Amateur Radio & Scanners

[N2HJS]

Hey all!

Henry N2HJS here..

I guess I just wanted to make a post and get some opinions and learn some new things here.

I'll start by telling you about myself.. I am 15 years old and I've been a Ham Radio operator for quite a while now with a General License. I've been operating mainly with the NTS (National Traffic System) and they basically deliver radiograms throughout the world to prepare for a natural disaster where we actually would have to send out Emergency messages rather than the normal routine ones. If you live in Western NY and you're interested.. or even if you're not in WNY and you want to learn more.. Send me a message! We are always looking for more traffic handlers. Maybe you can help out in your town?

I love weather and I'm apart of the SKYWARN program and I love..or would love to listen to emergency frequencies and get REAL TIME broadcasts/transmissions and listen to law enforcement (mostly), fire, and EMS.

Anyways.. because I know that has nothing to do with Scanners..

I wanted to see if there was any possible way I could listen to those frequencies without having to spend a lot of money on a scanner. I am willing to take apart my radios and edit something if that's what I need to do.

The radios are have are mostly for Amateur Radio purposes but I figured I'd give it a try.

I have a Yaesu 1900-R and I have a Baofeng UV-5R HT that does 440...

I noticed that most of the frequncies in my area are on 440 but I'm sort of confused on the whole Tone thing because I have no idea what a 7F3 NAC is...

Maybe you can help me?

I figured it was worth a shot..

Thank you all for reading and Happy New Years!

 

[W8RMH]

If you see a NAC or P25 it is a digital mode which most amateur radios can not decode including the models that you listed.

Here are some links to help.

The Dawn of Digital Communications in the Amateur Radio World

Digital Voice Amateur Radio Association.

Digital Voice for Amateur Use / RadioReference Forum


Click here for your county page. Anything without "P25" you should be able to hear with your current ham equipment.

 

[zz0468]

A NAC is a Network Access Code, which is a selective access format used on P25 systems. Look at the site Wiki and learn about P25.

As to whether you can listen to public safety stuff on your existing radios, you'll need to locate the agencies of interest in the site's database. This site has a lot of excellent resources, and is a good place to start. And what you don't learn from the Wiki, ask questions. It's good to see young people getting involved in the hobby!

If the agencies you want to listen to are on NBFM, you'll likely to be able to listen. Not so if they're either trunked, or on P25 digital. You'll need a scanner for that. Even ham radios with wide band receivers won't demodulate P25, or track trunked systems.

 

[xxdanielt3]

Welcome to RR!

 

[KD2DLL]

Welcome to RadioReference, I also am a skywarn member and am working on my ham license.

What county are you located in? I'll take a look at the systems in your area and let you know. Also for the time being, take a look at the live feeds on here. Great place to listen until we can help getting you up and going with scanning! If you would like more information or more help, feel free to post here, send me a PM on here or shoot me an email. My email is in my signature below.

Again, welcome to RR.

 

[N2HJS]

Thank you all for your help! Well I did end up picking up a free Radioshack Trunktracker Pro 2050 from a family member and it works! Sadly enough... All of the Law Enforcement Frequencies run on P25!!!! All of the surrounding counties use FM

Anyway around this?



73
Henry N2HJS

 

[Rt169Radio]

Hi, welcome to RadioReference. You would be able to listen to your local police if you got a digital scanner.

These are the current digital scanners out there.

Digital Police Scanner Radios