--Scanning

About half of our members are interested in 'VHF/UHF' point-to-point services like police and public safety messages, aircraft traffic and the like. This is commonly referred to as 'scanner listening' or just 'scanning' since those types of services are generally listened to on 'police scanner' type radios.

In addition to lots of good local info in our printed materials, here are a few of the best links to on-line info for the scanner buff:

We tried to maintain a regional list, and there were many web sources for scanner info, but all reliable ones, including the All Ohio Scanner club, seem to have disappeared. Is nobody doing this as a hobby any more? Do you have a suggestion about links we should put here?

  • The FCC home page where you can issue a query about a frequency you are hearing and see what it might be! Use the 'search' option to get there.
  • The NOAA weather radio station search page which can help you narrow in on which station you're hearing!

    Finally ... the legality of scanners scanning and the moral, social and public policy issues of scanning and listening to two-way comms were increasingly making it into the news in the early 2000s but has calmed down a GREAT deal since. This area of law will not likely go away however, and it behooves anyone interested to keep an eye on things!

    the last major bit of legislation at the federal level was this bill:

    Which didn't have any provisions harming radio hobbyists.

    The bottom line? Plug in and THINK about this before you make knee-jerk reactions! Here is a link to point you at state laws concerning scanner use:

    The latest developments in Michigan Law -- People v. Brian Stone interpreted the Michigan Wiretap Law in a way radio hobbyists need to know about. Check out the following links for the text of the Court Opinions, and check out the latest MARE Great Lakes Monitor newsbulletin for my interpretation.