I'd like to introduce myself

[DonDiego124]

Hi my name is Diego, in the late 90's I had a Uniden bearcat (something like that) desk top scanner that I'd listen to while on AOL. we moved and it was packed up and lost for years, when I found it and tried it out again it didn't pick up much, I guess most everything went digital.
So a few month ago while talking to a volunteer fireman about an accident near by, I mentioned that I had an old scanner that didn't pick up the new signals, and he told me about the little cheap radios from amazon. I bought a Baofeng BF-F8HP and he gave me a couple frequency's. I liked it and bought one for my Dad for his birthday, he really liked it too and wants us to get HAM radio licenses. I found the correct cable to hook them up to the computer and downloaded CHRP I was able to get some basic things onto my radio like the family walkie talkie channels and some area PD & FD stuff I know forums are a good place to find information. Right now I'm just listening with the radio, some things I'd like to find out about here in the forums are.
what the Acronyms are.
What can't these cheap radios do that good radios can?
Can I still use my old bearcat for anything useful?
How some people organize their frequencies? are they using numerical order, alphabetical order, or some other type of order system unknown to me?
Can these Radios's listen to TV?
Why do you need an A/B button? do people use this to organize?
Morris code.
when I should dump the cheap radios for good ones.

I guess that's a lot of reading for now

 

[jonwienke]

The cheap radios have the same problems as your old scanner--they can't receive digital trunked systems. They only receive non-trunked analog. And you don't want to program public safety frequencies into a transmitter, or you can get into trouble if you transmit, even accidentally.

 

[air-scan]

Welcome to RR!

 

[Motoballa]

Welcome to RadioReference!

Q: What can't these cheap radios do that good radios can?
A: As already stated, different digital and trunking technologies will be very limited on a radio such as that. You're stuck to analog on that. Can't have separate scan lists. Can't create zones to organize channels, etc.

Q: Can I still use my old bearcat for anything useful?
A: Depends on what you consider useful, I often listen to business communications that are still in analog, Target, Walmart, and luckily where I am most of the city is still analog and will be for quite some time. Listening to itinerant frequencies can also sometimes be entertaining, listening to construction crews, random businesses, stuff like that.

Q: How some people organize their frequencies? are they using numerical order, alphabetical order, or some other type of order system unknown to me?
A: I like to organize by location. For Public Safety I'll put each city/county in their own zone respectively, FRS/GMRS get their own zone, and Amateur also get's it's own zone. Additionally if I add in any businesses depending on how many channels they use they may get their own zone, otherwise I put all the businesses I want to listen to in the same zone.

Q: Can these Radios's listen to TV?
A: I don't have much expertise on this question, I was able to receive a TV signal but decoding that is a whole other beast in itself.

Q: Why do you need an A/B button? do people use this to organize?
A: I believe the A/B button just toggles your channel selection from the top of the screen to the bottom, so if you have two favorite channels you want to listen to then you can have one on A and the second one on B and just switch between them as needed without having to scroll through all the channels you have programmed.

Morris code. -- Not sure what you meant here, you could technically do morse code with the DTMF keypad, although I find using the VOX function with an audio cable directly programmed in and using a virtual keyer works quite well, just have to find users who use the VHF/UHF bands with morse, not much activity of that in my area.

Q: when I should dump the cheap radios for good ones.
A: Always good to have a cheap radio as a backup to your main one or just something to throw in the glove box if you happen to be in the unfortunate event of a car break down with no cell service nearby. Having a ham license and knowledge or list of local common frequencies/repeaters used wouldn't be a bad idea to help with that. // However I justify getting a new radio when I need to operate on a system I currently am unable to. Since my city uses P25, I needed to obtain a P25 radio, some ham repeaters here are on DMR so I would then buy a DMR radio.

Hope this helps! There are way more knowledgeable people on this site than me and can definitely answer your questions better, this is just what I came up with. Get your ham license!

 

[pb_lonny]

You need the right scanner for the area and systems you want to listen to. As an example, my UBC126AT does 95% of what I need, my BCD325P2-AU is used for our local EDACS system.

 

[majoco]

I'm afraid the world has done a few turns since the late 90's! I have no idea what systems are being used in your neck of the woods - let us know what the scanner you have and somebody nearby will let you know what you may or may not hear. What you can hear in Cook County is entirely dependent on the local authority and the other counties that they may want to talk to in an emergency. Get a look at the Radio Reference database, see what they have there for your area - that will give you a start. Out here in the boonies of the South Pacific - most of our stuff is still analogue so can be picked up with a simple scanner - my Uniden UBCT126AT works very well up and down the country - emergency services, aircraft band, amateurs, public service, UHF CB and so on.

 

[DonDiego124]

The cheap radios have the same problems as your old scanner--they can't receive digital trunked systems. They only receive non-trunked analog. And you don't want to program public safety frequencies into a transmitter, or you can get into trouble if you transmit, even accidentally.

I think i have them turned off in the CHRP but I haven't tried pushing the button yet lol

 

[DonDiego124]

Welcome to RadioReference!

Hope this helps! There are way more knowledgeable people on this site than me and can definitely answer your questions better, this is just what I came up with. Get your ham license!

lol thats a lot of info! thanks.

 

[DonDiego124]

The cheap radios have the same problems as your old scanner--they can't receive digital trunked systems. They only receive non-trunked analog. And you don't want to program public safety frequencies into a transmitter, or you can get into trouble if you transmit, even accidentally.

I guess I can start reading up on what trunked systems are too

 

[chief21]

what the Acronyms are.

Which acronyms are you asking about?

Can these Radios's listen to TV?

Since the transition to digital television, I don't think it's still possible to monitor TV audio.

Morris code.

Morse code is no longer a requirement for any ham license.