Not much to listen to?

[SpaceForceCmdr]

I recently bought a Bearcat 125AT with the main goal of listening to aircraft and ATC, and it works pretty well for that. However, it seems there's not much else to listen to. I've searched through most of the freqs it's capable of receiving, but nada. I guess since more things have gone digital, there's not a lot to hear? I'm in the Cleveland area, and it appears most local police and other agencies use special systems that I can't pickup with my basic scanner.

I did upgrade the antenna to a Diamond RH77CA, but maybe there are better options? Any tips on interesting channels to try to tune in to in the Cleve area would be appreciated.

 

[W8KIC]

I recently bought a Bearcat 125AT with the main goal of listening to aircraft and ATC, and it works pretty well for that. However, it seems there's not much else to listen to. I've searched through most of the freqs it's capable of receiving, but nada. I guess since more things have gone digital, there's not a lot to hear? I'm in the Cleveland area, and it appears most local police and other agencies use special systems that I can't pickup with my basic scanner.

I did upgrade the antenna to a Diamond RH77CA, but maybe there are better options? Any tips on interesting channels to try to tune in to in the Cleve area would be appreciated.

I live near the border of Shaker Heights and East 154th St., more commonly known as Cleveland's 4th District and I can tell you that there's plenty to listen to from all five of the districts that the Division of Police are tasked with keeping their eyes and ears on, at least on the dispatch side. Most of CPD's TAC frequencies are encrypted and the few that aren't really aren't worth listening to in the first place. That's not meant as a hit on the department as they really do an awesome job with what limited resources they have but listening to the towing channel gets boring really quick. Lol! As the mercury begins to climb, you'll hear a lot of action, especially after the sun goes down and at times, it can seem absolutely unreal. They operate on the Greater Cleveland Radio Communications Network, better known as GCRCN as does much of law enforcement throughout Cuyahoga County. Those agencies include East Cleveland, Euclid, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, University Heights, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, Bedford Heights, Oakwood, Walton Hills and several others that I can't remember right off the to of my head. Most of the FD's in the county operate on the statewide system, better known as the Ohio Multi-Agency Radio Communications System or MARCS-IP. Several PD's in the county use the MARCS-IP system, such as Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Chagrin Falls, as well as several agencies that are planning on making the move to the newer P25 trunked system but remain on their legacy system as of this time. Again, I'm quite certain that I've missed a few FD's and PD's that are on the newer systems as well so the RR database is your best friend in searching out the action closest to you. You'll likely end up having to shift to one of the newer digital scanners that handle simulcast distortion much better than many of the legacy scanners going back more than just a few short years. However, that's not always the case as a great deal of it is dependent on where YOU are located in relation to the newer P25 sites. I'm not sure just what your approximate location is here in Cuyahoga County and even if I knew, I sure as hell wouldn't post it here on the forum. In short, it's a whole new world when it comes to public service scanners and far more in depth than in the past but don't get scared off by it's complexities. There are plenty of people on the RR forums that are willing to assist you. I'm only beginning to understand what these new systems are capable of and it's highly likely that I'll end up cashing in my chips long before I've even begun to feel comfortably acclimated with this stuff. Lol! Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

 

[sonm10]

I would try these

RadioReference.com - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Database
Cuyahoga County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference (radioreference.com)

 

[glenn12416]

When the weather warms up you will be able to hear some mighty interesting stuff going on out on lake erie ,I bring a scanner fishing with me just in case fishing gets bad it will keep me occupied

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

I live near the border of Shaker Heights and East 154th St., more commonly known as Cleveland's 4th District and I can tell you that there's plenty to listen to from all five of the districts that the Division of Police are tasked with keeping their eyes and ears on, at least on the dispatch side. Most of CPD's TAC frequencies are encrypted and the few that aren't really aren't worth listening to in the first place. That's not meant as a hit on the department as they really do an awesome job with what limited resources they have but listening to the towing channel gets boring really quick. Lol! As the mercury begins to climb, you'll hear a lot of action, especially after the sun goes down and at times, it can seem absolutely unreal. They operate on the Greater Cleveland Radio Communications Network, better known as GCRCN as does much of law enforcement throughout Cuyahoga County. Those agencies include East Cleveland, Euclid, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, University Heights, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, Bedford Heights, Oakwood, Walton Hills and several others that I can't remember right off the to of my head. Most of the FD's in the county operate on the statewide system, better known as the Ohio Multi-Agency Radio Communications System or MARCS-IP. Several PD's in the county use the MARCS-IP system, such as Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Chagrin Falls, as well as several agencies that are planning on making the move to the newer P25 trunked system but remain on their legacy system as of this time. Again, I'm quite certain that I've missed a few FD's and PD's that are on the newer systems as well so the RR database is your best friend in searching out the action closest to you. You'll likely end up having to shift to one of the newer digital scanners that handle simulcast distortion much better than many of the legacy scanners going back more than just a few short years. However, that's not always the case as a great deal of it is dependent on where YOU are located in relation to the newer P25 sites. I'm not sure just what your approximate location is here in Cuyahoga County and even if I knew, I sure as hell wouldn't post it here on the forum. In short, it's a whole new world when it comes to public service scanners and far more in depth than in the past but don't get scared off by it's complexities. There are plenty of people on the RR forums that are willing to assist you. I'm only beginning to understand what these new systems are capable of and it's highly likely that I'll end up cashing in my chips long before I've even begun to feel comfortably acclimated with this stuff. Lol! Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Thanks for the detailed post! Everything you mentioned sounds great, but I think my issue is only having an analog scanner, right? I don't think I'll be able to tune into most of these. When I search using my Bearcat 125, I hardly pick up anything besides the airband.

On the bright side, it did discover Broadcastify. Very cool. I see there's a lot of streams on there. The other day, I was listening to the Cleveland PD, and heard some interesting transmissions. I may just end up listening to other people's streams since it sure beats shelling out a lot of cash for an expensive scanner.

 

[glenn12416]

A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale in parma that had a police scanner listed in the paper , I picked up a whistler 1040 and a pro 163 for $30 for both the whistler is phase 1 which picks up cleveland police perfectly and i use the pro163 which is analog , that could be a way to get a scanner without spending alot of money .

 

[SpaceForceCmdr]

I'll keep an eye out for deals like that. I'm on the west side of Cleve.

BTW, does anybody talk on HAM radio? I thought maybe I'd pick up some stuff on that band, but nothing so far.

 

[W8KIC]

I'll keep an eye out for deals like that. I'm on the west side of Cleve.

BTW, does anybody talk on HAM radio? I thought maybe I'd pick up some stuff on that band, but nothing so far.

I operate mainly on the low bands (particularly 40-10 meters) and CW is my mode of choice for about 95% of my operating time. As Cycle 25 is providing plenty of fun with a multitude of DX opportunities, especially using low power, it's pretty difficult for just about anyone to make the claim that the low bands aren't much fun to be around. I rarely jump onto any of our local repeaters on either 2 meters or 440 for the simple reason that it's almost impossible to actually find anyone to talk with. I am of course speaking strictly about this part of Northeastern Ohio as it appears that many repeaters have been "unofficially" relegated to SKYWARN status. Obviously, that's not the way it is everywhere else but the newer digital modes have certainly attracted the attention of many hams and as a result, the repeaters have experienced less in the way of traffic over the years with the exception of disaster drills and various other public service events. And as far as obtaining an amateur radio license goes, it's easier to earn one today than it's ever been in the past. I got into ham radio back in the late 70's and that was during a time that you had to pass a code test in addition to a written exam. Today, that FCC requirement has gone the way of the dragon and if I'm not mistaken, all that's required is to pass the written portion with a passing grade of 74% or higher. In other words, it's very easy to accomplish the task of obtaining a ham ticket. I was a terrible student academically but fortunately, my interest in ham radio went a long way as it pertained to the study material needed to succeed in the exam process. That, plus what I consider to be DUMB LUCK when it came to learning the morse code. For whatever reason, it was very easy for me to learn the sounds associated with each character but again, the code requirement is all in the past.

 

[Aarons1]

A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale in parma that had a police scanner listed in the paper , I picked up a whistler 1040 and a pro 163 for $30 for both the whistler is phase 1 which picks up cleveland police perfectly and i use the pro163 which is analog , that could be a way to get a scanner without spending alot of money .

Can give your settings you are using to receive the greater Cleveland system. Do I use roam, stat, or off. Also when programming manually do I put on 800-900 system or PS 25 auto. I’ve tried everything and don’t get nothing. It may be that I’m too far out tho. I live in Trumbull County about 50 miles out. Thanks

 

[glenn12416]

I used psredit 500 to program scanner when i first got it ,it had heap errors on it from manually programming it most likely .they are from not assigning to a talkgroup. i have no user manuals for this radio . Iwork in twinsburg ohio which is 30 miles from cleveland and i have no issues receiving cleveland there i use a remtronix antenna for it also .it is easy to program from the software once i got used to using it ,I have not manually programmed this scanner but i have kept frequencies from searching in twinsburg

 

[Swipesy]

Aaron1 I have found when mobile, eastbound on Rt 322, that GCRCN pretty much drops out after Route 608. I would assume the same dropout would exist south of Rt 322 and in Trumbull.

 

[RCjim]

I took a quick look at the R/R database and it looks like a lot of interesting things to listen to in the Cleveland area!
I hope your not just depending on the search function to find things to listen to. For me my 125 stays busy with Air and Railroad scanning plus security and DPW to mention a couple! It’s a great scanner for what it does good luck and keep on listening!!

 

[west-pac]

If you could set up and connect to an outdoor antenna you would likely hear more.

 

[wa8pyr]

I recently bought a Bearcat 125AT with the main goal of listening to aircraft and ATC, and it works pretty well for that. However, it seems there's not much else to listen to. I've searched through most of the freqs it's capable of receiving, but nada. I guess since more things have gone digital, there's not a lot to hear? I'm in the Cleveland area, and it appears most local police and other agencies use special systems that I can't pickup with my basic scanner.

I did upgrade the antenna to a Diamond RH77CA, but maybe there are better options? Any tips on interesting channels to try to tune in to in the Cleve area would be appreciated.

With the BC125AT you can monitor railroads and maritime VHF traffic. In Cleveland there's quite a bit of both, although you would probably have to be pretty close to the river and lakeshore to hear most of the maritime traffic.

Also don't discount listening to the business frequencies; quite a few of those still out there running analog radio systems.