Signal Stalker II vs. Drive Thru headsets

[VoicesInMyHead]

Today and yesterday, while making my usual visits to the drive thru at breakfast, I've fired up the Signal Stalker feature of my new Pro-106. I searched the entire spectrum and watched as an attendant talked on hers not 5 feet from me, yet nothing was detected. (This was at a Chick-fil-A).

Later, I stopped int he parking lots of both a McDonald's and a Zaxby's (a chicken place here in Georgia) and nothing. The scanner works perfectly in every other task.

I've used both the stock antenna and my Austin Condor. Squelch all the way down.

Am I missing something or are the power output of these systems just too little to trigger the Stalker to stop?

 

[SCPD]

Some fast food vendors have switched equipment. There are new systems out featuring digital radio, and like other radio services, frequency hopping has been introduced. So in some cases, monitoring drive throughs simply is no longer possible.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Well, that could explain it. Was hoping to try out the Stalker feature on a known source in the wild. Guess I'll have to go searching some more.

Thanks for the insight.

 

[scannersnstuff]

usually like to keep 154.570 & 154.600 in my portable radio's when i travel. you never know who will pop up there. however between the frequencies programmed in the radio's,and close call, i'd alway's pick up a drive thru window as i went by. the mickeydees in the town that i work in use's 154.600 <low power>.
when i take my break, i sit just a couple of hundred yard's from it. i would either have to lock it out, or put their pl tone in lockout mode. hearing "i'd like a big mac,large fries and a diet coke" is not my favorite thing to listen to. i do enjoy saying it though. maybe a little too much !.

 

[bryan_herbert]

Do not keep the squelch all the way down, this prevents the signal stalker from searching. Also as previously mentioned, many drive thru spots are switching to 2.4GHz digital spread spectrum transceivers. There are only two or three different models available, the most popular is the smaller, lightweight, Odyssey IQ headset from HME, it's red with five buttons on the earpiece. Here in California these are popular with McDonalds, Del Taco and most recently Taco Bell has begun to switch over to them too.

http://www.hme.com/techPdfs/400G558e.pdf
http://www.hme.com/collateral/Digital_Communications.pdf

 

[scannersnstuff]

i know that i don't keep the squelch all the way down when doing any form of signal searching. although i'm not sure if this actually prevent's the receiver from searching. i do know though that the squelch all the way down make's the sweeping a bit too sensitive. i use the gre psr-400 for base signal sweeping,and actually have to turn the squelch up because of falsing.

 

[kb2vxa]

They finally found a way to keep you goofs with portable transceivers from bugging them. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

Now before you say anything here's a couple of rhetorical questions for you to ponder. Why else search for frequencies with nothing on them but boring, mindless chatter? Why do you even care?

 

[ecps92]

Because, :twisted: if it transmits I want to search for it. :twisted:

Why do folks listen to the local Mall, Walmart, Federal, Stadiums, Ski Areas, Museums, Tourist Attractions [Zoos, Railroads, Beachs, Hotels] do I need to continue? Each person brings a different perspective to Scanning/Searching.

They finally found a way to keep you goofs with portable transceivers from bugging them. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

Now before you say anything here's a couple of rhetorical questions for you to ponder. Why else search for frequencies with nothing on them but boring, mindless chatter? Why do you even care?

 

[W6KRU]

Because, :twisted: if it transmits I want to search for it. :twisted:

Why do folks listen to the local Mall, Walmart, Federal, Stadiums, Ski Areas, Museums, Tourist Attractions [Zoos, Railroads, Beachs, Hotels] do I need to continue? Each person brings a different perspective to Scanning/Searching.

I agree. It's the thrill of the chase. I can't count the times I've invested time into scanning something only to abandon it after I got it working properly. Utility companies come to mind.

 

[scannersnstuff]

They finally found a way to keep you goofs with portable transceivers from bugging them. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

Now before you say anything here's a couple of rhetorical questions for you to ponder. Why else search for frequencies with nothing on them but boring, mindless chatter? Why do you even care?

warren nobody even implied anything about transceivers, or bugging them. about the only thing that is boring,mindless chatter is your comment's. i do believe in the expression "i may not agree with what you say,but i'll defend to the death you're right to say it". however i may have to exempt you from this.
butt thank you for keeping the anti hemmorhoidal maker's in buiz. happy new year.

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

Honest, I was just looking for a source to test out the Signal Stalker feature of my new toy. It's been somewhat of a letdown so far. Not a single drivethru, Home Depot, or Wal Mart has worked with it, yet... but a FRS transceiver I have at home does work. Like I stated, I've used multiple antennas, squelch low and medium, enabled every band... nothing.

So far, I'm not impressed with the feature.

 

[4436time]

Silly Gringo's

Unless you know Spanish, you probably wouldn't understand what they were saying anyway.

Seriously, Signal Stalker is an interesting feature and I plan to spend more time with it myself.

 

[gewecke]

They finally found a way to keep you goofs with portable transceivers from bugging them. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

Now before you say anything here's a couple of rhetorical questions for you to ponder. Why else search for frequencies with nothing on them but boring, mindless chatter? Why do you even care?

Because warren, It's a BLAST to put a little matchbox car or other small model on their drive-thru just before the window and then call them on their mcnasty-com and complain that the mustang in their drive-up didn't give them their order!

Now IF you're really convincing,you should be able to get some bimbo or manager to look out the window...and freak when she see's it!! :lol::lol: (yes,I was a really bratty kid!)
n9zas

 

[ampulman]

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but since it is discussing signal stallker, I'd like to ask: Isn't SS just a fast scan through a series of bands? As a new PRO-106 owner, looking at the display, that's what appears to be happening.

Unlike Close Call, where I would be standing near a person, I would get a hit as soon as he keyed his mike.

Amp

 

[scannersnstuff]

close call & signalstalker/spectrumsweeper are basically the same thing,with different trade name's. signalstalker&spectrumsweeper are one in the same <i strongly believe>. both engineered by gre. close call is engineered by uniden. not a technical answer,but there are wiki's devoted to all 3.
rather than me taking the same info. to post here, just look them up.

 

[kb2vxa]

I did say it was a rhetorical question but it turned out to be the most successful distraction ever. Thanks for the idea: "butt thank you for keeping the anti hemmorhoidal maker's in buiz. happy new year." A good resolution might be applying to an ad agency to do a Preparation H commercial? No comment about residuals however, I'll leave it up to your imagination.

Well John you have a good sense of humor but REAL brats are just a bit more creative using the radio to full effect.
YouTube - Freakin' French Fries

 

[gewecke]

I did say it was a rhetorical question but it turned out to be the most successful distraction ever. Thanks for the idea: "butt thank you for keeping the anti hemmorhoidal maker's in buiz. happy new year." A good resolution might be applying to an ad agency to do a Preparation H commercial? No comment about residuals however, I'll leave it up to your imagination.

Well John you have a good sense of humor but REAL brats are just a bit more creative using the radio to full effect.
YouTube - Freakin' French Fries

:lol: Got ya!
73 and happy new year!
n9zas

 

[wirelessfreek]

Most headsets are Digital DECT 6.0 for fast food joints today. And as was said they are very low power in the 10-100mW range. Most freq lists say this certian fast food place uses 416.0000 MHz, but it could be spread out in 6.25KHz,12.5, 20KHz, 50KHz KHz increments for the channel width; most of your radio does not support. I found that when I used my Pro-106 in a certain European country it was quite the let down, but found a few Two-Way radios using USA frequency widths!

Today and yesterday, while making my usual visits to the drive thru at breakfast, I've fired up the Signal Stalker feature of my new Pro-106. I searched the entire spectrum and watched as an attendant talked on hers not 5 feet from me, yet nothing was detected. (This was at a Chick-fil-A).

Later, I stopped int he parking lots of both a McDonald's and a Zaxby's (a chicken place here in Georgia) and nothing. The scanner works perfectly in every other task.

I've used both the stock antenna and my Austin Condor. Squelch all the way down.

Am I missing something or are the power output of these systems just too little to trigger the Stalker to stop?

 

[oldmanonavtx]

Well i thought i would try the signal stalker in wally world the other day around Christmas and all i could pick up was the donald thing about 2-3 hundred yards away. Didn't notice the freq because i didn't want to take the scanner out of my inside coat pocket while in the store. It surely wasn't low power, what ever system it is. Signals were nearly constant because when i came out of ww they had a long line of cars.

oldmanonavtx

 

[petey_racer]

Anyone who has seen the (quite funny) YouTube videos of young punks harassing drive-thru's knows why they are moving to digital. LOL