Help on listening to two scanners @ once.

[DaveNF2G]

When I dispatched for a large commercial ambulance service that was one division of a family-owned corporation, one of the duties of the dispatcher after hours was to sell bags of ice to walk-in customers. Losing an ice customer because the ambulances were busy was not acceptable.

 

[eaf1956]

I turn mine off at night. I'm too light of a sleeper to have them keep running all night long.

My wife turns mine down to zero and blames the cats.

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[buddrousa]

I have two port ale scanners set for two separate counties on my nightstand
The problem is I have a difficult time distinguishing the different calls and understanding both equally. Any help is appreciated.

I do that with 19 scanners at the sametime you have to learn voices and radio numbers.

 

[krokus]

As others have said, spatial separation and experience. The separation helps your brain isolate the sources, and you will get to where your ears perk up, when certain things are said.

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[scannersnstuff]

Adjust each scanner's volume according to priority. That is, if you can.

 

[jmp883]

When I started as an emergency services dispatcher the agency I worked for was one of 6 departments that shared the same 2 VHF-Lo PD frequencies and 1 VHF-Lo FD frequency. All 3 frequencies were fairly busy all the time and I learned very quickly to listen for just my units. That was probably the best training I could have had, in terms of being able listen. As my radio shack grew bigger, it was just second nature for me to have all 5 scanners (and 2 ham receivers) on all the time and I never had a problem hearing everything on every radio. Thankfully all 6 agencies have all switched to their own UHF PD and FD frequencies, though we all kept the 3 VHF-Lo band frequencies as a back-up and for mutual aid. The radio room is MUCH quieter now.

 

[sparklehorse]

I find it too distracting to listen to more than one radio at a time. What I do is carefully tailor my Fav Lists so I have as little chaff to scan as possible. That way I can monitor my local 911 stuff as well as 8 neighboring counties and still have a fairly short scan cycle. Granted if things are busy it may take a little while to complete the cycle, but if things are quiet the radio can churn through that scan list in about 10-15 seconds. It's true I'll miss things, but when something big is going on I'll catch up to it pretty quick. Excited or stressed voices, sirens, fast talking, these things will catch my attention very quickly even if I'm reading or doing something else at the time. I also have been listening long enough that I usually know who I'm listening to without looking at the scanner. Each system has a different sound to it, even the digital ones to a degree, but also the codes used can be a clue, and I can recognize many of the dispatcher's voices too. It's what works for me.
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