I need an scanner education.

[Metalhead396]

My name is David and I currently have an old PRO-94. I was just informed yesterday about something called "rebanding" and "VIPER" and my scanner being obsolete. The whole "trunking" thing never sank in to start with. I'm looking for a group or someone to "hold my hand" and educate me. I'm in Durham by the way. What can I find in my area?

 

[ff-medic]

My name is David and I currently have an old PRO-94. I was just informed yesterday about something called "rebanding" and "VIPER" and my scanner being obsolete. The whole "trunking" thing never sank in to start with. I'm looking for a group or someone to "hold my hand" and educate me. I'm in Durham by the way. What can I find in my area?

Durham County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Statewide/Common Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Wake County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Department of Crime Control and Public Safety Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Orange County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Department of Environment and Natural Resources Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Chatham County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Pope AFB Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Granville County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Raleigh Durham (RDU) International Airport Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Person County, North Carolina (NC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

VHF/UHF Military Monitoring - The RadioReference Wiki




Uniden - Products - Scanners
GRE America, Inc. - grecom scanner receiver, lcd modules, spread spectrum radio, wireless bridge, scanner antenna, scanner pre-amps.
Digital Scanners & Police Scanners: Radios | RadioShack.com
Scanner World - The Largest Dealer of Scanning Radios in the World



FF - Medic !!!

 

[Gator596]

Hi Dave-
Welcome back to scaning!
There are lots of people here on RR who will help you.
Modern scanning can have a bit of of steep learning curve but it is well worth the effort!
Lurk around the forums for a while, check out the links ff medic provided and then let rip with the questions!
Enjoy -

 

[KE4ZNR]

My name is David and I currently have an old PRO-94. I was just informed yesterday about something called "rebanding" and "VIPER" and my scanner being obsolete. The whole "trunking" thing never sank in to start with. I'm looking for a group or someone to "hold my hand" and educate me. I'm in Durham by the way. What can I find in my area?

Welcome to RR.com David!
Good to have you with us.
I work in Durham but live in West Raleigh so I know both areas well.
My suggestion is that the RR.com Wiki has a lot of good info that
will help you understand the radio hobby as it exists today.
Couple of examples:
This Wiki article on rebanding explains rebanding pretty well.
VIPER stands for "Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders". It is a statewide trunked two way radio system that allows users to be able to communicate with each other no matter which agency they work for.
PBoy has a great blog which gives some good background info:
VIPER Waveguide: VIPER Overview
Do realize though that most Durham City & Durham County communications take place on a separate Trunked radio system.
Durham City/County Public Safety users have the capability to use both VIPER and their own trunked system to communicate.
I would recommend reading up the various articles in the RR.com Wiki that
can help you learn more about the hobby.
Feel free to ask us if you get stumped on some of the terminology
you come across in the Wiki!
Happy Monitoring
Marshall KE4ZNR

 

[Metalhead396]

Thanks for the suggestions. It looks like I have some reading to do.

 

[ka3jjz]

Hi David - this wiki category is a good reference for all the crazy terminology - just click on the term of your choice...

Category:RR Glossary - The RadioReference Wiki

best regards..Mike

 

[ems902]

Scanning

David, I hope this helps. Don't be intimidated by trunking; it's really pretty simple. I will try to help yopu here. Most of the agencies in your area use trunked radio systems. Trunking is simply the sharing of frequencies by multiple users. Instead of the police having a specific set of frequencies, fire and EMS agenices having others and public works, etc. having their own, everybody can share the radio frequencies. Even though they share the frequencies, they don't have to listen to each other's traffic unless they build it into their fleetmap (Simply a document that states what the radio system user needs in their radio). Instead of channels (frequencies) you monitor talkgroups through your scanner interpreting data bursts off of a control channel. One of the problems for scanner users is that the manuals for the radios are confusing at best. There is plenty to listen to in your area. VIPER is the state's mutual aid trunked radio system that is used by state agencies as well as local agencies in many areas. Intherory, it can transmit a message from Murphy to Manteo by linking repeaters (Omnilink). It really does work. An SHP radio technician transmitted from my office at Guilford County EMS to the SHP communications center in Williamston and the trasnmissions were crystal clear.You can listen to just about anything you want to in your area (Police, Fire, EMS, Medical Helicopters, NCSHP and statewide mutual aid talkgroups just to name a few). Don't throw away the current scanner as it will still be good for conventional monitoring even after rebanding (Moving current frequencies away from cellular bands to prevent interference). Rebanding changes the channel numbers captured by the scanner listening to a control channel and makes some scanner models obsolete. However, rebanding is not an overnight process. It usually takes several months to several years to complete. I use Uniden products exclusively, so I not well-versed in the Radio Shack scanners. I am in Greensboro, but would be happy to help you get the radio programmed so you can start enjoying it. Send me a private message and I will give you my contact information.

 

[Metalhead396]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to wait a litte so I can get money for a better scanner. The Pro-94 is strictly manual entry of channels. I'd rather have one I can program by computer.

 

[pitbull62]

I feel your pain David, been listening for years on various radios/scanner. Lived in NJ all my life, always had Unidens, they never failed me and always easy to program...Then deceided that I would be retiring in NC Iredell County area, but still plan on doing some buffing in the area and Charlotte...also am a photographer of fire service and NJMFPA 20 yr+ member so I'm serious....Uniden and Grecom have the best newer scanners--digital trunker scanners, which will cover you well into the future...they are a little pricey--in $400-$500 range now, but worth it in long run, especially in NC...and programming by computer is easy, but takes some time...u need the program and cable for whichever scanner u get, which adds some more to the bill, but here's one great think about these new scanners...u can program different areas of the country if u travel(like i do between NJ and NC) with same scanner, because they hold infinite number of frequencies, not just 50,100,200...so when you can get your hands on one, do it....and of course use RR to program it cause it makes it so easy! Good Luck, hope this helps some...