Scanner School - Everything you wanted to know about the Scanner Radio Hobby

Latest Episodes:

135 - No Fancy Tools Required - Analyzing Trunk Systems Jul 21, 2020

Show notes

Do you believe analyzing trunk systems requires a fancy hardware setup?

Jackson from Kentucky joins us on the podcast this week to talk about how he is mapping out trunk systems with a scanner, a pager, pen and paper, and a spreadsheet.

You don't need to configure complicated computer programs to understand what is happening on your local trunk systems.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session135

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

134 - Social Unrest Scanning Tips Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

Do you want tips for how to use your scanner to its fullest potential during times of social unrest?

In this episode, Phil shares ways to get started at scanning right now if you're new to the hobby in response to current events, gives suggestions of what to listen for beyond fire and police transmissions, and more.

What You Need To Know

Due to current events, scanner radio sales are up, whether it's first-time buyers who are new to the hobby or people returning to the hobby after some time away.
You are responsible for looking into the laws in your country/state/province/etc. to find out whether scanning is legal and any parameters around it.
Use Radio Reference to find out what you can listen to in your area.
Whether you need an expensive scanner depends on the modulation on the frequencies you intend to listen and the types of trunk systems in your area.
Some scanners can automatically program based on your zip code if you don't care about programming with more specificity.
Other than fire and police, you can find and listen to tactical channels or the Office of Emergency Management.
The Federal DOJ has the 25 Cities Project, which allows for interoperability between local, state, and federal agencies during emergency responses.
Don't forget to program in the NIFOG channels
Try listening to media frequencies to hear field reports and traffic/news helicopters before news breaks.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session134

If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out. Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today!

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

133 - Ask Scanner School v22 Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

Many of you have have been submitting their questions and today I am answering some of them.

This month I answer:

What is Intermediate Frequency Exchange and when would I need to use it?
On an SDS-200 Uniden scanner, do you need to set up a quick key for every favorites list?
How do you know if you need upgrades to your SDS-200 scanner?
What portable scanner would you recommend for someone who doesn't want to spend a lot of money or have a lot of complicated features?

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session13

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

132 - Trunking Optimization Tips for Whistler's Object Oriented Scanning Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

Do you want to understand how trunking systems work in your Object Oriented Scanner?

In this episode, Phil continues his miniseries about trunking systems. He walks through optimizing your Whistler, GRE, and Radio Shack scanners for trunking using their object-oriented scanning.

What You Need To Know

Think of a site as a repeater that transmits radio and control channel traffic for its coverage area.
Whistler allows you to have more control over your trunk scanning thresholds than Uniden.
To optimize your sites, you need to know what talk groups are most likely to be broadcast on what sites.
When you're programming your Motorola or P25 trunk sites on a Whistler, you only have to input a list of every single control channel on every site you want to monitor, rather than having to break it out by site like on Uniden.
Whistler has multi-site settings including Off, Roam, and Stationary.
- Off means, the scanner will find the first usable control channel and use it to track the systems without bothering to scan the others.
- Roam is used if you're driving or otherwise moving around and will lock onto the best site it can find based on your Threshold High and Threshold Low settings.
- Stationary allows you to scan through all decent quality control channels while you remain in one place.
Butel software makes duplicating these scan lists much easier than using the keypad.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session132

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

131 - Trunking Optimization Tips for Uniden DMA Scanners Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

Do you want to understand how trunking systems work?

In this episode, Phil continues his miniseries about trunking systems, explaining how to most efficiently set up your Uniden DMA scanner for trunking, including sites, groups, quick keys, and more.

What You Need To Know

Episodes 129 and 130 are prerequisites for this episode.
Trunking systems can have multiple sites that can run on their own or as one large networked site running as simulcast.
Hypothetically, you could have sites for different regions of your state
- Ex north, south, east, west, and central
- each with their own control channel that would broadcast all the talk groups for all the radios affiliated on that site.
Every time your scanner has to go to a new site, it first has to find the control channel, then check the system for active talk groups on your list.
You should only program your scanner with sites that you expect to have the traffic you want to hear.
- you don't want to program every site in your state because many of them will be out of range.
Each site you want to scan should be set up as its own quick key in the scanner so you can toggle them on and off as needed.
Toggling some of the sites off as needed allows your scanner to only be scanning 1-2 sites at a time rather than 5 or more, making the trunking more efficient.
For trunking, Phil recommends large systems that you can break down into groups.
Groups make scanning more efficient because the scanner doesn't have to go in and out of sites repeatedly to check different scan lists.
You want to make sure that each site you want is set up to its own scan bank, and within the system, you want to make sure that each group is set up as its own group key.
You can assign more than one site per quick key.
You can define up to 20 groups per system, and up to 10 quick keys per group; only assign quick keys to groups you want to toggle off and on.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session131

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

130 - Trunking Systems and Trunking Sites Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

Do you want to understand how trunking systems work?

In this episode, Phil explains how trunking system networks, sites, channels, and layers all work together and gives some examples both from his local area and more hypothetical use cases.

What You Need To Know

This episode ties into last week's episode about programming groups.
A Motorola type 2 trunking system is capable of having 28 channels per site.
A Smart Zone system is a collection of Smart Net systems
Smart Zone networks have dynamic site assignments, meaning that if a radio or talk group is not affiliated with a site, then it does not need to be broadcast on that site.
Although he uses a Motorola system as an example, these explanations also apply to DMR and P25 radio systems.
In Phil's county, they have simulcast sites on different frequency bands.
These sites on this system may or may not broadcast the same talk groups.
Trunking systems have multiple sites in order to efficiently use the resources available, freeing up channels for local users.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session130

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

129 - Uniden System and Groups Jun 09, 2020

Show notes

Do you understand the difference between a Group and a System your Uniden programming?

In this episode, Phil explains use cases for groups and how to set them up, and how to create quick keys for them.

What You Need To Know

Groups are important to optimize your scanners for trunking.
Systems are the container for your trunking and conventional systems in your DMA Scanner.
Groups are where you store your frequencies or Trunk Group and Unit IDs.
You can have up to 20 groups within the system.
Each type of group and system can have their own quick keys defined.
Using groups allows you to organize different precincts and battalions by location, for example, grouping all Manhattan NYPD frequencies separate from citywide NYPD frequencies.
While you can add up to 20 groups per system, you can only map out 10 group quick keys.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session129

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

128 - Ask Scanner School v21 Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

This month I answer:

Is there any place in the US where law enforcement uses analog, unencrypted signals to allow you to use certain equipment like a radio that's inaccurately being marketed as a scanner?
Can you disable certain frequencies in a statewide radio system to make a scan cycle go faster or will you be missing out on something?
How do you know which radio and software upgrades will be most useful to you?
What suggestions do you have for an HP2 that won't connect to the computer?

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session128

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

127 - Yagi Antennas May 26, 2020

Show notes

Do you want to understand how a Yagi antenna works?

In this episode, Phil explains the elements of a Yagi antenna, what they're used for, and even how to build your own.

What You Need To Know

Shintaro Udo and Hidetsugu Yagi created the antenna.
A Yagi antenna is a directional antenna with at least two elements, usually three, mounted on a boom.
The main element is the boom, where everything else is mounted.
A Yagi usually includes a driven element, a reflector element, and a director element, all mounted on the same plane.
The driven element is the main element, and it is what your feed line is connected to.
Next, behind the driven element, you have the parasitic element called the reflector, and in front, you have the director element.
The different elements are positioned to interfere with each other in a way that enhances the radiation and increases the directivity of the antenna.
The longest element always sits behind the driven element, and that's how you know which is the front and back.
A Yagi can be used to pick up signals far away from you
You can use a Yagi antenna to try to overcome simulcast issues.
Yagi antennas are typically built for a very small range of frequencies.
You can get a cross-pole Yagi antenna, which is very popular with amateur radio and using satellites.
It is possible to build your own Yagi antenna with some basic materials.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session127

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

126 - Antenna Polarization May 19, 2020

Show notes

Do you struggle to understand why antenna designs differ?

In this episode, I explain antenna polarization and how the design impacts it.

What You Need To Know

Your antenna needs to be within the same polarity in order to receive what you're trying to receive.
A vertically polarized antenna will pick up vertically polarized signals better than horizontal.
Radio waves are oscillating sine waves, and the frequency at which they oscillate is measured in a hertz.
Vertically polarized antennas are perpendicular to the earth's horizon
Horizontally polarized antennas are parallel to the earth's horizon.
Satellites are not in a fixed position, so we've needed to develop circular polarization to communicate with satellites when their polarization is constantly changing.
Vertically polarized antennas are the most common in general, and horizontally polarized antennas are common in the scanner radio hobby world.
A common example of vertical antennas is on cars.
Cell phones are the most common example of a need for cross-pole antennas.
Circular antennas are good for eliminating multi-path distortions.
A GPS and some drones use circular polarization.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session126

You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support

Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

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