Finding unknown frequencies

[AB4BF]

The schools and school buses may be on NXDN. If you haven't all ready, you will need to purchase a Uniden license for NXDN. If you haven't all ready, seeing you have a ham license, you may want to purchase a Uniden license for DMR, also. Both are obtainable from the My Uniden website where one has to access to register the scanner. Radio Reference should list the schools that are NXDN.

Good Luck and 73!

 

[ladn]

I can understand the point on the radio I picked but to me I want to learn and be able to have something that covers it all.
I honestly just heard about Proscan when someone mentioned it on the forum. I will need to understand what it is and if I can run it on Parallels, does it override programing on scanner done in Sentinel and what all it does better than Sentinel.

"Covers it all" is pretty nebulus in the scanning world since you're dealing with both frequencies and modulation. The SDS 150 needs entitlement keys, purchased at additional cost, for some of the digital modes--but it's just flushing $$ down the drain to enable modes that aren't in use in your area or for agencies you have no interest in monitoring.

ProScan is a compressive application that can program the radio, control search functions and redistribute scanner audio via IP.
You can inquire about Mac functionality via the like I provided.
The software will allow you to export the scanner's programming (including frequencies, lockouts, searches, charge settings, etc) to your computer, as well as adding new channels. Typically, the first thing a user should do when using this software is the "read" the radio and save the data as your "base" configuration file. That way, if something gets messed up later, you can always reload the base config and start over.

 

[ProScan]

I can understand the point on the radio I picked but to me I want to learn and be able to have something that covers it all.
I honestly just heard about Proscan when someone mentioned it on the forum. I will need to understand what it is and if I can run it on Parallels, does it override programing on scanner done in Sentinel and what all it does better than Sentinel.

I'm the maker of ProScan,
Yes, it does run on Parallels. A tweak may be needed for the serial port to work as N9JIG advises in this post.
Proscan compatibility with Parallels 14 desktop on Mac
The tweak is not needed with Sentinel because Sentinel doesn't use the serial port as it doesn't display, control, log, record, etc.

It can overwrite the Favorites in the scanner so 2 options to overcome this. 1) Read from the scanner first then do your edits in ProScan then write to the scanner. 2) Open up the Sentinel favorites folder in ProScan directly then do your edits in ProScan then write to to the scanner.

Per the FAQ page on my proscan.org site.
Q: Do I need to use Sentinel or the ProScan Favorites Editor for programming for the BCDx36HP and SDSx00 series scanners?
A: Sentinel is needed for firmware updates. It's also needed for accessing the full HPDB (Uniden DB), updated weekly, which is derived from the RRDB (Radio Reference DB).

ProScan has extra capabilities that Sentinel doesn't have such as:

• Multiple Favorites on the same tree which makes it easy to Copy & Paste and Drag & Drop systems
• Find Duplicates utility
• Find & Replace utility
• Update Text Tags utility
• Import directly from RRDB. RadioReference subscription required
• Import from the Win Clipboard or from a RR web page. RadioReference subscription not required
• Versatile Sorting options
• Google Maps showing all the departments and sites with circles or rectangles
• Export nicely formatted web page showing any or all (user selectable) FQK's, SQK's, Number Tags, and systems
• Copy & Paste and Drag & Drop nodes to other systems and other ProScan instances
• SDS200 FTP Read & Write using the LAN connection
• View the differences between ProScan and the Scanner favorites when writing and reading to and from the scanner
• Modify Uniden (HPDB) Database utility
• Change the system type in one step

You may want to try the 30 day fully functional demo/trial.

 

[Ubbe]

How do I go about finding out frequencies that I can not hear?

Uniden scanners use CloseCall that detects a constant transmission that are at least 100 times stronger than the background noise/signals. A portable DMR radio transmit in pulses so those cannot be detected but perhaps a DMR repeater might be inside a mall if its signal are strong enough.

Whistlers TRX scanners use Spectrum Sweeper to detect transmissions that acts like a super quick search function that detects any kind of transmission but takes someone to transmit for 4-5 seconds until it detects it but will also have a much higher sensitivity, a longer range, that detects even weaker signals, even a pulsating DMR signal from a portable radio.

If monitoring from home you can just set a search range to a scanner that stops on any transmission, but a Uniden might ignore encrypted signal that you anyway cannot monitor, but it will take some minutes to search all possible frequency ranges that a transmitter could use and need a transmission to be active at the time when that exact frequency are searched. So it could take hours if they only transmit briefly.

My country do not have our FCC agency to offer a database where all licenses are found, we need to search the airwaves ourselves. So I have one or two scanners searching all frequency bands whenever I'm not actively using them for monitoring and hope that one of them will catch any new unknown signals. Doing search will use the scanners full sensitivity so it will catch anything that can be received from home.

/Ubbe

 

[richardbritt]

Welcome to the site. Your line says upper state South Carolina. How sure where you are in relation to NC but if you are near the coast you should hear lots of radio traffic in Myrtle Beach, or if near Charlotte lots of traffic from there. Have you posted anything in the South Carolina Forum yet? That will get you in touch with people who monitor your state and they will know more about what they recommend for your area. There are lots of forums on here. Radio specific for help programming and with advice if you get stuck. But you also might check out the state specific areas as well. Plus there are a bunch dedicated to SWL and Amateur Radio. Enjoy

 

[K9KLC]

something that covers it all.

As mentioned, this is not always correct without more entitlement keys from Uniden. I think I would slow down a bit figure out exactly what you want to listen to, and go from there. Different people have different monitoring desires. I personally only have a desire to listen 96% to public service, then I do monitor some aircraft and once in a great great while other stuff. I have absolutely zero desires for business's, and very little interest in schools. Different devices for different people. You may have spent money fruitlessly when perhaps buying 2-3 different devices may have served your needs better. (at still less money). Good luck finding 3what you're needing! 73.