Scanner School - Everything you wanted to know about the Scanner Radio Hobby

Garrett joins the podcast again this week to talk about how multiple different agencies and jurisdictions communicate in the San Francisco Bay Area. Garrett spent quite a bit of time listening to the interop channels in his area to determine how and when they would be used. One note that Garrett does want to stress, is that how things work in his area may not be the same as how the work in yours....

Are you looking for a new Uniden Scanner or Whistler Scanner Radio? Are you unsure of what to buy and what is the right scanner for you? Our 2022 Holiday Buyer's Guide will help you navigate the current Scanner Radio Landscape from both Uniden and Whistler, and also give you some tips, tricks, and free resources along the way. This podcast episode is available on YouTube as a video with slides and...

Brian Rackham is our guest this week on the podcast. Brian is finishing his Doctoral Dissertation at Arizona State University on the Scanner Radio hobby.  In the first half of the conversation, I'll ask Brian about his research and in the second half, Brian asks me questions to help with his thesis. What You Need To Know Brian worked has worked many years in the media industry Brian currently teac...

Bringing a Scanner to Washington DC can be very exciting and also very confusing. There are a lot of "Alphabet" agencies to try to listen to, but many are encrypted.  Even Police activity is secure. But, if you know what other agencies are around, you'll quickly see there are ways to connect the dots and still know what is happening around our Nation's Capital. Joseph Durnal, who spends a lot of t...

Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session.   Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Bob has a questions about creating favorites...

Nobody wants to get burned when buying and selling online. The internet can be a very unsafe place to exchange cash for goods, especially when you let your guard down. I've been buying and selling radios online for several decades now, and I've learned a few hard mistakes, and I've also learned how to be cautious as well.  Here are some tips to staying safe online when you buy and sell radio equip...

Clayton runs "Moorpark Scanner", a popular Facebook Page which is a citizen journalist style account.  At only 20 years old, Clayton has an edge that many of us do not have when it comes to social media.  His pages have a professional appearance and he understands how to bring attention to his photos and updates online. To help him monitor local activity, he has been able to trade his way up from...

Do you know how to find Pirates, Anomalies, and odd transmissions? Our guest today, "Radio McRadioface" hunts out these transmissions from his location just outside of Washington DC. He is always tuning around looking for interesting transmission and keeping logs on what he is finding.  McRadioface's setup is a bit extreme, but today he will share how anyone can have fun logging these oddball tran...

Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting  www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session.    Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Greg has a question about using his SDR wit...

Can't put up an antenna due to restrictions? Do you rent, hate heights, or have Homeowner's Associations that have rules you need to follow? Today's podcast is dedicated to all of those who have antenna restrictions. For those of us who have free access to what we put on our homes, we can forget at how difficult this hobby can be for those who can't have outdoor antennas. Here are some creative an...

Today we welcome Jim Heinrich. Jim is here to share how he built his radio room.   We will cover how his old gaming room slowly became a listening post. We'll also cover some of the equipment you can find on his desk as well as some other resources Jim uses beyond radio hardware. What You Need to Know Jim started off as a teenager, almost 40 years ago, listening just to his local police department...

Today, we welcome Andrew Murphy. Andrew loves to build and work on his own antennas. Whether it's improving or rebuilding a commercial design, something that he has seen in a magazine, or one he has designed himself, Andrew has an antenna for every situation and band.   What makes today's conversation with Andrew truly amazing is that Andrew doesn't have acres of property to play with.   Most of h...

Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting  www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session.    Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Bill has a question about using a negative...

Ricky Radio, Ricky Rescue, or Scanner Stan.  These are the stooges we want to not emulate when we are out in public with our scanners. We don't want to draw extra attention to ourselves and become the guy who goes overboard.  Don't be the guy with the scanner radio up to his ear at full volume.  We don't need to be the guy at the fire with the radio up telling everyone around what is going on.  An...

This is a warning about trunk systems.  There are issues that can arise when trying to setup your scanner to monitor trunked radio traffic. Today's podcast contains some hints to help you keep your sanity when programming your scanner for large trunk systems with multiple sites. What You Need To Know Trunk system has a couple of different components that make it work. We need a transmitter or towe...

Do you need an aftermarket antenna for your scanner? Will changing your antenna help or impair your scanner's performance? What You Need To Know Stock antennas included with your scanner can cover large frequencies. Antennas with wide coverage will sacrifice performance. Antennas with too narrow coverage can also impair your reception. You don't want to have an 800 MHz antenna on your scanner when...

How should you ask your questions online? What do you need to do to get the most helpful responses? What can you do to help others answer your question? Knowing how to phrase your question can yield better responses from those willing to help you with the hobby. What You Need To Know Knowing what type of information to put into your question can help you get an answer quicker than a poorly written...

Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting  www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session.    Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Dan asks about listening to aviation from h...

Today we will be talking about War driving with your scanner radio to find frequencies that are in use during your day-to-day travels. War driving is a term that comes from the Wi-Fi cracking or hacking hobby which basically means searching for open Wi-Fi wireless networks usually from a moving vehicle using a laptop or a smartphone. "War Driving" can be one of the more interesting ways to find ne...

When I bought my first Airspy, I realized that I was really starting to get serious into the SDR side of the hobby.     Before my Airspy's, I was buying the cheap SDR's that did not have a TCXO and would seriously drift.  It was a joy to start using the Airspy receivers.   Since then, cheap RTL style SDR's with TCXO's have come out on the market that reduce the drifting issue.   If you are looking...

Being here on Long Island, we are obviously surrounded by water on all sides.  One of my favorite things to scan during the summertime are the VHF Marine Channels, as well as the USCG "CG", "LANT" or "NET" frequencies (whatever they are called these days). I'd like to thank Greg Weamer for suggesting this week's podcast topic.  If you have a topic you'd like me to cover, please let me know. What Y...

Every month I answer your questions on the podcast. If you have a question you would like me to answer, please leave me a voicemail at 516-308-2885 or by visiting  www.scannerschool.com/ask Don't forget to join us on YouTube on the first Tuesday of every month for our live Q&A session.    Click here to Subscribe! Questions answered on this week's podcast Mike has a question about his Home Patrol s...

Today we will talk about severe weather monitoring and prepping. This doesn't just stop at severe weather, but this could be any type of natural disaster. Today's podcast episode is all about how to set up your scanner. What scanner should you have on hand? What kind of radio should you have on hand and what to know before the event happens, so that you can prepare? What You Need To Know In the U....

Radio Reference released version 2.0 of their Database.  This is the first complete overhaul and rewrite of the database in about 10 years. There are many changes when it comes to navigating the new database and once you learn where things are, the new database is much quicker and easier to navigate. If you are looking for a video version of this podcast, you can view one at https://www.scannersch...

The Anytone TT-878UVII Plus is a very popular Amateur Radio used for DMR. Since it also covers outside the VHF and UHF Ham Band and covers DMR, it could be used to scan some conventional traffic.   Or can it? Let's discuss using this popular radio for scanning and decide if this radio is worth adding to our scanner radio collection. What You Need To Know Since DMR is included out of the box, this...