NEED HELP ON SCANNERS FOR COP SCANNING

[g35racer]

I have a Vertex VX-710 aviation scanner (around 400 bucks) which I mainly use for my flying as a backup...but then I discovered that this thing can scan any radio such as FM radio, schools radios, and can scan police, etc....My scanner has a push to talk switch which is when i talk when im flying.

Does any1 know what function should i put on like on other scanners or how do i know what channel that is the police are on? HELP!!

[SpeedFreak]

After some searching i havent seen this thing anywhere but if you want to know wich freqs they use around your area theres the place :wink: www.radioreference.com

[g35racer]

oh you cant find the verex 710? try google and type in vertex vxa-710 or vertex standard

omg thanks for that link!

[g35racer]

hmm looks like i do not know which one it is. There are functions which i dont know.... :roll:

[SpeedFreak]

I googled with Vertex VX-710 and it wasnt workin but with VXA it works now From what i see it can receive :

TX 118.000 - 136.975 MHz (COM Band),
RX 88.000 - 108.000MHz (FM BC Band),
108.000 - 117.975 MHz (NAV Band),
118.000 - 136.975 MHz (COM Band),
151.5125 - 158.400MHz (BRS Channels),
Weather Channel (WX-01 - WX-10)

You might see some cops on 151-158 there but not on the other bands. If its another model , you might see wich freqs you can scan by looking in the manual :wink:

[SpeedyGuy]

You might see some cops on 151-158 there but not on the other bands. If its another model , you might see wich freqs you can scan by looking in the manual :wink:

radios automatically restrict which channels you can tune into, correct?
do you u have to do a hardware mod or could it just be a firmware or software mod that allows you to use any channel?
thanks.

[Synbios]

Judging from those frequency ranges, it sounds like this scanner is designed (and I know that you used it for) aviation.

You can't just put a PTT on a radio that receives at a huge range of frequencies. Since you have a PTT, they restricted the ranges of frequencies that the radio picks up.

For less than a couple hundred bucks, you can pick up a scanner without a PTT that can scan a lot more frequencies. Most cops I have encountered are in the 400-420 and 800Mhz bands. Trunk tracking is also widely used and I wouldn't buy a scanner these days without it.

A new scanner will do you a lot more good for picking up cops. If you have the money and want to shell out almost $500, you could also get a digital scanner to pick up the new APCO25 signals. Check with your areas first if any cops around you are using it.

[Resistor]

Actually - if you have noticed in the past police used to
have cars with huge antennas in the back or on the roof.
Most likely these antennas were effective on frequencies
up to 200MHz. I beleive there are a lot of frequency listings
of something around 40-60MHz. This is what these huge
antennas may be for.

Nowadays police cars seem to have short antenas.
Which are most likely operating in well over 200MHz.
Some of them have super short antennas which
look to me like they may even utilize frequencies
close to 2GHz. I am not 100% sure where to find
the info on which frequencies they use, but if someone
has a digital frequency spectrometer that's capable of
handling 400MHz - 4GHz range - feeding it from a
broad high-freq preamp that uses a 5-10cm piece
of wire as an anntenna would lead to some pretty
usefull results. You may have to try blocking the
cellphone frequencies so that this massive interference
doesnt affect the measurements. But cellphone freq
ranges are well documented.

[Synbios]

It is very easy to find out what frequencies the cops in your area are using. I don't think we're allowed to give links so I can't direct you to any sites directly, but you shouldn't have a problem after a few minutes of googling.

In my area at least, I have never found a cop below 150Mhz. Again, most cops in my area are in the 400-420 range, and I've found a couple in the 800Mhz band.

You are right in saying that most cops these days are getting shorter and shorter antennas, to compensate for the higher frequencies.

[cooljay]

You'll find police activity depending on your location in the following:

152 - 159 Conventional Analog
406 - 512 Conventional Analog
700Mhz newer Digital Trunked Systems
800Mhz (poss. rebanding occuring) Conventional/Trunked systems

If your area doesn't use the 700Mhz system or non-digital I'd recommend the Pro-96 otherwise if they do use Digital you'll end up spending around $400-$500 for a Digital scanner.