# Scanner - Police, Fire, etc



## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

Which is the best one to have. CCrane has the Bearcat and a new one from Uniden which is Tres Expensive.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Get one that works for your area. Especially if you need trunk tracking. Find out how the local emergency/LE systems are set up. You may find one of the old AOR AR3000A units that came in unblocked up for bid on eBay. New they were over a $1,000 maybe ten years ago. Used they can be a bargain. Those will scan just about anything from 100 kHz all the way up to 2036 MHz. You'll be able to hear the black helicopters when they're headed your way.


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## radiofish (Mar 30, 2007)

Well as posted above, do a 'giggle' search for the public service (police, fire, etc.) frequencies for your town/ county. That way you can see if you do need a trunking scanner. 

Where I live at, the tall coastal redwood trees and rugged terrain prohibited/ interfered with the use of the 800 MHz trunking systems. They were removed and the gov't public service agencies went back to the 'analog' VHF (150 MHz to 180 MHz) radio systems - at a great expense.

Myself I have a Radio Shack "PRO-2052" 1000 memory trunking desktop scanner - which can be used with 110 Volts AC or 12 VDC power. I paid around $400.00 for mine new a few years ago, and I have seen them up for sale used at less than $100.00 recently.

Plus I would recommend an external antenna instead of the small 'whip' attached/ screw in antenna that comes with the scanner radio. Go to Ebay and look at a 'discone' antenna which covers from 25 MHz up to 1.3 GHz - or even an el-cheapo radio shack external scanner antenna. An external antenna with a coaxial feedline will improve your scanner radio reception, as to listening at a distance and being able to listen to weak signals.

Also look at the frequency coverage of the scanner - many of them do not cover the 200MHz to 400MHz segment of radio spectrum. There is the 220 MHz ham band and the Military UHF aircraft frequencies in those frequencies. I often hear activity of Military Aircraft radios operating off of the coast on that portion of the radio spectrum, up where I live at.

I was just at the CCrane showroom last week while in that town for a doctor visit - which is located in Fortuna, California about 20 miles South of here. They do have some interesting equipment there, which also happens to be very expensive!

Remember that these scanners will cover the CB band at 27 MHz, and the GMRS/ FRS hand held radio frequencies also (around 400 MHz). So that you would be able to listen to the most popular civilian radio frequencies used.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Digital is the way to go .
It's more expensive, but more and more departments are using those frequencies.

Uniden makes good products.


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## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

As others mentioned, first find out what frequencies(and systems) are used in your area. If you live in a rural area, you might be able to get by with a regular old basic scanner. Larger metropolitan areas might need a fancier scanner with more features.
Find the local frequencies for law enforcement, ems, fire, utilities, FEMA, and any other frequencies you might want to monitor in an emergency and program your scanner with them. You might not hear any traffic on some of those frequencies for years, but in an emergency they'd be handy to monitor. Oh, BTW, don't forget to write down the frequencies and who is on them on paper somewhere in case the scanner "loses" them.:rock:


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

What does "unblocked" mean??


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

YuccaFlatsRanch said:


> What does "unblocked" mean??


Unblocked means NOTHING now a days. At one time when analog scanner were in use, scanner were legally required to block those frequencies. Some did but there were hack to allow you to listen to them. 
Now a days it means nothing important.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Go to radio reference and figure out what frequencies are in use in your area.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/

That will determine what scanner you need. You basically have 3 types, Analog, lowest cost $100, trunking mid cost $200 and digital trunking, high cost >$350.


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

This is what I find for our area:

Kerr County
Kerr County

Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 
155.08500 KVF682 RM 103.5 PL Kerr Co SO 1 Kerr Co. Sheriff Ch 1 Primary FM Law Dispatch 
155.55000 KVF682 RM 203.5 PL Kerr Co SO 2 Kerr Co. Sheriff Ch 2 FM Law Tac 
155.52000 WNPO742 RM Kerr Co Narc Kerr Co. Sheriff Narcotics Enforcement FM Law Tac 
154.78500 WQAY425 BM Kerr Co Jail Kerr Co. Sheriff Jail Primary FM Law Tac 
152.15000 RM 162.2 PL Kerr Fire C Kerr Co. Firecom Central FM Fire Dispatch 
152.06000 RM 162.2 PL Kerr Fire W Kerr Co. Firecom West FM Fire Dispatch 
45.44000 WPRF989 RM KerrCo Roads Kerr Co. Road Maintenance FM Public Works 

Ingram

Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 
155.11500 WPFJ638 RM Ingram PD/FD Ingram Fire and Police Primary- Encrypted P25 Multi-Dispatch 
154.17500 KNFC853 BM Ingram FD 2 Ingram Fire Tactical FM Fire-Tac 

Kerrville

Kerrville Police are fully encrypted on their dispatch and secondary, and cannot be scanned. Kerrville Fire dispatches EMS for all Kerr County, and their East and West repeaters are multicast with the City Primary Dispatch channel.
Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 
155.41500 KVF683 RM 293 NAC Kerrvill PD1 Kerrville Police Ch 1 Primary (Encrypted) P25 Law Dispatch 
154.73250 WQAV389 RM Kerrvill PD2 Kerrville Police Ch 2 (Encrypted) P25 Law Tac 
155.13000 KVF683 BM Kerrvill PD3 Kerrville Police Tactical - Encrypted P25 Law Tac 
154.35500 WPGV728 RM 162.2 PL Kerrvill FD1 Kerrville Fire/EMS Primary FM Fire Dispatch 
154.23500 WPGV728 BM Kerrvil FD 2 Kerrville Fire Talkaround FM Fire-Talk 
155.83500 WPGV728 RM 162.2 PL Kerrvil FD W Kerrville Fire/EMS West Repeater FM Fire Dispatch 
154.87500 WPGV728 RM 162.2 PL Kerrvil FD E Kerrville Fire/EMS East Repeater FM Fire Dispatch 
462.95000 WPGV728 RM Kerrv EMS-ER Kerrville EMS to Hospital FM EMS Dispatch 
45.24000 KVF683 BM Kerrville PW Kerrville Public Works FM Public Works 

Turtle Creek VFD

Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 
154.32500 WPKI374 RM TurtleCrk FD Turtle Creek VFD Primary FM Fire Dispatch 


All Trunked Radio Systems in Kerr County

System Name Type City
Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA)	EDACS Networked Standard	Various


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## rancher1913 (Dec 5, 2008)

theres talk at work of a new system coming that only the assigned police radios can hear, if you don't have a chip that decodes you won't be able to hear the traffic and if a radio is lost they can fry the chip. they are getting very worried that someone might hear them give a command over the network that will come back to bite them on the a**. ours are digital and all handheld--I can talk to other law enforcement from one end of colorado to the other and the amount of channels is huge.


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