Scanning vrs Searching

[gldavis]

I am curious what the results would be a of a survey asking, "How many folks are "searching the bands" for new signals, vrs scanning what has already been found.
So I ask, How many "searchers" do we have out there? How many are "scanners"?
How many would prefer not to answer?

 

[theaton]

I'm a searcher. My scanner is set to scan through the known channels and systems (also set to search for new TGs), but also to search the full public service and ham bands on every cycle. It's so nice to have modern scanners that can do all this at once!

 

[doctordialtone]

How many "searchers" do we have out there?

I'm in CT.

I use ID Search and lock out the things I want to avoid.

 

[timhir25]

I am a scanner

 

[KD7DDC]

Now that I will have two scanners I'm hoping to start doing more searches instead of just scanning.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I'm a searcher but they call me The Seeker!

 

[K5KNT]

I do both, depending on my mood. 😀

 

[Cognomen]

Scan and search. For known freqs, I also search for tones and the digital equivalents. Part of the reason is because I use commercial radios for scanning, and I like to have the complete ch info programmed. Searching for freqs also allows you to find things that aren't generally known, ie. does not appear in the federal frequency database under their license.

 

[jonwienke]

A SDR is way faster than a scanner for searching. You can search spectrum at 10MHz/s with a cheap RTL-SDR, and even faster with more expensive ones.

 

[ladn]

I do a bit of both. I'll scan known frequencies with the scanner and search either with an SDR or with a scanner.
Depends on what I'm looking for.

 

[smason]

I do searching a lot lately. Working from home, I'll fire up a few radios.
Occasionally I'll find something interesting. Lots of local stuff in the 462 mhz range.

A SDR is way faster than a scanner for searching. You can search spectrum at 10MHz/s with a cheap RTL-SDR, and even faster with more expensive ones.

Jon, what's your favourite search tool for SDR?

 

[522]

I guess I do both. Depending on mood, I'll have one scanner set up for searching and another does the scanning.

 

[NuthinFancy]

Set mine to searching always hoping to find new talk groups.

 

[bob550]

Jon, what's your favourite search tool for SDR?

You only need to watch the waterfall for evidence of signals. Just make a note of the frequency and check later to see if it's one you've not encountered before. "Reading" the waterfall will tell you what type of signal, analog, digital, etc., you've found. Of course, if you're quick enough and/or the transmission is long enough, just click on the waterfall and listen.

 

[TailGator911]

I also do both, have several scanners going and one searching, but lately (this last year) I've been dabbling more with SDR# and finding some analog stuff in my area mostly around the local mall. When I find an active frequency I do a frequency ID search on the RR page and put them in an analog scanner. Been thinking about upgrading and expanding my SDR to a better setup, see how that goes.

 

[N7OLQ]

90% scan with Uniden scanners, 10% search with Icom, AOR, & AirSpy SDRs. Lately I've been digital searching just to see what is out there and what signals I can ID & decode with various radios & software. Lots of DMR and NXDN out there that I can decode, but there is also a little MPT1327 & iDEN out there that I can't decode. While it is fun to search, my main monitoring is still public safety which are pretty much all on the same statewide system.

 

[sonm10]

Both

 

[CrabbyMilton]

My 436HP can do both at the same time which as others have said is great. I also do both but mostly scan. I set one day per week to search usually the air or railroad "band". Rail is nice that way since it doesn't take long to search thru it.

 

[racingfan360]

Both for me. I often have at least two on search, two on scan (one of which is uninterrupted the other is with manual intervention to hold on something of interest). I then have an R30 doing both. All have record enabled for later analysis. When you live in Europe it is more a case of needing to search for freqs and ID them, no such thing as zip code scanning here.

 

[rcool101]

Scan and Search. Just Search TGs. I program my county system twice. Scan on one and Search on the other