So I’m not that wet behind the ears when it comes to scanning, but have not been in the hobby for some time. So there is a lot of things I need to catch up on. Why do some have multiple scanners going at once? Are you trying to monitor specific things on each scanner? Are some of the scanners lest active and you have one dedicated just in case something pops up?
Why multiple radios?
- Thread starter Shunopoli
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Yes to both of your questions!
I'll keep scanners dedicated to certain agencies.
Example:
Scanner 1 = My County's FD
Scanner 2 = My County's PD (Before they went encrypted)
Scanner 3 = My neighboring County's FD
Scanner 4 = My neighboring County's PD
Scanner 5 = My town's Fire Department
Scanner 6 = Random Stuff
And I can even dive deeper by saying there is a scanner dedicated to just Marine, or Aviation, etc.
A scanner can only hear one thing at a time. So if your scanner is monitoring your PD, it is missing everything else. When you have multiple scanners going, your chances of hearing something of interest is better. And in most cases, you may not be actively listening to each transmission, but you'll notice when someone comes across excited. That's when you stop scanning on that radio and raise the volume just a touch to hear what is going on... or you pickup another scanner and set that radio on the new frequency/tg of interest and see what's going on.
I'll keep scanners dedicated to certain agencies.
Example:
Scanner 1 = My County's FD
Scanner 2 = My County's PD (Before they went encrypted)
Scanner 3 = My neighboring County's FD
Scanner 4 = My neighboring County's PD
Scanner 5 = My town's Fire Department
Scanner 6 = Random Stuff
And I can even dive deeper by saying there is a scanner dedicated to just Marine, or Aviation, etc.
A scanner can only hear one thing at a time. So if your scanner is monitoring your PD, it is missing everything else. When you have multiple scanners going, your chances of hearing something of interest is better. And in most cases, you may not be actively listening to each transmission, but you'll notice when someone comes across excited. That's when you stop scanning on that radio and raise the volume just a touch to hear what is going on... or you pickup another scanner and set that radio on the new frequency/tg of interest and see what's going on.
Hello. Speaking only for myself, I have multiple scanners primarily so I don't miss anything. I have a total of 8 that I run. One dedicated to local analog public service, one for local digital public service, one for civil aircraft stuff, two for military aircraft stuff, one dedicated to the local military base, one for the local airport and local railroad traffic and one that I use just to search for new stuff. I could jam everything into one scanner but I would miss lots of stuff.
Personally, I do break up things like my military monitoring, the regional TRS, the next county over TRS, and even specific channels amongst various radios. It does enable me to listen simultaneously plus keep one radio at least locked on a channel or talk group while letting another one continue to scan.
On a lot of my radios the programming may be the same but I use them for different things I want to listen to and when different incidents occur I can stop one of them but keep scanning with another.
The ones I have set up for military monitoring no longer work in my area for monitoring the local public safety which is on a simulcast, regional TRS. So I dedicate those to military aviation frequencies, some of the media frequencies, and the likes. It just makes things a lot easier to keep up with if you have more than one radio. Is it a little overkill sometimes? Definitely
I also have been scanning since I was 12 years old so I have a lot of radios I've bought through the years as the various means of monitoring have changed and required it. A lot of radios I don't even turn on anymore and I've even put back in the box just to preserve them. They're not really worth a lot but I'm not going to throw them away or sell them for $20 either. Plus they can always be used for some sort of analog or digital backup conventional frequencies scanner or even a discriminator tap if they're needed.
I'm sure different people have a lot of different reasons but I think the overall reason is it enables you to monitor more, multiple channels for instance, at the same time. Everything used to be on one frequency or maybe two or three tops. But nowadays, especially with the trunk radio systems, there can be a lot of channels or talk group IDs to monitor and being able to stay parked on specific ones enables the listener to be able to follow the most important channels in an incident and not miss any traffic. As an example, there was a double shooting the other night and I left one radio parked on the interoperability channel that was being used. On another, I had it on the specific agencies involved scanning their dispatch and talk channels. And then with one more I had it scanning the EMS to hospital talk groups in order to listen in on the patient reports as the two victims were taken to the hospital. I could have listened to all of it on one but I would have possibly missed out on some of the traffic and it can be a pain in the butt sometimes with these modern day scanners trying to hurry and get to another channel. And that's even using the channel number or whatever it's called feature. It's definitely not a necessity but it makes following something a lot easier to do one with a radio trying to scan over to something else and see if it's active.
Hope this helps...
Brian
COMMSCAN
On a lot of my radios the programming may be the same but I use them for different things I want to listen to and when different incidents occur I can stop one of them but keep scanning with another.
The ones I have set up for military monitoring no longer work in my area for monitoring the local public safety which is on a simulcast, regional TRS. So I dedicate those to military aviation frequencies, some of the media frequencies, and the likes. It just makes things a lot easier to keep up with if you have more than one radio. Is it a little overkill sometimes? Definitely
I also have been scanning since I was 12 years old so I have a lot of radios I've bought through the years as the various means of monitoring have changed and required it. A lot of radios I don't even turn on anymore and I've even put back in the box just to preserve them. They're not really worth a lot but I'm not going to throw them away or sell them for $20 either. Plus they can always be used for some sort of analog or digital backup conventional frequencies scanner or even a discriminator tap if they're needed.
I'm sure different people have a lot of different reasons but I think the overall reason is it enables you to monitor more, multiple channels for instance, at the same time. Everything used to be on one frequency or maybe two or three tops. But nowadays, especially with the trunk radio systems, there can be a lot of channels or talk group IDs to monitor and being able to stay parked on specific ones enables the listener to be able to follow the most important channels in an incident and not miss any traffic. As an example, there was a double shooting the other night and I left one radio parked on the interoperability channel that was being used. On another, I had it on the specific agencies involved scanning their dispatch and talk channels. And then with one more I had it scanning the EMS to hospital talk groups in order to listen in on the patient reports as the two victims were taken to the hospital. I could have listened to all of it on one but I would have possibly missed out on some of the traffic and it can be a pain in the butt sometimes with these modern day scanners trying to hurry and get to another channel. And that's even using the channel number or whatever it's called feature. It's definitely not a necessity but it makes following something a lot easier to do one with a radio trying to scan over to something else and see if it's active.
Hope this helps...
Brian
COMMSCAN
That’s what I figured! And make a lot of sense. In my area that would be costly as my sds100 arrives on Wednesday and would be a lot or provoice upgrades. I remember back in the 90s when I had a little old radio shack scanner and was able to pick up a lot of stuff and now a days times have changed
wtp
Member
i just don't get rid of old radios, i just keep using them.
pro2001 space station, state forestry
pro2004 mil air, 8tacs, inter-ops
bc855xlt DEA
bc 170 businesses, GMRS
pro2035 a mix of everything
bcd396T county stuff
bcd396XT county sheriff dispatch
pro164 frs/gmrs/murs, CCR freqs. business. schools
pro2001 space station, state forestry
pro2004 mil air, 8tacs, inter-ops
bc855xlt DEA
bc 170 businesses, GMRS
pro2035 a mix of everything
bcd396T county stuff
bcd396XT county sheriff dispatch
pro164 frs/gmrs/murs, CCR freqs. business. schools
Haha definitely so. Yeah I remember the 1980s and 1990s how one or two scanners would enable you to keep up with everything. Nowadays, there are so many other channels that any extra listening capabilities / radios can definitely help. Congratulations on the new SDS100 too. I got mine when they first came out in 2018 and I love the radio. I wound up getting an SDS200 when they came out also and it stays on 24/7 even though I do have to turn it down at night so I can sleep
I think you'll enjoy your new radio and half the fun is getting used to programming it the way it best works for you Brian
COMMSCAN
wtp
Member
pro-2001, over 40 years and still going.
and the real reason i bought one was i walked into a radio shack and they accidently had left it running all night.
i told the manager that was why i was buying one.
there have only been a couple of days that i have not turned it on since i bought it.
car accident that had me in the hospital for a month.
a hurricane that left us with no power for 2 weeks.
a stroke that also put me in the hospital and rehab for about a month.
and the real reason i bought one was i walked into a radio shack and they accidently had left it running all night.
i told the manager that was why i was buying one.
there have only been a couple of days that i have not turned it on since i bought it.
car accident that had me in the hospital for a month.
a hurricane that left us with no power for 2 weeks.
a stroke that also put me in the hospital and rehab for about a month.
In the late 80's/early 90's I was running An Icom V-100, Icom U-400, Bearcat 760XLT with tone board and a Bearcat 950XLT without tone board in the Metro Boston area. 232 channels with very little overlap to keep up on the area and it just barely covered everytrhing I wanted to monitor. For some of us it goes back way further to the early 80's or late 70's to remember when 1 or 2 radios was enough
And for best results, each scanner needs its own dedicated antenna
I have multiple scanners, one base and one handheld but never both on a the same time, the handheld is in the kitchen and turned on when I hear the fire/EMS whistle go off. The base is when I want to tune around for other, farther signals.
SDS200 scanning everything and available remotely through Proscan.
BCD996P2 scanning works, fire and local police (Storm/Major event scanner).
BCD536HP scanning works, fire and police and available remotely through Proscan.
BC996XT running TwoToneDetect.
Unication G5 setup in Silent mode on local fire departments.
HP-2 usually running Discovery mode to confirm new frequencies.
BCD996P2 scanning works, fire and local police (Storm/Major event scanner).
BCD536HP scanning works, fire and police and available remotely through Proscan.
BC996XT running TwoToneDetect.
Unication G5 setup in Silent mode on local fire departments.
HP-2 usually running Discovery mode to confirm new frequencies.
Home Shack
SDS200 - 700-900mhz P25 Phase II - Simulcast Only
BCD996P2 - 700-800mhz P25 Phase I and II Trunking (non-simulcast) local
BCD996P2 - 700-800mhz P25 Phase I and II Trunking (non-simulcast) next county over
BCT15X - Dedicated UHF 450mhz narrowband Analog - MY Fire Dept I work for. Only 8 Channels Actively listening
Motorola XTS3000 - Again, MY Fire Dept I work for. Only 8 Channels Actively listening, to supplement BCT15X
BC125AT - Broadcastify Feed #1 Left Speaker (Remote old PC in Closet Muted)
BC125AT - Broadcastify Feed #2 Right Speaker (Remote old PC in Closet Muted)
SDR Dongle #1 - All Analog Air, Mil Air, Mil Ground, Misc Government
SDR Dongle #2/3 - 700-900mhz P25 Phase II - Simulcast Only To Supplement the SDS200
TYT MD-380 - Ham Stuff, Local Repeaters, SARNET, DMR
SDS200 - 700-900mhz P25 Phase II - Simulcast Only
BCD996P2 - 700-800mhz P25 Phase I and II Trunking (non-simulcast) local
BCD996P2 - 700-800mhz P25 Phase I and II Trunking (non-simulcast) next county over
BCT15X - Dedicated UHF 450mhz narrowband Analog - MY Fire Dept I work for. Only 8 Channels Actively listening
Motorola XTS3000 - Again, MY Fire Dept I work for. Only 8 Channels Actively listening, to supplement BCT15X
BC125AT - Broadcastify Feed #1 Left Speaker (Remote old PC in Closet Muted)
BC125AT - Broadcastify Feed #2 Right Speaker (Remote old PC in Closet Muted)
SDR Dongle #1 - All Analog Air, Mil Air, Mil Ground, Misc Government
SDR Dongle #2/3 - 700-900mhz P25 Phase II - Simulcast Only To Supplement the SDS200
TYT MD-380 - Ham Stuff, Local Repeaters, SARNET, DMR
I still use my pro 2034 for analog public safety works great.
When I was a news photographer, I had 3-4 scanners in my vehicle:
I also monitored the competition (we all monitored each other) and sometimes we'd cross talk through the scanner to coordinate around road blocks or for situational awareness.
- One for PD and Law Enforcement agencies
- One for Fire and Forest Service
- One for misc agencies (FBI/SS in the days before encryption), out of area agencies and tac channels and some air
- One handhed for when I'm out of the car
I also monitored the competition (we all monitored each other) and sometimes we'd cross talk through the scanner to coordinate around road blocks or for situational awareness.
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As you know Rodger same here... pretty much operated the same way, we got rid of our 450 megahertz repeater system when we started using cell phones regularly in the late 80s early 90s, so our competition couldn't listen LOL.
As far as those folks using old scanners, and yes I started as a young kid with slide rule dial monitors and bought many many scanners that many of you have talked about but I don't use them, they are in the scanner boneyard in the garage. 55 years worth LOL.
I monitor 6 radios by my bedside. The oldest one I use is a WS1095. And that's old, that's for one frequency, a car-to-car UHF repeater that's off the county P2 simulcast system that my small-town uses.
I use multiple radios, including a 100 + 200 and a Motorola radio for the same reason everyone else does here. Everybody has their own system so as not to miss things. If you stuff it all on one radio you won't hear anything. We say it all the time... If you're using one radio, the more you scan the less you hear.
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Like others, I want to be able to hear as much as I reasonably can, especially when SHTF moments arise.
I was at the fire station when a tornado hit our county. I used a handheld to monitor LE that were giving updates to location, the base radio for FD reports, and my dual band handheld to listen to Skywarn. Once we were dispatched to the affected area, I had to focus on the InterOp and FD.
I was at the fire station when a tornado hit our county. I used a handheld to monitor LE that were giving updates to location, the base radio for FD reports, and my dual band handheld to listen to Skywarn. Once we were dispatched to the affected area, I had to focus on the InterOp and FD.
In the old days we only had what is now called Conventional channels. They are just frequencies we scan for transmissions. In other words, the audio we want to hear is being transmitted on a single frequency. When one channel has a signal, the scanner stops. When the signal goes away, the scanning resumes. If the next channel is in the middle of a conversation, the scanner will stop and we can monitor that. It does not work that way for trunked systems!
On trunked systems, the scanner monitors data on the control channel. When there is notification of a conversation we're interested in, the scanner switches to that channel so we can monitor. When the conversation ends, the scanner returns to the control channel. If another conversation is in progress that we wanted to hear, chances are great we will not even hear part of it. It is missed entirely (although there are exceptions to this).
In order to hear all we can on a trunked system, we must dedicate a radio to that system. You can't break it up, you must program it so you're either hearing a conversation or monitoring the control channel. So in order to pick up other stuff, whether on another system or a conventional channel, other radios are needed.
When an incident happens, chances are great it will be spread across multiple channels. To really hear the incident, we need a radio dedicated to each channel of the incident. And during that time, do you still want to monitor other stuff going on?
On trunked systems, the scanner monitors data on the control channel. When there is notification of a conversation we're interested in, the scanner switches to that channel so we can monitor. When the conversation ends, the scanner returns to the control channel. If another conversation is in progress that we wanted to hear, chances are great we will not even hear part of it. It is missed entirely (although there are exceptions to this).
In order to hear all we can on a trunked system, we must dedicate a radio to that system. You can't break it up, you must program it so you're either hearing a conversation or monitoring the control channel. So in order to pick up other stuff, whether on another system or a conventional channel, other radios are needed.
When an incident happens, chances are great it will be spread across multiple channels. To really hear the incident, we need a radio dedicated to each channel of the incident. And during that time, do you still want to monitor other stuff going on?
I will use New Years Eve as an example. Typically, I have two Uniden 436HP radios going; however, one of them died the other day from blunt force trauma.
If I had my two scanners, I would be using two over-the-ear earphones, one per ear. Since I have my radios programmed with Start Up Keys and Favorites set to toggle on/off, it depends on what is happening. Since I am married, I try to keep my radios silent for "Precious." However, this is one of my favorite scanning nights of the year. In Texas, folks like to drive drunk a lot. Hence, it is rather entertaining. "Precious" is nice enough to go into the other room after being fed raw meat with a pole.
In addition to the two scanners, I will have three browsers going in different time zones for live action. Of course, this year is rather unique since Time's Square will not be the same due to COVID-19.
Trust me, if I had the money, I would have at least four or six scanners going. If I lived in a larger city, I would have twelve, LOL.
But, I am happy with the two I own.
If I had my two scanners, I would be using two over-the-ear earphones, one per ear. Since I have my radios programmed with Start Up Keys and Favorites set to toggle on/off, it depends on what is happening. Since I am married, I try to keep my radios silent for "Precious." However, this is one of my favorite scanning nights of the year. In Texas, folks like to drive drunk a lot. Hence, it is rather entertaining. "Precious" is nice enough to go into the other room after being fed raw meat with a pole.
In addition to the two scanners, I will have three browsers going in different time zones for live action. Of course, this year is rather unique since Time's Square will not be the same due to COVID-19.
Trust me, if I had the money, I would have at least four or six scanners going. If I lived in a larger city, I would have twelve, LOL.
But, I am happy with the two I own.
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