Tow Trucks

Man I miss listening to Tow companies. When I first got in this hobby about 35 years ago they were all on the air but in my area cell phones have made them silent

The same with taxi companies. It was so easy for the competition to listen to their frequencies and steal their calls. I used to listen to AAA all the time years ago.

Many taxicabs, towing companies and school bus operators have migrated to DMR systems. I have heard each type of user on conventional DMR, TRBO Connect Plus, and XPT.

What was so interesting about taxis and tow companies?

newsphotog said:

What was so interesting about taxis and tow companies?

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What's so interesting about listening to anything? Sometimes people just like to listen because they can.

But, to actually answer your question, sometimes listening to tow companies helps with getting around traffic congestion. Let's you know where all the accidents are.

the towing company i work for use cell phones NO RADIOS

Definitely need to be more secure for lots of reasons -- there's always the stealing of business. However, I listened to a tow company earlier this year but only because they were on a NXDN trunk system and I was interested in NXDN....

This company read out customer names, credit card information - all kinds of stuff - over the radio - in the clear. Very, very bad....

Not Taxi or Tow Company, but used to enjoy listening in on Barge Traffic since I live about 1/2 mile from Illinois River. Pretty boring out there anymore. Again, traffic stolen by the cell phone. The marine operator frequencies offered more drama than watching TV

I drove tow trucks for over 20 years in California, Mostly AAA contract stations. We used VHF-HI radios. Some companies used UHF and Low Band radios. Lots of chatter and a lot of whining.....

Listening to taxis on New Year's Eve is always interesting. Give it a try this year.

Tow trucks sometimes can be interesting, but I actually find the local public school bus channels a good monitoring activity.

In larger school districts, the public school bus frequencies are actually interesting.

I mainly listen for traffic and road conditions. Since many of the buses start out as early as 5 or 5:30 am you can get a good idea of what the overall road conditions are. During the Winter months you can get an exact idea of where the road conditions are going from driveable to dangerous. Even on evenings and weekends the buses for sports and after school activities come in handy as well.

Then add in the drama of the fights on the buses, the crazy parents and other fun stuff like missing kids, kids that got off at the wrong stop or even the missing lunch bag or instrument throughout the day.

While my kids were in school I often found out when school was closed or delayed by listening to the school bus channels before there was an official announcement.

I have also occasionally been made aware of a missed major event when school buses were dispatched to corral people and move them to a safer location.

PA Turnpike is in the clear so they have tow and service trucks to isten to around here. The local transit buses are also good.

davidzimmerman said:

the towing company i work for use cell phones NO RADIOS

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A cell phone is a radio.

radio3353 said:

A cell phone is a radio.

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You're splitting hairs. Your TV is also a radio. It receives an audio signal, too. Your garage door opener is a radio. Your cordless phone is a radio. Your wi-fi router is a radio. Etc.........

KK4JUG said:

You're splitting hairs. Your TV is also a radio. It receives an audio signal, too. Your garage door opener is a radio. Your cordless phone is a radio. Your wi-fi router is a radio. Etc.........

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Why is that splitting hairs? A cell phone is a radio. Period.

The original post indicated it wasn't. Your other examples, while true, have nothing to do with the original statement.

My point is, there are certain things that are generally thought of as radios and others, though radios, aren't generally called that, irrespective of their functions.