Radio Scanners

[Martin]

Has anyone got/used one of these radio scanners that pick up on local signals such as taxi companies or emergency services (with an appropriate licence)? I was looking on ebay as I'm thinking of buying one out of curiosity/boredum.

[martindtanderson]

aren't they illegal in the UK?

[Si-Co]

I have a (legal) scanner which I use to pick up air traffic control. You can pick up some taxi firms and some police transmissions with that. A lot of the police stuff is scrambled now I believe.

Depending on what you want, you can pick up a scanner / air band radio for as cheap as £20.

[Boughton]

Mmm ... well, I can remember when you could pick up the police by tuning up to the top end of the dial on your normal, domestic VHF (that's FM to you, kids...) radio. You could usually only hear one side of the conversation though.

[Martin]

I was actually interested in picking up the radio signal for the city's buses (long story). If you can pick up a taxi signal in theory could you do the same for that? Other than that I was just interested in seeing what could be picked up.

[fusionlad]

I've got a scanner which picks up the local bus company, as well as emergency services.

It's not illegal to own a scanner, but it is illegal to listen to emergency services, so I obviously steer well clear

[Jamez]

hehehe! I used to listen to the Police when I had a scanner a few years ago (1997-ish).

I used to be able to pick up Police conversations from Swansea - even though I was 50 miles away at the time.

[markyboi]

Mmm ... well, I can remember when you could pick up the police by tuning up to the top end of the dial on your normal, domestic VHF (that's FM to you, kids...) radio. You could usually only hear one side of the conversation though.

lol, we used to do that years ago

[tvmercia]

back in the day i used to be able to pick up the talk back from the bbc midlands OB van. i think its probably still possible, but i've forgotten the frequency. at around 5.30ish you'd hear a loop of the extended titles music (patchwork era) with a voiceover. at around 6.00 you'd hear the "this is bbc one, we're sorry we cannot bring you your local news" (or something like that) - then the london headlines.

[Big Brother]

Is it not just illegal to act upon the information you hear. So if you hear there is a drugs raid about to happen down the road and decide to go along you break the law.

I have an old radio alarm clock which actually picks up the signal from one of my neighbours (or around this area) house phone, probably a cordless phone. I recall one evening in which one of them was on the phone talking about bringing some fags and booze over from somewhere. Quite interesting & clearly they were all deaf as they were shouting... or was it just turned up load. lol

[Nick Harvey]

Correct, Big Brother. It's legal to own a scanner and it's legal to listen in, but it's illegal to act on the information you hear, or pass it on to a third party.