Southern NV Scanner Book 7th Ed. April 2007 A Review Part I of II

Status
Not open for further replies.

TOUGHLIFE

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2003
Messages
795
Having acquired a copy of the new 6th edition of the Southern Nevada Radio Scanner Book a review is in order. First we have not seen any other locally produced scanner book so it is most welcome. Given that the Police Call radio frequency directory went under years ago I am very happy to see that several individuals followed up with the Southern Nevada Radio Scanner Book. It is a blessing to the radio monitoring public of Southern Nevada and of course to the news media whose job it is to know what is happening and pass on the news to us. So let me review the contents of the new publication found at Amateur Electronics Supply in Las Vegas. Radio World in Boulder City does not appear to have the new edition.

The cover is clearly marked "APR 2007 6TH EDITION" so be sure that you are buying this edition and not the older 5th edition. If ordering by mail or by telephone be sure to ask for the 6th edition. Also the cover does a nice job summarizing the contents of the publication and also reminding us of the next Nellis AFB Open House & Airshow scheduled for Nov. 10th and 11th of 2007, dates to put on your calendar. The welcome page is like last year but does mention a new e-mail address for Cat Comm. Next comes the table of contents with page numbers followed by a frequency table dated 04-03-2007 for frequencies used by the Las Vegas Metro PD (VHF, UHF, & 800 MHz). Following this is a section on planned system changes (700 & 800 MHz) for the LVMPD. Specific 700 MHz frequencies are mentioned along with their status. We all know or should know of the planned M/A Com project and its problems in other jurisdictions. This writer suspects that it will be at least a year before it begins to be up and running in the Las Vegas area. Joining the SNACC system would have been more logical when it comes to mutual aid and cost savings but I guess the the administration of the LVMPD does not care about wasting taxpayers money. The 400 radio codes, incident dispositon codes, phonetic alphabet, unit type identifiers and three LVMPD maps follow with the maps being more readable than last year. North Las Vegas PD follows on page 10 and properly refers people to the SNACC system and provides some tips on monitoring them with a beat map following. Basic public safety and local government information for Boulder City and Mesquite follows. A new section comes next entitled, "Central Mohave County AZ Basics" some of which can be heard in the Las Vegas Valley. A good collection of public safety and government on the local and state levels is included with some federal, aviation, railroad, and utility frequencies as well. This writer has heard Bullhead City AZ PD with an inside antenna in his Henderson residence and Kingman PD from the Las Vegas Valley on many occasions.

The Clark County TRS known as SNACC follows with a growing list of users noted. Detailed information on frequencies and authorized sites in Southern Nevada is presented and 216 talkgroup IDs' included. Numerous updates and new IDs' were recognized on the tables presented. Page 22 begins a lengthy list of fire stations showing address and equipment as known with numerous updates from the last edition. Next comes frequency information for AMR & Medic West, local ambulance providers; the UHF med channels, and the medical and special incident dispatch codes often given out during dispatches. The list of hospital waiting time color codes used over the radio follows. Page 25 is an updated table of non-trunked local governmental frequencies used in the area with some new updates observed. Next comes a Henderson PD color service area map along with their radio codes as different from the LVMPD.

This ends Part I of the review of the Southern Nevada Radio Scanner Book. Part II will follow very shortly.
 
Last edited:

NORCAL

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2003
Messages
137
Location
Saratoga, CA
Southern NV Scanner Book 7th Ed. April 2007

I would recommend this book to anyone visitng the Las Vegas area. With that said, the quality of my copy was poor. After purchasing the book from AES, I later discovered that some of pages were copied crooked and some of the info was cut off. Additionally, I noticed one of the graphics for one page had been improved, but the rest are almost unreadable due to the reproduction process. I cannot read any street names that provide boundaries for for certain maps. The basic information contained in the book is good. I do understand the preporduction cost. But this book will never grow if someone doesn't decide to invest a little in making it better. I did not notice that many changes from previous versions other than some of the trunking frequencies that constantly change. It would be helpful to indicate where material was updated. Again, I repeat that this is an invaluable book for anyone scanning in the Southern Las Vegas area.
 

AZMONITOR

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
334
Location
AZ
My copy had some pages that were not properly aligned most likely due to a copy machine problem however none of the data was cut off from any of the pages. As for the maps, only the first one was problematic probably due to a very poor original that was probably very small in size also. The other maps were readable in my copy although I do not spend much time with maps. Perhaps the folks at Cat Comm will draw up one or two maps that will take the place of all maps in the book. This would likely make it more readable.

As for new items, changes, additions to existing material, and deletions, I took the time (about 20 minutes) and went page by page comparing my copy of the 5th edition and came up with the following. New items, additions or changes to existing items amounted to 107 items. Two deletions were noted. Each talkgroup or frequency even if associated with a given site or agency counted as one addition or change. Comments regarding usage or any other explanatory item counted as a new or changed item.

I can only conclude that the book is worth the money spent to acquire it. Without reservation I strongly recommend it to anyone who visits or resides in the greater Las Vegas area and who shares our hobby of monitor radio listening. I am very pleased that Amateur Electronics Supply in Las Vegas carries the book as it seems to be the only outlet that has it at the present time. Their toll free number for ordering is 800-634-6227 and they have been pleasant to deal with over the years. Lastly their stock number on the book is "NVSCAN1". I look forward to the seventh editon in about six or seven months from now.
 
Last edited:

TOUGHLIFE

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2003
Messages
795
Northern NV Scanner Book

Although I do not live in the Reno & Carson City area I know of no book that serves our hobby that is produced for that specific area. Someday, maybe there will be one or perhaps the book that serves Southern Nevada will expand into Northern Nevada. We will have to wait and see.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top