Category: Blog

How to Buy a Police Scanner

Scanners give you a live feed of the public safety activity in your area, granted you have the ability to hear police reports, EMS calls, firefighter activity, weather alerts, and more. Police scanners are one of the best worst-kept secrets in the history of modern technology. Scanners a powerful means of keeping tabs on all public

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Is Baofeng a Police Scanner?

No, Baofeng radios are not police scanners. So you decided to sink a couple bucks into a Baofeng just to see what all the hype is about. It’s about 30 bucks, so it’s not gonna take food of the table. Inexpensive scanning is alluring, sure, but does it work the way a digital scanner does?

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What’s the Best Police Scanner Company?

Window shopping for scanners is tough when the only windows you can peer through are in your web browser. There are very few physical locations where you can kick the proverbial tires and sign & drive a police scanner home with you. That’s where eCommerce scanner companies come in to play. So, you need to

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Police Scanner Apps & Streams Guide

Whether you’re getting off scanner apps and looking for a scanner, or you’re trying to decide if a scanner will do more for you than a free or low-cost phone app… We’re here with our handy dandy yellow legal pad to weigh the pros and cons right there with you! With apps and streams, you

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Police Scanner Encryption Explained

Encryption means no scanner can monitor. There are 2 types of encryption: If your area is fully encrypted – no scanner can monitor. There are no loopholes or tricks to get around full encryption. If your area has partial encryption you can still monitor quite a bit, just not what is encrypted. To find out,

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Police Scanning 101: Terminology, Concepts & Basics

New to scanning & a bit overwhelmed? This is the best place to start. In This Article We’ll Show You Chapter 1: Police Scanner Frequency Basics Chapter 2: Radio Signal Formats Chapter 3: Police Scanner Device Types Chapter 4: Channels Chapter 5: Banks Chapter 6: Search Mode Chapter 7: Features Our Police Scanner Buyer’s Guide is another great article!

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Ham Radio Crib Notes

Amateur radio operators (AKA “Hams”) are sort of like the outlaws of the radio communications realm. They operate on the fringes, well outside the accepted mainstream bands, chatting about whoever and whatever they want, wherever they want, on their own time, by their rules. Hams use their homemade rigs to wrangle the rodeo bull of

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Best Emergency Communication Devices

Wildfires in California, hurricanes in Florida, derechos in Iowa, twisters in Tornado Alley, and earthquakes in, uh…California. Wherever you are, natural disasters are more prevalent today than ever before. The beauty of radio technology is that it keeps everyone connected, and in times of natural crisis, that’s more important than anything else. Communication and gathering information during

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The Ultimate Guide to Police Scanner Programming

The word “programming” sounds daunting though, doesn’t it? A projection of binary code flashes across your glasses. You’re “wired in” and typing at impossible speeds. Since we’re daydreaming, you’re Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Well, to be completely candid…programming isn’t quite as dangerously cool.  Still, programming is a learning curve. No, a computer science degree is not

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Police Codes Explained

Even if you’re green in the scannerverse, you probably already use police codes in jest. The most obvious example is 10-4, which is simply used to signify acknowledgment.  10 codes are the most standardized class of police codes and, in turn, the most easily recognizable.  Even if you’re (temporarily) receiving a poor signal, you should be

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