I find my scanner especially useful during emergencies such as blackouts, floods, snowstorms, and every time our fire whistle goes off. Would never be without one.
How Useful are Scanners Today?
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scannersnstuff
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Maybe it's just me. Once in a while this kind of post pop's up. Is this question just like a pot stirrer? Scanner's are scanner's. Your individual mileage may vary.
No need to move this to the Fla. forum; the OP asked a generalized question from which more answers can come from listeners across the Nation. I listen to School bus comms - kids getting on the wrong bus, parents complaining the bus didn't wait long enough, fights on the bus, busses running late due to traffic issues, good place to hear road/traffic conditions. All types of business comms. Berks Co has a large lake run by the Army Corp Engineers - busy during summer with boat issues, swimming issues, people getting lost on trails, SAR for drowning victims. As other listeners report: aircraft (civlian/military), fire/ems, don't forget the interop freqs which are suppose to be in the clear. Even frs/gmrs, hams, trains. I have 15 handheld scanners on my desk - never a dull moment here.
scannersnstuff
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I would very much like to see a pic.of the 15 scanner's on the desk.Please.
The bus drivers don't ever stop in the mornings and afternoons on school days. Forestry can be good too, especially this time of year here due to all the brush fires. They were also interesting after the last hurricane with all the rivers and waterways overflowing.
Almost everyone has some Public Safety agencies, encryped or not, in their geographical area. Anything else on the menu is highly dependent on where you live. If you're in the backwoods of Maine, there may not be much consistent activity beside police and fire to monitor. However, if you're living in NYC you'll have endless opportunities to scan non-Public Safety channels. So like so much about our hobby, the answer to the OP's query is a matter of location.
So unfortunately I live in an area where my county and surrounding counties are all encrypted police in a pretty active area. Been listening all my life so..
I listen to other things including fire dispatch which I have in my car.
Usually pretty boring, you've seen one house fire you've seen them all but it saved my bacon the other day.
I heard the whistles, I heard the alarm being dispatched, dispatcher said multiple calls for a building fire. The first Chief on the scene called in a second alarm before he got out of his car.
I was at the post office down the street and headed to the grocery store which ended up being the staging area. Fires like this don't happen that often in this particular small Borough.
I saw the smoke at that point and engines were screaming from all directions full speed, fire police pretty much cut off the whole town.
I was very lucky to get out of Dodge as fast as possible. Very useful that day.
I listen to other things including fire dispatch which I have in my car.
Usually pretty boring, you've seen one house fire you've seen them all but it saved my bacon the other day.
I heard the whistles, I heard the alarm being dispatched, dispatcher said multiple calls for a building fire. The first Chief on the scene called in a second alarm before he got out of his car.
I was at the post office down the street and headed to the grocery store which ended up being the staging area. Fires like this don't happen that often in this particular small Borough.
I saw the smoke at that point and engines were screaming from all directions full speed, fire police pretty much cut off the whole town.
I was very lucky to get out of Dodge as fast as possible. Very useful that day.
scannersnstuff
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Wow - Thank you so much ! I like base scanner's too,but am a ht man myself. Beat myself up everyday for selling my bcd396xt,psr-500 and other's.
They beat watching network television.
I have several nefarious activities that necessitate the need for a great scanner. Furthermore, it is my hobby. A Pastor once asked me about the scanner in my hand. He stated that he used to be involved in the hobby; however, when he heard the price ranges, his wife put a stop to his wishes.
I told him that I would pull it out if he started to bore me.
I told him that I would pull it out if he started to bore me.
Omega-TI
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Back in the 90's one of the locals had a nefarious pursuit as well. He used his scanner to receive the local Mc Donald's frequency to re-transmit on the Burger King frequency just so he could watch the traffic pileup in the drive through. What a sorry, empty and boring life he must have led to get his jollies like that.
Obviously depends on location. Not much digital around me yet as far as PD goes but we just lost one PD this month that turned to digital full encryption. I heard a nice long police chase on our analog state police system this morning that for a while went the wrong way on a highway for 2 exits and covered probably 40 miles. Zero media coverage. If it weren't for my scanner I would have no idea it happened, and if I or my wife was on that highway I would have had a huge head's up or could have called her and warned her which I've done in the past with other traffic issues
Akuriko
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I'm going to add my 4 cents to the conversation, I enjoy listening on my 536 8 counties which is digital and analog, my 15x which is analog in 4 counties my radio shack pro 97 which is a triple trunking analog, so to me I like to get some more scanners for listening to all, fire and ems and police, air, marine, ham cb,frs,gmrs, however so far marine and air is the only thing it isn't picking up, but to fix it im ordering more antennas, but I use the scanners for power outages, for every day, as well as if an SHTF situation, the scanner isn't just a hobby its a tool, in case of a prepper's tool, takes batteries and works, not like a portable tv that you need to recharge every 4 to 6 hours to use. if something happens we can get our news from a scanner either through the ham band or something else. so to me its a lifesaver in many situations, not so a portable tv, once the power goes off on it you can't charge it, lol so I prefer the scanner even when the power goes out or other situations.
I turn mine on as soon as I get home from work.
Omega-TI
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Same here, the 16S400 gets the most action of any of my scanners... it's even running while I sleep.
VA3WEX
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I wouldn't want to listen to the police on a scanner. Way too boring. I've listened with a cop to the traffic on his radio and it's all "unit 123 going on break" and "unit 456 coming off break", etc. No great loss if THAT is encypted!
I have listened to paramedics but stopped: it's too depressing--an endless stream of drug overdoses, heart attacks, and little old ladies falling in the bathroom.
I really like the city bus drivers--you get a lot of traffic info that way! Listening to the power company comes in handy when the power is off. Random conversations on FRS is a hoot! I like parking near the airport and watching planes; I did that before I had a scanner. But then with a scanner you get the play-by-play of who is coming and going and it is a whole lot more fun.
I have listened to paramedics but stopped: it's too depressing--an endless stream of drug overdoses, heart attacks, and little old ladies falling in the bathroom.
I really like the city bus drivers--you get a lot of traffic info that way! Listening to the power company comes in handy when the power is off. Random conversations on FRS is a hoot! I like parking near the airport and watching planes; I did that before I had a scanner. But then with a scanner you get the play-by-play of who is coming and going and it is a whole lot more fun.
Depends on where you're listening. Yeah most of the transmissions are routine & mundane with the diminishing number of LE agencies still "in the clear" in the Philly region but we also have our fair share of vehicle pursuits, foot chases, shootings, the occasional barricaded suspects, etc to "liven things up" a bit. Still would rather be "in the know" about the happenings in my neighborhood than to rely solely on social media & the news but my county LE decided to go dark prior to the pandemic. Ah well
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You must live in the middle of nowhere, if you live near any major city and listen to the police there's almost nonstop action with gunshots, assaults, theft, traffic issues, etc. There was a case of a male healthcare worker violating a patient at a clinic here a few months ago, I heard the police activity surrounding it as it happened. 24 hours later it was in the local media.
I do agree with you on the EMS part though. It's all depressing. The most boring stuff I find are the correctional facility transport talkgroups. "Blah blah blah, all equipment accounted for, have a good night" 100 times a day. They're even more boring than the "van pool" stuff. At least they chit chat and talk about what kids aren't taking the bus today
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