Radios for situational awareness?

[MUTNAV]

This would be a good case for situational awareness.... It even mentions scanners.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1706848429358391369

Sounds like the people with scanners got the info first (I could be wrong). Although some strategic situational awareness would have been helpful.


Sorry, this may have been a better link...

Philly cops brawl with looters after they robbed stores

About twenty people have been arrested after widespread looting broke out in Philadelphia last night, with one woman who livestreamed the chaos.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Thanks
Joel

 

[jmp883]

It never occurred to me that it was situational awareness....it was just an interest in what was going on in my neighborhood. I started listening to scanners in the 1980's when I was in high school. That listening brought me to my current career of dispatching. It's been 31 years behind the mic for me and I still enjoy listening to my scanners, even when I'm off-duty. I started listening only to my local PD, FD, and EMS. Over the years, as my knowledge of the radio hobby grew, I began to listen to FDNY, aviation, and railroads. Living in northern NJ, just outside of NYC, there is quite a bit to listen to, it's never boring!

 

[StoliRaz]

This would be a good case for situational awareness.... It even mentions scanners.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1706848429358391369

Sounds like the people with scanners got the info first (I could be wrong). Although some strategic situational awareness would have been helpful.


Sorry, this may have been a better link...

Philly cops brawl with looters after they robbed stores

About twenty people have been arrested after widespread looting broke out in Philadelphia last night, with one woman who livestreamed the chaos.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Thanks
Joel

The sad thing is, without even looking, I'm sure some people are enraged and calling for the cops in that video to be fired for not baking cookies and giving free massages to the criminals 🙄

 

[MUTNAV]

The sad thing is, without even looking, I'm sure some people are enraged and calling for the cops in that video to be fired for not baking cookies and giving free massages to the criminals 🙄

You might be surprised...

It's very possible that the people that were arrested were lucky that the police showed up first. Things like what was going on can go sideways very quickly for the people involved.

Thanks
Joel

 

[garys]

Yes. I listen to local and state police, local and regional fire channels, and even tow trucks. I know a lot of buffs listen for incidents that they can "spark", but I listen for areas to avoid. I also use WAZE for the same reason. I used to get paid to head towards trouble, but now I prefer to just be somewhere else.

 

[MUTNAV]

Yes. I listen to local and state police, local and regional fire channels, and even tow trucks. I know a lot of buffs listen for incidents that they can "spark", but I listen for areas to avoid. I also use WAZE for the same reason. I used to get paid to head towards trouble, but now I prefer to just be somewhere else.

One of the interesting things to me about all of this is that scanning is basically just a hobby, being put to good use. I'm sure the same could be said for a lot of good hobbies, (Gardening, beekeeping, messing about in small boats, fishing, ham radio, etc.)

Thanks
Joel

 

[IC-R20]

I admit, upon reconsideration, that I've actually used scanners that improved a form of situational awareness, but in a different way than is thought about here.

Once was while stationed outside of phoenix Az, while the scanner was in the background listening to base security, there was a report of someone that got onto the base by climbing over a wall. The other person got very concerned and I had to let them know it was happening two or three times a month, not really something for us to be worried about.

The second time (fairly recently, was when listening to the sheriffs department, my daughter said she didn't want to go outside at one point, she had overheard that someone was jumping out from between parked cars and scaring people... We got to have a series of good long discussion about how many crazy things go on every night.

I guess it was all less of a "situational awareness" issue as an awareness of what normaly is happening on a fairly routine basis.


Thanks
Joel

I remember reading on here years ago someone mentioned buying a radioshack scanner and taking it with them on deployment in Afghanistan and they mentioned the enemy having poor radio discipline and talking about everything all the time so they used it to keep an ear out for if they were about to walk into something.

I also saw something similar years ago where a unit had a couple of guys with communications receivers listening in to enemy comms to see if their artillery shots were hitting. It inspired me to get the Diamond RH205 for the R20 because I liked how they had the long whips while sitting behind the wall for cover.