You are welcome to use my information in your article. I would hope since you are gathering information from here, that you will post the finished product here as well.
My favorite vacation spot to use a scanner is at the beach. No, not literally on the beach, just while at the beach. We frequent Panama City Beach in Florida. Here are some of the things you can monitor:
Public Safety: While Panama City is a re-banded trunked system and rather difficult to program, it does cover a large area and includes many agencies. To make it easy, just use the import feature that RR offers in many of scanner software programs.
Retail: Most retail has a very short range, but I have found a new appreciation for going shopping with the wife. I hang back with the close call feature on, ear bud in, and log my freqs. as we go from store to store. One time I got a close call alert. It sounded like a personal security team. It took me a while, but we found Honey Boo-Boo and family in one of the stores. Although disappointed it wasn't Angelina Jolie, it was fun to search them out. Sometimes you can catch some insider information. Things like "don't tell them about the corporate promotion today, but if they ask, give it to them."
Beach: Beach patrol is fun to monitor as well as the Coast Guard. Panama City has a base nearby that can be interesting to monitor. Tourist boats, lifeguards, parasailing, just to name a few.
Air: Banner planes are all over Panama City Beach. They usually communicate over one of the air to air frequencies. Often times they will tell other pilots "did you see that pod of dolphins down there?" It’s interesting to listen to some of their conversations regarding plane traffic, weather and marine life.
Hotels: There are so many high rise hotels in the area. It's nearly impossible to figure out who you are listening to. Often times you will hear housekeeping talk about their finds in the rooms… some are just outright gross while some make you laugh.
Maritime: Channel 16 is a must anytime you are near the ocean. Although you never want to hear anything on the emergency channel, when you do, it’s typically memorable. Port Authorities, tow boats, fishing vessels, Coast Guard and pleasure boaters are all things that can be monitored on the Marine Band.
FRS: You can usually hear a mother yelling for her kids on this band. Many businesses use this band as well. Really, you never know what you are going to hear. I always have it scanning while on vacation.
Most of what I monitor while on vacation are things that I find myself. I have found that I really can’t rely on a database for all of my information. For me, the fun is in the discovery, then the challenge of finding what and who it is that I’m listening to. Don’t be afraid to scan the bands. You just never know what you might hear.
I use a Uniden BCD396XT Scanner.
