Police Scanners

Discussion in 'Not Sure Where it Goes' started by Chrissy Cross, Mar 26, 2018.

  1. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Have you just tried online? Mine is very clear.
     
    #16
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    For the six years that I worked in Los Fresnos, I monitored the police radio 24/7, since I was always on duty. It got so that any talk about a motor vehicle accident or anything else that might require an ambulance would wake me up before the page, so my mind would be listening to that stuff and filtering it while I was asleep. I did much the same when I worked for Catalina. Although I wasn't required to be on duty 24/7, I wanted to know what was going on.

    Here, I have a scanner but a couple of years after I moved here the local police went to a trunked system that I couldn't scan. A lot of departments are moving to trunked radio systems, or perhaps other systems that they've come up with in the past couple of decades, that use multiple frequencies and are not easily scannable.
     
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  3. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Since I just discovered this, I hope Fresno stays online ...it's so fascinating.

    Since Fresno is pretty big...something is happening every minute it seems. Some are mundane nothings but a few shootings today already.
     
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  4. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Everything is encrypted or trunked here except the ambulance calls, but you can keep track of most serious stuff through that. The police in Anchorage have an online system and a text message system you can sign up for, but out here in the boonies, we have nothing online or by text.
     
    #19
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  5. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I haven't had a scanner for years. Still miss one.
     
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  6. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    This just came on...kind of funny but sad too...

    A Down's syndrome boy is getting naked in a laundermat. :)

    Maybe in his mind he wants to wash EVERYTHING.
     
    #21
  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Don't know why Ive only just started listening to one.

    So much going on....unbelievable!
     
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  8. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    The last time I listened to one was back in the early nineties or maybe late eighties. I had gone to bed early, tired because I had driven from Colby, Kansas to Lubbock,Texas and was later than intended leaving Colby. The only time I stopped was to buy gas and I was tired. I had the scanner on. A call came in for a police sniper. Dispatcher replied no sniper available. This was in the days before swat teams. It was a bank robbery, the robber had taken a hostage. They were in pursuit. The sniper they said was in Colorado, deer hunting, no sniper available. He had the only rifle available. This was in the days thsse fast little Fords first came out. The chase officer said the robber was running off from him, he said I can't catch him. He asked for an intercept vehicle. They had a fast Ford watching a liquor store on the edge of an upcoming town... The fast ford fell in the chase. I listened all night. It was past eight the next morning when the chased vehicle ran out of gas and they had a shoot out. Bank robber shot, hostage rescued. Exciting stuff.
     
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  9. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Yep, it really is...you can get really addicted to listening to it.
     
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  10. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I have a little HAM radio that is also a scanner. As I said, the police dispatches are all encrypted, so I can only listen to the ambulance dispatches. I don't leave it on all the time, as, even out here, the thing is too busy. I turn it on whenever I hear sirens, so I can find out what is going on around me that might affect me.
     
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  11. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I'm sure I won't listen to it all day after awhile but right now it's new and exciting for me. :)
     
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Before I had left the EMS business, we had started doing most of our communication by cellphone. We were dispatched by radio, and we called in our arrival and departures by radio, so that the dispatcher could keep track of our response, scene, and transport times, but our other communications were done by cellphone. particularly our reports to the hospital. Even before cellphones became popular, we had bagphones in the ambulances.

    The Cameron County Sheriff's Department moved from a radio frequency to a trunked system in the 1980s. However, their frequency was kept up, including the repeater system they had in place. One of our paramedics dispatched for the Sheriff's Department and he told us that the new SO radios didn't even have the old frequency programmed into them and that no one monitored that frequency. I programmed it into the radios in our ambulances and we used it for things like which restaurant we were going to meet at for lunch, requests for someone to pick up a fast food order, or that kind of thing.

    We also used it when we had an ambulance doing a long-distance run because, with the repeater system, it came in clearly within five counties. Abandoned radio frequencies can be useful.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 26, 2018
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  13. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I'm only hearing police calls so maybe fire and ambulance are handeled differently.
     
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  14. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Most likely you are only getting one frequency (channel) that is only local police. EMS and Fire have their own.

    When I was in EMS, the radio in our unit only got transmissions from our main dispatcher. If we were at our station, we'd get a phone call with all the information we needed to get to the scene......what Code we going to the scene under (Code 1, Code 2 or Code 3) and medical status of patient. While eating at a restaurant, or just being away from our unit, we had a mobile radio (not police and/or fire) we'd monitor for any calls to us. And, by the way, the abbreviation EMS (aka, Emergency Medical Services) wasn't used back in the mid 70's when I worked in it.
    Just to let you know, Chrissy, we have a complete First Aid Kit in our boat, home and vehicles. Heck, I even have a stethoscope in the home First Aid Kit. Have flares and fire extinguisher in boat and vehicles also.
     
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  15. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Affirmative...Copy. :)

    This is a screenshot of what I'm listening to...it does say Police and EMS but I'm only hearing police calls...so far anyway.


    IMG_2032.JPG
     
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