Pro-37 scanner

[Odd Man Out]

I have a Realistic Pro-37 scanner. When new it did every thing I wanted it to do. I listened to local Fire, Police and a couple of 3 letter government types. Now all that fun is gone, this scanner will not pick up all new digital signals. I would love to get in to Ham radio but money is just to tight right now. I would like to listen to some of the Hams that are out there but I have no idea what freqs to try. The scanner will pick up these;

30-50 MHz (VHF Lo)

50-54 MHz (6-Meter Ham Band)

108-136.975 MHz (Aircraft)

137-144 MHz Government)

144-148 MHz (2-Meter Ham Band)

148-174 MHz (VHF Hi)

380-450 MHz (Ham Radio and Government)

450-470 MHz (UHF Lo)

470-512 MHz (UHF TV)

806-823.9375 MHz (UHF Hi)

851.1125-868.9375 MHz (UHF Hi)

896.1125-960 MHz (UHF Hi)

Where should I start to try to hear some of you Ham users?

Thanks.

[Bunsen]

144-148 MHz (2-Meter Ham Band)

380-450 MHz (Ham Radio and Government)

Where should I start to try to hear some of you Ham users?

Those, specifically the 2m ham band and 440-450 MHz (the repeater section of the 70cm ham band). Try 146.520 MHz for simplex traffic (though this is pretty dead in my area), and look up your local repeaters -- I find this site good for that.

[TacAir]

http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

Covers ham and GRMS by state - you should find something fun there

[zommoz10]

There's some websites out there that carry the digital feeds that you can monitor for free.
Of course even those can't receive encrypted signals and they don't have every last channel, usually just a main dispatch channel.

With that scanner I think you're going to be limited to 2 meter and 70 cm ham bands. 2m usually has much more activity. You can use those sites that others mentioned to find repeaters or you can just start scanning 145-148 to find things that might not be published.

[nacho]

I think it's funny how everyone has gone digital, but the greater Los Angeles area. I guess it comes down to there is so much RF here that no one wants to go digital until everyone else does.

The only thing in my area that is digital is the regional fire dispatch, but they still run an analog VHF multicast.

[yale]

That scanner will work well to find the VHF and UHF ham radio repeaters. Also consider putting in the FRS, GMRS and MURS frequencies in one of the banks. Use another bank for something like fire dispatch/paging frequencies which are still VHF and UHF. Another bank can be used for marine band freqs if you live near a coastline. There's still plenty to hear so keep the scanner busy by adapting it to the stuff that's still in it's ranges.

[AParrette]

don't do it.

i have to listen to bridges everyday thanks to the local ham's
yet i want my ham licence

[zommoz10]

I think it's funny how everyone has gone digital, but the greater Los Angeles area. I guess it comes down to there is so much RF here that no one wants to go digital until everyone else does.

They realize that the expensive migration to digital isn't all it's cracked up to be.
If it ain't broke...

[Odd Man Out]

I had no idea how many Ham bands that my scanner didn't pickup. I've done some research and now understand what the different bands and what frequencies they cover. I'm now looking at antenna options. The stock 9" rubber flex antenna works OK but I know I can do better with the old mag mount that I used in my car.

For now I use http://www.radioreference.com/ to listen to the police and fire in my area. Works really well, if I'm online I can connect and listen when the fire siren goes off (I live in a small town and they still use part time firefighters). Its fun when you live two blocks from the siren and it sounds off in the wee hours of the morning while you asleep.

[nacho]

I had no idea how many Ham bands that my scanner didn't pickup. I've done some research and now understand what the different bands and what frequencies they cover.

In all reality your scanner covers all the FM ham bands, all the HF stuff is usually SSB and is a whole other world. HF, is "real ham radio" but as far as disaster prep being able to listen to what is going on in your area the 2M ham band is what you will want to listen to.

With the narrow banding of public safety it is getting more difficult to receive the analog freqs on an old Radio Shack scanner, but FRS, GMRS, and Ham radio are all staying wide band where they are. Having a scanner that can scan part 95 traffic in the PAW may be useful to gather intel in the surrounding area. I scan a couple local ham freqs used for disaster communications along with local PS so I can dedicate my ham radios to specific freqs I need to be on, while still monitoring the other freqs.

[zommoz10]

From what I can see about that scanner it looks like it will receive the 6 meter band. I wouldn't expect to receive anything in that band. When there's a band opening it word gets around but even then you're most likely going to need a much better antenna to hear what's going on.

In addition to 2m and 440, it will also receive the 900mhz ham band. There is zero activity in this band in most parts of the country due to lack of equipment. If you want to transmit on 900, you have to find and repurpose a 900 mhz commercial radio. So some cities have some repeaters, like mine, but not a lot of activity. Even if there is, you're probably not going to hear it on the scanner anyway.

If you want to hear traffic from overseas or distant stations, you might research what frequencies are echolink repeaters or simplex "links" and monitor those. IMO, it's most fascinating when a local repeater is connected to an echolink hub with dozens of other local repeaters. You'll hear local hams talking to people in say Ireland like they're right down the street.