the technology works, and what to look for when purchasing the accessories you need. He also walks through his personal setup. What You Need To Know You can use diplexers, duplexers, Triplexers ,and the like to share or split antennas based on frequency A simpler setup would be to split an antenna equal...
Nov 24, 2020•28 min•Ep. 153
2020 Holiday Buyer's Guide Are you wondering what should be on your holiday shopping list this year? In this episode, Phil shares his 2020 holiday buyer’s guide, helping you compare radios, scanner software, and accessories. What You Need To Know This year’s buyer guide is the same as the 2019 buyer guide because no new equipment has been released. East Coast Pagers will have great Black Friday deals. Uniden SR30C: A radio at the lowest price point with minimal features. Phil recommends instead ...
Nov 17, 2020•39 min•Ep. 152
