There are still a few folks out there, including some that will make a crystal for you if they don't stock it.
Google "scanner crystals"
For scanner laws - Google "scanner laws." There are several sites that give a state-by-state summary of such laws.
The change in railroad radio is not to single side band, but rather to "narrow band." IIRC, the new frequencies that the railroads will be using (they'll have almost 200 available) are going between the current channels. This, too has been discussed here and you can probably root it out with a search.
That said, your current scanner won't necessarily become totally obsolete, but the performance won't be the same. FM modulates its signal by changing the frequency. A bigger change in frequency means more volume. Hence, since they'll only have half the space to work with, you'll get less volume on your current scanner. The difference may not hurt your scanning. If your scanner isn't capable of programming for the "split" frequencies, however, you're going to get some interesting results...
The change doesn't just affect the RR community. Public Safety and just about every other radio user is facing the same issue.
The best scanner is the one that works best for you. If you are only going to listen to your local railroad action, even a twenty channel scanner may be overkill. As has also been discussed on the forum, the real key is a good antenna, necessary to extend the range of your listening.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
eolafan wrote:I have a PRO94 from Radio Shack and have been using a magnetic based antenna on my car roof, but last week the connection between the top and middle sections of the antenna broke off so I am down to the bottom two sections and it actually seems to work better than ever...go figure!
grayfox1119 wrote:Does anyone have any inputs on the best hand held scanner for monitoring RR traffic?
Sure. Just do a search in the forums and you'll find 100 postings on this subject. It has been discussed and re-scussed quite frequently.
You can also check eBay and pick up a gently-used Radio Shack Pro-95 scanner (10 banks, 1000 channels) for under $50. That's the one I have and it's superb.
PZ
i have one of them uniden bearcat scanners & it works pretty good.
mines a 200 channel & i have each railroad in a sperate bank & also my local police, ambulance, school district & all that. it helps to have the battery fully charged when your out beacuse if it goes low the talking will be choppy. i also need a better antena.
I have the Radio Shack PRO-92 and PRO-94, but I doubt if either is available NEW anymore. Unless you find a used one for sale, you will be stuck with deciding amongst the new ones available, which are probably better anyway.
I would recommend that you get one with as many channels as you can. But note that sometimes they divide the number of channels up into odd configurations. The PRO-92 has 500 channels divided into 10 banks of 50. And the PRO-94 has 1000 channels, but instead of 10 banks of 100, it is 2 groups of 10 banks of 50 and you can only scan through selected banks of one Group at any one time.
I also have the first two banks of each set to the 97 AAR frequencies and the "extra" channels in those two groups I have set to the U.P. dispatcher frequencies in this area so that the scanner will check them more often. BUT, note that some scanners won't allow duplicate frequencies in a bank (and some won't allow duplicates between banks either!).
I use the other 8 banks for AAR channels that are associated with particular RRs in the area and can scan just those frequencies when I don't want to waste time scanning unused channels in this area or stop on some other RR's traffic and miss messages that are of interest due to what I am watching at the time.
Note that for several years people have been warning to not buy a scanner just yet because the FCC is about, "any day now", to alter the frequency spacing or to force the use of Single Side Band and present scanners will be useless when that happens. I held off for about 3 years based on that concern and I have had my oldest scanner for 5 years now. Still has not happened.
There is also the possibility that the RRs will go to a "Trunking" system. So a scanner that will do trunking would be a good idea.
They may also go digital, so better consider that.
Then, again, I have noticed that recently I have heard messages that ask either the engineer or the dispatcher to call the other on their cell phone and no scanner can handle that, so maybe you can just forget about getting one altogether!!!!!
Another question is whether it is legal for you to have one in your State or any State you are likely to travel "through"... it could be confiscated if you don't have the appropriate license for owning one! Most States don't care, but a few require permission and some require you to not have it "on" while your car is in motion. Check YOUR State's laws. It is possible, though very unlikely, that you could buy one at your local Radio Shack (they don't care if it is legal in your State), walk out the door and a policeman confiscate it before you get the batteries installed.
Talk about screwy State laws, in most States it is illegal to use one while commiting a crime! DUH! If you are intent on commiting a crime why would you care if using a scanner at the time was also a crime? "I think I will rob a bank, but I refuse to use a scanner at the time to monitor the police frequencies, 'cause that'd be illegal!"
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
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