Prep Comms - Scanner Radios for Preppers

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Scanner Radios for Preppers In the world of prepping, information is power. One tool that can provide this crucial information is a scanner radio. Scanner radios allow preppers to stay updated on local happenings and gain a tactical advantage. From budget-friendly models to high-tech self-programming scanners, there's a scanner radio for every prepper's needs. Caleb often reminds us that in an emergency, listening is twice as important as talking. When disaster strikes, being aware of your surroundings can mean the difference between life and death. Scanner radios enable you to monitor local emergency services, weather updates, and other vital information. This knowledge can help you make informed decisions and stay ahead of potential threats. Scanner radios offer several tactical advantages. They provide real-time updates on local emergencies, allowing you to react quickly. Whether it's a natural disaster, civil unrest, or a medical emergency, having immediate access to information is crucial. Additionally, scanner radios can help you avoid danger zones and find safe routes. They also allow you to monitor other radio users and community groups, enhancing your overall preparedness strategy. Scanner radios are an invaluable tool for preppers. They provide essential real-time information, giving you a tactical advantage in any emergency. Whether you choose a budget-friendly model or a high-tech self-programming scanner, staying informed is crucial for effective preparedness. Invest in a scanner radio today to enhance your emergency strategy and ensure you and your loved ones stay safe.   Scanners! One of my Favorite Tools in the Preppers Tool Box!  *Listener BONUS* Download Your Free PDF of show notes and Action Items/Stretch Goals from this show Here!Free to Print and Place in your @PrepComms Planning Binder!   Show Mentions/Links Radio Reference - Locate your Local Radio Services Suggestions: K4CDN Amazon Store Number One Suggestion: Uniden Home Patrol Portable Base Handheld Show Sponsor: Hub City Mercantile. Nelson owned and operated, we are your source for Berkey Replacement Filters and New British Berkefeld Water Filter Systems! Most orders over $99 ship for free. 

Welcome welcome into the prep comms podcast my name is kale nelson caleb nelson k4 cdn and welcome back again i mean this is uh quite a journey we're on here are we not i gotta ask the other day i gotta be straight with you i gotta ask the other day, are you ever going to talk about radios that we can talk into? And I said, yes, maybe in 2025. Just kidding. Just kidding. It's hot summertime when I'm recording this program here in the upstate of South Carolina, 2024.

And no, we're not going to talk about radios right now that you can talk into and go all the way back to the mindset episode right there at the beginning of the program where we talked about having an understanding of communications and the good Lord giving us one mouth and two ears. And I'm still going to go through these communication options for you that are ways for you to gather information, for you to be able to learn from what's going on around you by listening. And of course, a transceiver, you can listen to a transceiver, but we haven't gotten to that point yet. We're not graduated to the point that we have the opportunity to talk back on these radios we've been discussing. And a lot of people find that kind of weird because when they think Prepper Communications, they just want to go immediately

to the low-cost, cheap, handy talkies on Amazon, and that's the answer to everything. And I think we've made a pretty good case so far that there are a lot of pieces of that puzzle that are missing for folks, and that is really the heart behind why I'm doing this program. I really sincerely want folks to make the best decisions they can to purchase if they have to, or know how to use what they already have, but to make good decisions to get the equipment that you need for your specific situation. I mean, if you are a single lady living in an apartment complex somewhere in New York City, your needs are going to be vastly different from, say, I don't know, a guy who's been married to his wife for 25 years, lives on acreage in the upstate of South Carolina with five children and two golden doodles. You know, we have different needs on every level, but we all need to be able to communicate.

And that's the heart behind this show is to teach folks, to be able to help folks understand how to best make use of what you have and then help you get an understanding of what you need. And then you can make the best decision when it comes to that purchase, right? So no, I'm not talking about walkie talkies yet. We're going to get there, but it's going to be just a couple of weeks away. So stick with me. I know the world's rapidly changing around us. And that may even make some video or some episodes here come out even sooner as the landscape continues to change. But just take heart, guys. We're not doing this because

we're afraid. We're not doing this because we're afraid. We're not doing this because we're scared. We're doing this because we know that things aren't necessarily what they want to appear to be, and we need to have some contingencies in place. And that's what we're talking about here in the PrepCom show. Now, get all that out of the way. Again, I'm Caleb Nelson, K4CDN. I'm a ham radio guy in upstate South Carolina. I've been podcasting since 2014.

I was on radio, FM Christian radio for 10 years before that, and just love communications. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's a CB radio, if it's a little kids handy talky walkie talkie thing they get at Christmas. I mean, it could be anything. I love communications. And as you can probably tell within the first three minutes, I really like to talk. So let me get to what I'm here for today. And that we're going to move on beyond the shortwave radios for now. And we're going to start talking today about scanner radios. Now, this I know this topic here can be very boring and mundane for some folks, and it can be very exciting for others. It just depends on a

couple of different factors like, are you technologically savvy, or do you like to learn new things, or you don't care what the police and the fire department are doing. You just want to talk to your buddy. I get all that. So I'm going to try to make this as much edutainment value as possible, and at the same time, be able to share with you some of my experiences. I've been a scanner listener as long as I've been a CB radio user. And that goes back to when I was a kid, my grandma, she had this amazing, I think it was a Johnson. I think it was a John. I wish I still had it. I think my mom sold it, but it was a scanner and it had crystals in it. We'll talk about that maybe down the road, but you put these, there's not like a crystal like you see hanging in the kitchen window or on your girlfriend's engagement ring. This is a, oh gosh, I'm going to get too deep real quick. But anyway, it was a select, it was a way

to select the channel, the frequency that you wanted that radio to receive. You'd buy a crystal that was cut to that frequency. You'd insert it in there. It didn't look like a crystal, but it kind of was. And it's just a little electronic device that makes the radio receive on that frequency. Well, I guess mama had probably 12 different channels in hers. Had these red lights, they would flash. It looked like the front end of the Knight Rider car. The lights would flash from left to right as the scanner was going through the different channels. And then when someone spoke over the radio frequency, it would stop and light up solid. And then you, of course, would hear what the police dispatch or the fire department dispatch

was saying. Oh, I loved it so much. I used to get in trouble because I wanted to listen to it every time we went up there. And of course, they wanted to watch Falcon Crest or something. But I loved scanner radios. Well, get on down the road. I become a volunteer fireman in 1992 before I became a professional firefighter. And my same grandmother wanted to know what I was doing and when I was going to be out on a call.

So she sent me to Radio Shack, of course, and bought her a scanner. Still have it. Still works, by the way. I did get that one. And so I've been around these things for so long. I've had some really nice ones. I've had some very cheap ones and you know what? They kind of all work exactly the same. It just depends on what you're looking for and what you want it to do. And that's what we're going to talk about in this series, if you will, of

the prep comms podcast. So scanners are very important if you are a prepper, and I'll tell you why. And it's going to be the same reasons that I've given you for AM, FM, weather radio, shortwave radio, single sideband, shortwave, all of that. It's all the same reasons. Because more than likely, as you prepare for an emergency, as you prepare for a problem down the road, you're going to see that, hey, I need to know what's going on around me. I need to know what the police department's doing. I want to know what the fire departments are doing. What's happening with the railroad? Are the trains operating or not? What about the local utilities? Has someone damaged a power transfer station? Is that why

I have no power here? Scanners allow you to listen to a multitude of different things, including my laptop that I forgot to mute as I started here. But scanners will allow you to listen to everything that is available to you locally. And some of them can even get out there in, you know, some, some distance depending on your antennas, but it depends on the system that's being used around you. Now, you may find that your state police force or your County sheriff's department, or even the local fire department may be using an encrypted system that you're not going to be able to listen to. They've, they've established the encryption keys that you probably don't have, and any scanner you get is probably not going to be able to listen to that unless you're just

getting some hacking stuff. And that's well beyond the scope of this program. There's plenty of really smart guys online that can help you down those roads. But even then, the encryption is pretty much unbreakable. You're not going to get in and listen. But that doesn't mean that everything is encrypted. And that doesn't mean that a scanner isn't important to a prepper, especially when they are preparing for some sort of event. Now, again, I've been listening to scanner radios for forever, uh, base station scanner radios that would like sit on a countertop. They've got handheld models.

They've got them in between. Uh, they've got them touch screens and they've got some now that you just, you get home from the store, you type in your zip code and it automatically programs itself and listens to whatever you want to listen to it. Those are my favorite, by the way, we'll talk about them in a couple of shows. But you really should consider a scanner radio for nothing else to give you an even greater tactical advantage of what's happening around you. Now, I know that when I said that word, some of you guys may have rolled your eyes and others may have gotten a little twinge in your stomach thinking, oh gosh,

he's talking paramilitary. No, no, no, no, none of that stuff. No, no, no, nothing, nothing. I have found that in regards to severe weather, let's say, in my county, in regards to severe weather, I can listen to the amateur radio operators doing the storm chasing with a scanner. I can listen to the fire and rescue dispatching and operations with a scanner. I can listen to the sheriff's department with a scanner, all those different things. But let's just say you have a very low cost model. And the only thing that you're able to listen to is a fire department dispatch. Well, I can promise you that if you have a storm go through your county and you're curious to the severity of the storm or whatnot, you can listen to your scanner and listen to the fire department dispatch, and you'll know what's going on in your county.

Because the firemen and the EMS go out as often, if not more in some cases, as your local police and sheriff's departments. Now, that's not taking anything away from those guys because I was a professional firefighter. I'm just saying that they kind of all run together. And even if your police department may be unlistenable, right? It's encrypted. You can't listen to that. You can kind of follow around the fire department and know what's going on around you, which gives you a great tactical advantage.

Meaning that, oh, I just heard on the scanner that there were power lines down at 26 and 290. So I don't need to go over there, but I think I can get through a Reedville and Blackstock because they don't have any storm damage. That's the tactical advantage I'm trying to share with you. Now you can go deeper, right? So let's pretend you're having some sort of disturbances in your local city, the police, the fire, the EMS, they'll all be talking about it on their scanner over their radios and the scanners for a lot of time. They can listen to those things and you can determine what's going on. They're marching down on East Main. I'm not going there. I'm going to go to the

Bojangles over on Asheville Highway instead. That just kind of gives you an idea of how you can utilize the information that you're gathering from your scanner to make good decisions. Even, even like today, like regular day, nothing's happening. There's no problems. Everybody's happy except some people. A scanner can still be a great tactical advantage for you. Um, I love them. Honestly, I have, I don't even know how many scanners I have to be very frank with you. I have a lot. I love them. Honestly, I have, I don't even know how many scanners I have to be very frank with you. I have a lot. I have them in my house. I have them in my shack. I have them in my vehicles. They are a great source of information gathering. And again, going all the way back to the first

point, when you're in a position that you're preparing for that future event that we haven't gotten to yet, that you're concerned enough about to make preparations for, you're going to want as much information as you can gather. And you want good information and you want information that you can apply to your situation to determine what's next for you and your family. That is why I recommend a scanner. Now, we'll get to the actual recommendations later, but I'm just trying to lay the foundation here for you to get an understanding of, no, you don't have to be former police. You

don't have to be a former first responder. Uh, you may not know exactly what they're talking about to start with, but it's not really hard to figure it out. If you'll just give it some time, it's kind of like riding a bicycle. The more time you spend on the bike, the better you got. So the more time you spend listening to pro words and whatnot, different signs and signals that they would speak on a scanner, the better off you would be. So don't think that a scanner is too far beyond your reach. They're not cheap. I'll give you that. Now, some of them are, but the ones that we're going to recommend are probably up there pretty expensive,

but they're going to do the most, give you the most bang for your buck, and be the easiest to use. That's why I'm going to recommend them. So, again, I want to be able to help you make good choices, but I also want you to understand why I am suggesting that you pick up a scanner for your preparedness. A radio scanner is a really great device. It is a receiver, okay? And depending on what frequencies it operates in, the bands that it operates in, and then what frequencies are programmed into it, it determines what kind of usage you can have.

So here in the state of South Carolina, the interoperability channels, that means that you can talk from the coast to the mountains. Those are on an 800 megahertz system that is not really encrypted, but is a digital trunking system. Big words to say you have to have a special scanner to listen to them. And that's great. Our sheriff's department's pulled that in. Our local EMS has pulled that in on some of their channels. But by and large, I can still listen just wide open and clear with a cheap scanner from a pawn shop to all of the fire departments that I can stand to listen to, including some EMS and some local smaller police departments, as well as amateur radio operators.

There's all kind of, you've got municipalities, trash men, you've got businesses with radios in their trucks, all sorts of things that you can listen to to gather information for and from as you prepare your comms preparedness plan. And that's why I really believe these things are so helpful. It's not like you're listening to the AM FM radio to gather the weather forecast or a news report. You're actually listening to the news as it's happening. So, for instance, our guys here locally, when we have severe weather,

there's folks who get out in their cars and chase it around like you're familiar with. And they call those reports back into a net control operator. These are ham radio guys. And that ham, that net control operator takes the information gathered from those guys in the field, the real time information and feeds it to the National Weather Service. And then the National Weather Service goes through that, disseminates what they need to say or what it needs to happen. And then that's when the warnings come out. That's where the reports of a tornado is on the ground or dime-sized hail or whatever they're reporting on the television news actually came from a couple of minutes ago from the ham radio guy out in the field.

So the scanner can listen to that and then it can give you a couple of minutes advanced knowledge, a couple of minutes advanced understanding of what's going on around you to make a better decision. Now, oh, I don't care about storm chasing. I don't care. That's fine. That's fine. But you just need to understand that scanners can do a lot more than that.

I'm just trying to give you some simple understanding of some things that it can do. Listening to ham radio, guys, it's really not a whole lot of fun sometimes, except when the weather starts up or you get into some fun conversations when they're talking about their favorite restaurants. You can listen to all that as well as other things. Like I said, some of the military operates on frequencies that are in the wide open. You can listen to them. If you catch them, it's really interesting. You can listen to airplanes and when they talk to, it's really interesting. You can listen to airplanes. And when they talk to air traffic control, it's great. There's a lot of different things you can listen to. And again, in this aspect, this phase of prep comms, we're talking

about gathering information. We're talking about listening. A lot of people call it signals intelligence, which that's a signal intercept. That's what it is. You are receiving signals and you're building intelligence out of that. We're not ready for that yet with this show. So we're just going to call it listening, right? So we're listening. We're finding out what's going on around us. And a scanner is a great tool to do that with. Now, again, depending on where you live and depending on your budget, it's going to depend, uh, make the, make the choices of what you actually have to use. Uh, got lots of suggestions again, not this show, not this particular episode. We'll get there. I don't want to take too much of your time, but I do want to be, you know,

get as much information to you as I can. So scanners, they're amazing. They're, they're little boxes. You put, usually put double A batteries in. If you have a, like a handheld unit, otherwise you plug it into the wall and it works in your house. And once you turn it on and it's programmed, it's always listening. It's always listening. It's scanning through a hundred, a thousand or somewhere in between frequencies. And it's trying to intercept anything that comes across those frequencies. And in doing so, when there is a transmission made on one of those pre-programmed frequencies, it stops and it listens and lets that transmission finish so that you can understand what was

just been said, and then you can do whatever you need to do with that information. Oh, there's a house fire. Oh, that's two blocks down from me. Maybe I should go check on my neighbors. Maybe I should make sure my car is not in the road so that the fire truck can get in the neighborhood safely. I don't know. You may have no desire to do that. You may have every bit of desire to do that and didn't know how.

It's not hard. It's not hard to use a scanner. It's not hard to learn how to listen to a scanner. And it's a hobby for some of us. Some of us are like humongous scanner freaks and have them everywhere and listen all the time. Others utilize them from time to time. There's so much to listen to. And again, you're getting the news before anyone else does. You're getting it in real time as it happens. Oh my gosh, there is a, an accident at the shopping mall where you're going to hear about it

on a scanner hours before you hear about it on your television. It's just how it is. Now I know Facebook live and whatnot has changed a lot of that, but still in the, you gotta be on Facebook. You gotta be friends with the person that's sharing that or whatnot. So a scanner puts you in the front lines of what's going on around you and gives you a tactical advantage listening wise to your general area or your area of operations. Now you can, again, you can buy them battery powered handheld. They're about this. Oh man. I even just like a big cell phone times three with an antenna connected to it. Or you can get a base station that can also work in your car. If you'd like to do it that way, um, you can get a base station that can also work in your car if you'd like to do it that way. You can get them in analog or digital. The analog is kind of more the

old school programming. We still use a lot of that here in the Deep South. Some of the larger metropolitan areas are digital only, which means their signals are not encrypted at this point, but they are transmitted differently, and an analog scanner can't decode what's being said because it's ones and zeros versus just an audio-transmitted signal. So there's a couple of different things there we'll talk about, but you really need to find out what's happening in your area and what they're using in their area.

So I'm going to put a link in the show notes from Radio Reference, and you can determine where you are in the U.S., and then you can enter your information and get all the way down to your county. And inside of that, it's going to show you what types of systems are in place and in use in your county. Now, if that's too confusing for you, I'd be happy to help you if I can. Just let me know, you know, send me a DM or whatever. But the link will help you get into the database, me know, you know, send me a DM or whatever, but the link will

help you get into the database and then you can see what's being used. And then you can make a determination on what maybe would be the best unit for you. Now, I know that scanners are not a cheap investment. A lot of this stuff, they're not cheap investments, but it may be it's worth it. It's worth it. Especially if it were one of those bad situations, the scanner is going to give you the potential, the opportunity to not only listen to the fire department EMS, some of the scanners have close call, which means you can press a button and it scans the frequencies very fast and all the frequencies. And if someone's talking on a walkie talkie out in the neighborhood, it'll hear them and it'll frequencies. And if someone's talking on a walkie talkie out in the neighborhood,

it'll hear them and it'll stop. And so it's a proximity sensor. So you can hear what's going on around you up close. Um, so many, so many features we'll have to talk about in the next show, but, uh, this, it's a very worthy investment. I've got some suggestions. Of course, we're going to get to those in the show in a couple of shows from now, but, um, if show notes, I've got the suggestions and they've, they've been the same suggestions for a long time and, uh, they're proven I've had them. I have them currently. So I'm not going to suggest something that I don't have or haven't tried. Um, and you can do with that what you want to do with it, but here's the deal. It goes all the way back to the very first shows,

very first couple of shows, listening, listening, and listening again. So what we're trying to do as preppers, we're trying to build a communications program, a communications plan for our family or our friends or whomever we're preparing with. And we're trying to make good decisions. And those decisions can even be like, do we try to go to the next city over if it's a bad emergency? You know, some scenario, pick it. This tool here is a very powerful tool. Is it the most powerful? Man, I've said they're all the most powerful, right? But again, I would not even have this discussion if I didn't think that you needed to be thinking down these lines, that you needed to be grabbing hold of some of these pieces of equipment because everything's changing. You don't know when you'll

be able to get it again, whatever. I mean, no fear. I'm not saying that, but if you're thinking about a scanner, then you probably need to go ahead and get one. If you still have a lot of questions, if we're just getting started with you, that's okay. We can do that too. And that's what this show is for guys. I appreciate you listening. This was kind of fast. I know, but there's so much to talk about in this, this one, this one ball of wax that I'll have multiple shows on scanners. And then on down the road, once we get past all the introductory things, we'll actually have some scanner pros come on and chat with us about scanner usage, some secrets, trade secrets, and whatnot to make the most of what we have. But right now, just listen as you are. Scanners are very important.

It's a great tool to have. Do you need one? Somebody in your group does. And if you're that guy, keep on listening. If you're not that guy, send this show to your buddy and let them get a taste of what we're chatting about here. Thank you again for listening. My name's Cale Nelson, Caleb Nelson, K4CDN, Hub City Mercantile, my store.

Mine and my wife's, my family, we run this store, Hub City Mercantile. We're the show sponsors for this program. We sell Berkey replacement water filters and all brand new British Birkfeld water filter systems. So if you have a water filter and need replacement filters, if you need a water filter, we've got every bit of that stuff. Please check it out. Show notes. This is the official show sponsor and it's our business. It's us. You're supporting us. We appreciate that. Thank you again for listening. God bless you guys. We'll be back next time to talk some more about scanners, and it may be sooner than later.

God bless you guys. 73. you