In this Scanner Master VLog we show you how to fix a corrupted SD Card for your HomePatrol-1/2.
We here at ScannerMaster get calls from customers often to explain some sort of weirdness happening with their scanner. Usually we can figure it out pretty quick but once in awhile we get stumped. When we get stumped it sticks in our craw for a while until we have an epiphany and figure it out. We had one just like that earlier this week.
A customer called and his brand new BCD536HP was acting all ornery. Every couple of seconds it would stop hearing and the signal strength meter would fluctuate. Most of the time this is caused by the Priority or CloseCall features. We determined it was neither of these but still couldn’t figure out what it was.
Here is why we were looking at these features:
Priority, when enabled, will check specified channels every couple of seconds for activity on it. If there is activity it will divert the radio from what is was doing to listen to the Priority channel.
CloseCall will check for strong signals in the area and if detected will divert the radio to the frequency the CloseCall feature detected. If the feature is set to CloseCall Priority then it will cause the radio to stop hearing a channel for a bit, just like the customer complained.
So when we made sure both Priority and CloseCall were off we were flummoxed. Well, I was flummoxed; he was frustrated. I am sure there were some other words starting with “F” being bandied about as well.
I started going thru the menus on the radio in the office (We have one of just about everything here at ScannerMaster) and eventually dug thru all the menus and submenus. Eventually we found the culprit: The Weather Alternate Priority. Somehow the customer got this turned on. As soon as we turned it off the radio worked great again! We had one happy customer and a relieved representative.
The Weather Alert Priority tells the radio to check the weather channels every few seconds and if it detects the standard 1050 Hz. tone used to signify a Weather Alert it will divert the radio to that alert.
New scanners have a ton of neat features but sometimes they can be too smart. Some of these features can cause aggravation when that feature is not needed.
Everything you need to know about Whistler Scanners and SD-Cards in one handy location!
After installing EZ-Scan on a bunch of computers and talking to several customers on the phone it appears that there are issues installing EZ-Scan from the memory card. This occurs on on various Whistler scanners, like the new TRX-1 and TRX-2 as well as the older WS-1098, 1095, 1088 and 1080’s. It appears that the most problem-free method to follow is to download the installer from the Whistler website and install and update it before connecting to your radio.
One of the services we have here at ScannerMaster is called Hometown Programming. You can send your scanner to us and we will program it for you. It is pretty much as simple as that! These services allow your radio to be ready to go as soon as you receive it.
There are actually 2 different programming services here, the right one for you depends on the radio you have or are going to buy. “Hometown Programming” refers to programming traditional scanners as opposed to “Zip Code” location based scanners. “Optimizing” refers to the updates and programming done on the various Location Based scanners, such as the HomePatrol, BCD436/536HP models and the newer Whistler WS1080/1088/1095 and 1098 scanners.
For Hometown Programming we will program in the county of your choice, including the local police, fire & EMS channels as well as the local State Police or Highway Patrol channels. One can add additional counties if they choose for an additional fee.
When we Optimize a location based scanner we will update the database on the memory card, make sure the radio firmware is current and create a local Favorites List for your area. We will also set the location to your ZIP Code.
We also offer firmware updates and installation of features like the Extreme or ProVoice Updates on certain capable scanners.
If you buy the scanner from us we can do the programming before we ship the radio to you. While this might delay the receipt of your radio by a short time, it saves the shipping costs and lets you enjoy your scanner as soon as you receive it, knowing that it has the most up to date programming available.
If you already have the scanner you can send it to us and we will program it then return it to you. Please make sure to use the forms found at
https://www.scannermaster.com/Articles.asp?ID=365
to make sure we have all the information needed to make the radio right for you. All the information you (and us) need is on the form, including the address to send the radio. Return time varies depending on the volume of radios in process but radios are returned as soon as we are done programming them.
While we do not do repairs on scanners there are times when all it needs is to be reprogrammed. If you aren’t sure call us at 1-800-SCANNER and one of our reps will help you decide.
Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club Press Release
Monday, February, 1, 2016
Joe Scheibinger / Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club
On Monday February 8th, Jonathan Higgins, Police Scanner Expert and Digital Media Communications Manager for Scanner Master, one of the world’s leading companies in the sales of police and aircraft scanners, will be speaking at the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club meeting located at the Moraine Park Technical College in room A-112 at 7:00 PM. The general public is invited and there is no cover charge.
Monday, February 8th, 2016 @ 7PM
Moraine Park Technical College
Room A-112
235 North National Avenue
Fond du Lac, WI 54935
Free and open to the general public
In the old days of police scanners, you purchased a “crystal”and placed it in your scanner to hear the local police. Then came programmable scanners where you just entered the frequency on a keypad. Today’s scanners are very different. You see practically every state, county and city police and fire agency in the country have their own unique radio system and/or radio frequency. Some cities and counties actually use encrypted radio systems that cannot be monitored at all, including Orlando for example. Other cities use complex radio systems that must be programmed in a very specific way for your scanner to work. Scanners are very complex. There’s a big learning curve to understand how to set-up and program a scanner for your specific area. Even the models that are pre-programmed require effort to select the channels you want to monitor and delete those not of interest.
Jonathan Higgins is familiar with radios police use in the State of Wisconsin and he will describe what you will need to enter the amazing world of scanning. The need for an advanced scanner varies widely. In some big cities such as Boston a basic scanner will work fine. But in Los Angeles as well as the backwoods of Michigan, Colorado and other states, you need a digital scanner.
You can listen to much more than police and fire on a scanner! You can monitor the local aircraft landing and taking off at your airport. You can hear the engineers on trains as they enter your city. Many people have listened to Russia’s Mir space station, the 3 person Soyuz spacecraft, and even direct transmissions from the space shuttle! Since the early 1960s weather satellites have featured APT – Automatic Picture Transmission, a simple way to receive weather satellite imagery directly from a satellite. There are a variety of commercial satellites which can be monitored on a handheld scanner, most notably the ORBCOMM store-and-forward data satellites. It’s even more of a thrill to listen to an astronaut in space talking to ham radio operators on the ground and absolutely amazing if you happen to be the one talking to the astronaut!
The presentation is open to the public with no cover charge. For more information, contact Joe Scheibinger at 920-237-1450.
Ever wonder why some scanners have different type of antenna connectors? Ever wonder what BNC, SMA or PL259 stand for? Read on and learn!
Most scanners these days have either a BNC or an SMA antenna connector. BNC’s are the ones with the round barrel (about the same diameter as a pencil) and 2 little nubs that you twist on and off to. SMA’s are smaller threaded connectors. Both SMA and BNC mounts have a small center conductor that is surrounded by a ground that is the barrel.
Why are these used for scanners? Well, it is because they work well at a reasonable cost. For years the BNC has been pretty much the standard scanner antenna connector, replacing the old “Motorola” antenna connect that had been around since dirt was invented. Some old scanners used the “UHF” connector. Almost all scanners over the last 10 years or so use either the BNC except for some handhelds that use the SMA.
Until scanners started to standardize on the BNC handhelds use a wide variety of connections, including several different threaded connectors, earphone style plugs and permanently mounted antennas. Most mobile or desktop scanners used Motorola connectors since these were also used on most car radios. Some old scanners used SO-239’s (the female part of the UHF connector), which were common for CB’s and other two-way radios. By the 1980’s many scanners started showing up with BNC’s, both handhelds and base/mobiles.
As handheld scanners shrunk in size some started having SMA connectors replacing the BNC’s. This save a bit of room but forced the manufacturers to produce new antennas and include adaptors. Some scanners that have SMA’s also come with a BNC adapter to allow you to use your existing BNC antennas and accessories, ScannerMaster also sells these adapters.
BNC’s is a bayonet type connection. These press in, with the nubs fitting into grooves. They get locked in with a slight twist and this provides a good physical and RF connection.
SMA’s are a fine threaded connection, the connector itself is smaller than the BNC, both inside the radio and out. With smaller radios, like the BCD396 series, this little bit of extra space helps. Since most scanner users already have BNC antennas, coax connectors and accessories, the manufacturers often include an SMA to BNC adapter to let you use all your existing goodies. Some high-end radio receovers come with “N” connectors. Look close at these and you might notice that a male “N” connector will fit onto a female BNC. They were developed by the same guy, the “N” in both connectors comes from his last name: Neill.
BNC connectors get their name from the bayonet layout (“B”), and the developers, whose last names started with “N” and “C”. SMA stands for “Sub-Miniature Type A”. There are also SMB and SMC but you will likely never see one.
Many two-way radios these days use “Mini-UHF” connectors, these are smaller versions of the venerable UHF connectors. “UHF” connectors actually do not work well on UHF frequencies. The original UHF connector was so named before WWII, when anything about 30 MHz. was a radio wasteland suitable only for hobbyists and experimenters.
All these connectors come in a Male or Female version. This is based on the center pin/socket. The connectors with a pin are male. The UHF connector is a little odd, in that it has common names for the distinct parts. The SO-239 is the female, used on the radio while the PL-259 is the male used on the coax. “SO” stands for Socket, “PL” stands for Plug. Most other connectors use the same name but with female/male parts, such as SMA, BNC and N.
In the old days of scanning things were pretty simple, you put in the local police frequency to listen to the police. In many parts of the country however, this no longer works. Most cities, many counties and even entire states use Trunking Systems. What are trunking systems and how do they work?
The best way to explain how a trunking system works is the analogy of a set of bank teller lines. The bank has 5 tellers, you can line up at any of the 5 lines and hope your line goes faster than the others. Then you get stuck behind the lady that wants to have her penny jar counted by hand…
These days however, banks have a single queue and you go to the next available teller when you reach the head of the line. This is exactly how a trunked radio system works: All users are in one queue and get assigned the next available channel. Instead of having a separate frequency for the FD, one for the PD and another for the ambulance, they just go to the next channel that isn’t being used.
All this is controlled by a computer system called, appropriately enough, a “Controller”. The Controller watches the system and when a radio requests to talk it assigns that radio and any other radio in its group to a channel. All this happens in a fraction of a second.
Radios have all the frequencies used by the system programmed into them and the system is broken down into various virtual channels, called “Talkgroups”. Talkgroups are assigned to various uses like channels would have been before. For example, Mayberry PD might be assigned Talkgroup 101 for Dispatch, 102 for Car-Car and 103 for Detectives. Mayberry FD might be assigned Talkgroup 123 for Dispatch, 124 for Fireground and 125 for Tactical. If Mt. Pilot is sharing the system they might be assigned Talkgroup 287 for Police Dispatch and so on.
There are several types of trunking systems but they all work in much the same way. There are differences in the way they get programmed into scanners as well. The main types of trunked systems in use by Public Safety agencies in the USA include Motorola, EDACS, LTR, APCO25 Phase 1 and APCO25 Phase 2.
For scanner listeners these trunked systems add a layer of complexity to the programming. Depending on the type of scanner and the type of trunked system the method used to program differs. For newer Unidens you program in a “System” to identify the type of trunking, then “Sites” to put in the frequencies used and lastly “Groups” for the talkgroup listing. Whistler, GRE and Radio Shack scanners with Object Oriented programming work differently. On LTR and EDACS systems you have to identify the proper “LCN” channel numbers, these are usually well documented at www.radioreference.com. Motorola and APCO25 systems do not need the frequencies in any particular order.
HomePatrol and other scanners with the Database feature will have these Trunked System parameters already programmed so you can just select the Service and location to listen to them. They do all the heavy lifting for you.
Keep an eye on the ScannerMaster Blog for our explanation of Digital operations!
One common question people have in today’s Internet and app heavy environments is whether a handheld Uniden scanner or Whistler scanner is really necessary since people can access online police scanners. Handheld police scanners are still an essential piece of hardware for people to own for several reasons.
Running a scanner app on your smart phone limits your channel selections. With an app, you are limited to a few frequencies rather a full spectrum of scanner radio frequencies. With a battery operated handheld scanner you have access to more channels, the ability to monitor your local area better with access to not only sheriff, police, and fir dispatch channels, but also tactical, detective, SWAT, state police, highway patrol, fire ground, and numerous other channels rarely offered on scanner apps. In addition, you can monitor public works, university police, transits and so much more. Remember too, that thousands of local, county, and state agency dispatch channels are not offered on apps since there is no one local in many areas feeding the audio to the Internet. These apps generally rely on hobbyists, who may just decide to take down their feed at any time.
Also, consider you are home during a severe thunderstorm and the power goes out. Your home Internet and cellular hotspot services are down and not working. As a result, you cannot access online police scanners from your computer or smart phone. You have no way of knowing what is going on because you are cut off from the police radio scanner transmissions.
However, if you have a battery operated handheld scanner radio, like the Uniden BCD436HP or Uniden HomePatrol HP2, it does not matter if the power is out or whether your Internet or hotspot service is functioning. You are able to listen and monitor radio frequencies from your local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and emergency responders, as well as other numerous other agencies in your community, and know exactly what is going on in regards to the severe storm.
If you are like 90 percent-plus of the people out there who buy police scanners to listen to live police scanner audio feeds and fire department audio feeds, you want to make sure you hear all of the transmissions from city, county, volunteer, and state agencies. The easiest way to ensure you are able to monitor all of these transmissions is with a Uniden scanner, like the BCD436HP or HomePatrol HP2.
How to Program a BCD436HP and HomePatrol HP2 Uniden Scanner Radios
The BCD436HP and HomePatrol HP 2 Uniden scanner radios are one of the easiest scanners on the market to program. You do not need an advanced degree in computers and electronics to program this scanner. It is as simple as entering in your zip code into the scanner. The scanner does all the work and downloads all of the available scanner radio frequencies available in your area. If you ever want to update the radio frequencies, like if you take the handheld scanner with you on vacation, you just enter in the zip code for wherever you are and the scanner updates to that location.
To learn more about handheld Uniden scanner radio models, including the BCD436HP or HomePatrol HP2, or for professional assistance in choosing the best scanner for your area and needs, contact us today at 1-800-SCANNER (1-800-722-6637).
It’s that time of the year again for finding the right gift for that special loved one. How about a scanner? Here are 4 things you should keep in mind when buying a scanner.
1. What type of scanner would be the best?
Give us a call, and speak to one of our scanner experts at 1-800-722-6637
Monday – Friday 10AM – 4PM or send us an email.
2. Deciding Base/mobile vs Portable?
Base/Mobile Scanners are normally kept in one location, either in the car or home. Desktop scanners are for home or office use only. Portable Scanners are great for someone that wants to use the scanner everywhere they go (out and about or from room to room in the home, etc.).
3. Scanner programming options:
We strongly recommend our software or our HomeTown Programming option when you buy a scanner. The HomePatrol Series Scanners are pre-programmed for the nation although we still recommend our Set-up and Optimize service. With these services the scanner will be ready to use right out of the box! Programming typically takes 5 to 10 business days and possibly more as it gets closer to the holidays.
4. Accessories
Make sure they have everything they might need or want when they receive their new scanner! A carry case, computer cable, software, mobile antenna and so on. With each scanner on our website you can make your own package and when you buy accessories with the scanner there are added discounts.
One common question people have about police scanners is whether it is against the law to listen to live police scanner audio feeds. It is not illegal to monitor police audio feeds and police scanner frequencies with radio scanners from the privacy of your own home or business. However, each state sets its own laws in regards to monitoring police radio frequencies with portable scanner radios and using online police scanner apps on smartphones. If you intend to listen to these transmissions, it is your responsibility to check with your local government agencies to find out more about the laws and regulations in your area.
Why Do People Listen to Live Police Scanner Audio Feeds?
People monitor police scanner frequencies and listen to live police scanner audio feeds for various reasons. For instance, reporters and journalists rely upon these transmissions to learn about potential news stories they feel should be shared with the general public. Off duty police officers, volunteer firefighters, and other emergency responders listen to scanner chatter to know exactly what is going on, especially during emergencies, to determine whether they need to report for duty, such as during a major power outage. In addition, people use a police radio scanner to find out about accidents and traffic congestion, so they can avoid these areas and take alternate routes.
What Information Is Shared over Police Scanner Frequencies?
The information communicated over police scanner frequencies is normally limited to specific details between the dispatcher and the responding agency. For instance, if there is traffic accident, the dispatcher normally alerts police, fire, and ambulance services. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding agencies may communicate whether anyone is injured and if towing services are needed. However, more sensitive information, such as the names of those involved in the accident and extent of injuries, are communicated through other secure channels, rather than publically broadcasted over live scanner audio feeds.
How to Select the Best Police Scanner
Finding the top police scanner to use to monitor and listen to scanner communications largely depends on how and where you want to use the scanner. If you are going to be using the scanner radio at home or your business, or your local laws allow you to install it in your vehicle, a base or mobile scanner is a good choice. On the other hand, if you want a scanner to use for emergencies, or your local laws allow you to carry a scanner radio with you wherever you go, then you should consider a portable scanner. The key to selecting the best scanner is not getting distracted by the features or number of channels offered on a particular model, but ensuring the model you select is capable of picking up the radio frequencies used by your local fire, police, and other government agencies.
For further assistance in selecting an appropriate scanner compatible with the radio frequencies in your area, contact us today at 1-800-SCANNER (1-800-722-6637).