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If you want to listen for emergencies, you need a scanner. A ham radio will do you no good in an emergency.
This used to be true. However, with the changes to scanner bands to digital the hobby of listening to police, fire etc. is now pretty much dead since it's hard to find good consumer grade radios to listen with.
This used to be true. However, with the changes to scanner bands to digital the hobby of listening to police, fire etc. is now pretty much dead since it's hard to find good consumer grade radios to listen with.
No way. Just buy a digital scanner. Uniden makes them. Mine was not cheap, was $600.
Ham radios are still best for weather-related emergencies IMO. If you listen to the SKYWARN nets, usually on 2 meters, you can hear the storm spotters reporting what's going on. The local one (which I participate in) has saved my car from hail damage several times.
Sorry, but $600 for a scanner that won't get all bands anymore doesn't strike me as a "consumer grade" radio.
Listen to "catman" on this one.........
Describe "all bands". This one receives everything except HF, and what the FCC doesn't allow (cell phones). Decodes digital and trunking too. Uniden had to reverse-engineer all those complex trunking systems that were designed to thwart scanners. That's what you are paying for.
Ham radio is just a step up from CB, and far from professional. I would rather rely on a TV or national weather than rumors that spread over ham radio. They "stormspotters" have been the cause of more false alarm here in AL when it comes to tornadoes than any other source.
BTW, I have a technician class license and I don't even use it anymore. It's just like CB nowadays.
Describe "all bands". This one receives everything except HF, and what the FCC doesn't allow (cell phones). Decodes digital and trunking too. Uniden had to reverse-engineer all those complex trunking systems that were designed to thwart scanners. That's what you are paying for.
Ham radio is just a step up from CB, and far from professional. I would rather rely on a TV or national weather than rumors that spread over ham radio. They "stormspotters" have been the cause of more false alarm here in AL when it comes to tornadoes than any other source.
BTW, I have a technician class license and I don't even use it anymore. It's just like CB nowadays.
So you think $600 for a scanner is pocket change?
Scanners used to available that cost $ 100 sometimes less which puts $600 not in the consumer range.
Describe "all bands". This one receives everything except HF, and what the FCC doesn't allow (cell phones). Decodes digital and trunking too. Uniden had to reverse-engineer all those complex trunking systems that were designed to thwart scanners. That's what you are paying for.
Ham radio is just a step up from CB, and far from professional. I would rather rely on a TV or national weather than rumors that spread over ham radio. They "stormspotters" have been the cause of more false alarm here in AL when it comes to tornadoes than any other source.
BTW, I have a technician class license and I don't even use it anymore. It's just like CB nowadays.
I only partially agree, doug. If you keep to certain mature group discussions and meet your HF buddies every Saturday morning, for example, you can avoid the idiot comms. As well, our local emergency Action group is very well connected with the local PD. What's the acronym? RACES? If there is an emergency, as there was with Katrina, when cell phones, radio & sat TV all went down, you'll likely find the local HAM club operating with the OK from police & military.
I do still have one of the nicer Radio Shack analog handheld synthesized frequency scanners that I used to be able to hear analog cell phone conversations on. No more PD info now, but it does receive Air Band from our local small field, as well as some local emergency ambulance & fire info, the local PUD (outage info) and other stuff. Perhaps I can get a few buck$ for it on e-Bay?
I also have a still-in-box Radio shack 10m HAM rig. Who'da ever thunk they'd do that, huh? I wonder if the sun will oblige and make it work "skip" again?
My remnant interest is in long-range CW on 5W QRP, or if I'm lazy, perhaps a 25W amp, just on a tuned long wire or even my 4m stainless vertical I take along on some road trips. I can use it out in the woods or in a campground.
Scanners used to available that cost $ 100 sometimes less which puts $600 not in the consumer range.
Yeah, I do. There is nothing that scanner can't receive except HF and cell. With the mountain of features that the scanner offers, it's well worth $600 over having to buy multiple scanners to do the job that this 1 does. $600 is a bargain IMO, because it replaces dozens of radios costing thousands of dollars, and still not having the features this one does.
Scanners used to available that cost $ 100 sometimes less which puts $600 not in the consumer range.
$600 is in the consumer range. A $600 scanner has many more features than a $100 scanner. All one has to do is go to Radioshack.com and compare the capabilities of scanners at different prices.
Additionally, there are other differences in the quality of receivers most people don't take the time to understand. Such as sensitivity. I have several older scanners here and an Icom ic-7000. The latter is a 160 m through 70 cm amateur radio transceiver. I can hear several NOAA Weather Radio stations up and down California and into Southern Oregon from time to time that the scanners just are incapable of picking up because they don't have the sensitivity, nor the selectivity. Additionally, I live in a Downtown area where I'm surrounded by transmitters and repeaters. The strong signals overload the receivers in the scanners. I have very little problem with strong signals on the ic-7000.
I don't doubt that the Icom has a better receiver, but are you using the same antennas when you compare them? I don't know much about scanners, but I didn't think all of them had an external antenna input (SO-239?). If they do and you attach a good outdoor antenna, it probably overloads them.
I'm thinking of buying an IC-7000. It's expensive, but it seems like a great rig.
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