[Scan-DC] Scanner Hobby 2018

[Steve]

I also grew up in NYC.  Before I became a ham (WN2TJE, a year later WB2TJE), l used an old Lafayette radio that covered broadcast through 54 MHz, AM and SSB.  That allowed me to listen in on all the PD and FD and other public service broadcasts in the 30 to 48 MHz bandwidth.  No encryption and lots of fun.  When I became a ham, I sort of lost interest in police stuff and concentrated on HF and VHF operating.  

I now use a PSR 800 for local scanning, but it’s far easier to use apps on my phone to listen to DC area public service transmissions.  That is, those that aren’t encrypted.  

I understand the perceived need for encryption for public service communications.  However, having had a career in DoD, where encryption was an absolute necessity, I believe that most of the public service encryption is to avoid public scrutiny.  Most areas that have encrypted police communications have provided little or no evidence there is a continuing problem of lawbreakers using transmissions to enable their crimes.

OTOH, there are far more examples of the public using scanners to aid police or leave areas where crimes are in progress.  Police are trained to run towards gunfire.  Civilians know intuitively to run away from gunfire.

Steve, N4EUK

> On Nov 4, 2018, at 10:31, Ed Tobias <edtobias at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> And the best listening of all, in IMHO, is NYPD and FDNY. Both are still in the clear. I started listening to them with a Hallicrafters S-95 tunable VHF receiver growing up in NYC as a kid in the late 50s. That listening, in part, led to both my ham ticket, in 1961, and my career in broadcast news much later.
> 
> I still love listening to NYPD Special Ops and FDNY Manhattan dispatch today. And all of the FDNY dispatch channels are still on the same VHF frequencies they were on 60 years ago!!
> 
> Ed, KR3E
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Joel Kahn
> Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2018 9:17 AM
> To: Scan DC
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Scanner Hobby 2018
> 
> Greg (et al):I have been in the hobby almost 20 years longer than you!Back in the day, my first radio was in the car, connected between the car radio & antenna so I could manually tune VHF to hear DC Fire & PD channels or select one of two crystals. You had to mail order a crystal for whatever freq. You wanted and wait 2-3 weeks.  I still have 2 8 channel crystal Unidens.
> I agree that the hobby has become more expensive and there is much less to monitor thanks to encryption, but as long as MoCo, PG & DCFD 'stay in the clear' I am going to listen.
> I know someone who still enjoys listening to railcar counters & taxi cabs....Jon!
> In summary, I agree that while it is not as much fun as it used to be, we still have a viable hobby for now.
> JK
> 
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
> 
> On Thu, Nov 1, 2018 at 5:06, Greg Danes
> 
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