158 - The Secrets are in the Searches

Scanner School - Everything you wanted to know about the Scanner Radio Hobby

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Have you wondered how you can best use the search function on your scanner?

In this episode, Phil walks through some tips for how to use your scanner to search for new frequencies, from pre-programmed search ranges to scan and search mode, and more.

What You Need To Know

• There is more out there than what you program into your scanner.
• Not every frequency or use for a frequency has been documented.
• Once when searching late at night, Phil found an active Federal frequency that he discovered was the USPS sorting mail onto trucks.
• He also once found a military installation trunk system that he was able to monitor.
• Searching is useful in case something you listen to becomes encrypted so you have alternatives.
• Even if you don’t know what you want to search for, scanners have built-in search ranges right out of the box that you can use as a starting point.
• Phil sets up search ranges for what he knows he likes to scan, for example, aviation.
• Sometimes he sets up new search ranges for random things he feels like listening to that day.
• Phil suggests setting your search range as a favorites key.
• You can set your scanner to go through all of your programmed frequencies, and then go back into search mode.
• You can connect your scanners to your computer with software like Butel or ProScan and have it log the frequencies it finds in search mode for you.

All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session158

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