New guy. No idea what I'm doing!!!

[Lokitwitch04]

My name is Marc and I live in Michigan. I bought a Baofeng UV-5RA dual band transceiver. I know absolutely nothing about these things. I wanted a hand held police scanner, so this is what I bought. I went to amazon and typed in police scanner and this one was a good price. I guess my question is how the heck do you use this thing and what can I do with it. I always listened to these when I was younger and wanted to go back to that. Any and all info is appreciated. Thanks in advance guys.


~ Lokitwitch

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Baofeng UV-5RA Handi-talkie, Baofeng UV5RA
Baofeng UV-5RA - YouTube

 

[Klondike Mike]

This is not a "police scanner" per se. You bought the wrong item. You'll need to know what scrambling technology they use in your area before making your choice. See this link; Scanners

Although, you got yourself an inexpensive HT. Maybe karma ...

 

[kd-5-bgt]

What you got is a duel band handheld ham radio ( aka amateur radio )

that thing WILL transmit .......unless you have a ham radio license you can find yourself in ALOT of trouble talking on it..

But on the bright side..you now have a reason to get your ham radio license

I have never looked at the receive specs on that radio ( handheld) ,but if it will receive out of band it just might make a nice scanner as well as long as the police/fire doesnt scramble their transmissions

 

[Lokitwitch04]

This is not a "police scanner". You bought the wrong item. You'll need to know what scrambling technology they use in your area before making your choice. See this link; Scanners

Although, you got yourself an inexpensive HT. Maybe karma ...

Can I use this to listen to the police radios? I didn't think this was going to be this difficult. I found the frequencies for the police in my area. Why can't I just tune in and listen to them?


~ Lokitwitch

 

[Lokitwitch04]

What you got is a duel band handheld ham radio ( aka amateur radio )

that thing WILL transmit .......unless you have a ham radio license you can find yourself in ALOT of trouble talking on it..

But on the bright side..you now have a reason to get your ham radio license

I have never looked at the receive specs on that radio ( handheld) ,but if it will receive out of band it just might make a nice scanner as well as long as the police/fire doesnt scramble their transmissions

I don't plan to ever transmit on it. I just want to listen. I have a friend in the fire department that said he will program it, whatever that means. Will that unscramble the frequency.


~ Lokitwitch

 

[kd-5-bgt]

If that radio will tune to those frequencies yes you can listen to them...as long as they dont scramble their transmissions or use digital


Look at the book for that radio and see where it will receive at,if it is outside of the 2 meter and the 440 mhz ham radio bands it will make a nice scanner...just dont hit the push to talk button on it within the ham radio bands

edit: No that will not unscramble the transmissions,the scrambler is usually built into their radios and requires the receiving radio to have the same system in it in order to be able to hear the transmission...Not all cities/counties have the scramblers in their radios but when you hear a scrambled signal you will know it...

Some cities/counties are going to a digital system,that is a totally different creature ,not to mention the radios are really expencive

 

[Klondike Mike]

Can I use this to listen to the police radios? I didn't think this was going to be this difficult. I found the frequencies for the police in my area. Why can't I just tune in and listen to them?~ Lokitwitch

If the police use frequencies that are covered by the Baofeng UV-5R, have at 'er. Most big city police communications is not just simplex and more sophisticated, dedicated scanners are required to monitor. Sounds like your fireman friend knows the details and this HT is good enough.

PS: They don't like it when you "breaker, breaker" on any of their channels.

 

[Beetle]

People call these radios "walkie-talkies".

So why don't they call their vacuum cleaners "pushy-suckies">?