As a guy that just got his first Baofeng, this has been the most informative straight forward video on the subject I have seen. Thank you. I have subscribed.
I live in the middle of the City of Pittsburgh where it's all non trunked analog UHF-FM for police, fire and EMS. (as are most of the suburbs). A Baofeng as a scanner IS doable here. (I've done it...) Of course an actual scanner is more flexible, In my area the BC125AT is MORE than enough, (And they are cheap!)
In my area the police are still simple analog and I only have those small few mixed with my ham simplex and repeater frequencies on the ole Baofeng But for more realistic and fun scanning I definitely use my Uniden scanner. It just has better capabilities and I definitely agree with you. 73 Ape and good info KO4HPC :)
I think it comes down to what it is you want to do. If you want to just scan, and you can ramp up the investment, get a dedicated scanner that can listen to what it is you want to hear. That makes sense. If you are wanting to get your feet wet and see if this is for you, buy a cheap Baofeng UV-5R. I personally find it a n inexpensive radio that scans the 15 or so freqs that are FM that I want to hear. You can transmit if you have a HAM License too - great for disaster scenarios. Scared of accidental keying? CHIRP can mark everything you save so you can't transmit. And it's easy and free. If anyone has ever used a spreadsheet like Excel, you can easily drop your local freqs into the UV-5R. For serious listening, I crack upon my SDR rig. Just my 2 cents.
I have the sds 100 as well. The 100 and 200 are the most modern and up to date. The Whistler TRX is a real good scanner as well. The sds models came out in 2016, 2017. I wonder what’s next. Uniden is due for a new model…
I use an UR-5R for dedicated listening of 2 channels, my towns police and fire, that I scan; plus a few others in the memory that I would have to manually move to. As a result the slow scanning has not been a problem, since I'm not really using it as a scanner. It's also nice to be able to have the FM radio on and the last channel I was listening to break in when there is activity. I also modded the charging dock by getting rid of the barrel jack and replacing it with a 5v USB port connected to a boost converter so that I can use the charges and cables I already have all over the place at home, work, or in the car. TL;DR It's a specialized tool that can compliment a scanner; but not replace one.
Sadly, since I moved to Middle Tennessee all of the agencies have move to P25 and completely eliminated analog. I don't know if they are encrypted but I don't have a P25 radio and I would think twice before buying one for fear that it would not work because of encryption.
The UV-5R is a decent choice for "railfans", The RR bands are not super busy, so the slow speed is not really a big problem, you're not going to miss much.
yeh bud same here in South florida i guess all major metr- politian cities are going digitial. My friends have a Bear cat that he get to hear and listen to police and fire dept tht use P25 trucked systems.
I liked you video but i have a question i just bought Baofeng UV-5R and how do i find police ambulance frequencies and but i don't know ant repeters in my area how do i find them?
If you turn off Battery Saver in the Baofeng the scan feature speeds up greatly and I've not seen a difference in battery life with my BF-F8HP. This is Menu 3 [SAVE], then set this to OFF.
It’s going to depend on the systems they use; I recommend calling the folks at zip scanners and they can check for you while recommend the appropriate scanner.
Yess i got in and shut off a lot of stuff just kept the recive even soldered the xmit button shut. And a better antenna. as to say the pouch.i keep a spare battery a stubby and standard antenna. The fm radio is a plus. With reading weather. Even had a plane cloths officer grab my rig and gripe to his superior then given back when the they found the xmit button welded shut .. hense scanner. Ps face it the cost is high. Not every body gete digtal. Hi hi😊😊
i was wondering if someone could give me a suggestion for my first scanner, i just recently got my first radio (uv-5r) and after playing with it and beginning to learn its capabilities and how to use it, i love it but also realized its limitations. im a full time firefighter and want something that can reliably scan nearby fire/ems/police etc. i thought maybe upgrading the antenna on the uv-5r might help me pick up more but im beginning to realize a handheld/portable scanner is the way to go for not missing transmissions within a 10 mile radius🤞. side note - someone else commented saying uv-5r is a gateway drug im living that right now lol. still happy with my purchase to have the uv-5r to play with and keep for emergency but my main interest/use is listening not transmitting
The 5R is a fun radio to play around with. For a suggestion I would call the folks at Zip Scanners and ask them. They have a database of what would work best in your area.
I have a couple of Baofeng radios, and I recently bought a TYT radio. After watching your video on best budget scanner, I bought a Uniden BC125AT. Sadly, I wanted to scan Chicago police and EMT channels but discovered they are moving to encrypted transmissions. Which kind of make my new BC125AT some of of a brick. Can you do a video on what to do with an analog scanner now that digital is on the rise.
I bought the UV5R because my old RadioShack Pro26 scanner is having some issues, yes, the BF is limited in its frequency range like not having the AIR band, but I have other radios for that, there's just enough going on around here to listen to with the UV5R like chasing satellites and ISS to keep it interesting and soon I will have my HAM or GMRS license and do even more with it. Good video by the way.
Just bought my first Baofeng which was the UV-9R Pro. I find the instructions very lacking on how to program it. Is there a video somewhere with the absolute basics on how to program this? Otherwise I sell it.. THX
I use a fried final UV5R for AAR 06-97 Railroad channels. Good to listen to USCG/VHF marine. If you have any handi which does not transmit, put those freqs in, and give rig and charger to somebody interested in ham radio.
Frock! I just wanted to know if this thing would scan police band. I didn't want a freaking sermon... Can anyone just answer the question? D 10:56 oes this pick up police?
I used to use my UV5R to listen to my local pd and fire. Now I use my UV5G GMRS radios to listen. You can program in frequencies and listen but not transmit.
@@TheSmokinApe I haven’t used chirp yet but have used my Bluetooth programmer. Today I hardwired one of my UV5Rs into my car. Car charger on extended battery with shoulder mic and tied in to my uhf/vhf antenna on my trunk. (Was an old cop car)
I got alot analog here "but the hi unfiltered receive of baofeng's some freqs hang up when I move from place to place just stopping scan function. Secondly the scan is too slow even at 50 channels takes to long come around it seems to work better just using it for ameatur radio. RX & TX . Using as a scanner in the PC programing the Decode pl or digital Decode tones can be put in but all Baofeng's delay opening of the recieve 1/3 second when this is on. You get what you pay for $25 but still useful. In PC programing all transmit can be locked out so you can't transmit.
@@TheSmokinApe A lot has changed since the launching of china made HT"s . They are what they are but not totally useless . I remember getting ham ticket in 1994 you paid ,$150-200 for a radio extra battery was $45 . We can be thankful there is something that works for less . They got drawbacks . Your video outlines the quality as radio or scanner pros&cons well. 73 z
What would be a good device to listen to police/fire/nascar/aviation/marine. but I guess Id want the option for digital as well for more advanced police/fire signals
Why does my city only show the dispatch. But every other city in my area has dispatch and a police frequency.? Shouldn't they by law have to have that information available even if its p25 or anything else?
As someone with over 15 years of HAM and scanning experience, not only would I not use this or any other cheap Chinese radio as a scanner, I wouldn't even use them as a transceiver. Not only are they made with cheap electronics and can only monitor/transmit conventional analog, but they also use a different system for reverse burst for squelch tail. In layman's terms, simply entering a PL/DPL will NOT eliminate squelch tail. I bought one of these a couple years ago for shits and giggles and I returned in about 3 weeks later.
It's really going to be about the services they are using in your area. Your best bet would be to give the folks at Zip Scanners a call and they could provide the best answer.
I had a scanner many,many years ago that I bought crystals for but I want another scanner but have no idea what to get as the tech is beyond me.I want to get cops,fire ambulance and much more. I am near Ft.Campbell,Ky can you suggest a scanner for me.I am low tech and need lots of help.Thanks.....I looked at radioreference and am confused.LOL
A 25$ Baofeng and a 500$ scanner are two completely different classes of radios in terms of functionality. You could get uvf / vhf analog scanners for 50-75$.
Damnit man it’s such a simple answer. But intuitive to me it was not. It does indeed take a community. How can one person learn everything from medicine to music, flintknapping, hand to hand, farming and animal husbandry, map making, gun smithing, regular smithing, staying proficient with your weapons and able to move about with all your stuff at speed, while working for the man in modern times, and then mess around with radios as well? I need to know at least a little bit but I may have found a can of worms I will not open all the way 😁 unlikely
One great thing the fengs & people of 1/6 found out is it’s impossible to block their transmissions 🤔 where on HF I think the alphabet agency s have more power 🤔🫣
@@TheSmokinApe high chance at least one of the ones I have is a knock off but I saw people adding extra frequencies and I was able to do 3-999.999 like I said, rx only for a lot of it but tx on a lot that’s it’s not supposed to be capable of too
Are there any frequencies that a non-HAM operator can use/broadcast on on the Baofeng? I bought 2 for my son and I to talk when in the woods before I knew what they were. Will I get in trouble with the FCC if we use them? I haven’t used them yet. Thanks!!!
Maybe look into MURS bands. 151 - 154Mhz. Looks like you don't need a license for those bands if used recreationally. I'm not saying to go ahead and TX on these bands without doing your own research, I may be wrong, I am new to the Civ side of all this
All this time I thought a sad ham was some basement dwelling mouth breather who scoured YT watching videos and leaving comments if they didn’t like what they saw. Thanks for setting me straight with your well articulated comments 👍🏆
I’m new to all this but if u listen to any first responders on their frequencies. Could they track u back and is it illegal to listen to these frequencies from first responders?
As a LEO, if he is transmitting on UHF or VHF public safety, he is interfering and charges can be pressed if he is constantly interfering. However, public safety has and is migrating to P25
