Police and Fire scanners?

[DaveTN]

Back when I was a cop it seemed everyone had scanners and heard what was going on. I hear a lot of sirens and sometimes wonder what is going on. In this age of digital communications are the transmissions secured or can any scanner pick them up? Specifically Murfreesboro PD and Fire and Rutherford County SO.

[maroonandwhite]

I believe their is actually a phone app that you can download to listen in. I may be totally off base and don't have anything to back this up but I was once told that they HAD to allow you to listen in to the radio chatter. You just couldn't transmit.

[john455]

Yeah there is an App for that I have it on my phone lol pretty interesting listening in especially here in Cocke County

[bersaguy]

My neighbor has a scanner and they can listen in on everything city, county and State so I am guess the older scanners still work. I will ask him about his next time I talk with him.................. :up:

[leroy]

Some of the newer radio systems, especially police and and fire, are operating on a "trunked" system... That means (... as i understand it...) that the radio system has a computer based interface that uses the first available channel to send and transmit on...In english, that means that ya cant follow the transmissions because the frequencies are always changing depending on the "first available" channel the computer picks for each transmission... It takes a special high dollar scanner to listen to these transmissions... Ya might want to check around and see if the radio stuff ya want to listen to is trunked or not before ya decide on a scanner... 

 

leroy

[Fourtyfive]

5-0 Radio App

[billyscott]

I've got a Uniden handheld that picks up Murfreesboro PD, Rutherford county SO and fire and ambulance dispatch. Got it on line a few years ago for a little over $100. It comes with an AC adapter and if you use rechargeable "AA" batteries it will charge while it is plugged in. You can get the frequencies on line, just Google scanner frequencies or I can PM the frequencies to you. 

[suspiciousmind]

Yep 5-0 app. Works like a charm and you can listen to streams from everywhere in the country.

[glowdotGlock]

Most all modern recievers are trunking capable even the cheaper ones. I have 4 base scanners and 2 handhelds. I have a 26' "tower" out side with my antena. My main radio that stays on all the time is a Radio Shack Pro-163. It has frequency tagging and is a decent reciever. I live in Columbia and the only agency that is digital now is Columbia PD which I have no interest in monitoring. I monitor Maury Rural fire and MCSO. I can listen to just about anything. When I am bored I scan the GMRS bands and listen for any traffic because I live just a couple hundred yards from I-65. When I hear some chatter I will turn on my handheld and talk to them and leave them wondering where I came from. I have listened to the space station before and many other cool things. Life Flight 4 services my area and it is interesting to listen to them talk to the hospital with an assessment of their patient.

Here's a pic of my main one in the living room I leaned over and snapped.

Edited January 24, 2015 by glowdotGlock

[jhc77]

I've got a 10+ year old Uniden Bearcat that I can pick up most of Williamson County with. Digital bandwidth is when you need to dump the antiques.

[glowdotGlock]

And the bedroom... lol

[billyscott]

I like that glowdotGlock. I've got one just like it that I bought in 1992 at Service Merchandise. Still works as good as my newer handheld.

[glowdotGlock]

Unidens and Radio Shack are all I own. Great scanners. On the Pro 163 in the living room I have 35 feet of LMR 400 coax ran from my antena. That gives me only about a 1 to 1.5 db loss in the 400 mhz band which is where most of your public services operate. I live near Columbia and monitor Nashville Intl Airport sometimes from the tower. Takeoff and approach. It's neat what you can hear if you get into it. Edited January 24, 2015 by glowdotGlock

[glowdotGlock]

I use a discone antena similar to this setup.

[monkeylizard]

+1 to the 5-0 Radio app. The LAPD Code3/Hot Shots channel can be interesting late at night. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/5-0-radio-pro-police-scanner/id341776037?mt=8

 

There are some for Android too. Search for police scanner in the Google store.

[glowdotGlock]

The apps work well if the agency you want to hear is being streamed. If you wanna listen to Nashville and other cities you are good but if you want to listen to your little small town PD odds are no one is streaming it. You can actually monitor your local radio traffic with your scanner and upstream it to a site as a contributor like Radioreference.com or similar sites. Let's say you wanted to listen to a Sherrifs office in some county that isn't online you could link your reciever to the webs and contribute the audio for others to listen to. Most departments you hear on the app are being streamed to the Web by individuals not the department. Edited January 24, 2015 by glowdotGlock

[10-Ring]

I use the Scanner Radio app.  You can listen to about anything you want on it.  I listened to the Ferguson riots on it.  IMO it has made $100 scanners obsolete.  Living close to Highway 129 I have flipped it on when I hear sirens to listen to what tourist moron has crashed out on the Dragon many times.

[Guest sargekw]

If you go to www.radioreference.com and click on the database tab you can click on any state, then county and it will give you the frequencies in the area.  You can listen to PD, FD, SO and whatever else is broadcasting in the area, as well as listen to the aviation frequencies and hear what is going on at the nearby airport.

[bud]

. Edited August 5, 2015 by bud

[JWC]

I wouldn't mind listening to the Space Station. I know a guy there.

I have been around a couple times when he has called and that'll have to be good enough. Not going to buy a scanner just for the few times I might get a chance while he's still there.

[monkeylizard]

The 5-0 Radio app that I linked to above in the Apple store is free. I know there are some free ones for Android too.

[Cherokee Slim]

I have a Uniden Trunk Tracker III that I listen to when bored or during bad weather.  It picks up everything that happens anywhere near Hamilton county.  Normally it's just normal stuff that a list of incident codes will decipher easily.  I remember when the tornados hit here a few years ago I listened to the rescue crews as they found the dead and injured.  I heard one worker lose it when he found that little boy in a tree where the tornado had left him.  It was really rough.  When I was a Trooper my wife would listen to the scanner whenever I was working.  I know one deputy's wife that heard her husband had been shot, & my wife heard about a wreck I was in when listening. Back then most LEOs will censor what they say on the radio if they knew family may be listening.  Probably still do.  I don't need an outside antenna.

Cherokee Slim

 

http://smile.amazon.com/Uniden-Bearcat-BCT8-BearTracker-TrunkTracker/dp/B000167OAC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1422302933&sr=8-7&keywords=Uniden+Trunk+Tracker+III

[raildog]

My dad is the fire chief of the volunteer fire department were i grew up so we always had a scanner or radio going in our house growing up when my brother became a leo in or home town my mom would turn down the volume when she would here my brother sign on she said she did not want to find out something bad had happened to him that way

[Pain103]

  I could see why people would wan't to hear the radios just like watching tv I guess it's entertaining. Me personally I turn my radio off as soon as I pull into my driveway and don't want to hear a single beep, tone, or word out of the radio until my next work day as I pull out of my driveway.

 

  We use a digital trunked system and isn't bad but it takes a little while to get all the kinks out of it. I also have a secondary radio in my vehicle that is UHF to communicate to surrounding areas are still using that system. I pretty much have every agency in Middle TN in my radios and typically only use them to talk to three or four difference agencies. Do you guys listening to the digital trunked channels only get portions of the conversations on your scanner or app?

[tartanphantom]

To listen free online while surfing:

 

http://www.broadcastify.com

 

They don't have EVERY municipality, but they do have quite a few in Tennessee.

 

For Rutherford County Sheriff, as well as Smyrna police & fire,  The link is here:

http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/13903/web

 

Unfortunately, Murfreesboro Police Dept. is not available. Rutherford County fire is, though.

Edited January 26, 2015 by tartanphantom