what can I hear and what equip. would I need

[gord21]

I've had a RS scanner Pro 95 for a long time but now I want to do more. I want to get as much aircraft, federal an local talk-you know the good stuff-as I can. I live between Des Moines Iowa and Minneapolis. I want to know what I can recieve in this area and what equipment would be needed. The guy at the local Radio Shack who sounded very knowledgeable said most military and federal talk is digital and encrypted. Is this true? There must be some things that aren't because I see forums on it. All local law enforcement here is still analog. I have a shortwave radio also-an inexpensive Sangean so any input on that would be appreciated. Maybe my main question is regarding my location can I even hope to get much more than local scanner traffic? I'm willing to buy one of the more expensive recievers/scanners. Thank you!

[holmdt]

Are you looking for a HH or Desktop?

[captclint]

Originally Posted by gord21

I live between Des Moines Iowa and Minneapolis. I want to know what I can recieve in this area and what equipment would be needed.

Welcome to RR. We should be able to give you some advice. It is roughly 250 miles between those 2 cities, so you need to define exactly where you are, because your range of reception is probably 25-40 miles except for aircraft. A town and county or distance from either city would help us decide what you might hear. Do you plan to put up an outside antenna? If not range will be considerably less. You should also click on User CP at the top of this page, and edit your details to include a city or town, and state so future questions can be more quickly answered.

[qlajlu]

Knowing what type of scanner you prefer to use is important, as holmdt alludes to, but beyond that, so is your location. Iowa is a very large place. You need to return to your User CP (the left side of the second blue bar from the top of any page if you are logged in) and edit your profile to include your city. Many of the questions you will have, and their answers, are going to be location specific and without having narrowed it down some you will be asked over and over again what it is. So fill it in now and be done with it.

[gmclam]

Originally Posted by gord21

I've had a RS scanner Pro 95 for a long time but now I want to do more.

I have more than one PRO-95 and I love them. The key to how much you can hear is not as much the scanner as it is your location and antenna.

Just because you are 250 miles from two large cities does not mean much; I mean you could be at 10,000 feet with a clear view in each direction. Then again you could be 25 miles from each city and down in a hole. In other words, can your antenna "see" the antennas of the signals you are trying to receive? From where I am here I get reception of about a 100 mile radius and that does not include when the conditions are great. But I don't hear beyond the mountains (especially to my east).

I want to know what I can recieve in this area and what equipment would be needed.

There are two basic ways I'd go about figuring out the answer to this question. The first thing you could do is EXPLORE the database here for the area of interest. It will tell you the frequency and mode (AM, FM, P25, etc) of the signals. The 2nd method would be to put up that antenna and SEARCH with your PRO-95. If you start receiving bunch of digital stuff, then the next step could be getting a digital scanner (I'd suggest the PSR-500). Of course even with a digital scanner there is no guarantee that you'll be able to hear what you want because someone is encrypted or simply can not be received.

The guy at the local Radio Shack who sounded very knowledgeable said most military and federal talk is digital and encrypted. Is this true?

Federal has been quicker to move to digital than many other agencies. Most of the stuff in my area that is digital is federal. Encryption comes and goes. One channel may have encryption on/off today and the switch flipped the other way tomorrow.