% of people that listen to a scanner

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bee

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What percentage of the people in the United States, do you believe, are able to listen to a scanner?
 

UPMan

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I think over 95% are able to listen to a scanner. I think the actual number of people who do listen to a scanner is substantially lower than that, though.
 

ecps92

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Little Higher :twisted:
It's 99.62 as statistics show 0.38% of the US, over 5 yo are functionally deaf

Now break down Scanner vs APP vs SDR :roll:

I think over 95% are able to listen to a scanner. I think the actual number of people who do listen to a scanner is substantially lower than that, though.
 

Wally46

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I know some people have their own scanner, but my feed averages 30 to 50 people daily in a town of 30,000 people. So not too many. Myself, I love to listen when I can, because you hear things going on that you would never hear on the news or read in the newspaper.
 

gewecke

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When society starts breaking down, and local governments begin to lose control, and the resources we take for granted, start going ...away, Those people with scanners or access to listen May have enough advance warning to act IF they choose to! I'm not so sure the percentage will matter then. :cool: 73, n9zas
 

jcardani

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I have been into scanners since around 1972-1973

I think there were more scanner and receiver owners years ago per capita before the advent of trunking, digital, encryption, and radio feeds. A huge drop off happened when trunking came out. Remember there was about 8 - 10 years between the time the first trunked public safety systems were implemented and the first Uniden trunk tracker bc235 in the late 1990's. There were other solutions between that time such as Lynn Kennedy's trunking box and Greg's Knox's TrunkTrac software as well as those programming subscriber radios to RX only - but that was not for the masses. The Uniden and later GRE trunk tracking scanners brought some hobbyists back, but many were lost forever in the 90's. There also was a smaller gap between the time P25 digital came out and the first Uniden digital trunk tracker was released. But encryption is the latest in the line of advancements to kill the hobby - and there is no legal solution for that. Lastly, the advent of internet radio feeds most likely has or will impact the number of scanner owners. In one respect the feeds give access to public safety to those that can't afford it, technically can't deal with scanners, or those that are too far away for the site. But, on the flip side, if one can listen to a scanner feed on the Internet or their smart phone for free, what's the incentive to buy a radio and be a scanner owner?
 

gewecke

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Joe, the Incentive is to have Access to frequencies which cannot be broadcast over those feeds. Scanner feeds do Not guarantee that you will hear all the action in your area, or where you want to listen! In fact, you're severely handicapped by relying on feed due to what you Can't hear and the delay factor. :wink: 73, n9zas
 

gewecke

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If I had to rely solely on a feed, I think I'd go nuts! Good thing I have 4 scanners to play with.
Exactly! Knowledge is power. When I was married, my (Ex)wife threatened to divorce me if I didn't curtail use of my radios ... Well I divorced Her, and bought a couple more radios to celebrate with :). 73, n9zas
 

jcardani

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Joe, the Incentive is to have Access to frequencies which cannot be broadcast over those feeds. Scanner feeds do Not guarantee that you will hear all the action in your area, or where you want to listen! In fact, you're severely handicapped by relying on feed due to what you Can't hear and the delay factor. :wink: 73, n9zas

Exactly, when you listen to a feed you loose control. It's almost impossible to follow what's going on since most feeds carry many talkgroups/channels at once. We as hobbyists know that. But the public that has never owned a real radio would not understand this because they have never experienced using the radio. But to get back on track I believe that the increased level of radio technology caused many to leave the hobby.
 

SCPD

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I think many who do do not make it noticed they do. The old out of sight out of mind kind of thing or loose lips sinks ships mindset.
 

jcardani

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And sometimes you have to think out of the box and create solutions where there are none.

In the late 1990's I developed an EDACS tracking program in C named E-Trax that would trunk-track EDACS systems using a Optocom receiver. I sold over 100 copies from the time I released the product until the time the BC-245 was released that was the first EDACS trunk tracking scanner. I also assisted in the testing of Greg Knox's TrunkTrac software. Greg's patents on Motorola trunking are used to this day in all Uniden trunk tracking scanners. I also helped test Lyn Kennedy's solution several years prior.

Also I wrote code to track Passport trunking and Multi-Net trunking years ago. I also recently refined my LTR trunking program to allow following of defined blocks of LTR IDs at once, unlike current scanners. Comes in handy listening to transportation users such as cabs and buses that use one LTR ID for dispatch and multiple IDs for mobiles.

I also documented the digital voice conversion method that uses an RF generator/mixer utilizing the IF output of an ICOM receiver with an Astro radio programmed in conventional RX mode to listen to P25 digital long before the first digital scanners hit the market. This method also works with ProVoice using a similar subscriber radio. You can search for the "digital conversion method" in the RR Wiki.

So this proves you can find solutions to problems that are not immediately solved by the manufacturers if you are motivated enough.
 
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