[JimJoe]

I enjoy listening to my police scanner from time to time. Please give me your experience in using a police scanner in The Villages. Is there a lot of traffic? Are the police frequencies trunked? Do people use Family Service Radios (walkie talkies) in TV? Thanks!

[Don H]

Jim, (or is it Joe?). We haven't moved to The Villages yet so I can't comment on police commo systems being used there or whether FRS radios are big in TV. There is an amateur radio (ham) club in The Villages and some of their communications take place on VHF and UHF repeaters. They're probably as interesting to monitor as the FRS service. Some of their time is spent in emergency preparedness as well. The amateur repeaters are usually found in the 144 to 148 mhz area and in the 440 to 450 mhz spectrum. Scanning those bands will certainly pick up amateur FM activity while using an indoor antenna. Unfortunately, outdoor antennas are a no, no in TV which is challenging for the hams.

[saratogaman]

Many of the local public service agencies are trunked...and digital.
I listen once in a while, but I cannot get The Villages public safety dispatcher...the posted frequency is apparently incorrect.

[snitzel]

What does "trunked" mean?

[Hawkwind]

A trunked radio system is communications over a number of frequencies or channels that is controlled by a computer. With a trunked system you may only hear one side of the conversation and not the other or you may only hear one transmission and the system switches to another frequency. You would have to know the algorithm that the system is using to listen to the transmissions. It has almost put an end to the old police scanners as we know them. Also adding digital transmissions to the mix you can really encrypt the transmissions and break them into packets you over the air you hear nothing but noise. Similar to what is going on with your computer as you use the internet. Everything moves from one place to the other via packets.

If you really want a detailed description give this wiki a try.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunked_radio_system

[Don H]

Actually, public service comm systems have been capable of trunking for a long time. Motorola was into it big many years ago and I'm surprised that all police systems aren't using it.

Now if you really want to talk under the radar...try spread spectrum. Hmm.

[Hawkwind]

Don, did you know that the first patent for spread spectrum was granted to Hedy Lamarr the movie actress back in 1942?

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

Don, did you know that the first patent for spread spectrum was granted to Hedy Lamarr the movie actress back in 1942?

Oh, "Go do that voodoo that you do so well!"

[Don H]

Yeah, I caught the Hedy Lemarr bit in Wikipedia. Actually, Nikola Tesla was the guy that came up with frequency hopping around 1898. Amazing!

[Don H]

Originally Posted by Pturner

Oh, "Go do that voodoo that you do so well!"

Oh no!! Now I'm going to have that tune in my head for the next day or two. EGADS!!!!

[Talk Host]

Originally Posted by JimJoe

I enjoy listening to my police scanner from time to time. Please give me your experience in using a police scanner in The Villages. Is there a lot of traffic? Are the police frequencies trunked? Do people use Family Service Radios (walkie talkies) in TV? Thanks!

I too have been a big fan of police scanners. I was in the news business for many many years and it was part of my life.

I hooked up my scanner in The Villages, but it became too confusing. We are located in a three county area, so traffic of interest comes from three sheriff and fire/rescue dispatches. Add to that Lady Lake, Leesburg and Ocala. Throw in FHP for good measure and you have an unlistenable mish mash of radio traffic. Just when Marion County is responding to an event of interest and calling for help, Lady Lake needs to talks about the crowd at Spanish Springs.

For a diehard scanner fan, it's very difficult to determine which agency to hone in on. FHP for I-75, and the Turnpike is very active, but so are all the others. Which to choose, that's the dilemma.

[TV MAN]

Say, I have gotten a Home patrol-1 from Uniden along with GPS puck. It is very easy to use and has a nice readout as to what you are actually listing to.

I am looking forward to trying it out on my way down to the villages on my next trip. You can load favorites as well as with the GPS unit hooked up it will automatically receive radio traffic in your area a radius that you can select.

For you ham/scanner enthusiastic's it may be worth checking out.

TV Man