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Saturday, December 26, 2009 | 
Scanning monitor radios, often referred to as "Police Scanners" or "Scanner Radios" were popular gifts this holiday season.
Received with warmth and a sense of awe on Christmas morning, many have sat quietly since, awaiting the often intimidating process of being programmed.
While manufacturers try to simplify instruction manuals, the greatest challenge seems to be obtaining radio frequency information for local agencies or events of interest.
As you might imagine, Neighborhood Firefighters are being approached by enthusiasts eager to hear their Fire Department in action.
In Los Angeles, residents need not traipse to a Neighborhood Fire Station for information. The Los Angeles Fire Department is pleased to provide comprehensive voice radio frequency information on-line at:
Though our friend Gene Hughes retired from publishing the popular Southern California Police Call radio frequency guide before his untimely passing, there remain several on-line resources to explore scanner radio use in our region:
Monitoring radio frequencies however, will only tell you part of the story. That's why we warmly welcome you (with or without your scanner in hand), to visit a Neighborhood Fire Station, and meet the men and women behind those voices on the radio.
Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department
2 comments:
LAFD is to be commended for making its communications available to the public. In emergencies, radio hobbyists have often used other modes of communication to help trained firefighters deal with the situation. It takes some experience, though, to know when you're helping and when you're just in the way.
Also in large unified command wildfires don't forget the "white" net used for mutual aid on frequencies around 154 MHz. These should be on radioreference and the other sites. They get pretty busy.
Many scanners can be connected to the USB port of a computer, usually through a serial/USB adapter, and then programmed much more quickly via the computer screen.
If you have an iPhone, check out the Five-O Radio app in the iTunes App Store. Police/fire scanner in your pocket.
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