But First--The LMJ (Legal Mumbo Jumbo). All trademarks shown on my web pages are the property of their respective owners. If you find something here or follow one of my links to something interesting, it is your sole responsibility to ensure that whatever you do with the information thus gained is within the laws applicable wherever you are. It's a big world, so I cannot possibly do this for you.

Why listen to a Scanner Radio? Well, if you are like me and listen to Public Safety systems like Police, Fire and EHS, you get to be up to date on things that others will only read in the paper hours or days later. Radio monitoring IS interesting stuff. 

During the past decade, Public Safety agencies in my area have converted to 800MHz Trunked Radio systems. Trunked Radio Systems are a group of frequencies that are computer-controlled to make better use of the limited number of frequencies available.

For example, Vancouver Police have recently converted from their old VHF system to a GE/EDACS Trunk with Digital Radios, and Greater Victoria Police (excluding City Of Victoria PD) are on the Victoria Motorola Trunk .

It is difficult to follow a conversation on such a system because it can jump between several frequencies. To monitor a trunk effectively you need to have a first-generation TrunkerTracker(TM) scanner such as the Uniden BC895XLT (for Motorola trunks) or the recently released BC245XLT TrunkTrackerII(TM) which can also follow GE/EDACS trunks. Be aware that Vancouver Police are digitizing their voice communications, so it is not currently possible to monitor them. 

As an alternative, there are now PC programs that can direct a scanner radio to follow a trunked conversation on either Motorola or GE/EDACS trunked systems.

We will soon have a new radio system to serve Greater Victoria.  It is called CREST and will mean the end of Public Service scanning in our community.
The system will be installed by Motorola and will be digitally modulated and encrypted.   Just like Greater Vancouver, you can say "so long" to scanning in the Capital Region.  You can also say "so long" to an informed Press as our Police will be able to operate on their blanket-covert frequencies with impunity. 

So "Who's Watching The Watchers?"

Over the years, I have owned several scanning receivers. Here are some of them. 

Radio Shack
Pro-43 
Pro-2006 with OptoScan OS456/Lite Computer Interface
Pro-2022 
Pro-38 
Pro-2032 
Old Pro-27 2 Channel Crystal-Controlled unit.
Pro-7B 8 Channel Crystal-Controlled unit. 

Uniden
BC895XLT 
 

SBE Optiscan
SBE-12SM Card-Programmable scanning receiver.
 
 

If you own an Optoelectronics Scout, you can use a few junk box parts and this circuit diagram to build an interface for downloading Scout captured data to your PC.

Check out the Antennas that I use to pull in those distant signals. (Can YOU spot the antenna in the photograph?)

I have a few Crystals For Trade . Please drop me a line if you have something I'm looking for or vice-versa.