The title did its job if it got you this far. Sorry to disappoint this thread has nothing to do with light bulbs. But the title is loosely related.
We’ve all seen pictures of those elaborate scanner racks, the displays all lit up in a dark room, numerous scanners mounted in computer racks that cause us to wonder why so many scanners? One couldn’t possibly listen to all that scanning activity and make sense out of it. Could it be it was built simply for its shock and awe effect? Just so much eye candy?
But then it came to me, most of those scanners are probably locked down on a single frequency (or if trunked, a select few talkgroups).
I am guessing the many slots of the computer racks were filled with second hand scanners for penny’s on the dollar or free that were still viable but retired when the agencies they used to monitor relocated to a different band or mode the scanner couldn’t receive. So the racks got filled up with scanners, most dedicated to a single frequency or channel, or in the case of large area trunking systems, single talkgroups.
And with this realization, I took it a step further. Why not create a rack of receivers, each dedicated to one select frequency or talkgroup? Has anyone done this? We all know a scanners ability to get an optimum signal is hampered, compromised by its broad band spectrum receiver characteristics. Scanners just loose something simply because they are a scanner and not a finely tuned single frequency receiver. So, my question is this… Who, if anybody, has created a listening station made up of single frequency receivers? Receivers with better specs than any scanner ever thought of…
Pagers come to mind. I will never forget the 33.94 MHz Motorola Minitor I purchased with my own money when the town decided the volunteer firefighters would get the larger home units instead because they were afraid we’d loose the pagers! One of the dumbest moves ever! I was so incensed I got my own pager! It also helped the town see the error of their ways... of course after 150 volunteer firefighters saw my Minitor and complained. The elected officials of the town soon realized their mistake and were convinced they should rectify it or face the consequences. The pager was no bigger than a pack of cigarettes, but what a great receiver! It outclassed the crystal controlled two band 8 channel Regency scanner I had in my car, even with a gain antenna! I know that’s not saying much, scanner technology being what it was then, but it instilled within me the realization that a scanner receiver can’t be tuned as “tightly” as a single channel receiver.
A full rack of dedicated pagers won’t be much to look at as they aren’t much for drawing attention to themselves. That was never intended in their design. The pager has another attraction-while pagers are both wanted and needed, they are needed as OPPOSED to just wanted. So selling a pager doesn’t require a lot of glitz and glitter. But it’s a dull bank of radios to look at if one were to build a listening post out of pagers. It receives like gangbusters but you’ve lost the hype of the lit displays. Adding to the downside of the dull outwardly appearance is its expense. Commercial gear is expensive. That and the fact that I haven’t measured just how much better a pager’s specs may be over a scanners. Will it play into the feasibility of building a monitoring post out of single channel receivers. And who manufactures a single frequency receiver today? I haven’t seen anything other than special order which are still an expensive proposition.
The closest dedicated monitoring post I have seen are the emergency communications interoperability vehicles first responders and other agencies such as Homeland Security use. The racks inside some of these rigs are impressive. They are running equipment which is optimally tuned to a particular band and/or mode. Trouble is, most or all are the more expensive transmit capable radios. Yes, there may be a scanner or two in the mix but mostly commercial gear, all dedicated to first responder agencies. And depending upon the area where the vehicle is stationed, it could also include additional commercial aircraft, railroad and marine bands. But these are funded by the government at some large expense… and since I haven’t hit the Mega Millions or Powerball lotteries in a big way, I’m not planning on building one of my own anytime soon!
We’ve all seen pictures of those elaborate scanner racks, the displays all lit up in a dark room, numerous scanners mounted in computer racks that cause us to wonder why so many scanners? One couldn’t possibly listen to all that scanning activity and make sense out of it. Could it be it was built simply for its shock and awe effect? Just so much eye candy?
But then it came to me, most of those scanners are probably locked down on a single frequency (or if trunked, a select few talkgroups).
I am guessing the many slots of the computer racks were filled with second hand scanners for penny’s on the dollar or free that were still viable but retired when the agencies they used to monitor relocated to a different band or mode the scanner couldn’t receive. So the racks got filled up with scanners, most dedicated to a single frequency or channel, or in the case of large area trunking systems, single talkgroups.
And with this realization, I took it a step further. Why not create a rack of receivers, each dedicated to one select frequency or talkgroup? Has anyone done this? We all know a scanners ability to get an optimum signal is hampered, compromised by its broad band spectrum receiver characteristics. Scanners just loose something simply because they are a scanner and not a finely tuned single frequency receiver. So, my question is this… Who, if anybody, has created a listening station made up of single frequency receivers? Receivers with better specs than any scanner ever thought of…
Pagers come to mind. I will never forget the 33.94 MHz Motorola Minitor I purchased with my own money when the town decided the volunteer firefighters would get the larger home units instead because they were afraid we’d loose the pagers! One of the dumbest moves ever! I was so incensed I got my own pager! It also helped the town see the error of their ways... of course after 150 volunteer firefighters saw my Minitor and complained. The elected officials of the town soon realized their mistake and were convinced they should rectify it or face the consequences. The pager was no bigger than a pack of cigarettes, but what a great receiver! It outclassed the crystal controlled two band 8 channel Regency scanner I had in my car, even with a gain antenna! I know that’s not saying much, scanner technology being what it was then, but it instilled within me the realization that a scanner receiver can’t be tuned as “tightly” as a single channel receiver.
A full rack of dedicated pagers won’t be much to look at as they aren’t much for drawing attention to themselves. That was never intended in their design. The pager has another attraction-while pagers are both wanted and needed, they are needed as OPPOSED to just wanted. So selling a pager doesn’t require a lot of glitz and glitter. But it’s a dull bank of radios to look at if one were to build a listening post out of pagers. It receives like gangbusters but you’ve lost the hype of the lit displays. Adding to the downside of the dull outwardly appearance is its expense. Commercial gear is expensive. That and the fact that I haven’t measured just how much better a pager’s specs may be over a scanners. Will it play into the feasibility of building a monitoring post out of single channel receivers. And who manufactures a single frequency receiver today? I haven’t seen anything other than special order which are still an expensive proposition.
The closest dedicated monitoring post I have seen are the emergency communications interoperability vehicles first responders and other agencies such as Homeland Security use. The racks inside some of these rigs are impressive. They are running equipment which is optimally tuned to a particular band and/or mode. Trouble is, most or all are the more expensive transmit capable radios. Yes, there may be a scanner or two in the mix but mostly commercial gear, all dedicated to first responder agencies. And depending upon the area where the vehicle is stationed, it could also include additional commercial aircraft, railroad and marine bands. But these are funded by the government at some large expense… and since I haven’t hit the Mega Millions or Powerball lotteries in a big way, I’m not planning on building one of my own anytime soon!
