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Re: Listening in on police radio

> From: Lisa Eisenstein <chatty@domain.elided>
> Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 19:56:28 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Listening in on police radio
> 
> 
> Cheng & fellow digesters....
> I think what you are describing is a scanner, and these are available 
> at Radio Shack, and in numerous electronics catalog.  They will scan 
> various "ranges" of frequencies used by police and other services, both 
> government and private.  You can get books which list frequencies used 
> by different police departments (at the same places as you get the 
> scanners, of course).
> 
> Whether having a scanner and listening in on police communications will 
> save you from a ticket is debatable.  It's not likely you will hear 
> something like "Unit 5 is setting up a speed trap at mile 2 of route 95 
> in Stamford".  More likely you will hear the police car with the radar 
> set calling targets to the chase cars as he catches them on radar.  It 
> will probably be more like "White 94 Plymouth Sundance, ABC-123 middle 
> lane", and you won't know exactly where the car with the radar set is.  
> A very good radar detector will probably work much better for 
> preventing a speeding ticket.  Not speeding would work too, but with a 
> 95 M3, that's probably impossible.

Yes, a scanner would let you listen in, but generally what they are referring to
when they talk about finding a cop that is close is to not listen to the main
broadcast frequency, but to search the repeater frequency that most police are
equipped with nowadays. Ever notice that cops now have a small walkie-talkie,
usually with the mic attached right at their shoulder? These are small low-power
units that have a short range, usually a couple miles, and are tuned into a
receiver in their car. Then car receiver acts as a repeater to interface with
their main radio.

By scanning for these repeater frequencies, you can tell when a cop is near, and
listen to just his communications.


- --
Russ Poffenberger               Engineering Specialist
Schlumberger Technologies ATE   DOMAIN: poffen@domain.elided
1601 Technology Drive		CIS:	72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110             Voice: (408)437-5254  FAX: (408)437-5246