Right Way to Program Your Scanner - Pt 1

Note: In this first of a two part article, I will go over the best way to program conventional frequencies into your scanner and cover the programming of a trunking system in part two.

A Common Programming Mistake

Two common mistakes I’ve seen scanner listeners do is programming all their frequencies in one or two banks until they’re full and monitoring every frequency of every police and/or fire department they have programmed in their scanner all at once! 

This is the wrong way to monitor. Why? Well, if you’re monitoring everything at once, your scanner will stop on every transmission. By the time the scanner cycles back to your local area frequencies, you may have missed a critical call near you - this is especially true if you live in a populated area with lots of radio traffic continuously going on. 

The correct way is to monitor what is going on in the area you are in at the time. For example, if I’m at home, I want to know what is going on around me – not what’s going on a city or two away so I would only monitor my local police and fire department. 

If something major happens on the city’s borderline or a pursuit is coming into my area from a neighboring agency, I will hear about it over my local area’s dispatch. If I’m out traveling, then I monitor the area I am in at the time.

Programming Conventional Channels & Banks

Since channels can be locked out and channel banks turned on & off, the key is to program frequencies into channels banks that can be used to your advantage. Frequencies for a particular use or agency should be stored together in one bank. 

You could put the local police department in one bank and the fire department in another bank and so on. For example, let’s say you have a 200-channel scanner, most likely, this scanner would be divided into 10 banks containing 20-channels each. 

You could then program frequencies for a particular use in each bank such as I have done below: 

·         Bank 01 – Covina PD (My Local PD, 5 frequencies)

·         Bank 02 – LA County Fire (My Local FD, 10+ frequencies)

·         Bank 03 – West Covina PD/FD (Neighboring PD to the South, 4 frequencies) 

·         Bank 04 – Baldwin Park PD (Neighboring PD to the West, 2 frequencies)

·         Bank 05 – Azusa PD/Glendora PD (Neighboring PD’s to the North, 4 frequencies)

·         Bank 06 – Los Angeles County Sheriff (Neighboring PD to the East, 14 frequencies) 

·         Bank 07 – Local Highway Patrol Frequencies (2 stations, 4 frequencies)

·         Bank 08 – LA City Fire (10+ frequencies)

·         Bank 09 – News Media Frequencies (4 news channels, 10+ frequencies)

·         Bank 10 – San Bernardino County’s Valley Trunk Radio System

Note: Bank 10 is a trunked radio system and would not apply to a conventional scanner.

Turning Channel Banks On or Off 

You can turn banks on and off at the touch of a button. In the example above, if I only want to monitor my local police and fire department, I would leave banks 1 and 2 on and turn off banks 3 through 10. 

Now, let’s say I hear of a police chase going on in West Covina (neighboring city) over my local police channel. I could simply turn on bank 3 and manually select West Covina’s dispatch to listen in or simply turn banks 1 and 2 off and just monitor bank 3. 

Now, let’s say I have to go to San Dimas on a business heron. I simply turn on bank 6 and I’m in on what’s going on in San Dimas. Same goes for traveling on the highway, I turn on bank 7 (Highway Patrol) and I’m good to go.  

Note: Keep in mind that some large agencies may require more than one bank.

This is the end of part one. In part two, I will go over the best way to program a trunking system in to your scanner.

Police Scanner Range & Reception Issues - Pt.2

This post is part two of a two-part series and covers factors that affect the range and reception of your radio scanner. Range and reception is basically how far you can pick up any given signal and how clear those signals come in.

In part one, I covered range and reception issues such as Line of Sight, Frequency Behavior, Atmospheric Conditions, Skips and Propagation, and Surrounding Terrain.

In this second part of range and reception issues, I will cover the remaining factors that affect your scanner's range and reception including; Type of Antenna Used, Indoor Reception, Electrical Noise, Birdies, Battery Power, Station Transmitter Power, and Repeated or Non-Repeated Stations. Let's get started.

Type of Antenna  –  the type of antenna you are using plays a big part. If you are using a standard rubber ducky antenna (standard on handhelds), you will not be able to pick up distant signals then if you where using a telescoping or outdoor antenna.

When you purchase a base/mobile scanner, it comes with a telescoping antenna (mobile scanners come with a mobile antenna). These work well, however, to maximize your receiption, an external antenna is highly recommented. Learn more about the different types of antennas that are available on the market on our "Police Scanner Accessories".

Indoor Reception – indoor reception will depend on what type of structure you are in, wood, steel, or concrete. Generally, reception of lower frequencies inside of a steel structure will be weak. Receptions of higher frequencies within a steel structure are not generally affected. Reception within a wood or concrete structure varies, but is generally fair. If you are listening from home, connecting an external antenna will boost your reception and extend the range of reception.

Electrical Noise – electrical devices can generate radio signals that can be picked up by your scanner resulting in interference with existing frequencies. Causes include electrical machinery, vehicle ignitions, motors, power lines, florescent lights, etc. Interference from electrical noise usually occurs with lower frequencies.

Birdies – birdies are signals that are internally generated by a scanner that can cause interference with some frequencies. If you have a problem with a birdie frequency, simply lock it out. See this blog post of a list of commonly known birdie frequencies.

Battery Power – the bottom line here is that fully charged or fresh new batteries will give you better range and reception than if you are running on weak ones. Most scanners on the market now include a "Battery Low" indicator to let you know when your batteries are running low. If your scanner does not have this feature, you can usually tell your batteries are getting low because reception starts to break.

Station Transmitter Power  –  base station transmitting power is measured in wattage. The more watts a transmitting station puts out, the further the signal can be received. You can learn more at the FCC.gov website.

Repeated or Non-Repeated Stations – if a radio is being used in simplex, or “talk-around” mode, then that means that each radio is communicating directly to the other radios on that frequency in that area. Simplex range can vary from several blocks to several miles depending on how much power the radios are putting out, the type and position of your antenna, and the surrounding terrain. This range is typically 3-5 miles. For ranges beyond this limitation, a repeater system is used.

A repeater is a device that is used to extend the range of mobile and portable radios. Public safety agencies need to communicate using portable or mobile radios over the distance limitations posed by handheld and mobile radios, which is approximately 3-5 miles. A repeater also allows communications where buildings usually block the radio signals.

Generally, a repeater is placed on a building, radio tower, mountain, or other tall structure. The higher up the repeater's antenna, the larger coverage area, or range the signal will have. The repeater works by listening to what the radios are transmitting and simultaneously broadcast it back over a larger area.

Hope this information was helpful.

That's it for now. Till next time stay safe and happy scanning!

-RF
Webmaster, Police-Scanner.info

Police Scanner Range & Reception Issues - Pt.1

This article is a two-part series and covers factors that affect the range and reception of your radio scanner. Range and reception is basically how far you can pick up any given signal and how clear those signals come in.

These factors include: Line of Sight, Frequency Behavior, Atmospheric Conditions, Skips  and Propagation, Surrounding Terrain, Antenna limitations, Indoor Reception, Electrical  Noise, Birdies, Battery Power, Power of the Transmitting Station, and if the station is Repeated or Non-Repeated.

In this first part of range and reception issues, I will cover several of the factors  above in the order listed, with the remaining factors to be covered in the next post. Let's get started.

Line of Sight - line of sight means you usually cannot hear transmissions beyond the  horizon, or approximately 30-35 miles away. This is mainly due to frequency behavior.

Frequency Behavior - lower frequencies behave different than higher frequencies. Lower  Frequencies travel farther giving you greater range. On the flip side, higher frequencies  travel shorter distances reducing your range. Basically, you can hear signals in the 30MHz  bands much farther than frequencies in the 800MHz band.

Atmospheric Conditions – atmospheric conditions can affect range and reception. For  example, in the summertime, reception is stronger and range extends farther than in the  wintertime.

Skips/Propagation – unusual occurrences where signals from hundreds, even thousands of  miles away are received. A skip, also called “sky wave propagation”, occurs when radio  waves bounce off the ionosphere and return to earth. Skips are most common in the summer  months and usually affect the VHF-Low band under 40 MHz or so.

Surrounding Terrain - the surrounding terrain can affect reception in different ways.  If you are on flat land or water, reception will be at its greatest. If you are in a  mountain or canyon area, your scanner will have trouble receiving radio signals or may not  be able to receive signals at all with the standard (rubber-ducky) antenna.

Antenna Limitations - the type of antenna you are using plays a big part. If you are using a standard rubber ducky antenna (standard on handhelds), you will not be able to pick up distant signals then if you where using a telescoping or outdoor antenna.

When you purchase a base/mobile scanner, it comes with a telescoping antenna (mobile scanners come with a mobile antenna). These work well, however, to maximize your receiption, an external antenna is highly recommented.

Learn more about the different types of antennas that are available on the market on our "Police Scanners & Accessories" page.

Indoor Reception – indoor reception will depend on what type of structure you are in, wood, steel, or concrete. Generally, reception of lower frequencies inside of a steel structure will be weak. Receptions of higher frequencies within a steel structure are not generally affected.

Reception within a wood or concrete structure varies, but is generally fair. If you are listening from home, connecting an external antenna will boost your reception and extend the range of reception.

In the next post, we will cover the remaining factors that affect range and  reception including Type of Antenna Used, Indoor Reception, Electrical Noise, Birdies,  Battery Power, Station Transmitter Power, and Repeated or Non-Repeated Stations.

That's it for now. Till next time, stay safe and happy scanning!

-RF
Webmaster, Police-Scanner.info