I just got a couple BaoFeng Radios and I want to get a budget scanner so I can figure out what frequencies some of the Motorola Walkie Talkies I have are using also what some others are using as well. So I am guessing I can get a scanner and that should tell me what channel 1,2,3 etc. and on.
I think it would be easier and cheaper to look up the specs of the radios online, if they don't have some form of display.
I just did that and found that I was able to set my little ones to the same frequency. I also would like to figure out what frequencies others are using in my area so the only thing I can think of is a scanner.
I'd get some form of channel chart for channels frequencies that are open for unlicensed use, and program them into my radios and use them to scan. For instance Baofeng UV-5R is possible to use like this. Just program in all the frequencies and scan. It is not as fast as a dedicated scanner, but fast enough to find what frequencies others are using in the neighbourhood.
Or join a radio club and become a HAM opertor. They will know all about the open frequencies around where you live and you will also get access to their repeaters and frequncies that are for licensed use only.
Somewhat decent, at least according to specs cost around 30-45$, search Ebay for ctcss dcs scanner(or similar, you know the way they list with different names), look for one that suppports encoding, ie, it will show with which CTCSS/DCS subtone the frequency is scrambled with.
Be creative with every imaginable search phrase other than ctcss dcs - these will be there always, the rest might change according to sellers interpretation :D!
Oh, bikenber73, regarding which frequencies are occupied in your neighborhood - well, public, license free frequencies are only few, so either put your small PMR (or what was it called in USA…) radios on channel scan, because there are only 8 or 16, depending whether its FM or digital PMR radio and listen to the waves or do this with your Baofeng - program those PMR channels into it and then let it scan through them all the time, because scanning through the whole frequency spectrum with Baofengs will take forever ;)!
Also, be sure to visit local PMR/HAM radio forums and find out about frequencies used by various services and similar, perhaps you will hear some local shopping mall security talks about suspicious customers and such :D! If those frequencies are not used by services who use digital radios, you will be able to listen to some of them.
People say that Nagoya NA771 is the antena to get, supposedly better than all of Baofengs stock antenas, heres the link to legit seller who doesnt sell fakes:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301211117089
Havent had an opportunity to test my radios, but it was fun hitting local repeaters, listening to taxi and security patrols, couriers, at first, then it gets boring so you better find someone else who uses these radios and put them to good use while outdoors or get HAM license and start chewing :D!
I use a $13 USB dongle as a police/fire/ambulance scanner. It covers a huge spectrum, something like 20 MHz to 2 GHz and you can scan or sniff every bit of it. I use a coax adapter to hook mine to an FM antenna.
Software defined radio (SDR) is really fun to play with, or you can just use it as a simple scanner with the free SDR# software. I have mine working on my Raspberry Pi. People are using them to pick up aircraft telemetry, track satellites, radio astronomy, GSM sniffers and everything in between.
Either way it’s cool to have a police scanner for under 20 bucks that hooks to a PC, laptop or even tablet.
Ah, yeah, those RTL chipped SDR’s are also great, havent used it myself tho!
Just get the BaoFeng programming cable and use CHIRP to program in FRS frequencies. Of course, you must realize that this is completely illegal.
Since you’re in the US, you can use Chirp to set and enter the FRS and MURS frequencies into your Baofengs.
You can also find public service frequencies at RadioReference.
Transmitting is illegal but listening in is not on FRS/MURS and public service frequencies with your Baofeng, so make sure to disable Tx by setting Duplex to None in Chrip.
Ok I think i got it. I will get the cable and program the frequencies. I am looking into getting licensed as well I need something to do, running out of places to store my flashlights.
Thanks All!!
In this regard CHIRP is not necessary, stock software from Baofeng will do just fine, just look for some youtube tutorial how to use it :).
Thats like going to the bathroom at night with SRK, not with Thrunite Ti :D!
Oh and if you have radio with LCD, then you can make-do without cable until you get one!
LCD’less models, on the other hand, are only programmable by PC via USB cable. They come with some stock frequencies, which I dont know are what kind of, but you gan google “Baofeng XXX default frequencies” to find out whether it has some programmed for your FRS/GMRS/PMR or not.
I was hesitant to get a programming cable for my radio, but after making one myself, it’s night and day. It’s so much easier to program, not to mention that you can actually add name labels to each channel and further tweak settings. (Squelch thresholds, power on message, etc.)
Yeah, but if you dont own a cable yet, but still need some programming then on LCD equipped models its rather easy to do, even despite chinglish manuals which are far from detailed at times :)!
Other than that, its a pure joy to create programming file on PC and just clone on all the radios knowing that everything will work!
Just so happen that I am in the market for a walkie talkie and narrow down to the BF-388A and BF-888S. Someone told me that the 388A works better outdoors and the 888S works better indoors…? I thought walkie talkies work the same indoors and outdoors.
I specs are very similar but does anyone know the difference?
Thanks
Both are UHF only so they should perform the same. VHF is known to propagate further and UHF is known to work well where there isn’t a direct line of sight (indoors).
However, I do want to point out that it will be illegal to transmit on these devices without a proper license, Ham or GMRS in the US. I do see that Canada does not require a GMRS license, so you should be able to transmit on GMRS frequencies, but do double check with your regulations.
License is not required for UHF in Canada but required for VHF.
what do you mean scanner
first i think you say about photo scanner but comment tell tv scanner
what wrong
photo scanner tv scanner area scanner
i could not understood that
Ken, as far as Ive read, all LCD’less Baofengs are the same radio with different design and names, thats about it, the same internals, mostly the same antennas. The only thing that could allow one to be superior over other is use of different antenna.
UV-R, GT models are all basically the same radio with not much changed, only looks and name :)!
We are talking about Radio frequency scanner ;)!