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[Anonymous]

I am 17 years old and what is a scanner? Where can I get one and what do frequencies mean and all that technical stuff surrounding it's use[?]

[TheS.P.caboose]

Hi amfleet. A scanner is a type of radio that allows you to listen and monitor different things depending what frequency you're listening to. Programming in a frequency of 162.55 is the national weather service. You'll be able to hear all the weather information in your area. I like radio shack scanners. The less expensive one go for about $100. I would reccomend one with about 100 channels. I also ask to see the owners manual before buying one. I look at the sensitivity for the railroad frequencies (160 & 161 range) to see how low it is. The closer to 0.3 the better. It tends to pick up the info better. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

So it helps you find where rainsa re going to be going?

[waltersrails]

A scanner is a device to listen to trains planes or emerancy vechiles.

[icmr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by amfleet

I am 17 years old and what is a scanner? Where can I get one and what do frequencies mean and all that technical stuff surrounding it's use[?]

I, too, am 17 but I have know what a scanner is for a looooong time. The scanner consists of a speaker, a keypad, a reciever, a small screen, batteries, headphone jack, power cord jack, antenna, and belt clip. You pu***he keys in order to program the frequencies. Then you can hear anything you want to hear, even people from mars.



ICMR

Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]

[David_Telesha]

QUOTE: A scanner is a device to listen to trains planes or emerancy vechiles.

Say wha? What do those things say? Uh, ok....[8]
------------------------------------

A scanner is a scanning radio transmission receiver. It receives broadcast radio transmissions from ANY two way radios, including those FM TW's found in trains.

You program the frequencies into it and it will scan them - when one is active, it will lock onto it and you'll hear the transmission.

Go for the Radio Shack PRO-95 - it was on sale when I bought mine this time last year. It picks up everything from the lower bands all the way up, including trunked hand helds like Motorola's.

Really, for railroads you only need the 160.01-162.99 range and then the FRED in the 452. range, but the 95 comes in handy if you are bored when there isn't any RR transmissions coming through or you're out of range - you can scan for anything.

To answer your other question:

A frequency is well, the frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum waves (measured in things like kilohertz and megahertz) that are broadcast. Really you don't *have* to worry about all the technical stuff - I got my PRO-95 I didn't know much - just put the batteries in, adjusted the squelch (sensitivity adjustment on the scanner) and followed the directions to put my frequencies in the scanner. Its simple.

In case you don't know electromagnectic radio waves are affected by electrical objects, weather, and other factors. So in your house, you may not get good reception next to your TV with all the lights on, or outside underneath powerlines or an overpass. And driving you'll get some static when you are moving. Cloudy days actually seem to give better reception as thick clouds will "bounce" the frequency back down to earth.

BTW, the PRO-95 has a button specifically for the NWS freq. - it is pre-programmed.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by David_Telesha

QUOTE: A scanner is a device to listen to trains planes or emerancy vechiles.

Say wha? What do those things say? Uh, ok....[8]
------------------------------------

A scanner is a scanning radio transmission receiver. It receives broadcast radio transmissions from ANY two way radios, including those FM TW's found in trains.

You program the frequencies into it and it will scan them - when one is active, it will lock onto it and you'll hear the transmission.

Go for the Radio Shack PRO-95 - it was on sale when I bought mine this time last year. It picks up everything from the lower bands all the way up, including trunked hand helds like Motorola's.

Really, for railroads you only need the 160.01-162.99 range and then the FRED in the 452. range, but the 95 comes in handy if you are bored when there isn't any RR transmissions coming through or you're out of range - you can scan for anything.

To answer your other question:

A frequency is well, the frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum waves (measured in things like kilohertz and megahertz) that are broadcast. Really you don't *have* to worry about all the technical stuff - I got my PRO-95 I didn't know much - just put the batteries in, adjusted the squelch (sensitivity adjustment on the scanner) and followed the directions to put my frequencies in the scanner. Its simple.

In case you don't know electromagnectic radio waves are affected by electrical objects, weather, and other factors. So in your house, you may not get good reception next to your TV with all the lights on, or outside underneath powerlines or an overpass. And driving you'll get some static when you are moving. Cloudy days actually seem to give better reception as thick clouds will "bounce" the frequency back down to earth.

BTW, the PRO-95 has a button specifically for the NWS freq. - it is pre-programmed.

Even though Cloudy weather sucks for Railroad Photography. On the other hand. You are correct about picking up Radio signals when it is Cloudy. When the Cloud deck is low,Radio signals come in realy good. And in the summer time when Radio skip comes in the summer time. Allan.

[Anonymous]

You can find sights on the internet that are patched into a scanner and some have web cams as well glrnnbob