Questions about an old Radio Shack Pro-97 scanner

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Ryu99

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Jun 19, 2021
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Hi,

I bought a Pro-97 triple trunk scanner a while back, I think the year was 2005 and after learning a bit about how it works and how to program it, I often used it to listen to police department frequencies. If I recall correctly, the police started to encrypt these frequencies and it's no longer possible to listen to these frequencies. I have been out of the loop regarding radio scanners for a long time and I'm wondering if this is still the case.

Also, my radio scanner used to detect baby monitors in my area. Does anyone know if it can also detect and pick up audio from wifi cameras? I have a wifi camera in the home and unfortunately, there is no way to turn off the microphone and I'm a bit concerned that someone with a radio scanner can listen in on private conversations at any time.

I searched the net for an answer but I could not find anything regarding this issue. I assume that someone would need to first get access to my network in order to have access to the audio from the wifi camera but I'm not sure if radio scanners can somehow bypass this.
 

djeplett

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Feb 19, 2005
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Hi Ryu99,
If you post in the section of this forum that is specific to your area someone near to you can let you know if your PRO-97 can still receive law enforcement in your area. Chances are they may have moved on to digital of some flavor by now, which the 97 cannot recieve but that is no guarantee. My hometown is still analog for instance.
As for your WiFi camera, the answer is no as long as the audio isn't transmitted somehow wirelessly from wherever the microphone is to the camera. And most, if not all cameras have the microphone built in so no need to transmit it separate from the video. Someone hacking in and listening and watching your camera feed by using a computer is definitely a possibility, however. But using a scanner alone is impossible.
 

hiegtx

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Dallas, TX
Hi,

I bought a Pro-97 triple trunk scanner a while back, I think the year was 2005 and after learning a bit about how it works and how to program it, I often used it to listen to police department frequencies. If I recall correctly, the police started to encrypt these frequencies and it's no longer possible to listen to these frequencies. I have been out of the loop regarding radio scanners for a long time and I'm wondering if this is still the case.

Also, my radio scanner used to detect baby monitors in my area. Does anyone know if it can also detect and pick up audio from wifi cameras? I have a wifi camera in the home and unfortunately, there is no way to turn off the microphone and I'm a bit concerned that someone with a radio scanner can listen in on private conversations at any time.

I searched the net for an answer but I could not find anything regarding this issue. I assume that someone would need to first get access to my network in order to have access to the audio from the wifi camera but I'm not sure if radio scanners can somehow bypass this.
I doubt that a scanner would be able to monitor the audio from your camera. The audio may be imbedded in the signal. along with the video, and is not likely to be a format the scanner can handle. Digital over-the-air television (your local broadcast TV stations) use frequencies in ranges that at least some scanners can monitor, but the audio is combined into the same signal that encompasses the video, so that the whole signal has to be decoded to extract the audio.

Also, the most common wifi routers use frequencies in the 2.4 & 5.0 GHz range. That's out the coverage of just about all scanners.

Your more potential security threat would be if you are not using a strong device user name and password. That could make you vulnerable to hacking from the internet without penetrating your home wifi network.

I'm curious as to why the audio cannot be disabled on the camera. All of the cameras I own, or have set up for others, can have the audio toggled on or off via their app. Is that because it is tied to a sensor to detect glass breakage?
 

Ryu99

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Jun 19, 2021
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Thank you for the info.

@ hiegtx, I use a YI Home camera and there does not appear to be a way to disable the microphone. All of the video it records have sound.

I'm not too worried about someone breaking into my network as it's pretty secure. I was just not sure if Radio Scanners could pick up on audio from wifi cams. I guess it was a dumb question but thanks again for answering.
 

djeplett

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
857
Location
NE Wisconsin
I guess it was a dumb question but thanks again for answering.
The only dumb questions are the ones that don't get asked. Since you said you tried looking up the answer first I replied. Too many times people are lazy and don't try searching first. I like to reward the non-lazy ones.
 
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