Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Dan asks about listening to aviation from his apartment. Alan is using an SDS200 and is having trouble setting limits on search ranges. Raymond...
Aug 02, 2022•53 min•Ep. 241
Today we will be talking about War driving with your scanner radio to find frequencies that are in use during your day-to-day travels. War driving is a term that comes from the Wi-Fi cracking or hacking hobby which basically means searching for open Wi-Fi wireless networks usually from a moving vehicle using a laptop or a smartphone. “War Driving” can be one of the more interesting ways to find new frequencies. What You Need To Know War driving is kind of a hit and miss type of deal, but it's ve...
Jul 26, 2022•26 min•Ep. 240
When I bought my first Airspy, I realized that I was really starting to get serious into the SDR side of the hobby. Before my Airspy’s, I was buying the cheap SDR’s that did not have a TCXO and would seriously drift. It was a joy to start using the Airspy receivers. Since then, cheap RTL style SDR’s with TCXO’s have come out on the market that reduce the drifting issue. If you are looking for a reliable Software Defined Radio that works right out of the box, then you want an Airpsy SDR. What You...
Jul 19, 2022•34 min•Ep. 239
Being here on Long Island, we are obviously surrounded by water on all sides. One of my favorite things to scan during the summertime are the VHF Marine Channels, as well as the USCG “CG”, “LANT” or “NET” frequencies (whatever they are called these days). I’d like to thank Greg Weamer for suggesting this week’s podcast topic. If you have a topic you’d like me to cover, please let me know. What You Need To Know VHF Marine Frequencies are globally carved out of the VHF Spectrum USCG is the interna...
Jul 12, 2022•41 min•Ep. 238
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Mike has a question about his Home Patrol scanner and the "Extreme Upgrade" features Dylan is having issues with his Uniden BCT-8 Lloyd has a q...
Jul 05, 2022•41 min•Ep. 237
Today we will talk about severe weather monitoring and prepping. This doesn't just stop at severe weather, but this could be any type of natural disaster. Today's podcast episode is all about how to set up your scanner. What scanner should you have on hand? What kind of radio should you have on hand and what to know before the event happens, so that you can prepare? What You Need To Know In the U.S., severe weather alerts will be broadcasted over NOAA weather radio Any VHF radio is going to be a...
Jun 28, 2022•35 min•Ep. 236
Radio Reference released version 2.0 of their Database. This is the first complete overhaul and rewrite of the database in about 10 years. There are many changes when it comes to navigating the new database and once you learn where things are, the new database is much quicker and easier to navigate. If you are looking for a video version of this podcast, you can view one at https://www.scannerschool.com/session235v What You Need To Know When we open the database for the first time, we will see a...
Jun 21, 2022•46 min•Ep. 235
The Anytone TT-878UVII Plus is a very popular Amateur Radio used for DMR. Since it also covers outside the VHF and UHF Ham Band and covers DMR, it could be used to scan some conventional traffic. Or can it? Let’s discuss using this popular radio for scanning and decide if this radio is worth adding to our scanner radio collection. What You Need To Know Since DMR is included out of the box, this could be a cheaper alternative to buying a Digital Radio with the optional DMR upgrade Out of the box,...
Jun 14, 2022•37 min•Ep. 234
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Dan has a Bearcat BCD 536HP and has an issue receiving marine and rail traffic. Joe has a SDS100 and is looking for some best practices for usi...
Jun 07, 2022•45 min•Ep. 233
Garrett Farwell returns to the podcast today to talk about scanning in California, where he lives. He will break down the systems that he monitors, including a couple of counties like San Francisco, San Mateo, and Alameda counties in California and what he has learned about each County's trunk system using a scanner. What You Need To Know Garrett will talk about three simulcast systems in the San Francisco Bay Area that he has been scannin. The San Francisco city and county system went through a...
May 31, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 232
What happens when a trunk system fails? Where do the radio users go? How do they communicate? In this session, we’ll go over how trunk systems are supposed to work, what happens when they fail, and what can happen if an administrator plans for failure. What You Need To Know I was able to watch our new P25 system fail several months after it was populated with radios and users These users were part of the county police system and they needed to fall back to cell phone communications while the sys...
May 24, 2022•30 min•Ep. 231
Business band frequencies.... what can we find when we search these ranges? These frequencies are used in places like department stores, home centers, nurseries or garden centers, schools, etc. Building a scan list of these frequencies will strange results that may surprise you. What You Need To Know “Business Band” is an unofficial name to common frequencies used by businesses In the past, businesses and other organizations could obtain a GMRS license, and some radios were sold with color-coded...
May 17, 2022•32 min•Ep. 230
GMRS is a personal radio service that you and your family can use or you. It’s a great time to get your license if you haven’t gotten one already because the FCC last month has dropped the price to $35 for a 10-year license. What You Need To Know GMRS is a family Radio service The license covers you and your family, and you can use a single license to talk to each other. General Mobile Radio service sits in the UHF spectrum in the United States These frequencies are intertwined or even the same ...
May 10, 2022•41 min•Ep. 229
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Wayne has a few questions about CTCSS and PL Tones Dennis is looking for tips about setting up a scanner at a remote location Gary would like t...
May 03, 2022•45 min•Ep. 228
Have we reached the end of the scanner radio hobby? I know many feel this way due to encryption and a lack of new scanner radio models being released. However, this hobby has been around for decades and there is no reason why we can’t enjoy this hobby in some form or another for decades to come. Some Feel / Think: Live feeds are killing the hobby Many agencies will be going encrypted to keep people from listening Scanners are becoming too much money due to simulcast Other agencies are going off ...
Apr 26, 2022•45 min•Ep. 227
In today’s podcast, we are going to talk with our special guest Esteban Reyes. Esteban is a Tik Tok creator who helps people with scanner radio hobby, and he is here today to talk about how social media and scanning go together. You can find Eteban on TikTok under the username 626HawkEye What You Need To Know Social media is an important tool when it comes to bringing people together online. It gives people access to others who share the same interests, beliefs, and thoughts. Tik Tok was used to...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 226
Do live scanner feeds have hurt the hobby? There are many different ways to get scanner radios onto the internet, and it’s just a matter of the way of developing or delivering the content. What You Need To Know Many stream to: Their own websites Broadcastify Twitch Zello Private in house systems and applications Live streams are used by: News media Other public safety agencies Hobby How can you listen to live feeds? Host’s website on your computer Smart phone apps like “Scanner Radio” or “5 0 Ra...
Apr 12, 2022•39 min•Ep. 225
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Ed needs help with accessing GMRS repeaters in his area. Jake would like help understanding quick keys on his Uniden BCD996P2 Scott is looking ...
Apr 05, 2022•49 min•Ep. 224
This week we are talking about Bill Cheek, a huge pioneer in the scanner radio world If he was still alive today and saw what is available in the scanner radio market, he would probably lose his mind Maybe he would have realized his life goal and would have built a scanner that would completely turn the market on its head. What You Need To Know If you were active in the scanner radio hobby in the 90’s, there is a good chance that you have heard the name Bill Cheek. He authored several books like...
Mar 29, 2022•38 min•Ep. 223
Today, we discuss optimizing your scanner for multiple sites in a trunk system. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about setting up your scanner and optimizing it for a typical scan list, but today we will dive into this topic a little bit deeper. What You Need To Know When discussing Trunked systems, a site may not be one specific location or one particular transmitter. Instead, it may be one tower, one transmitter location, or a collection of transmitter locations networked together. Simulcast a...
Mar 22, 2022•33 min•Ep. 222
Chris Parris returns to the podcast to talk about the biggest football game of the year. Chris was last on the podcast to talk about Federal Scanning. Chris writes a monthly column for the spectrum monitor, an online digital magazine dedicated to the radio monitoring hobby, including scanning and shortwave listening. Chris’s column, “The Fed Files”, has been a favorite of mine since he was writing for Monitor Times magazine, and his website is full of great information when it comes to federal m...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 221
Here is a question that I get asked from time to time: “How do I optimize the scanning lists in my scanner?” This is an important question, because when our scanners are scanning, we can miss transmissions elsewhere. So it is important to be as efficient as possible when setting up your scan lists. Now, the answer may not be as straight forward as you might think, so here is my thought process on setting up a scan list on a radio: What You Need To Know We break down several different scenairos o...
Mar 08, 2022•28 min•Ep. 220
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions from this month Joe has a question about receiving the Connecticut Land Mobile Radio Network (CLMRN) and the Bristol P25 system. Garrett from the San Francisco Bay area has a ...
Mar 01, 2022•43 min•Ep. 219
Joe Curtis returns to the podcast this week to share how he uses multiple scanner radios. We also discuss a recent national event that happened outside his door. What You Need To Know Joe uses a Unication G4 to listen to public safety He also uses a SDS 100 as his go-to scanner The SDS100 makes a great do-all scanner since it covers 25Mhz to 1.3Ghz The SDS also supports analog, P25, and multiple trunking modes. One of the benefits of having multiple radios is the ability to be flexible and to be...
Feb 22, 2022•58 min•Ep. 218
Today’s podcast episode is all about the KISS Principle. Everybody has a different way or thought process on how things should be done. If you are just getting started with the hobby, or you have been in a hobby for a very long time and trying to learn about something new or trying to clean up something you have done, you can get lost in the woods. Today’s podcast gives you permission to take a step back and come at your setup from a different perspective. What You Need To Know Radio scanning is...
Feb 15, 2022•45 min•Ep. 217
T Today we have got a great guest on the podcast. I am happy to introduce you guys all to Dave Kalahar. Dave is not only a full-time RV, but he is also a retired commander in the Civil Air Patrol or CAP in the United States. Dave spent about 45 years in broadcasting and you are all in for a great podcast episode. What You Need To Know Like many people, Dave’s interest in radio started with a small handheld crystal control. It was a RadioShack or realistic scanner. But today, he could not even co...
Feb 08, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 216
Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session. Click here to Subscribe! Questions from this month: Lloyd asks where he can find the show notes for the podcast sessions Tom asks, how do you connect multiple scanners to a single antenna? And are you planning ...
Feb 01, 2022•42 min•Ep. 215
The RadioShack brand is making a comeback. They are getting into the crypto game and are enterin the market with their own coin, $RADIO. What You Need To Know RadioShack was started in 1921 by two brothers who wanted to provide the ham radio market equipment. They started with one physical store and a mail order store in downtown Boston. In 1962, Tandy was looking for a hobby-related business, so they took over RadioShack, restructured it, and gave RadioShack a brand new foundation. RadioShack w...
Jan 25, 2022•45 min•Ep. 214
What features would you like to see in the next Flagship Scanner Radio by Uniden, Whistler, or someone else? I have my own wishlist and I think many of these features are overdue in today’s scanner radio market. In fact, many of my requests are already available on other radios, including radios like Baofeng and TYT to name a few. Some of what I’d like to see on a Flagship Radio: Radio Reference Database should remain included in any future Flagship Scanner Bluetooth connectivity is a must Inclu...
Jan 18, 2022•41 min•Ep. 213
On today’s episode, I will go through my slides on my presentation for Ham Radio University, which I normally do every year. This is my practice run for the presentation that I gave at HRU on January 8, 2022. If HRU publishes the presentation, we will follow up with a link. This presentation is for those who are new to the scanner radio hobby, or need a quick reset and want to have a bit of a refresher on some scanner radio topics and terms. If you need more help with your scanner, you can book ...
Jan 11, 2022•50 min•Ep. 212
