Getting the most out of my new scanner

[Peerless]

Just acquired a AOR 3000A scanner, I want to know how to get the most out of it?

What does CW NFM WFM LSB USB stand for and where does one find the most activity?

I only have the stock aerial should I get a bigger one?

Mainly interested in public safety CDF,CHP, Sheriffs office, Cal Trans, Will this scanner get those agencies?

Just trying the hobby out to see if I like it? Where do I start?

I plugged it in the only thing I get when I start search so far is Radio stations and someone speaking that I cannot understand I have tried direct inputting known agency frequencies but have got nothing. Not even sure if IM in the right mode

Sorry for the newbie questions

 

[SAR923]

Welcome to the hobby and Radio Reference. Just as a matter of information, it always helps to post your location since it's easier to answer specific questions if we know where you are.

CW= Morse Code
NFM= Narrowband FM
WFM=Wideband FM
LSB=Lower Sideband
USB=Upper Sideband

For listening to public safety, the only one of the above you generally need to use is NFM. A good source of frequency information is right here in the RR database, both for the California state frequencies and your local frequencies. All you need to do is have the right frequencies and punch them in, using the NFM mode.

There are two issue you face with this scanner. One is trunking, which has many agencies a relatively small number of frequencies. A scanner needs special hardware to follow these frequencies and the AOR doesn't have this hardware. Caltrans, for example, is on a trunked system, so you wouldn't be able to monitor them except in conventional, NFM mode, and it would be hard to follow the transmissions since they will move to different frequencies depending on the amount of traffic and how the trunk system is set up.

The other issue you face is digital transmissions. Again, a scanner needs special hardware to decode these signals and the AOR doesn't have this hardware. Without confusing you even further, you can buy a digital decoder for the AOR but, since it still doesn't allow the AOR to do trunking and is pretty expensive, it wouldn't be of much use to you.

For conventional systems like the CHP and CDF, the AOR will work fine. Get the frequencies you're interested in from the database and enter them one by one in your AOR according to the instruction in your manual. It's really not difficult to do once you've entered a few and start catching on to the procedure.

The telescoping antenna that came with your AOR should be fine to start with. If you want to listen to transmissions that are further away, there are any number of roof mounted antennas you can get but I suggest you not worry about that for now.

The AOR 3000 covers a wide range of frequencies. The radio stations you heard are standard AM and FM commercial stations. The ones you heard with voices you didn't understand are probably foreign shortwave stations. Again, so as not to confuse you at this point, the frequency ranges you'll be interested in are 30-50, 151-170, and 450-470 Mhz for public safety communications. You can find out more about the other things you can pick up with your AOR once you get past the newbie stage.