Scanner Monitoring: The KC2HMZ ScanWNY Page

For me personally, the term "scanner monitoring" actually reflects the advance of technology over time, because when I first got started in this particular facet of the hobby, scanners hadn't been invented yet. I, and everyone else back then, did my listening on an analog tuner, often oblivious to the exact frequency I was listening to. All I knew was that if I turned the tuning knob until the pointer was right about THERE, the radio would pick up the local fire dispatcher when he dispatched an alarm...maybe...if I had the pointer in the right place.        My first actual scanner was a portable 4-channel crystal-controlled VHF high-band model from Radio Shack. It had crystals for the local fire department and sheriff's department, the very busy Buffalo fire dispatch channel, and the old VHF frequency for the NY State Thruway Authority (which was active then...this was before they moved to UHF).        A few years later programmable scanners appeared on the market, and a few years after that, in 1977, a 10-channel Bearcat 210 made by the Electra Corp. in Cumberland, Indiana (long before Uniden bought 'em out of the scanner business) appeared on the kitchen counter. I still have it and it still works, as does another one I picked up in non-working condition at a local flea market and returned to usable condition.        The scanner pictured above is a RadioShack PRO-2045. I have two of these units. I have several other scanners as well. For the curious, I'll list them here:

• Bearcat 210 (10-ch.) - As I said, I have two, one that was purchased new and one that was salvaged after being declared a basket case. One is programmed for Buffalo PD/FD and the other kept as a spare to use if I want space to poke in a frequency into a radio real quick and sit on that frequency without altering the programming in one of my other scanners. These units will work on 12VDC as well as on AC current but due to their size and weight aren't a good choice for mobile operation in today's downsized vehicles. It does make it easy to use them on emergency power, however!
  
• RadioShack PRO-2045 (200-ch.) - I also have two of these, both purchased new. One is programmed for military aircraft monitoring as well as Coast Guard, the Niagara Falls Reserve Air Station, civilian aviation frequencies, and railroad. The other is my primary station scanner for scanning local police, fire, EMS, government, marine, and other VHF/UHF frequencies of interest to me. These run on 12VDC - a factory-supplied "wall wart" adapter lets you run 'em from AC line current - and so are also easily used on emergency power.
  
• Regency INF-10 Informant - This is a mobile unit but is used at home, kept parked on the local police frequency. Got it for free at a yard sale - the previous owner didn't know if it still worked or not and let me have it gratis just to get it out of his garage. Uses 12VDC only. Never did find an owner's manual for it, but figured out how to use it just the same.
  
• RadioShack PRO-50 (20-ch. portable) - Originally purchased new, programmed for local PD/FD/EMS monitoring, this is the backup to the larger-capacity PRO-79, and this one is generally kept in my "grab-and-go" kit. Runs on 9 VDC using alkaline AA cells, NiCad battery packs, or a multi-voltage DC adapter plugged into a 12-volt source.
  
• RadioShack PRO-35 (100-ch. portable) - Programmed for local PD/FD/EMS/Ham/Aircraft, this is usually kept in my van as backup to the mobile scanner installed in the van. It'll run off the vehicle electrical system as well as its own rechargable Nicad battery. Purchased at a hamfest.
  
• Uniden Bearcat BC-700A - Primary mobile scanner in my van. Recently when I got a peek inside a mobile news cruiser from one of the local TV stations, they had a BC-700A installed in it. Also, looking around the parking lot of one of the local city emergency management headquarters during a recent activation revealed that some of the city-owned emergency vehicles parked there at the time each had a BC-700A installed as well. So, for what it's worth, this seems to be a popular choice for a mobile scanner among professionals needing a mobile scanner, at least around "these here parts." Bought used from a fellow ham who needed some quick cash at the time.
  
• RadioShack PRO-79 (200-ch. portable) - This is my primary handheld scanner, programmed for general scanning interests - PD/FD/EMS as well as government, railroad, marine, and ham frequencies. Runs on 9VDC (see notes for the PRO-50). Usually lives on my belt, next to my dual band ham HT. Bought at a hamfest for half of what they were selling for at Radio Shack at the time.
  
• RadioShack PRO-2026 (60-ch. Desktop) - Programmed for general listening to area PD/FD/EMS/Ham, this one is kept ready to move around the apartment in case something interesting is going on and I want to plug a scanner in out in the kitchen to listen to while I'm out there. It's old and beat up and its case is literally falling apart (held together with duct tape, in fact!) but it still works. Only works on 120 VAC, so not a good choice for using it on emergency power unless you have unlimited DC power and an inverter, or of course, a generator. Originally purchased new.
  
• Regency Monitoradio/Executive Scanner (10-ch. Crystal Controlled) - If there's any other model number for this, it's not shown on the front of the radio. This ancient scanner was purchased at a ham club auction for $5.00, inside it were several crystals including one for a local ham repeater that retransmits the downlink frequency from a popular ham satellite when that particular satellite is in range of our geographical location. Thus, it serves as a very frequency-stable monitor receiver for this repeater, and lets me hear when the satellite is within range. Power requirement is 120VAC. For most, this would be merely a museum piece - you have to be a real radio addict like I am in order to actually put something like this to productive use. :-)
  
• RadioShack PRO-94 (1000-ch. portable) - Programmed for use at work at the airport, and kept in my locker there when I'm not using it. This is a trunking scanner, and the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority, which operates the airport, is on a GE/Ericsson EDACS system, so the trunking scanner is needed here to monitor the transit police and Crash/Fire/Rescue (CFR) action. Power requirement is 9VDC. Purchased new and the most recent addition to my collection as of this writing.
  

Why so many scanners? KC2HMZ's First Law Of Radio: You can never have enough radios. Here's a true story from my own personal scanning experiences to illustrate why I have come to this conclusion.        One day while listening on one of my 200-channel scanners, I heard a fire call dispatched on channel one. Two seconds after the carrier dropped, the scanner naturally moved on. After several stops on other channels (an EMS call dispatched by Buffalo FD, an Erie County sheriff's car running a plate during a vehicle stop, a snow plow operator from who cares where whining because he didn't have enough heat in his truck, a CSX train getting highballed by the main line dispatcher to roll southbound, a police cruiser in Niagara Falls being sent on a barking dog complaint), the scanner finally got back to channel one minutes later - just in time for me to hear the apparatus I'd earlier heard being dispatched for a fire alarm start to call back in quarters. That's right, I heard the call dispatched, then heard the trucks getting back to their firehouses, and I had no idea what had happened in between. Why? Because my scanner was scanning so many channels, I experienced what I call LOSS OF FOCUS - there is so much for that one radio to do, you miss details. There are two possible solutions to this problem - you either (1) lock out some of the channels on the scanner (and risk missing an interesting call in another nearby locale), or you (2) use multiple radios with fewer channels and different stuff programmed in each one.        Since used scanners can be picked up dirt cheap at garage sales, flea markets, hamfests, and from acquaintances who just decide they want to sell what they have and buy a newer one, I opted for the second approach. I quickly discovered that my ears were pretty good at determining what direction a sound was coming from, and could sort out multiple radios due to direction and slight variations in volume settings. I eventually got so I could have ten or twelve radios running and not miss anything important on any of them (if a major incident happens, dispatchers' voices suddenly gain a note of tension that I'll notice and zero in on; my own callsign heard over a radio if I'm called will jump out at me as if the radio grabbed me by the arm; and of course the major disaster frequencies that light up only if something really serious happens are programmed into a radio that's at eye level right in front of me so that I will SEE something's going on even if I fail to hear it).        I've even managed to have two entirely separate conversations, on two different repeaters on two different bands, using radios at opposite ends of the room no less, without either group noticing that I was exercising my radio multitasking skills...but, I digress. Let's get back to scanner monitoring!

Western New York Scanner Frequencies

No page on scanning would be complete without a list of frequencies. It seems to be mandatory that anyone who does a web page on scanning has to publish a frequency list for his or her area. The problem is that in my case, I've been compiling my frequency list since before Nixon set the national record for corruption in the executive branch of US government (Clinton made a valiant attempt to break the record but fell just short). The result is that this page has probably taken quite a long time to load, but now that it's loaded you'll soon have a fairly good list of scanner frequencies for western New York police, fire, EMS, utility, government, and military frequencies to poke into your scanner. Hope you enjoy your listening.        The frequency list is the result of my own listening. I have not lifted the frequencies from a book or CD, or from someone else's web site, or from anywhere else. If it's on this list, it means that I personally have sat here in front of my radios and have listened to these and confirmed them. Some of these don't appear on anybody else's lists. Don't be surprised. A successful radio monitor produces frequency information into the mainstream of the hobby - rather than begging for somebody else's frequency listings - and that's what I have been doing here for years now...my list just hasn't been available to the general public until now. :-)        It should also not surprise you if what I've listed here does not agree with what's listed elsewhere. Again, this is because I've compiled this list myself, the hard way - by listening to the radios and taking notes - and so many of the errors that frequently appear in other people's lists do not appear here because rather than copy lists from other sources, I made up my own by listening, so their errors don't appear here because I know better. I also try to delete obsolete information from my own records, so for example, the VHF frequencies for Buffalo Fire that appear in a certain other Western New York frequency guide do not appear here because Buffalo FD has stopped using those frequencies, no longer has the radios in their rigs, and is using their new UHF system exclusively. If you recently paid $20 for a frequency guide that tells you Buffalo FD is still on VHF, you now know where NOT to get your frequency info in the future...and you'll find the correct frequencies below, free of charge. (By the way, the same frequency guide lists the frequencies for the NYANG fighters at Niagara Falls...too bad those all shipped out to Seymour-Johnson over 20 years ago and there are no fighters at Niagara Falls anymore! There are some in Syracuse...and you'll find their squadron air-to-air freqs below.)        This list is by no means complete. I have no interest in monitoring the business band, telephone calls, and stuff like that. But if you're after emergency services here's a pretty doggone good listing if I do say so myself. If it doesn't appear in these listings, it means that either:   (1) I don't have it...so please don't waste your time and mine e-mailing me to ask for frequencies that I don't have!   OR   (2) I am aware of a frequency being listed as licensed to or used by someone, but have not confirmed this through my own listening activities...so I'm not about to "publish" those on the web and risk giving out incorrect our obsolete information.        If you're just getting started in scanner monitoring and are wondering what kind of scanner you'll need to cover the Western New York area, the answer depends on what you think you'll want to listen to. If you want to listen to the transit police (not a bad idea since they cover the airports) you'll need a trunking scanner that can follow a GE/Ericsson EDACS trunked radio system. The Rural-Metro ambulance company is also on a trunked system (theirs is a Motorola system). The other public safety (police, fire, and EMS) services are still on conventional radio systems as of this writing and can be monitored with your basic garden variety conventional (non-trunking) scanner. If listening to aircraft communications is something you think you'll be interested in, make sure your scanner covers the aircraft band 108-134mHz, in AM mode - I repeat, AM mode, all VHF/UHF aircraft comms are in AM, not FM! - and if you want to listen to military air, the UHF 224-400mHz band as well, also in AM mode.        If, for some reason, you are looking for this information in printed form and can't print out what appears below, check the June 2000 issue of Popular Communications magazine in the article "John's Story From Western New York". Yeah, that was me, and a good portion of the frequency info was included with that month's column.        Here, then, is the frequency list...enjoy!

The KC2HMZ ScanWNY Frequency List

Many of the services listed below use CTCSS or DCS to reduce interference from other services and/or to discourage morons from attempting to interfere with their communications. Listed CTCSS/DCS tones are for the use of legitimate scanning hobbyists to program into their receivers. They are not for the use of morons who think it's funny to transmit on public safety and government frequencies. If this is something you enjoy doing, please e-mail me so that I know who to send the U.S. Department Of Justice after - and I assure you that I am *NOT* kidding, messing around on public safety frequencies could get someone killed...and one of the hams in our club just happens to work for the DOJ so he'll be the first person talked to about it (if we catch you doing this I hope one of his dogs takes a nice large painful bite right out of your bottom, which is where your brain probably is. 'Nuff said.).

Amherst Police 154.740 Amherst Fire 46.260, 425.400 425.450 425.475 Amherst Govt.: 153.980 (Engineering), 153.815 (Highway) Buffalo Police: 460.325 (Ch. 1 - car-to-car), 460.350 (Ch. 2), 460.425 (Ch. 3 - dispatch), 460.475 (Ch. 4 - dispatch),                        460.025 (Ch. 5 - DMV and other info after 5PM), 423.875 (Tactical) Buffalo Fire:  424.225 (Ch. 1 - Dispatch), 424.350 (Ch. 2 - Fireground), 423.900 (Ch. 3 - Fireground & Hazmat Incidents),                     423.825 (Service Channel - Electrical & Alarms during daytime, at night often used as a car-to-car by the chiefs                       and fire investigators, so well worth programming into your scanner), 424.375 (Ambulance Dispatch) Buffalo Govt.: 453.600 (DOT/Parking Violations) 453.925 (Housing Authority) 453.750 (Streets Dept.)                       424.0750 (Schools Security) 424.0500 (Engineering) 423.9250 (SecureNet Downtown) Buffalo State College: 453.3500 424.3250 453.7250 State University Of New York At Buffalo: Police 453.050 Buffalo-Niagara International Airport: 135.350 (ATIS), 120.500, 126.500, 126.150, 124.700 City Of Tonawanda: Police 460.225, 460.0125 Fire 46.420, 460.600 DPW 154.965 City Of North Tonawanda: Police 460.175 Fire 154.130 DPW 151.115 Parks 453.900 Town Of Tonawanda: Police 460.100 Fire 46.460 Highway 453.325 Brighton VFC 46.480 City Of Niagara Falls: Police 460.375 460.125 Fire 460.525 460.575 Niagara County: Sheriff 154.755 Fire 46.060 (dispatch) 46.220 (fireground) EMS: 155.220 (disp.) 155.175 (HEAR)                           Highway 151.025 Niagara Active Hose Co. 46.160 Erie County: Sheriff 460.075 460.450 460.200 Fire 46.380 (mutual aid net) Highway 453.200 453.100 453.375                     HEAR 155.325 155.340 EMS Tactical 155.715 Civil Defense 155.760                     Countywide Law Enforcement Tactical 155.730                     Central Police Services 155.580 460.275 City Of Lockport: Police 155.250 Fire 46.440 Town Of Orchard Park: Police 155.190 Fire 154.145 Town Of West Seneca: Police 155.2500 Fire 46.24 Schools 424.2500 Highway 453.9500 City Of Lackawanna: Police 460.150 Fire 154.430 East Aurora: Police 155.640, Fire 46.24 Hamburg: Police 155.790 Fire 46.20 Lancaster: Police, 155.655 Fire, 453.4875 453.0625 453.6500 Cheektowaga: Police 155.610, Fire 453.4875 (Ch. 1), 453.650 (Ch. 2), 453.0625 (Ch. 3)                        Highway: Base 151.085 Trucks 159.060 Depew: Police 155.655 Fire 155.100 (Home Receivers) Vol. Ambulance Corps 155.160 155.205 Kenmore: Police 460.500 Mercy Flight 155.280 461.625 Twin City Ambulance: 460.550 463.1375 463.1625 468.1375 468.1625 Niagara Falls Reserve Air Station: Security 150.350 150.325 150.025                                                      CFR 173.5875 (fire/crash), also 150.050, 149.150                                                      Ground ops 164.0250 164.5000 165.1375 165.1875 Niagara Falls International Airport: 118.500 (tower), 120.800 (ATIS), 122.050 (Scenic falls UNICOM) New York State Police: Troop A Bases 155.505 Cars 155.535 Car-to-car 154.665 Statewide Emergency 155.475                                      Statewide Alerts 154.695 State Police At State Institutions 155.070 New York State Thruway Authority 453.525 (includes State Police Troop T) New York State DEC Police: 159.225 159.375 Town Of Grand Island Fire 46.420 Police Intersystem Coordination 155.370 Intercounty Fire Net 45.880 Niagara Frontier Transit Authority - GE/Ericsson EDACS trunked system, see separate information below Rural-Metro Ambulance - Motorola 900 MHz trunked system, frequencies follow: 935.1750 937.0250 935.1875                                         937.1125 935.2000 937.1250 935.2125 939.0250 937.0125 939.1125 Niagara Mohawk Power Company: 153.425 451.100 451.375 451.675 New York State Electric & Gas: 48.040 48.260 48.320 NYSEG National Fuel Gas: 48.14 47.760 New York State Power Authority: 424.025 (security) New York State Parks Police: 155.685 (primary) 156.120 (also maintenance) Federal Bureau Of Investigation: 167.7625 167.2250 167.2875 (most traffic scrambled) Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: 165.2875 U.S. Secret Service: 165.375 U.S. Customs: 165.2375 166.535 Border Patrol: 162.925 163.625, 163.675 U.S. Postal Service: 418.300 415.050 407.725 Environmental Protection Agency: 165.4125 General Services Administration: 417.200 U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers: 165.090 U.S. Coast Guard: (Complete list of VHF marine band is widely available on the Internet, the following channels and their specific uses by USCG Buffalo, NY Group follow) 157.100 Broadcasts 157.050 cutters/helos 157.150 civilian liason                               156.800 (Ch. 16 emergency/distress) 156.300 Ship-to-ship safety US Govt. Interagency 163.100 168.350 Family Radio Service: 462.5625 Ch. 1, 462.5875 Ch. 2, 462.6125 Ch. 3, 462.6375 Ch. 4, 462.6625 Ch. 5                                   462.6875 Ch. 6, 462.7125 Ch. 7, 467.5625 Ch. 8, 467.5875 Ch. 9, 467.6125 Ch. 10                                   467.6375 Ch. 11, 467.6625 Ch. 12, 467.6875 Ch. 13, 467.7125 Ch. 14 Multi-Use Radio Service: 151.820 151.880 151.940 154.570 154.600 151.625 General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS): 462.550 462.575 462.600 462.625 462.650                                                               462.6750 GMRS (Emergency communications and assistance to travellers)                                                               462.7000 462.7250                                                               5-Watt ERP Limit On Following Channels: 462.5625 462.5875 462.6125                                                               462.6375 462.6625 462.6875 and 462.7125 Wireless Microphones (1/20-watt limit): 169.445 169.505 170.245 170.305 171.045 171.605 171.845 171.905

Amateur Radio: 146.955 W2SEX Repeater NT (ARATS), 442.575 K2YW Repeater NT, 444.150 WB2JPQ Repeater Buffalo, 444.000 WA2HKS Repeater Buffalo (BARRA), 146.820 W2RUI Repeater Lockport (LARA), 146.835 WB2JPQ Repeater (Interlink), 145.490 WB2JPQ Repeater (Interlink), 146.730 K2GUG Repeater Niagara Falls (BARRA), 147.000 N2YDM Repeater Kenmore, 145.390 K2XZ Repeater, 146.670 KE2VW Repeater Arkwright (Erie Co. ARES/RACES), 146.640 Repeater (WNY Skywarn Secondary), 145.310 Repeater (WNY Skywarn Primary), 147.090 WB2ELW Repeater (STARS), 147.420 (Red Cross Simplex), 444.625 Repeater Lockport (Niagara Co. RACES), 147.255 Repeater Lancaster (LARC), 147.390 K2ZT Repeater Lewiston (Nia. Co. ARES/Red Cross), 146.520 Simplex 2m calling, 446.000 Simplex 70cm calling, 52.525 Simplex 6m calling   Railroad: 160.350 CSX, 160.800 CSX, 160.980 CSX, 161.070 CSX, 161.130 CSX, 160.365 CSX, 160.230 Amtrak,                160.815 Canada RR, 161.415 Canada RR, 160.440 Norfolk Southern RR

Medical MED-# Frequencies: (Only limited use noted in Erie County, however, extensive use noted in counties south of Erie especially on MED10/DISPATCH-2 and on MED-2)   Hospitals                                               Paramedics 463.100                MED- 1                    468.000 463.025                MED- 2                    468.025 463.050                MED- 3                    468.050 463.075                MED- 4                    468.075 463.100                MED- 5                    468.100 463.125                MED- 6                    468.125 463.150                MED- 7                    468.150 463.175                MED- 8                    468.175 462.950                MED- 9/Dispatch-1 462.975                MED-10/Dispatch-2

USAF Air Refueling Frequencies        Much more complete information is widely available on the Internet. I have found the following frequencies to be of particular interest in the Western NY area:   CORONET East "Boom" Frequencies: 396.200     394.600     391.000     388.400     378.200     375.700                                                             372.300     370.400     314.500     297.300     343.100     322.800                                                             254.600     255.750     236.750     228.550     293.000     289.700   AR-206H/L Frequencies: 235.100 (Primary Low Altitude Boom Freq.)                                         348.900 (Primary High Altitude Boom Freq.)                                         282.700 (Secondary Boom Freq.)                                         284.600 (High Altitude ARCP) (Cleveland ARTCC)                                         335.500 (Low Altitude ARCP) (Cleveland ARTCC)                                         354.100 (High Altitude Exit) (Cleveland ARTCC)                                         307.800 (Low Altitude Exit) (Cleveland ARTCC)

Miscellaneous Military Air Frequencies: 243.000 - Nationwide Emergency * (* = See Below) 261.900 - FUZZY OPS (107th ARW, NYANG, Niagara Falls, NY) 340.800 - CARBONATE (914th Airlift Wing, USAFR, Niagara Falls, NY) 349.000 - Niagara Falls Tower 242.000 - National Guard Helicopters 138.300 - 174th FW Air-To-Air (NYANG F-16s, Syracuse, NY) 139.875 - 174th FW Air-To-Air (NYANG F-16s, Syracuse, NY) 141.750 - 174th FW Air-To-Air (NYANG F-16s, Syracuse, NY) 141.925 - 174th FW Air-To-Air (NYANG F-16s, Syracuse, NY) 364.200 - AICC*   140.400 - USAF Thunderbirds Support Aircraft 141.850 - USAF Thunderbirds VICTOR-1 (4-ship formation air-to-air) 143.850 - USAF Thunderbirds VICTOR-2 (4-ship formation air-to-air) 235.250 - Thunderbird Control 322.950 - USAF Thunderbirds Solo Aircraft   170.900 - USN Blue Angels Ground Support 238.150 - USN Blue Angels Diamond Air-To-Air 273.350 - USN Blue Angels Diamond Air-To-Air 275.350 - USN Blue Angels Diamond Air-To-Air 251.600 - USN Blue Angels Solo Aircraft Air-To-Air 345.900 - USN Blue Angels Solo Aircraft Air-To-Air 263.350 - USN Blue Angels "Fat Albert" Demo 307.700 - USN Blue Angels Air-To-Ground (All 6 Aircraft) 142.625 - USN Blue Angels Ground Support 237.900 - USCG SAR 240.600 - USCG Rescue Beacons 275.100 - USCG Rescue Beacons 251.900 - SAR Ops Common All Services 282.000 - USCG Ops Common 381.700 - USCG Air-To-Ground/Air-To-Air 381.800 - USCG Air Primary 383.900 - USCG Air-To-Ground/Air-To-Air   Miscellaneous Civilian Air Frequencies: 121.500 - Nationwide Emergency   * Regarding 243.000 above...one commonly sold Western NY frequency guide lists this as "National Guard" - right above another frequency commonly used by NY National Guard helicopters...thereby giving the false impression tht 243.000 is a National Guard frequency. What 243.000 is, is the national military aircraft emergency frequency, which military personnel refer to as GUARD frequency. It is deliberately twice the international air emergency frequency of 121.500 - this makes it possible for civilian towers to monitor both for nearby calls for help more easily. Yes, national guard aircraft may use it. So can any other military aircraft.   AICC (364.200) is the frequency used nationwide for controlling airborne intercepts of unidentified aircraft encroaching on airspace protected by the North American Air Defense Command. If you're lucky enough to live near enough to a sector air defense operations center, you'll hear "unknown rider" calls here (and usually on GUARD as well) when fighters are scrambled to intercept. Contrary to popular belief, this includes the northeast sector ops center HUNTRESS at Rome, NY. Most of what was Griffiss AFB has been turned into an industrial park. However, the commonly heard information that there is nothing military left there is quite incorrect. The northeast air defense sector is part of the U.S. 1st Air Force, headquarters at Tyndall AFB in Florida which is the southeast air defense sector operations center's location. This in turn is part of USAF's Air Combat Command, with headquarters at Langley AFB in Virginia. US 1st Air Force is made up of the Air National Guard, headquarters at Arlington, Virginia, which provides 100% of the interceptor capability of the total force. So, while Griffiss is no longer a major active facility (or even a minor one), there is very definitely still a military presence there in Rome, NY!   Before someone e-mails me to tell me that the active duty Air Force has fighters too - which they sure do! - I'd better differentiate...not all fighters are used to provide interceptor capability. Those that are, are provided by ANG. So, for example, the active-duty USAF aircraft out of Langley that fly over Washington, DC during high terrorist threat periods aren't flying interceptor missions. They're flying a CAP (Combat Air Patrol), which is an air superiority mission. Both routine parts of what Air Combat Command does, but technically different missions the way the U.S. military looks at things.

Scanner Tips And Tricks

Years (read: decades) of twirling dials and punching buttons on radios has helped me to learn a few things I wish I'd learned a lot sooner. Now, maybe you already know this stuff and maybe not. if you do, good for you, and just skip on down to the next section...but if not, read on, and I hope it helps you to better enjoy your own scanning activities.   ADJACENT CHANNEL SPLATTER - Ever program something into a scanner that you really wanted to listen to, only to have a stronger station on the adjacent frequency totally trash the signal you wanted to hear? I put up with this problem for years, mainly because consumer grade scanners don't have the expensive circuitry needed to combat the problem and the better professional quality communications receivers were priced beyond my budget.        Here in Western NY the Niagara County Sheriff is on 154.755 and their repeater is located in Lockport, about 20 miles from my home. The Amherst Police are on 154.740 and their transmitter is located about two miles from here. Result: every time the Amherst PD keys a transmitter my reception on Niagara County got splattered. Finally I got smart and realized that I could tune anywhere in the bandwidth of the desired signal and still hear it, and being 5kHz off wouldn't distort reception all that terribly. It was then that I programmed in 154.760 and started listening to the sheriff without the splatter from Amherst. Amazing what moving just 5kHz away from the interfering signal will do. This probably won't work with the newer half-step super-narrow bandwidth signals, but for the conventional NFM signals it works quite well, I can hear the sheriff just fine and the extra 5kHz puts my receiver 20kHz away from Amherst instead of 15kHz, making a huge difference in what I do and don't listen to when the scanner stops on that frequency!   CTCSS (a.k.a. PL, a.k.a. CG) - Some of the better scanners have a feature called CTCSS, which stands for Continuous Tone Controlled Subaudible Squelch. This feature is also sometimes referred to as PL (for Private Line, which is Motorola's trade name for its implementation of this technology in its radio systems) or CG (for Channel Guard, which is GE's trade name for it). CTCSS involves having the transmitter send a subaudible tone which the receivers in the system look for, and if the required tone isn't detected the receiver remains silent. if the tone is detected, the receiver functions normally. If your scanner supports CTCSS, you can program the CTCSS tones for the various services in your area, which reduces interference from other services that may be using the same frequency. On the other hand, you may also miss something if the CTCSS tone isn't being transmitted by whoever is using that frequency.        For example, in my area the fire department in neighboring North Tonawanda uses 154.130, and so does the FD in the City of Rochester some 75 miles away. Normally this presents no problem, except that due to the presence of Lake Ontario there is often a temperature inversion that will duct Rochester's signals right on into my neck of the woods. How strong are the signals received due to this temperature inversion ducting? Normally you can't hear Rochester here at all, but during an inversion the signals come in so strong that before CTCSS was invented, one of Rochester's pumpers was accidentally "dispatched" by North Tonawanda, and Rochester accidentally "dispatched" an NT pumper.        Now, by programming the 151.4 Hz CTCSS tone on my scanner, I can eliminate the Rochester signals that come in during an inversion. If I'm already aware of the inversion I'll usually enable the feature to keep the scanner quieter (unless Rochester has something interesting going on). Normally I'll leave CTCSS turned off - that way if I start hearing Rochester FD on the NTFD frequency, I know there's an inversion, which means my 2m ham signals will duct as well and so it might be a good time to get on the air and see who I can contact who is normally out of range. There is a lot of this on the VHF bands. I merely used this frequency as an example. On the low band 46mHz fire frequencies I can hear fire calls from over half the state during the summer when the inversions occur - unless I enable CTCSS - including Watertown that is some 300 miles away! (That's actually nothing, I've sat up here in western New York and copied the California Highway Patrol, thousands of miles away, on the low VHF band back when I had outside antennas on my PRO-2045s.)        Which brings us to....

Antennas For Scanner Monitoring

If you have one of the basic garden variety handheld VHF/UHF scanners that sell for around $100-$200 and have been using the helical antenna (a.k.a. Rubber Duck) that came with it, I highly recommend that you consider upgrading the antenna. I'm not saying to go spend a lot of money to connect a roof-mounted discone or multi-band ground plane to your handheld scanner...actually that's probably not a good idea if you live in a metropolitan area because you're going to pull in a lot of interference and very strong signals that your little handheld scanner can't handle. What I do recommend is that you visit the nearest RadioShack store and buy one of the center-loaded telescoping whips they sell for under $10 and try that out on your scanner. This little wonder will dramatically improve your reception over what you get from the rubber duck. You can also adjust its physical length for even better reception - collapse it all the way for UHF, yank it out all the way for low band VHF, extend it halfway for high band VHF. If you're a ham and your HT has a BNC connector for the antenna, then in a pinch you can also use this antennna to transmit and receive on 2m and 70cm. You won't get any real gain out of it, but you won't fry your rig either. Just make sure you have the telescoping sections just above and below the center loading coil pulled out of the coil when you transmit, and you'll have no problems with this.        For mobile use, I go with a magnet-mount scanner antenna on the roof of my van. There are other options, ranging from the through-the-glass cellular lookalike (marginal performance at best, but an alternative to using a magnet or trunk-lid clamp) to the ones where you drill a hole and use an NMO or other mount. Many radio hobbyists will tell you to avoid mag-mounts, but I've used them for years and had no problems with any of them. I do lift the magnet off the roof of the vehicle and clean under there every few weeks (both the magnet and the roof get a good cleaning off) and recommend that anyone using mag-mounts do the same. For a handheld scanner, there's a mount available that slides over your window and lets you put the rubber duck outside the vehicle. This is better than having it inside the vehicle. Just make sure you take it off when you park the vehicle and walk away, so nobody steals your rubber duck.        If you want a scanner antenna for the roof of your house (and have an appropriate scanner...I don't suggest you put an outdoor antenna on a handheld scanner unless you live in the middle of nowhere and can't hear anything otherwise), the discone antenna is a good choice. They generally cover from 30mHz or so on up into 1000 or 1200mHz, so you cover a lot of territory with one antenna. They do not provide gain, of course, but getting the antenna outside and up in the air provides much better results than the antenna on the back of the scanner inside the building. If you really need to listen to distant stations a beam anteanna may be in order. Most beams for scanner use are relatively lightweight and can be turned with a TV antenna rotor. There are also various other vertical or ground plane antennas on the market. What works for me - or for the guy next door to you - may work for you as well. Then again, it might not. You may need to experiment a bit to find out what works best for you, in your location, with your equipment, for your listening needs. The information above is no more than good advice on where to start your experimentation...if it works out, so much the better, if not, explore all the options until you find something that works best for you. Somewhere out there there is something that will let you do what you want to be able to do. The trick is to decide what you want to be able to do, then get the right equipment to do it with.        Generally, you want to put the antenna as high as you can, and preferably away from potential noise sources such as power lines, generators, and other things that produce electrical noise. Be extremely careful around power lines. You can easily be killed if an antenna, mount, mast, or coaxial cable you're installing comes in contact with power lines. You'll generally get better results with thicker coaxial cable (RG-8U or 9913) than the thinner stuff (RG-58) unless you're making a very short run (less than 10 or 15 feet). RG-58 is fine for mobile use but if you're going 50 feet from the roof of your house to your radio, use the thicker stuff. If you don't, you'll probably end up wishing you did. Consider the location of trees and buildings when deciding where to put your antenna. When it gets windy out, you don't want tree branches beating up on your antenna installation. It's also preferable to have the antenna clear of nearby buildings if possible, not only because there'll be a clearer path between your antenna and the signal source, but also because buildings tend to contain things that produce electrical noise that you won't want to have finding its way into your radios...things like TV sets, computers, video games, and the like all produce RF that will degrade your reception by raising the level of garbage your system has to try and deal with, so if possible, mount your antenna away from potential sources of such garbage so you eliminate as much of it as you can right off the bat.

A Word About Preamps And Other Such Accessories

There are several preamplifiers (preamp) on the market to boost scanner reception. Do they work? Yes...and no. First of all, if the station you want to hear is just too far away for your scanner's antenna to pull it in, no preamp is going to solve that problem. The preamp will boost signals that are weak when they reach the scanner because of transmission line loss or other such factors. The trouble is that the same preamp will also boost noise, interfering signals from adjacent frequencies, and other undesirable garbage. In adding a preamp to your system you may create more problems than you solve. On the other hand, in some circumstances a preamp is just what the doctor ordered. Just be aware of the potential negative effects when considering installing a preamp.        The same goes for attenuators. An attenuator (or, as I like to call them, "antenna haters") has the opposite effect of a preamp. A preamp boosts signals, an attenuator reduces signal strength. In some cases an attenuator can be a godsend, because if the signal you want to hear is strong enough to still listen to with the attenuator installed, the attenuator will let you reduce the signal strength of received interference without losing the desired signal. The problem is that the strength of the desired signal will also be attenuated...so if your reception of the desired signal is maginal to begin with, the attenuator isn't going to make things better. Again, though, sometime's it's exactly what's needed.

A Word On Monitoring Trunked Radio Systems

If you're trying to monitor a trunked radio system using a conventional scanner, it's an uphill battle. To begin with, trunked radio systems sometimes use what's known as "transmission trunking" which means that every transmission in a conversation can be on a different frequency from the previous transmission. This makes it difficult for a conventional scanner to follow the action - about the best you can do is dedicate a conventional scanner to listening to the trunked system, program in all the frequencies using no scan delay, lock out the data channel, and try to maintain your sanity - especially on a large system where there are many different talk groups.        To make matters worse, the GE/Ericsson trunked radio systems add another diabolical twist to foil scanner users. Not only is transmission trunking used, but also, the system deliberately holds the repeater keyed up after the action has moved onto another frequency, so that a conventional scanner stays locked on the dead carrier. You can either sit there with your finger glued to the SCAN button on your scanner, or belly up and buy a trunking scanner.        Once you have the trunking scanner, the next step is a learning experience. I had been scanning for over 20 years before I bought my first trunking scanner, and I'm still learning about trunked radio systems. There are some differences you need to get used to when monitoring trunked systems.        First of all, if you're used to monitoring conventional systems your thinking tends to hinge on frequencies. You program in the frequencies listed for your city, and then you listen. Eventually you discover which belong to police, fire, EMS, and whatever else interests you, and which belong to services that don't interest you, like the dog-catcher or the garbage trucks. Then you lock out the frequencies being used by the dog-catcher and garbage trucks - or program something else into those channels in your scanner.        On a trunked system of, say, ten frequencies, ALL of the users on the trunked system will use all ten of the frequencies allocated to the system. Lock out any one frequency and you have big problems, especially if you lock out the data channel! With a trunked system, what you need to pay attention to are the talk group ID numbers. Each group of users on a system will share a talk group ID. Your mission is to figure out which talk group IDs belong to who. Then, when you figure out which talk group ID is assigned to the dog catcher you can lock out that talk group ID...NOT any of the frequencies in the system!        For example, in my area the Niagara Frontier Transit Authority has a GE/Ericsson EDACS system. The airport fire department (CFR) has a talk group ID of 06-027. The transit police have 08-### talk group IDs, with the units at the airport having a separate talk group ID (08-042) from the transit police downtown on the rapid transit system (08-041). The buses, subway trains, maintenance personnel, etc. all have their own talk group IDs too. The 06-### talk group IDs seem to be associated with the airport, but that includes everybody from CFR and the cops on down to the cleaners, parking lot shuttles, maintenance, and so on. At work, I generally have all but 08-042 and 06-027 locked out. That way I hear CFR and the transit police at the airport, period - which is all I really want to hear on that system.        Another difference one needs to get used to is that with a conventional scanner you can enter frequencies in whatever order you please. If the trunked system you're listening to is an EDACS system, though, you MUST enter the frequencies in what is known as logical channel order. This is because the internal workings of a GE/Ericsson trunked EDACS system call for the controller to assign repeaters to radios based on logical channel numbers. The controller tells the radio to use channel two for the next transmission. If you have the frequencies in the wrong order, when your scanner follows the same instructions (sent via the data channel, which your trunking scanner also follows) and goes to what you programmed as channel two, you're actually on, say, channel six, and the transmission you expected to hear isn't there (the $%^&*!@ dog catcher is there instead, and since his talk group ID is locked out, your scanner goes "DUH!?" and gets confused...and so do you!).        Things aren't as bad as they sound, though. If you're reading this, you have internet access, and the internet is the best source I've found for finding listings of talk group IDs and for determining the correct logical channel order for programming a GE/Ericsson EDACS system into a trunking scanner. The talk group ID listings aren't mandatory - half the fun of learning trunked scanning is figuring out what talk group IDs are being used by which users of a system - but if you're listening to an EDACS system, you'd doggone well better make sure you have the right logical channel order programmed. Either that, or be sure your psychiatrist's bill is paid up, because you'll soon be needing his (or her) services!

NFTA's Trunked Radio System

I'm going to include some basic information on the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's trunked radio system because there seems to be a lack of this information on other websites dealing with trunked radio systems and because this is a prime listening target given that the NFTA runs the Buffalo/Niagara International Airport.        The information on talk group IDs is far from being complete. I have, however, listed many of the major talkgroups you'll encounter once you start monitoring this system. There are dozens that I haven't listed. The ones I did list are probably the ones that most listeners will be the most interested in anyway. However, once you start scanning the system you'll encounter new ones daily. Make yourself a list as they appear and pay attention to what's being said and you'll soon develop your own list that's much better than what you'll find on any website!        Okay, then...here are the frequencies and some basic talk group ID info, enjoy! Remember, this is a GE/Ericsson EDACS system, so enter the frequencies exactly in the logical channel order in which I have listed them, or your scanner will not be able to follow the system properly:

Frequencies (Logical Channel Order...enter them exactly in this order or suffer the consequences!):   Channel 1 - 851.5375 Channel 2 - 851.9625 Channel 3 - 852.5125 Channel 4 - 852.9625 Channel 5 - 851.6625 Channel 6 - 852.0875 Channel 7 - 852.9375 Channel 8 - 852.4625 Channel 9 - 852.4125 Channel 10-851.9875   Talk Group IDs (Partial Listing):   08-041 - NFTA Police 08-042 - NFTA Police (Airport) 06-025 - Airport Shuttles 04-023 - Buses 04-041 - Subway Trains 04-061 - Van Services 06-027 - CFR (Crash/Fire/Rescue) (Airport)

Top Photo: PRO-79 Portable Scanner, from Radio Shack, 200 channels, runs on 9VDC. Bottom Photo: Uniden Bearcat BC350A Scanner. My BC700A looks just like it, except mine says BC-700A on the front. Nice and compact, making it a good choice for mobile use.

WARNING ABOUT MOBILE SCANNER USAGE!

Not everybody can have a scanner in their car, pickup or van wherver they go. Some states absolutely forbid it. Other states, like New York where I live, have a law against it but have exclusions that apply to licensed hams like me. Thus, it is illegal in New York State to equip a motor vehicle with a radio that is capable of receiving police frequencies, BUT the law exempts hams using transcievers, or receivers used in conjunction with transmitters operating on frequencies where the ham is licensed to operate. In a recent New York court case, a judge threw out charges against a ham who had a scanner in a car, stating that it was never the intention of the state's legislators to prohibit hams from having scanners in their vehicles. Besides this, I happen to be a volunteer disaster assistant with the disaster preparedness office of the county emergency services department, so that in case I am ever charged with violating this law there's a good reason to explain to a judge why I have a scanner in my vehicle. The point is, check the local laws before you go driving around with a scanner in your car...ignorance of the law is no excuse!

Unit above is the RadioShack PRO-94 dual trunking scanner, the most recent addition to my arsenal of equipment. This model can track GE/Ericsson EDACS systems as well as most Motorola type I, II, III and hybrid systems and 900 MHz trunked such as the one Rural-Metro Ambulance uses in this area.   I've read reviews on the web and in the hobby magazines that slammed this scanner for various reasons. The longer I have had and used this scanner, the more I've begun to wonder about those who have posted such reviews! I have had *no* difficulty tracking the NFTA's EDACS system with this radio, and I've had *no* difficulty tracking Rural-Metro's Motorola system either. True, this does not work entirely the same as a conventional scanner. No trunking scanner does! True, this scanner has its idiosyncracies. Most top-of-the-line scanners do! Your first trunking scanner *will* be a learning experience. Not recommended for first-time scanner owners or the technically challenged. Your mileage may vary.   Personally, I have no complaints about this radio. It is somewhat of an oddity, though - it's billed as a 1000-channel scanner, and it is, but only 500 channels are available for scanning at any given time since the radio divides the 1000 channels into two main banks of 500 channels each (each of which is then further subdivided into 10 banks of 50 channels per bank that can be selected normally like the3 banks on any other scanner), and only one of the two 500-channel banks can be scanned at any given time. If it helps, think of it as two 500-channel scanners in one. However, this is still a lot of capacity - more than I really need, in fact, even though there tends to be a lot of wasted channel capacity in trunked banks - and with a little care in programming, I managed to use this arrangement to my advantage: One 500-channel "bank" is programmed for general use at the airport where I work, when nothing major's going on and I also want to scan surrounding communities, ham frequencies, utility companies, railroads, etc. The other "bank" of 500 channels is programmed for a major incident at the airport such as a plane crash, terrorist action, or whatever, where I'd be concentrating just on what's happening at the airport. There are still plenty of empty channels in each of these "banks" to provide for future expansion - 500 channels is a *lot* in a handheld, and this is *two* 500-channel scanners in one - but I can go from having the radio programmed for general listening to having it programmed for a major emergency at the airport with just a few keystrokes.   As for the owner's manual, well...frankly, I've yet to get an owner's manual with a top-of-the-line piece of gear that I was fully pleased with, no matter what manufacturer's name is on it. RadioShack is no exception. The manual for the PRO-94 could have been better; it also could have been a lot worse! I can say the same for just about all my ham rigs' manuals. If you think the PRO-94 manual is bad, try the one that comes with a Kenwood TH-78A dualband HT!

I have recently resumed my association with the New York Statewide Incident Notification Group (NYSING). Fellow ham operator and scanning enthusiast Dave Stark, NF2G, operates NYSING as a public service. Click the NYSING logo above for more information on NYSING. For the best New York scanning reference website on the Internet, click below:

http://nf2g.com

When visiting the NF2G.COM scannist pages, I recommend that you keep Java and Javascript turned ON since Dave makes excellent use of Java for pulldown windows with additional information about various subjects. You won't get a bunch of annoying popups. You will get popups with excellent info by clicking on links on his site.