Hi all, just came across my old icom ic-r2 scanner in the loft, i used to listen to old analogue mobile phones, police etc. I obviously cant listen to that anymore but what things can i listen to these days?
Hi all, just came across my old icom ic-r2 scanner in the loft, i used to listen to old analogue mobile phones, police etc. I obviously cant listen to that anymore but what things can i listen to these days?
Not a great deal is the answer i'm afraid....stupid digital technology....
Off the top of my head though, some Ambulance and Fire Brigades still use analogue systems I think, then there is the amatuer bands, and the stuff around 460Mhz that shops, security firms etc etc use.
I cannot think of anything else really. Digital has ruined everything.
Cheers for that, I done a full scan on it last night and the only thing it picked up that i could listen too was normal radio. I take it their is no point in setting up the old rig (CB). Has internet killed that? Is the ham/amature radio bands suffering also?
old cordless telephones
Baby monitors could be quite amusing...not obviously for listening to babies, but for when mum + dad went to bed and forgot to turn it off, hehe.
As a new entrant to the amateur radio hobby, I have been dissapointed by just how quiet it is on there...the introduction of the foundation licence was I think supposed to encourage folk to give it a try as its so easy, but it doesnt seem to have had that effect....and there are a few retards local to me that I know have passed their foundation (so are not pirates), but they follow none of the protocols they should, and treat it just like a CB. Listening to some of their conversations is rather amusing though...I never realised such thick people exist.
Where abouts in Scotland do you live? You should be able to get VHF/UHF aircraft on it. Let me know and I'll try to help out with some frequencies. You could try to scan the VHF airband 118 - 137Mhz AM, and UHF airband on 225 - 399 Mhz AM.
Baby monitors and amusing in the same sentence lol. I used to love my old CB wish it was still as busy and i would have set it up again 10-10!
I am based in South Lanarkshire close too Wishaw, if you have any good frequencies let me know.
You could try the following civil aircraft frequencies:
Glasgow:
Approach 119.1
ATIS 129.575
Ground 121.7
Tower 118.8
Scottish Military
Exercises 124.05
Military Initial Contact Frequency (ICF) 134.3
Central/Southwest 134.475
ATC West/Standby 233.325
ATC East 234.5
ATC East/South 251.250
ATC Central/South 251.475
ATC West 278.15
ATC East 278.55
Scottish Mil ICF 282.625
Central STC/Leuchars 369.400
ATC East/South Discrete 371.875
You could also try the following (all Oceanic crossing frequenies)
Glasgow Outbounds 120.350
Aircraft Registered West of 30W (Mainly American/Canadian) 123.950 - I can hear these from my home in W Yorkshire
In the New Year (when the military get back to work) you could try the following:
Spadeadam Electronic Warfare Range
Primary Hold 128.725
Stud 03 241.825
Join Stud 02 282.050
Primary Stud 01 308.775
Hope this helps.
If you need any more, just shout up
Cheers Wes62d, i will give them a try
Ambulance, fire brigade, marine band, amateur bands, civil airband, military airband, retail security (shopwatch/pubwatch) analogue cordless phones (there's still a lot in use believe it or not), baby monitors, pmr446 walkie talkies (used extensively in shops for staff/warehouse), cb radio (pretty dead these days) plus more
There's still a fair bit to listen to in my opinion, it's only really the police that are totally gone now, and ambulance/fire will follow eventually, but for now most are still using analogue.
I have still not picked up anything worth listining too, plenty of static and some repeaters bleeping but nothing else, maybe i need a new antenna.
Are you definitely scanning the right places, using the correct step sizes/mode?
What would you like to listen to?
Do you live in the middle of nowhere or near a big-ish town? obviously the latter would help! lol
i think so, i am scanning the full range on the scanner using the minumum steps which i thin is 5, I do live in a relatively rural area. Not sure what i wanted to listen too, just dug it out and thought i would pick up CB, HAM, cordless phones etc (my neighbours must all be wise to the non dect phones) :-)
My scanner range is 100khz - 1.2Ghz
I hooked up a long piece of wire (2-3 meters) to my aerial and hung it up. It increased the lower frequency reception by..well loads really. I was able to pick up a whole host of weird and interesting signals on AM usually but also USB and LSB as well) 7.5Mhz downwards to 500Khz including morse code stations, radio faxs and loads of really strange sounding stuff. And a bunch of radio stations, mostly foreign. None of it could be picked up on the included aerial.
There is plenty to listen to, it's just everything is pretty sparse.
CB radio is still going
If you are able to hook the scanners audio out to the line in of your PCs soundcard, you can decode some of those digital signals. There is a lot of free software available to do just that ie. wACARS to decode the digital transmissions from commercial aircraft and plot their position on a map on your monitor, you can do the same with ShipPlotter if you're near the coast. With a simple antenna and free software, you can receive weather satellite images live.
Found a list of satellite frequencies which might be interesting to scanner owners.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satel...ies.php?opOnly
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