Telephony And VOIP

Police Radio Scanner

What is a police radio scanner?

Police radio scanner is the nick name given to radio scanners. The term derives from the fact that many scanner users enjoy listening to police radio broadcasts.

The air around us is flooded with radio waves. What FM radios, TV sets and cell phones capture is just the tip of the ice berg. Conversations between firefighters, police personnel, the pizza delivery boy and even the local weather station broadcast are some of the numerous instances, which envelopes the air around us at any point of time.

A radio scanner equips you to listen to all these. Radio scanning is the process of effectively tuning into and monitoring any wireless radio communication around you. A scanner picks up these radio signals.

While an AM/FM radio is programmed to pick up only AM/FM band radio signals, a radio scanner can pick up multiple radio signals and multiple radio bands simultaneously making it possible to easily keep track of many channels at once.

The standard Police radio scanner receiver has a Volume control, Squelch, Scan, Manual, Program and other buttons, switches and knobs to control the receiver functions and the bells and whistles.

Depending on the manufacture, scanners are designed to receive one or more "bands" of frequencies and may have "banks" for each band and may cover a wide range of frequencies authorized for use by public service agencies.

A police radio scanner is usually designed to receive several VHF and UHF bands and can be purchased with hundreds of programmable memory channels. They are available both in base (home setup) and portable models and can operate on batteries and AC power.

Most portable scanners can use rechargeable batteries for hours of use or can be operated from a car cigarette lighter adapter. The portable scanners come with a small rubber antenna and the table model (base) radios usually come with a telescoping antenna.

Both the types (portable and base) come with the feature to add an external antenna to increase the coverage area.

It is often claimed that the true heir to power, in the future decades, will be the one who has access to information and not oil or nuclear weapons. And this holds true for a police radio scanner.

Although the entertainment aspect of the scanners cannot be undermined, yet its informative value is overwhelming. Information on a wide array of events is at your disposal. Be it the crime at your neighborhood, the warnings from your met station or a road accident you have an access to a gamut of conversations and broadcastings!
Police radio scanners are portable and affordable. Whatever your purpose or budget whether you want the latest scanner attached to the PC or a second hand scanner everyone is invited in the world of scanning.

Article Published: Friday 22nd December 2006