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

Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them.

This month I answer:

• How can he improve my current antenna setup?
• What scanner should I buy if I wanted to listen to my local area and also stream it to my phone?
• Is there a scanner that can do P25 phase 1 and 2, and NXDN at the same time?
• Would Phil recommend spending additional money to get a desktop Whistler scanner over a handheld?

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session146

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

The Uniden MR8100

In this episode, Phil talks about the Uniden MR8100 and its unique features, from its design to rumors about its functionality.

What You Need To Know

• This radio was marketed as a scanner developed for public safety.
• Rumors say it was created for the LAPD.
• This radio was analog-only, with 100 memory channels in 10 banks, with no trunking and no P-25.
• The radio was designed to be mounted on a wall or on the dashboard of a car, so the display is on what would be the top of a desktop scanner.
• It doesn't have an internal speaker but would come with an external speaker and a connector.
• On this radio, you could adjust the contrast and the dimmer of the display using dials.
• Software for this scanner is still available online.
• You could enter passwords to unlock certain features of the scanner.
• Each memory bank can be alpha tagged.
• Supposedly, with additional software and some manual entry, you could access a massive range of frequencies with this scanner.
• These radios are hard to find, but they occasionally pop up on eBay.
• The radio has areas of birdies, so you need to be aware of them to get around them.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session145

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Are you interested in listening to the International Space Station?

In this episode, Phil shares what you need to know to tune into the ISS and other satellites passing overhead. Learn what equipment and software can help you, where to find the frequencies you'll need, and how to know when the ISS will be passing over your location.

What You Need To Know

• The ISS just launched a new amateur radio cross-band repeater.
• You'll need a HAM radio license for your country in order to transmit on the repeater.
• No license is required to monitor the repeater
• The repeater is installed on the Columbus Module of the ISS
• The repeater is part of the IORS (Inter-Operable Radio System).
• In order to receive the ISS, you'll need to be aware of the doppler effect.
• In the doppler effect, you'll need to tune to a higher frequency as the ISS approaches you and a lower frequency as it moves away from you.
• Any scanner on the market can receive the ISS' new repeater.
• A directional antenna will be best but you can use a fixed antenna too.
• My favorite mode from the ISS is SSTV.
• SSTV is Slow Scan TV, where an image is transmitted over about 30 seconds to your computer.
• Sometimes the ISS has short communications with local schools, which you can hear if it's happening near you.
• You can find the frequencies at ARISS.org.
• To see when the ISS will pass over you, go to Heavens Above or N2YO and enter your location.
• If you're on a PC, download the Orbitron satellite tracker software to your computer.
• Orbitron will also tell you the drift frequency of the satellite.
• If you connect your radio to your computer, you can set Orbitron to automatically adjust the drift on your radio.
• If you use Mac or Linux, download gpredict.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session144

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Are you interested in scanning Federal agency frequencies?

In this episode, Phil welcomes Chris Parris, an expert on Federal scanning and writer of the blog The Fed Files. They discuss how Chris found his way into Federal scanning, tips and tricks for people interested in trying it, and so much more!

What You Need To Know

• Guest Chris Parris is known in the community for his work scanning Federal signals.
• Chris started trying Federal scanning when he was touring a radio tower in the 1970s and was told that there was an FBI repeater on site, so he began to research how to listen to those frequencies.
• When Chris moved to southern Texas near the border, he became particularly interested in listening to border patrol and other very active Federal agencies operating there.
• When you start listening to Federal frequencies, you need to have patience because they often don't broadcast that often.
• You should look between 162.0-174.0 MHz and 406.0-420.0 MHz to find the majority of Federal agency communications.
• There are some smaller bands with some Federal or military operations, including 138-144 MHz and 148-150 MHz.
• Though most communications are digital, you can still find quite a bit of analog particularly among smaller agencies.
• Most law enforcement need to maintain interoperability in their communications with each other, like local police with the FBI, but other agencies don't need that.
• Even Federal agencies have call signs and are licensed frequencies.
• Chris's biggest tip is to be patient, because it's unlikely that you're going to find a big list of great things to listen to right away.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session143

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Do you want to know how to improve your scanner's audio?

In this episode, Phil welcomes back Harrison Wilson to discuss sound quality with scanner radio setups. They discuss external speakers, how sound vibrations work, audio mixers, and more.

What You Need To Know

• Guest Harrison Wilson returns for his third guest appearance to talk about improving your scanner's audio quality.
• A lot of scanner radios produce a tinny sound.
• To deliver all the features that customers want and keep manufacturing costs low, speaker and audio quality is what ends up suffering.
• As a firefighter, Harrison takes a tip for diagnosing water problems and applies it to audio: start at the source and work your way forward.
• Once you have good signal on your radio, the next step is adjusting the volume on your speaker.
• Understand how speaker resistance plays into your audio quality because sometimes it increases quality, and other times it can worsen it.
• Sound is a vibration, so what's around your speaker can dramatically impact the sound.
• For people who want to listen to multiple scanner feeds at the same time, you can feed your signal into a mixer
• If your scanner has a line out jack, that's typically better to use than a headphone jack.
• A sound mixer will allow you to fine-tune your audio, like adjusting treble and bass levels.
• Feeds may start to do something called clipping when the audio exceeds the bandwidth and the sound gets very distorted.
• It's easy to go down a rabbit hole reading reviews and trying to find the ideal equipment but you'll have more success searching for general tips for how to improve audio quality on what you already have.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session142

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them.

This month I answer:

• What does the setting for "Set Hold Time" on a P25 scanner mean?
• What do you do if every few days, you suddenly can't pick up signal on your scanner?
• What is the super dumbed-down version of how to program an SDS-100 scanner?
• What products would I recommend for an antenna upgrade to reach an area about 20 miles away?
• Can you monitor P25 trunking by only scanning frequencies?

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session141

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

In this episode, Phil explains the virtual scanner feature that exists in many Whistler and Radio Shack scanner models. He talks about what they're best used for, how to set them up and make changes, and more.

What You Need To Know:

• This virtual scanner option is available on most, but not all, Whistler, GRE, and Radio Shack scanners that support object-oriented scanning.
• V-scanner stands for "virtual scanner", and they are built into your existing scanner, with different models having between 21-200 v-scanners built-in.
• V-scanners are a set of configurations inside your scanner that save your object lists.
• These allow you to create backup copies of your scanner configurations.
• You can also create v-scanners for different locations and swap them out as you travel.
• V-Scanner comes in two flavors
• Doing a reset will only apply to the v-scanner you currently have loaded.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session140

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

What's it like to scan during moments of major unrest?

In this episode, Phil is joined by listener Brad, from Minnesota, to talk about scanning during the George Floyd protests. They discuss what Brad found to listen to during the first week of protests in Minneapolis, what surprised him, and how things are now.

What You Need To Know

• Brad did what Phil suggests and thinks outside the box, programming his scanner with more than he ever thought he would need to listen to.
• Brad has been involved with this hobby for over 50 years, having bought his first scanner when he was 12 years old.
• Brad always tries to remember that while this is a hobby to him, what he's hearing is a tragedy to somebody else.
• Minneapolis has had a lot of peaceful protests, so at first listening to this wasn't unusual or concerning.
• During the second night of the protests, Brad was surprised not to hear any fire department response to the fires being set around the 3rd Precinct, and he knew exactly which stations should be answering.
• Brad started also following this on Facebook live streams and other broadcasts.
• On the third night, the protests and police activity spread to the 5th Precinct, even closer to Brad's home.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session139

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Are you craving more scanner radio content?

In this episode, Phil is joined by Jonathan Higgins and Rich Carlson, hosts of The Scanner Guys, a weekly YouTube show. They discuss some of the common questions and topics that come up, how they've grown their audience, and more.

What You Need To Know

• The Scanner Guys met at Scanner Master and started doing Facebook Live in 2018, and it grew into their YouTube show.
• They always made a point to interact with their audience members.
• The show has grown over the past couple of years and they now have regular viewers.
• They broadcast live every week on Wednesday at 8pmET/5pmPT and Rich posts the topic on Radio Reference on Mondays.
• Some recent topics have included GPS, vintage scanners, and NASCAR scanning.
• Many people are currently frustrated by police scanners becoming encrypted, but there are still things to listen to.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session138

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them.

This month I answer:

• When will my SDR series come out?
• What would I recommend for an SDR dongle to use Unitrunker on a laptop?
• What outdoor antenna should I use?
• How do you monitor a P-25 conventional system?
• Why can't fire departments use mobile bands?

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session137

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello