• Scanner Apps Legality
• LTE Company vs GPS
• Hickory New System
• Nationwide EAS Test Date
• Feed Stats

Scanner Apps Legality

The legality of cell phone apps while mobile, has been challenged in Indiana.  After a botched bank robbery the driver of the getaway car was eventually caught after fleeing the scene of the crime. His crime, felony attempted robbery and unlawful use of a police radio. According to prosecutors in Muncie, IN, the cell phone app that tipped him to leave as things went south fit into the same guidelines as if the device had been a scanner. Since Indiana has one of the nation’s toughest scanner law, having a scanner while mobile is a crime.  Of course many states have using a scanner in the commission of a felony or crime a separate crime in itself; this incident brought nationwide attention to the topic.  Through the flurry of accompanying news articles, many made this a pushbutton issue with Joe Public vs. the Police on either side. Many public safety officials commented across the nation that the public has no right to listen to the police, while others mostly from the general public support the idea of being in the loop. Commonsense would be your best advice for this issue, if it’s illegal to have a scanner in your state, locality, or situation in general then having a scanner app would probably be just the same.

MSNBC Article

For a listing of different state's scanner laws and regulations see this website by Todd Sherman.

LightSquared Frequency Issue

An emerging mobile broadband provider is currently under some strict criticism, including from a senate hearing committee due the proximity of their intended bandwidth to that of existing commercial and military GPS frequencies. Most recently the company has made tentative plans to purchase spectrum from Inmarasat. As the roll out of mobile broadband has been a waiting game for many, a satellite deployed solution could be an interesting concept.

Heres an article about the GPS interference issues

GPS Frequencies

Hickory, NC New Radio System

It’s been reported from numerous sources that the Hickory, NC Police department has updated their existing 800 MHz trunked radio system to a radio system type commonly referred to as “Open Sky”. Currently supported under the Harris Corporation, this problematic system has been proven unsuccessful in several large deployments. Due to its digital nature and propriety software codec, this type of system cannot be monitored by any commercially produced scanner. The state of North Carolina is currently supported by a statewide interoperable system called VIPER. Its still unknown why Hickory did not support the already in place infrastructure and upgrade to a network that’s plug and play to VIPER. Scanner listeners in Catawba County and the city will be in the dark for now.

Nationwide EAS Test

The FCC has set the date. 11/9/11 will be the first nationwide emergency alert system test.

Feed Stats courtesy of radioreference.com

Spikes in listeners (79) on 5/10 for the Wide Area Feed
Washington County (80) feed on 5/26

For select recordings see the Media Section.


Wide Area Feed


Washington County, VA

Recommended Reading Two- Way Radios and Scanners for Dummies® ISBN: 978-0764595820 Perfect for anyone new to the hobby and an excellent refresher for us that has become a little rusty. This is the most up to date publication that effectively covers multiple radio services available. I have been mentoring someone new to the scanner hobby and provided a little reinforcement. If you want to test your skills, here are some sample tests I quickly drew up to make the subject matter a little more intensive. Chapters 1-6 Test Chapters 7-9 Test Chapters 10-12 Test Chapters 13-14 Test Chapter 15 Test Chapter 16-17 Test Chapter 18 Test Chapter 19 Test Chapter 20 Test Answers to follow in each new newsletter
Answers to chapters 1-6 HERE Answers to chapters 7-9 HERE Answers to chapters 10-12 HERE Answers to chapters 13-14 HERE Answers to chapter 15 HERE Answers to chapter 16-17 HERE Answers to chapter 18 HERE Answers to chapter 19 HERE

General Area Covered