Interesting things to pickup in Ontario

[radioroo]

I just got my first digital scanner (Uniden BCD436HP) and I'm wondering what interesting things I can tune into. So far I can hear OPP, a little fire sometimes, EMS and the odd HAM chat, brief moments of CB chat from truckers and the odd road sweeper. Apart from that there's not much else.

I'm interested in business frequencies for drive-throughs, Walmart, Starbucks, Mall security etc. I thought I could just hit record, keep "Close Call" on and take a walk through a bunch of stores and go through some drive-throughs and when I would come out the scanner would have picked up the frequencies for me to add to a list. But this experiment yielded nothing. Walmart was silent even after walking around for half an hour with the scanner on Close Call. I can't find anything at Starbucks, McDonalds or Tim Hortons.

Were my expectations too high? Is everyone on encrypted equipment now and am I a newbie to a dying hobby?

 

[Forts]

Well... for starters... where are you located? That will play a big part in what you can hear.

Close Call can be handy but it's not perfect either. It tends to be slow and often gets locked up on junk transmissions. If you take a stroll thru the mall you should get some activity though (likely UHF, often FRS). As far as drive-thru's and such, many of them use digital headsets that can't be monitored by a scanner, so no dice there. There is a lot of encryption out there but it's typically only used on public safety systems.

 

[radioroo]

When you say that drive-throughs use digital headsets that can't be monitored by a scanner, is this because they operate on a frequency outside the range of say a new Uniden Digital scanner? And if so, why don't scanner manufacturers make scanners that can scan on those frequencies?

 

[bigcam406]

the reason why you cant receive certain systems is because in order to,the systems technical data has to be released to the public,and then the scanner companies can use it to be monitored on their products.

 

[savage308]

my DQ was using 469.0125 havent bothered listening to them so far this year not busy enough yet to hear the girls complaining about the dumb orders from idiots,lol

 

[mikewazowski]

Uniden must pick and choose which transmission formats they want to spend their time and money on to include in their scanners. To include every drive through headset manufacturers format in their scanners would take considerable engineering time and money. These costs would be passed down to the consumer.

Would I want to pay extra for a scanner that I could listen to McDonalds and Dairy Queen on? No way.

Instead, Uniden focuses on what 99% of people want to listen to. Unfortunately this also means some up and coming formats are left out.

 

[lukaradio]

Maybe I`m getting old but I kind of miss the old Haruteq books, seemed to be easier with a paper copy in front of you. Maybe I should give a subscription a try.
I wonder if it would be worth dusting off the old books?

 

[Forts]

A lot of the info in those books will be extremely out of date. Your best reference is here or the Industry Canada Spectrum Direct site.

 

[exkalibur]

Those old Haruteq books are ancient, but I've still found them a good resource from time to time. Whatever happened to Bart Veerman I wonder?

 

[Forts]

They are handy for obscure frequencies and stuff that hasn't changed in ages... Like county frequencies and such.

 

[mciupa]

Those old Haruteq books are ancient, but I've still found them a good resource from time to time. Whatever happened to Bart Veerman I wonder?

Looks like he switched his scanner hobby for banjos: Bart Veerman Five String Banjo Tablatures

He still maintains the haruteq.com domain

 

[Forts]

Wow. Can't say I saw that coming! haha

 

[mikewazowski]

He used to have banjo books on the table as well as his frequency directories several years ago at hamfests.

 

[EJB]

Those old Haruteq books are ancient, but I've still found them a good resource from time to time. Whatever happened to Bart Veerman I wonder?

He had tinitus issues.

I used to love those books.