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Squelch control
The Squelch control is probably the most misunderstood control to new scanner users. The way to use this control is to turn the squelch control knob all the up so that you get nothing but static on a channel that is clear (Nobody transmitting at the time) and then turn down the squelch contol until the static goes away and the scanner starts scanning. If you get a really noisy transmission then turn the squelch control down until the noisy transmission goes away. If you cannot seem to hold a clear transmission then turn the squelch control up.
Keep a Scanner Notebook
Keeping a Notebook of what you hear and on what frequency is very helpful. Taking notes of police codes you hear used and then you can find out what you what those codes mean (you can find police codes on the Internet and in frequency guides) One of the first things to be put on a scanner notebook is a list of what frequencies are stored on your scanner and those frequencies are used for.
Mobile Use
If you use your scanner in your car you can use an antenna line splitter (you can get one from Radio Shack) to split the antenna line from the car radio antenna to go into both your scanner and into your car radio antenna. You can also get a cigarette lighter adapter that plugs into you car cigarette lighter and then converts the 12 volts D.C. to the right voltage for your scanner.
Monitoring Trunked systems on a Regular scanner
To effectively listen to trunked systems you need to keep your finger on the button, The scan button that is. If you program the trunking band frequencies that are used in your area one after another on your scanner you can just press the scan button just as the first transmission is ending so that you can catch the reply when the frequency changes. If your scanner has a bank feature then you can turn off all the other banks of channels to isolate the trunking band channels.
Progamming a scanner without having the instruction manual
If you bought your scanner second hand and you didn't get the instruction manual
and you need to know how to program frequencies into your new scanner try one of
the following procedures,
- Press manual until you get to the channel that you want to program, key in the
frequency that you want on that channel and then press 'E' or 'enter'
- Press manual until you get to the channel that you want to program, press 'pgm'
or 'program' key in the frequency that you want on that channel and then press 'E'
or 'enter'
One of these procedures will work on most scanners. If you still can't program
the scanner then the scanner should be serviced.
Listening to your Scanner in your Bathroom
If you ever wanted to listen to your scanner while enjoying a nice hot bath you can us a large ziploc type plastic bag and put your handheld scanner in it to protect it from the humidity. You may have to cut a small slit in the bag to allow for the antenna. Then apply some masking tape to where the scanner antenna comes through slit in the bag. If you have a base scanner you can still enjoy scanning while bathing however you need to get a long cord that connects to your scanner's earphone and then listen to scanner on an external monitor speaker in the bathroom.
Using Searchable Frequency databases
If you are using one the searchable frequency database web sites,
You will have a better chance of finding the frequencies that want by only entering part of the keyword in
your search.
Search Industry Canada's Technical and Adminstrative Frequency List (TAFL)
Federal Communucations Commission licence records
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