I've read articles about these scanners used to determine the presence of police or highway patrol units nearby. I wonder what's the deal with these things. Could they be used to supplement the radar detectors? I know that driving an EVO or similar car makes one a target for police... They often single you out of a pack of cars to ticket you. When travelling I like to be aware of any possible threat. Sometimes it's easy to get in a groove and travel a few miles per hour faster than the limit specially in a pack of cars or trucks, but there is no "safety in numbers" and if they target a group, the more "visible" car will be tagged...

Anyway, maybe one of these scanners might be a good thing to have in the car along with the radar detector, etc. Can anyone add some good info to this thread?

Thanks

 

ive heard from the porsche guys a uniden bearcat or something like that will let you know when they are in a few mile radius, as their radios also work as a repeater.

ive seen one modified that just had a light in the dash to let ya know when someone was broadcasting on that frequency.

 

www.radardetector.net

 

think that was the blue tooth one, they tested a wrx wagon. awsome system but proly cost an arm and a leg

 

I wonder how easy they would be to use?

 

I drove with a guy once that had a CB and it was pretty entertaining. For the first 20 mins I had no idea what they were talking about but once some of the codes were explained to me, I was like WOW - its like having eyes all over the place.

Just gat yarself a CB and tune into the Trucker World It will take you a while to learn the lingo but you will not only know that cops are around, but which direction, which mile marker they are at, about any road debris in your lane, traffic jams, pot holes, ice spots, etc.

If I did any highway traveling, I'd be getting one for sure.

 

Oh yeah, the CB chatter can be useful, but there is also a lot of BS going on and I find it hard to understand what they are saying sometimes...

I understand that the scanners can alert you to the physical presence of the highway patrol or police cars in the vecinity even if they are not using the radar or the radio.... That would be a real plus.

 

There is so much chatter on scanners that they can become very annoying for anyone except a news desk worker at a TV station.

You would end up having to give 100% focus on listening to a scanner just for tidbits of useful info here and there.

Best would be a CB and a good radar detector.

Or....just drive the spped limit

 

my buddy use to have a scanner and some times the'll call in their locations and such.................we mostly listen to it at night to here about all the stupid *** people getting caught for the dumbest ****.

 

Thanks for the info. I will look into it some more because if the scanner could be set to just alert to the correct band activity, it would be a great tool.. As for driving the speed limit, you are right on that too, but it's just too easy to let the pedal go down a little at the time until you suddenly realize your doing 80+ and you just passed by a cop ..............

 

I have a Bearcat and it is entertaining but it wont keep me from getting any tickets. It has an alarm feature when the CHP uses thier radio; there is a repeater that sets it off or something. Problem is most of the time it doesnt work too well. They are also hard to mount unless you get a handheld, I wouldnt bother. Also these scanners dont pick up all the bands anyway unless you want to spend a lot of money to modify one. Even then police usualy jump from one frequency to another. Just invest in a good radar detector like the Valentine.

 

And put one of those four foot antennas on top of an Evo? Have you lost your mind?


I have a handheld trunking scanner, (whatever that means) that I bought from a pawnshop for my one and only visit to a NASCAR event. The police switch around so much you have to constantly fiddle with the thing. So if you want to be like Leon from F&F, you are going to have to sit to the side and miss all the races and screw around with it as the cops sneak up on you anyway, or have a more sophisticated one with all the known police bands already programmed in.

It is mild entertainment listening to one at night hearing cops describe perps and that stereotypical lady dispatcher voice that they all seem to have.

 

In STL the scanners don't help at all. I just to volunteer at the FIre Dept and so I do have one, but it doesn't help to locate where police are. It'll lemme kno where some of the cops are but not all of them

 

A cb is the way to go, as far as i know you would get in trouble for listening to a scanner while driving.

 

Police scanners are easy to get and use but getting the channels is not always easy.