First off, you need to use a scanner with full 800 MHz
coverage. Not only the full 800 MHz region itself, but the
scanner must be capable of receiving the scanning steps
peculiar to the 800 MHz region, such as 30 khz steps
(scanning increments) or the 12.5 khz steps as well. Lesser
quality receivers will not allow this. More importantly,
the scanner must receive frequencies such as 856.2375
without rounding off to a higher or lower frequency such as
856.240 or 845.235...if your scanner 'rounds off' that way
you will hear only a minute amount of actual 800 MHz
traffic.
As with any monitoring setup you should use the highest
quality materials and equipment you can afford. Always
adhere to safe operating practices, particularly when
setting up antennas and power cords and other electrical
equipment.
Radio Shack, AOR, Uniden and other manufacturers offer
excellent quality scanners and these are often offered at a
discount, particularly discontinued and desk models. For
quality 800 MHz operations make certain you buy a receiver
with a large quantity of memory channels available. Some
inexpensive receivers can be modified to receive 200 or more
channels and newer receivers, particularly when modified or
mated with a personal computer and appropriate software, can
store several THOUSAND channels. These channels can be
grouped into various operating modes and when used correctly
and mated with proper recording equipment an individual can
become, in effect, a low-budget 'National Security Agency".
So, when you have selected and set up your equipment,
put up a good external antenna and appropriate coax cable,
you are ready to listen to the 800 MHz traffic (as well as
all the other frequencies in the radio spectrum if you have
a high-tech new receiver!). How do you know where to find
the 800 MHz frequencies? True, it is not as easy as it was
in the 'old days'...it takes some real detective work,
monitoring, recording, and putting your knowlege to work to
find the active frequencies in your area. More and more
police, fire, and other Public Service entities are moving
up to 800 MHz for various reasons. If you're fortunate you
can locate a local scanning club and get a list of
frequencies in use in your area. Try electronics stores,
Amateur Radio organizations, police communications
personnel, and others to find the frequencies to monitor.
Or you can acquire a frequency counter and explore around
and find frequencies that way, too. Often information can
be found on computer bulletin boards.
If you still cannot get the information you need, do
what I do...sit down and use your radio and some common
sense. Let your scanner 'search' the 800 MHz frequency
ranges...do this at night when most of the commercial
traffic is off the air if you want police, fire, and other
Public Service frequencies. You will find a number of
active 'data channels' in use if there are 800 MHz trunks
active in your area. These 'data channels' give off a
distinctive noise. Write down the EXACT frequency of each
channel. Go through the entire 800 MHz band if you need to.
At the end of your search you might have one or two in a
small area or dozens (or more) in a large metro area. This
little list of frequencies and some homework will give you
the frequencies you need! Each trunk system has a number of
channels allocated to it. At any given time at least one of
those channels is used as the 'data channel'. Guess
what...that frequency changes from day to day, often once
every 24 hours or so. So a channel used as the data channel
today might well be a different channel tomorrow. Now the
good part...on any given trunk there are just so many
frequencies (channels) allocated to it. These are usually
just One (1) MHz apart from each other. So if you have
identified a 'data channel' on, say, 815.2225 you can try
assigning a memory channel to that frequency, then another
at 816.2225, 817.2225, and so on, as well as 814.2225 and
813.2225. Some trunks have as few as four channels
(remember one is always being used as the computer 'data
channel') and some have as many as 20 channels. So now you
know why you need to have such a large capacity for memory
storage in your scanner (as well as a swift scan rate!).
Make sure you don't invoke the 'delay' feature on your
scanner. If you do you'll often miss routine traffic, since
a conversation on one frequency often jumps through the
frequencies as it follows its course.
In this way you can soon find the active channels in
your area. Here in New Orleans, for example, certain
portions of the New Orleans Police Department, as well as
sections of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, have
utilized 800 Mhz communications, as have the Orleans Levee
District Police Department, the Harbor Police Department,
the Slidell Police Department, Louisiana State Police, the
New Orleans and Jefferson Parish Fire Departments, Federal
law enforcement entities, and others, including civilian
operations including Taxi companies, Tow-trucks, sales
personnel, mechanics, air conditioner service personnel,
ship chandlers, Amateur Radio operators, boating and
shipping industry personnel, members of the news media,
local colleges and Universities, and many others. For that
reason alone (sheer numbers!) if you want Public Service
frequencies it is far easier to monitor them at night when
almost all of the other traffic is done for the day. A
sound-activated cassette recorder is essential for recording
while you're sleeping or otherwise engaged...I use a
standard VCR as a recorder (remember, it can record for many
hours and offers not only high-fidelity recording of audio
but ease of setting recording times) and have never been
unhappy with its operation.
So remember...get the best quality radio scanner you
can afford and be sure it offers:
- Full 800 MHz coverage.
- Appropriate selection of 800 MHz frequency 'steps'
- LOTS of Memory Channels
- FASTEST scan rate you can find
- Deactivate the DELAY feature!
Good luck!
