scanner question or help

[corvairbob]

my neighbor stopped over and handed me what he thinks is a police fire scanner. i think it is a police or fire 2-way radio. it is baofeng model uv-5re unit. and when i try to set it to get the local police calls using the frequency i found online i get nothing. he programmed in 127 frequencies and he got nothing. so can some tell me if this is a scanner or did he get some type of 2-way radio or walky-talky type unit? i found the user manual and besides being hard to understand for me as i have never had to deal with these all the info on it seems to talk about transmitting.

any ideas on this? if it is capable of using as a scanner maybe someone can help me figure out how set it up for just scanning. i live in muskegon mi. and when i did a search for the frequencies i found 154.4900 for police 911 and a bunch for fire but i tried 154.19000 for fire. i put those int his radio and i did not hear anything but on y phone with the same frequency, i had all kinds of chatter.

thanks for any help

 

[AK9R]

Sounds like you have a Chinese-made two-way radio transceiver. Factories in China crank these things out by the thousands and you can buy them online for about $25. They are typically not used by police or fire agencies as they are not built to the quality standards of a Motorola, Harris, Kenwood, Icom, etc.

Looks like most Muskegon County public safety agencies are using the Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS). This is a 700/800 MHz trunked radio system which your Baofeng cannot receive (doesn't go high enough in frequency) and cannot decode (you have an analog radio while MPSCS is P25 digital system). The short answer is that you'll need a P25-capable trunking scanner in order to listen to MPSCS. The VHF frequencies you found may be used for backup or tactical purposes.

You can find more information in the MPSCS entry in the RadioReference database and in our Michigan Forum.

 

[corvairbob]

ok thanks i will tell him to get a used cell phone and use an app for this. thanks

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Building upon what was mentioned above, you will need a P25 Phase-I trunk tracking scanner to track the system of interest. See full list of capable receivers here

 

[Ronaldski]

Yep most people get those because their cheap, but ole adage you get what you pay for, comes to mind.

You only get some of what 911 uses if you use an online, see link, due to the net, calls are some 30 seconds to at times a couple minutes delayed.
This is why online has to abide by the rules at broadcastify-
Feed Provider Terms of Service - What can and cannot be broadcast

With a real scanner, no need for a data plan, audio is much better, they don't go offline, etc.

Here is Muskegon, about 3/4 down. Under MODE if it’s D it in the clear, De sometimes clear, sometimes encrypted. DE is always encrypted.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=100

For a scanner, since Muskegon is simulcast - multiple towers,
Uniden model’s that are digital, prices lowest to highest:
996P2, 325P2, 436HP, Home Patrol2, 536HP, SDS 100, SDS 200.
The SDS models are expensive, but work flawlessly in counties as yours with multiple towers.

Do NOT get any whistler brand scanners, they rarely ever work inside the county due to simulcast

 

[corvairbob]

thanks, i will let him know but for now, i'm going to try to use an app.

 

[MStep]

Surprisingly, in New York City, police, fire and ems are still running non-digital modes, so one can do very well with something like a $25 Baofeng. Small enough to carry easily and will continue to work well as long as those primary operation channels stay "in the clear".

And here, this is the exception to that rule about getting what you pay for--- the Baofeng (which also transmits on ham bands) gives you a lot of radio for a pittance of a price.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks i guess that would be good but they do not use ham radio and are not interested in it. so i gave it back to the neighbor and told him it was not uch good for using as a scanner. and to just get a couple-year-old phone and use that for a scanner and an app. i tried the broadcastify and it seemed to work ok on my phone. and also another app but i do not know the name but the icon is kind of green background with a hand help radio in it the says scanner radio and that worked good. so i think they will go that route.

 

[kennyschroeder]

If you arn't already, "Police Scanner Radio & Fire" on IOS and Android is a great app. Has nice and fast navigation, favorites section for feeds you like, a nearby tab to find local frequencies, and more. It uses the same feeds from broadcastify.

If you ever wanted to get a physical radio, I'd suggest Uniden for scanning. They have a variety of radio models and is a nice quality brand. From scannermasters site they can range from $120-$700 but you can probably find them a bit cheaper/sometimes discounted at other trustable sites.

Yaesu, Icom, and Kenwood are some big ham radio brands. Like Uniden, they'll have cheaper end radios and also pretty expensive ones.

When getting a radio you definitely need to do some research for what best fits you and your needs like price, frequency range, capabilities, etc. There definitely a lot of confusing terms out there, so I suggest using YouTube. There's a lot of great channels/videos that make videos explaining concepts to new people in the hobby (I learned a fair amount from there).

I hope you have a nice time in the hobby if you'd like to dive deeper into it. If you have any questions, I can try to answer them.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks ken i have that app and now and then i listen to it. my neighbor i think he sent that radio back and his girlfriend is now using an older phone as a scanner. i told him to just use that app and an old phone. thanks much for those ideas.

 

[dave3825]

New York City, police, fire and ems are still running non-digital modes, so one can do very well with something like a $25 Baofeng

And if it ever gets lost or stolen, your only out 25 bucks.

 

[corvairbob]

thanks but she will not be using new york she lives in mi. she has an older phone with an app now and happy thanks