Is there an average distance for police / fire transmissions

[stchamber11]

As I set up my scanner for surrounding towns, (greater Hartford CT) I was wondering if there is an "average" distance that fire and police transmit. I saw a map of wethersfield CT and it was around 15 miles, but I do not see this distance listed. I would assume stations have a general setting for distance. I am aware of conditions would change this distance on the scanner end. - Steve

 

[cg]

You should be able to hear most traffic within 10 miles of a transmitter site but there is no average as there are too many variables. Antenna elevation, antenna type, frequency, modulation and transmitter power will determine how far a system can transmit. Your antenna, coax and quality of receiver will determine how far away you can normally hear the system.
The best way to determine how much you can hear is to search common ranges of frequencies,

chris

 

[stchamber11]

I understand. Interestingly, I live very close to a turnpike and highway and I have yet to hear any CB radios. Now i do not scan these, but do manual search through these bands and I would think there would be some traffic on CB radios...unless no one uses those anymore!

 

[ansky]

It really depends on a lot of factors. For example, if you are listening from a high elevation you will be able to hear a lot more than if you were at low elevation since there are less obstructions between you and the transmitter. I live at about 450' elevation and I can hear stuff from 30 miles away with just a regular old antenna. Also, VHF frequencies tend to travel much farther than UHF frequencies. For example, when I used to live in Farmington I was able to listen to Hartford FD loud and clear on 154.31, but I was not able to receive anything at all from the citywide trunked system in the 800 MHz UHF range.

 

[FFPM571]

doing a manual scan on CB is AM not FM so your scanner would have to be able to recieve AM signals to hear anything

 

[jb872033]

If you want to hear CB you would be best to pick up a CK radio with a scan feature and a really good antenna...

 

[hamiltongavitt]

cb radio

on the subject of cb radio..... many truckers now dont have cb or do not listen to it because of the invention of things such as gps, vehicle location tracking, governers on the trucks set to a certain speed thus not allowing the driver to drive faster than 60-65 depending which means they wont need to worry about speeding. i got this information listening to some truckers over a period of time some years back. with gps they generally dont have to ask other drivers for info and with the tracking systems they have in the trucks they dont have the freedom to speed or go off course.