Just for the hell of it.
Feel free to ask any radio monitoring questions in this thread.
I get enough scanner/radio related PMs I guess this thread is needed.
My speciality is public safety monitoring & VIPER (http://bit.ly/AboutVIPERNC) but over the years I have also
dabbled in shortwave/HF & Broadcast Band monitoring and of course I am a licensed Amateur "Ham" Operator.
After almost 3 decades of radio geekness hopefully I have learned a thing or two and hopefully I can help
someone else learn about the hobby.
I am a forum mod & database admin at Radioreference.com and I have done radio consulting jobs
with various public safety agencies in Central NC.
If I don't know the answer to your question I will do my best to find an accurate answer within 24 hours.
I will try to keep an eye on this thread at least twice a day.
Thanks for reading and Happy Monitoring!
@KE4ZNR

4/14/2011 10:00:25 PM

I might as well kick this thing off. I'm currently a technician class HAM operator. Is there any benefit to me, a storm chaser, to level up to general class? What more can I do with a general class license?

4/14/2011 11:07:28 PM

I, too, am curious about ^

4/14/2011 11:31:57 PM

Great first question! IMHO these days upgrading to General/Advanced is more or less just a status deal. You also have access to being able to operate CW or voice across the HF (shortwave) bands which you can't do with tech license. Last I checked I don't believe storm chasers use much HF. Y'all use 2 meters & 440 for comms. I always recommend learning new parts of the hobby but upgrading to general or advanced is something you might not use a lot in just storm chasing.
tl;dr: upgrade only if you wanna talk around the world

4/14/2011 11:49:56 PM

Posted this in Chit-Chat but will post it here too. There are free software programs available
that will, using a radio tethered to a computer, allow you to decode and see system activity on your computer. This is useful in understanding how a system is used and for spotting new channels or talkgroups. The program above is called Trunk88 and in the above pic I am monitoring Wake Counties part of the statewide radio system called VIPER. I can see what channel is being used ("Raleigh PD LE OPS 9" for example) and who is using it (Radio ID or RID 736616 in this example).
Knowing that 736xxx Radio IDs on VIPER are Raleigh PD handheld radios while 737xxx RIDs are mobile radios I can tell that this is a RPD Handheld radio talking on LE OPS 9.
I can also use the above software on other systems in NC such as Cary, Durham, Guilford County, Char-Meck and others.

4/17/2011 5:54:29 PM

So I've got a few year old radio shack digital trunking scanner, what software/cable would I need to connect it to the computer. Also, would there be anyway to pick up the alpha pager traffic through the scanner?

4/17/2011 6:28:01 PM

Can tell us some more about your hobby? How did you get started? What do you get out of it?

4/17/2011 6:48:50 PM

What does it take to be a storm spotter? I'm KJ4UBP (tech), and I monitor 147.315, 146.880, and 146.640...along with several different police channels. I'd like to have some more knowledge about storm spotting and information.

4/17/2011 6:54:42 PM

@ApexDave:

Quote :

"So I've got a few year old radio shack digital trunking scanner, what software/cable would I need to connect it to the computer. Also, would there be anyway to pick up the alpha pager traffic through the scanner?"

Give me the actual model number (ie Pro 96/Pro2096). If it is a digital/analog scanner made within the last decade or so
Don Starr probably has software out for it:
http://starrsoft.com

Now alphanumeric pager decoding is illegal. Now that I have gotten that out of the way rumor has it that PDW decoder works pretty decently:
http://www.gsm-antennes.nl/PDW/pdw.php?lang=eng
for best results you want to run a discriminator tapped scanner with the software.
For more info on discriminator tapping a scanner:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Discriminator_output

If you get me your model number of your scanner I might already have a Central NC/Wake programming file that can be used
with the radio.

4/17/2011 9:41:51 PM

@A Tanzarian

Quote :

"Can tell us some more about your hobby?"

The scanner monitoring hobby is one of a million smaller radio hobbies that fall under the big umbrella
of the Amateur "Ham" Radio hobby. Though Ham Radio operators are not the only folks that enjoy the
hobby. We have news media folks, we have volunteer public safety folks, and we also have alot of
just normal folks that just like to keep up with what goes on in their communities.

Quote :

"How did you get started?"

In the early 80s when I was 7 or 8 my folks upgraded their stereo system and gave me their old one.
They also gave me to 8 Track tapes along with it. I remember one was a Conway Twitty tape
and I don't remember the other. Obviously I quickly got bored with only 2 8 Track tapes and one night noticed
the AM wire antenna fixed to the back. I hung it up over my book case and started tuning across the AM Broadcast Band.
I was shocked that I was picking up New York, Chicago! All of these far away stations. I was hooked. I pestered my folks
until they bought me a Radio Shack "Flavor Radio" for my next birthday. The Flavor Radio was a little handheld FM/AM transistor
radio. I could then turn across the AM Band in the evenings while sitting on my parents back deck. As I grew older other
hobbies came and went (video games, comic books, etc). In my midteens I had a friend start volunteering for EMS and
he showed me his scanner. It took me back to youth and I quickly pestered my parents until they helped me buy my
1st 10 channel scanner. I have been in the hobby ever since.

Quote :

"What do you get out of it?"

The radio hobby has been amazing to me over the years. I have met so many awesome folks through the hobby
and it has open doors for me in ways I never expected. I have so many good contacts & references. How many folks
can say they have done consulting work for and are able to have listed in their resumes the President & CEO of Wake Med?
Or can say they have public safety contacts & friends scattered all over the state?
Or can say they are one of 10 folks worldwide to beta test radios for an international company?
More than anything I try to "pay it forward" when it comes to the hobby. Others helped me out along the way so I try to do the same and "elmer" others and help them get started in hobby.

Thanks for the question!

[Edited on April 17, 2011 at 10:01 PM. Reason : quote]

4/17/2011 10:01:14 PM

@Brandon1:

Quote :

"What does it take to be a storm spotter? I'm KJ4UBP (tech), and I monitor 147.315, 146.880, and 146.640...along with several different police channels. I'd like to have some more knowledge about storm spotting and information."

Hey Brandon, Central Carolina Skywarn (which you hear on the WB4TQD 146.880Mhz repeater when bad WX
hits) often has spotter training classes. feel free to check out their website and when the next one starts up
feel free to join them. I probably need to do refresher training myself. I am a "certified spotter" but it has been
years since I have done much in that part of the hobby.

Central Carolina Skywarn website:
http://centralcarolinaskywarn.net/

Maybe I will see you out there sometime!

73 de KE4ZNR

4/17/2011 10:05:42 PM

It's a Pro 96. Kind of weird that the paging is illegal but you can still hear locutia/dispatches, tac channels and even hospital call ins. Didn't realize that, thanks.

4/17/2011 10:25:04 PM

Somebody gave me a Radio Shack Pro-135 Scanner for Christmas. Can I do anything with this? I want to monitor local emergency/police communications.

4/17/2011 11:27:00 PM

@ApexDave

Quote :

"It's a Pro 96."

Drop me an email to KE4ZNR-at-Radioreference.com and when I get home later this evening I will
email ya back with a Win96 file setup for the Triangle Area. I have a Pro 96 as well but it sits at
home parked on only RPD Dispatch.

Quote :

"Kind of weird that the paging is illegal but you can still hear locutia/dispatches, tac channels and even hospital call ins. Didn't realize that, thanks."

All goes back to late 80s/early 90s back when cellphones were still analog and could be monitored on a scanner. There was a story in the press where a couple recorded Newt Gingrich talking on his cellphone. Instead of the cellphone companies spending more money making their analog service secure they spent money buying off congress which in turn led to laws restricting scanners from being able to include the full 800Mhz band (where analog cellphones were at the time).
The pager companies jumped on board with the cellphone companies saying that "our service should also be illegal to monitor." Note that both the cellphone companies and the paging companies did not spend money to make their systems more secure, they just spent money making it illegal to monitor.
That is why to this day any communications receiver that covers 800Mhz has to have the old analog cellphone range cut out of coverage. Of course very little analog AMPS cellphone remains so it is almost useless to still have that range excluded in receivers/scanners but good luck on trying to get that law reversed now

4/18/2011 12:37:49 PM

Quote :

"Somebody gave me a Radio Shack Pro-135 Scanner for Christmas. Can I do anything with this? I want to monitor local emergency/police communications."

Good News: You can use that scanner to monitor aircraft & The initial automated Wake Co. locution dispatches on VHF.

Bad News: Everything else public safety wise in Wake County requires a digital capable scanner.
The Pro 135 is an analog only scanner.

Any of the scanners on the following page should handle Wake County Public Safety just fine:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Categoryigital_Scanners

Sorry I could not provide better news

4/18/2011 12:41:28 PM

Will be at the Monthly Tarheel Scanner/Shortwave Radio Group meeting this evening in Northeast Raleigh. We meet at the Red, Hot & Blue Restaurant on Falls of Neuse Rd. Dinner at 6:30pm with meeting starting at 7:30pm. I will be doing a "put together at the very last minute" presentation on
monitoring during the storm and monitoring Progress Energy. I know this is a very last minute notice
but anyone is invited to stop by and say hello. I will be in attendance with a bunch of radios/scanners.
If you have questions feel free to email me at KE4ZNR-at-radioreference.com.
Marshall @KE4ZNR

4/18/2011 12:44:50 PM

what is the cheapest digital scanner to get into this hobby

4/18/2011 12:49:47 PM

Ok, I have a question for you. As somebody who has been an amateur scanner for years, what would I need to do to get into HAM radio? I have never really done it, though my grandfather had a huge CB radio that was probably totally out of power specs for today. I don't really know that I need to talk to anybody else as much as I enjoy listening to frequencies and would like to do some of the Skywarn stuff, for which I would need to have a license.

Also with Skywarn, if you work in Central Carolina, but live in Triad, would you need to be a member of both? Just curious as I will live in Alamance County but work in Orange County.

4/18/2011 12:56:27 PM

KE4ZNR, what class of license do you have? do you know enough morse code to be able to communicate?

i'm looking into taking the technician class test and getting into this as a hobby. i've been looking over some of the theory and practice tests and it doesn't look very hard. any other tips/pointers for someone interested in getting involved in amateur radio?

4/18/2011 1:21:41 PM

you don't need morse code all the way up to general class now days though it is all that is allowed on some frequency bands that those licenses can access.

4/18/2011 1:31:53 PM

^^Not to step on KE4ZNR's toes, but QRZ.com has plenty of practice tests that are really great. I cant speak for him, but I just kept taking the tech class practice tests over and over until I understood the material. Aced the test, picked up an HT.

I love HT's. For me, they are portable and in the Raleigh and surrounding areas I can recieve nearly every repeater, and hit most of them. I have a VX-7R that I love.

[Edited on April 18, 2011 at 1:32 PM. Reason : .]

4/18/2011 1:32:11 PM

@rbrthwrd

Quote :

"what is the cheapest digital scanner to get into this hobby"

The absolute oldest digital capable scanner I would recommend using would be either the
Handheld Radio Shack Pro 96:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-96
or the Base/Mobile 2096:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-2096
Since the 2 models above are no longer in production you can usually find
them on the secondary market for somewhere between $200-$250-$275.
If you go with a digital capable scanner that is any older than the Pro96/2096
then you risk it not working when VIPER is migrated up to what is called "pure P25 digital".

4/18/2011 1:33:15 PM

@jtw208

Quote :

"KE4ZNR, what class of license do you have? do you know enough morse code to be able to communicate?"

I am what is called a "no code technician" license. When I first got into the hobby I did plan on upgrading to Advanced or Extra but just never have done it.

Quote :

"i'm looking into taking the technician class test and getting into this as a hobby. i've been looking over some of the theory and practice tests and it doesn't look very hard. any other tips/pointers for someone interested in getting involved in amateur radio?"

Brandon1 Nailed it. It is super easy these days. The Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (or RARS) will be giving tests in a couple weekends at the yearly "RARSFest" Hamfest held out at the Fairgrounds.
More info:
http://rars.org/hamfest/
I may have way more scanners but Brandon1 has a newer HT than I do. I rock a Yaesu VX-5R Tribander for my day to day usage.
Good luck if you decide to take the tests and let me know if I can do anything to help you out!
It has been years since I took and passed the tests!

4/18/2011 1:39:36 PM

^I just upgraded from a VX-5R (which may go up for sale here soon) to a VX-7R only last week. Still learning. I had a VX-8R last year, but it was a little too much for what I wanted to do.

KE4ZNR - Do you monitor any local repeaters? I'd love to get a chance to chat on the air.

4/18/2011 1:42:54 PM

@Brandon1

Quote :

"KE4ZNR - Do you monitor any local repeaters? I'd love to get a chance to chat on the air."

Usually only RARS 64. Is the W4RNC 145.130 (-) 82.5PL on the air? If so I can try to catch ya
on there one evening. Other than that 64 is one of the few repeaters I can hit clean with my 5R.
Email me and we will try to catch up on one of those repeaters.
73 KE4ZNR

4/18/2011 2:12:21 PM

^Its off the air (145.130). I can hit 64 when I'm in Raleigh with pretty good signal, but out in Youngsville its just a little scratchy. I can check into the nets, but I'm nowhere near full quiet.

Can you hit 147.315?

4/18/2011 2:19:18 PM

I'll try to give it a try one night this week. Tonight is no good cause I will be speaking at the Scanner meeting speaking of which I have to leave work little early so I can go by the house and grab the radios before heading out. Nothing like finding out last minute that you will be giving a presentation.

4/18/2011 2:25:11 PM

If you end up trying, gimme a shout on the 147.315 (carrier access). KJ4UBP. I monitor nearly every night after about 8:00pm. They have a net Thursday at 8:30.

Good luck on the presentation.

4/18/2011 2:48:35 PM

Meeting last night went well.
Met few new folks and enjoyed discussion with the regular members.



Picture of my radio setup last night at Red, Hot & Blue.
Left to Right: Laptop running Trunk88 on VIPER, Uniden BCD996XT Base/Mobile Scanner feeding VIPER info to laptop (with blue screen), Yaesu VX-5R Triband Handheld and Uniden BCD396XT Handheld on top of the 996XT, and Uniden HomePatrol HP-1.
Sorry about the crappy quality of the pic

4/19/2011 12:41:24 PM

I noticed when the storm got bad the other day the "Wake County Police Fire EMS" feed went down, was this result of a storm related power outage knocking out the guys broadband? (is it your feed??)

4/19/2011 1:16:08 PM

@Str8BacardiL

Quote :

"I noticed when the storm got bad the other day the "Wake County Police Fire EMS" feed went down, was this result of a storm related power outage knocking out the guys broadband? (is it your feed??)"

At this time my duties as a moderator & database admin are enough for me to handle so no, none of the RR.com feeds are mine. Something to keep in mind is that all of the 2,649 RR.com feeds are
provided by one of 2 sources:
1) Public Safety agencies which graciously provide their two way radio traffic.
or
2) normal citizen volunteers who also graciously provide
what they hear coming across their local public safety
radio channels over their home internet connection.
This means, of course, that when someones home internet connection goes down for whatever reason that the feed will naturally also go down.
If you want to learn more about what being a feed provider is like "behind the scenes"
feel free to surf over to the live audio section of the RR.com Wiki:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Live_Audio

Thanks for the great question!

4/19/2011 2:51:09 PM

Monitoring public safety audio via one of the RR.com live audio feeds is pretty cool but
of course there are a couple of limitations:
1) You have no control over what you are monitoring. Meaning you can't stop the online feed
on a specific channel or talkgroup to monitor a specific situation as it unfolds.
2) As stated in my previous post if the feed goes down for whatever reason you are out
of luck until the feed is restarted.
This is why if you really start to enjoy the hobby I recommend getting your own
radio. That way you can monitor what you want to, when you want to.

4/19/2011 3:00:17 PM

The reason I asked is I was curious what it takes to set one up. My internet connection has never gone down, even when the power has been out over 12 hours. ATT uVerse and provided a huge battery backup that keeps the internet and home phone on. I think pretty much all of ATT's uVerse infrastructure is buried as well, it stayed up during and after the tornadoes even when we had no power. (and through many longer outages)

From what I am reading the only piece I am missing to setting up a feed would be a rather expensive scanner? I have a spare laptop (broken screen but it would be great to just setup to run the feed and not mess with), and it looks like the software is free. I also have a UPS so between the UPS, and laptop battery (with no screen light and hard disk in sleep mode) it could run on a battery for a long time before it died.

The main Wake County feeds all went down during the storm. The one that was still up had almost 1000 listeners right after the storm passed Raleigh.

4/19/2011 9:56:08 PM

where is the best place to find a pro-96, ebay?

4/19/2011 10:12:43 PM

Yea I have an old Pro-90 that does good. I monitor the Carolina Air Care frequencies at work so I know when to open the blinds and see them taking off or landing and why they picked up the patient.

4/19/2011 10:17:18 PM

@Str8BacardiL

Quote :

"The reason I asked is I was curious what it takes to set one up."

I am sure the RR.com community would really appreciate it if you could provide a feed.
Thanks for considering it.
The main link with all of the details
on what it takes to get one up and running is couple posts up but here is the specific sites from the main Live Audio Wiki Page:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Become_a_Feed_Provider
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Broadcasting_Feeds

All active Feed Providers get a complimentary Premium RR.com Subscription.
Feel free to email me directly if you have further questions and if I can't answer it I will put you in touch with an RR.com Live Audio Admin who can answer your questions.

4/19/2011 10:32:33 PM

@rbrthwrd

Quote :

"where is the best place to find a pro-96, ebay?"

Ebay, or RR.com does have its own Classifieds section.

Just noticed at least one RR.com ad for a used Pro 96:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/classifieds/showproduct.php/product/2666/cat/3

Edit: Which now that I look at the RR.com sellers add it appears he is also trying to auction it on Ebay.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 10:42 PM. Reason : doh]

4/19/2011 10:39:00 PM

Made about a minute long youtube video showing my old Pro96 monitoring Raleigh PD Dispatch.
Hopefully it gives you an idea of what the radio sounds like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce6rTkOyopc

4/19/2011 11:08:10 PM

is that your vx-5r to the left of it?

that thing is tiny

4/20/2011 8:05:16 AM

@jtw208

Quote :

"is that your vx-5r to the left of it? that thing is tiny"

It's not the size of the radio but the motion of the antenna

Yes, the VX-5R is a small rig. Add in the fact that the Pro 96 is a BIG scanner and
you have what you see in my video

4/20/2011 8:59:30 AM

I know this is a stupid question, but when I am listening online it is basically just scanning through and stopping whenever it hears something like my old scanner i had back in the day for races, but with the pro-96 if i hear something i like i can actually stop on that conversation and listen to the entire thing without it switching to other conversations?

4/20/2011 9:08:30 AM

@rbrthwrd

Not a stupid question at all. Think about it as the difference between watching someone else's TV vs watching your own TV. If you are at someone else's house you are at the mercy of whatever they have on. If you are sitting in front of your own TV you can control which stations you want to watch.

As I left my place this morning and started my I40 commute into work I turned on my Uniden BCD396XT and set it to monitor NCSHP Troop C3. As I sat in some delays around the airport exits I switched over and monitored some KRDU aviation activity. As I made my way into Durham I switched over to Durham's Radio System and monitored Durham PD, Durham Sheriff, and NCSHP C7 (Durham).

4/20/2011 9:40:51 AM

For those that have seen the Raleigh PD Mobile Command Post Bus out at
various events you may have wondered what the inside looks like.
A few months ago I created a Flickr set with pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ke4znr/sets/72157623971702500/

4/21/2011 12:48:10 PM

does the RPD let other agencies/organizations use their mobile command center for law enforcement related functions? like the Fallen Firefighters thing in those pictures, for example

4/21/2011 6:00:18 PM

@jtw208

If needed. Funny thing is that most other local medium to large sized law enforcement agencies around here already have
their own Command Posts so they don't need to use RPDs. Hell, even Fire & EMS Depts around here have their
own Command Posts. After 9/11 Federal Funds started flowing into Public Safety accts in the name of safety & defense.
Truth is one dept would buy a command post and the dept one city over would have to buy an equal or larger
command post. "I can't have Garner PD show us up! They have a much larger command post than we do!"
Basically it became a p33n contest to see who had the largest bus/command post.

4/21/2011 7:55:53 PM

SATURDAY HAM FEST ROLL CALL
Str8BacardiL

4/21/2011 10:20:53 PM

^

http://forums.radioreference.com/north-carolina-radio-discussion-forum/208539-rarsfest-2011-info-thread.html

4/21/2011 11:01:48 PM

^ Post above to indicate that of course I will be at the Jim Graham Building tomorrow.
If you have a ham radio/scanner punch in 146.535Mhz Simplex.

4/22/2011 11:22:03 AM

I've had a radio (ICOM IC-T22A i think off the top of my head) since high school (1998). got my license in 2009. Still haven't talked on the damn thing. I'm thinking about coming to the hamfest and actually meeting some people so i might come up with something to talk about.

KJ4NPE

4/22/2011 1:52:37 PM

@scrager Give me a shout on the above simplex freq if you are able to make it.
Look forward to putting a face to the name.

4/22/2011 2:30:44 PM