Why People Buy Scanners & How They Are Being Used

Subject: Customer Feedback BCT15X

Sir,

We purchased a Uniden scanner from your company a couple months ago to replace an outdated system. I just wanted to let you know that we very much appreciate your help. The set-up you recommended works so well. We pick up radio transmissions 80 miles away with no problems, when before with our old system had trouble hearing radio traffic 5 miles away.

Again thanks for your help and the great products.

Thanks,

Donald L.
Operations Petty Officer
U.S. Coast Guard
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Subject: Customer Feedback

I wanted to thank you for working with me on a good deal for the BCD396XT scanner. As a volunteer in many disciplines I shall be putting-it to very good use for the following causes: I am a volunteer NYS Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, an EMT with The Armor Vol. Fire Co., and am a Certified Search N Rescue K9 trainer & handler. Therefore, I shall utilize the hand-held scanner pretty much all the time! It's a pleasure to deal with a company that provides a little-bit-of-help when it comes to pricing & options.
Saundra

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This is from the father of the autistic child:

Purchasing a scanner from Scanner Master was easy. Your staff is very knowledgeable, professional and friendly. My son is a participant in a program called Project Lifesaver (www.projectlifesaver.org). In simple terms it is a national program that helps track special needs children and adults who have a tendency to wander. As a participant in this program, my son wears a special radio frequency transmitter on his ankle. Thanks to Scanner Master, I can now "tune in" to my son's unique frequency and verify his proximity. Oh yeah, and the scanner works great too! Thanks Scanner Master.

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Hi Richard,

Thanks for your inquiry about my order.
I am the chief sound engineer for Desperate Housewives and use scanners on the set for security and frequency coordination with other productions. Its always great to have information that can be valuable for our shooting schedules. The producers always ask me for weather updates, aviation routes, fire, police, EMS and general radio stuff. I waited a while before investing in a digital truncking scanner. I look forward to learning to work with my UNIDEN BCD396XT. I love your website and comprehensive information on the radios and the scanner hobby. You have a great staff, Johnathan was patient to help me and get me organized for my choice and set up. I hope to continue to have a scanner "guru" that can help me with getting the best use from my radios.

One area that is particularly important for us is the air traffic that buzzes around our set, It would be great to monitor the local helicopter traffic as well as our nearby airport in Burbank. I requested some extra coordination to program these aviation channels in my unit. I would be interested in the AirNav system but need some more consultation.

For frequency coordination I need a radio that covers analogue UHF-TV from 470 MHz up to 854MHz or so? This is where we operate our wireless systems, now 698 -806 is gone! Not many radios work in this range. I am considering a Yeasu VX8R as compliment to the Uniden. So much to think about.

Thanks for any help in advance.

"Aggie"
Agamemnon Andrianos, C.A.S.
KG6JHX
Production SoundMixer
"Desperate Housewives"
Board of Directors, Cinema Audio Society
Executive Officer IATSE Sound Local 695

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NBC Network News Field Operations has selected Scanner Master Corp. as its sole provider of scanning radios and scanner programming for its Vortex-2 support team. As part owners of the Weather Channel, NBC is providing equipment and field logistics to the Weather Channel crew on the five week Vortex-2 mission.

Vortex-2 is the largest "tornado chase" ever, with over 100 engineers, scientists and support personnel working together to locate and analyze tornadoes in an effort to improve their understanding and ability to predict these natural monsters.

NBC and other Vortex 2 team members employ multiple police scanners in their trucks and in their equipment bags in order to keep track of how public safety agencies are handling weather emergencies out in the field. By learning of road closures, storm damage, listening for siren activations, and monitoring storm spotter channels, reporters, producers, engineers and scientists will have another tool in their arsenal to help predict where severe weather is occurring and to stay as safe as possible at the same time.

Kevin Parrish, Senior RF Engineer for NBC Network News Field Operations said, "We chose Scanner Master both for their high-level of expertise and service and also for their unmatched ability to program scanners in an extremely comprehensive way. We required programming of conventional, digital, trunking and multi-site systems covering thousands of square miles in the midwest, including GPS coordinates which are so useful on Uniden scanners. On short notice Scanner Master did an incredible job of programming and it's helping us perform our jobs more efficiently."

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I am the block watch coordinator in my neighborhood in Columbus Ohio. Specifically Zone 14. I am looking for a scanner that can pick up police calls- including the dispatcher and the cruiser....It (using a police scanner) was kind of mentioned by the police officer. And now with budget cuts and us losing police we really need to be able to at least know what is happening to we can help out.

Terry S. Columbus, OH

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Dear Scanner Master,

I'm deploying radio transmitters on wild birds and they transmit to ARGOS satellites at 401.65 MHz. To test that the transmitters are working before we put them out, we need to check their signals with a handheld radio scanner.

Any suggestions on a make and model that would work? What type of shop would carry those? Radio Shack and Best Buy didn't have any, and all of the models I've looked at specs for skip to 406 and above or provide conflicting information on which frequencies they cover.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Best,

Brett W.
Colorado Division of Wildlife
Grand Junction, CO 81505

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From Jeffery Duplessis of Fox 40 News, Jackson, MS

Scanner Master Comes Through For FOX 40 News

As the Assignment Manger for FOX 40 News in Jackson, Mississippi it was my responsibility to get a news desk at a start up newsroom ready to go. While I have worked on assignment desk from St. Louis to Tulsa I have never had the job to outfit and build an assignment desk from the bottom up. After researching I came across the company ScannerMaster and did I ever strike gold. The folks at ScannerMaster have made my job easier and even helped me, a self-described tech-savvy-less person who has little idea on most technical issues. That being said the staff at ScannerMaster made me understand what I needed and offered good value and excellent service and have been there whenever I have had questions and concerns.

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*Scanners used on Broadway and Major Musical Theater Productions*

Reported by Rhys Dawson - Assistant Sound Engineer for the National Touring Company of 'Fiddler On The Roof'

Rhys recently purchased the Uniden Bearcat BR330 scanner radio which uniquely covers the 512 through 806 wireless microphone range (also used by broadcasters and now public safety). At each stop on the national tour Rhys has to re-check the frequencies already in use in the new city and reset the wireless microphone frequencies to open channels accordingly. Now Rhys's comments:

"Here's the gist of how I use a scanner backstage, it's pretty basic, really. My job is listed as Assistant Sound Engineer in the program, in the industry it is usally referred to as A2 (audio 2/assitant audio) and also sometimes RF tech. The engineer and I load in the show, get the equipment set, tested, tuned, and working. during a run the engineer mixes the show, while I sit backstage and monitor/troubleshoot the RF mics (the wireless microphones the actors wear to better project sound to the audience), the orchestra pit (mainly resetting mics that get bumped or knocked over), and also video and audio monitors, com, and radios. I have a listening station with all of the wireless mic receivers, where I can monitor each channel indivdually to check for problems.

"Where the scanner comes in is when I need to check a mic away from my station, say if I have to run across stage to the actor in question, I can do what I need to do, and tune the scanner to that mic to check it without having to run back to my racks. It's not a big,involved use of the scanner, but it is a life saver often enough to be necessary."

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Hi,

I am interested in purchasing a hand held scanner. I would like the scanner to be able to pick up walkie talkie and CB radios that are used by local hunters that are trespassing on private property. If you could give me any advise?

Thanks

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Hi there,

I am wondring what typ of scanner I would need to listen to the Simsbury CT fire/police/etc. My husband is a firefighter and I would like to know that he is still safe when on a call.

Thanks Cheryl

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Here is my dillema, my handicapped brother has been listening to the Radioshack Pro 2050 for many years. He can no longer pick up Charleston County Sheriff and the Mt Pleasant Fire and Police Departments. this is one of his only pleasures in life. So I need to take care of this loss right away. He would want a table top model for here in Mt. Pleasant, Charleston County, South Carolina, Please advise.

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"I believe with the downturn of the economy, we are going to see crime go off the charts. Emergency services will be stretched to their limits. Those frequencies will be alive 24hrs a day. And I particularly want to know what is happening around me."

Ed P., Brevard County, Florida

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Hello-

I would like use your recommendation service on both handheld and base unit scanners for use in my area. I live in Washington State, Skagit County, south of Mount Vernon city limits, zip code 98273, inside Skagit County Fire District No. 3. Primary use is for fire, EMS, police monitoring. I commonly work outside my county in a 60 mile radius and would like to have the greatest reception capability.

Beyond my own interest in personal use, I am also the current President of the Conway Firefighters Association. We man and respond on EMS incidents within fire district 3 and support mutual aid with other districts and city fire departments. I'm interested in scanners to augment our county fire district supplied pagers for all of our volunteer firefighters. Our officers carry two way radios and pagers, while our firefighters only have small pagers. The pagers are great for their small compact size and receiving initial tone outs from our 911 center, but they are limited to 2 channels and have spotty reception is some of the outlying areas. Now the frequencies utilized for EMS response has expanded due to general growth and call activity so after initial tone outs the communications channel is directed to one of 8 tach frequencies. Pagers limited to two frequencies commonly leaves responders in the dark on follow on information during the response time from homes to station to man the equipment. Our fire district has two stations each with approximately 30 volunteer firefighters & EMT's at each station.

We are also located on the Skagit River Delta that flows into Puget Sound. We serve this area with our Marine Rescue operations and act as the Dyke District flood operations center during flood emergencies.

All of these activities described here heavily involve the volunteers of our association that need to be kept informed during direct short response periods to station and longer term events such flood prep/monitoring that go for multiple days where our volunteers need better monitoring communications from their homes and personal vehicles.

Let me know if you need any other information from me in making scanner recommendations.

Best regards,
Roger Heim
President, Conway Firefighters Assoc.
Skagit County Fire District No. 3
Conway, Washington

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From Jeff, of Fawnskin, CA (12/2007)

I live in Fawnskin, CA (San Bernardino County) - a small community on the north shore of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. We were evacuated twice from here in the last couple of months. I would feel much more secure with a good scanner covering all emergency services that pertain to our safety up here. I in an 850 sq. ft. cabin up at the top of Canyon Rd. (about 1/2 - 3/4 mile up - north from the lake - a dead-end canyon road) on the east end of Fawnskin. Just north, over the crest of the mountain in the back, lies Holcomb Valley. Victorville lies in the High Desert to the north. Palm Springs lies in the low desert to the southeast. San Bernardino lies to the south at the base of the mountain range. Los Angeles lies to the SWW. We have no local police up here. Law and Order comes from the branch office of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. We have: 1) local fire department (Fawnskin); 2) Big Bear Lake Fire Department District (town across the lake); 3) Big Bear City Fire Department (town to east of us); 4) San Bernardino County Fire Department; 5) US Forestry Service Fire Department; 6) California Dept. of Forestry Fire Protection; 7) Paramedics that go with the different fire protection agencies; 8) Bear Valley Community Hospital; 9) California Highway Patrol station (at Lake Arrowhead) and vehicles that patrol up here.

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From Steven of New York, NY

I live in a 120+ unit building in NYC that is maintained by people who use walkie talkies. Please recommend a scanner I can use to monitor conversations over these walkie talkies.

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From Lyle

Scanners used at oil refineries to help with interagency and inter-company communications during drills and emergencies:

I am in the market for a pair of scanners and would appreciate your help. We are obviously an oil refinery and are interested in having the capability of receiving transmissions from other members of the Southwest Louisiana Mutual Aid Association. These members are other industrial facilities such as chemical plants (PPG Industries, Sasol, Georgia Gulf, Grace Davidson, Firestone, Westlake Group, Basel, Air Products, Trunkline LNG) and the other oil refineries such as CITGO, Westlake Petrochemical, etc. If an incident would occur at one of these neighboring facilities it will be helpful to be able to access their radio traffic. Receiving local law enforcement, fire, ambulance, rail, etc. will also be helpful. I believe that the Louisiana State Police are already digital and others may be following in the near future.

One scanner will certainly need to be portable for use in several locations by our Safety Director and the other will be used primarily in our new emergency response truck which we will be receiving soon ('08 Ford F250). I believe that space in the truck may be limited so in my amateur opinion another portable scanner may be the best option so do you recommend some sort of swivel mount? Suggestions? Alpha display would be very helpful on both of these scanners.

If you have the capability to program the type of frequencies I am looking for I certainly would add this option to the order. My location information is as follows.

Location - Lake Charles, Louisiana (Calcasieu Parish) Terrain - FLAT! We are approximately 12' above sea level!

Thanks for you help!

Lyle H.
ConocoPhillips
Emergency Response Specialist
Lake Charles Refinery

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From Joe K.

I work at a city hospital Public Safety department, currently looking at purchasing 4 new cruisers for the department. We assist the fire department on traffic control in our area as well as backing up the local police from time to time, the State police uses 800 band while local uses a lower frequency. I'd like to present this quote to my chief and see if the department can order these for the new cars. I'm looking at the Uniden Bearcat BCD996T Scanners x4. Thanks Joe.

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From Janie, Valentine, NE

Hello,

I live in Valentine, Nebraska, which is in Cherry County, which is a very rural area of north central part of Nebraska.

I'm looking for a base scanner. The local police have gone digital, and the ambulance and fire department are heading that way.

Living in a small town, the local radio & newspapers seldom report on anything due to "stepping on someone's toes", therefore we never know where the accidents or vandalism, etc. are happening.

I really do not want to spend a fortune on a scanner, but would like to know what is happening in the area.

I had a uniden scanner which no longer picks up anything. Two years ago, we had a forest fire in the canyon in my neighborhood. My scanner was very helpful by letting us know how close it was, and gave us time to grab the dogs and leave! Unfortunately two of my neighbors homes burnt to the ground, but they also had time to leave. This is another reason I want a scanner in case such a thing (God forbid) happens again.

But anyway I think the fire, which "melted" the side of my house, may have also did something to my scanner due to the electricity surges and outages.

Sorry about carrying on, but needless to say I want a scanner!! Which one do you think would be best? Also, I will probably need it programmed as I've heard digital is more complex than the old type. I'm not really very good at all this technology stuff!

Thank you,
Janie

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From Cassandra

My mother is legally blind and spends a lot of time listening to the radio. I work as a nurse in the emergency room at our local hospital. I have often thought that she would enjoy listening to the local EMS calls and police calls that we hear on our radio at work. I am completely ignorant when it comes to selecting a scanner that might provide her with this information. It doesn't have to be something fancy, just a product that will serve the purpose and is easy to operate. Can you suggest something that might work for her?

Thank you,
Cassandra

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From Kendra

Dear Mr. Barnett,

I just wanted to write to you to tell you how happy my husband is with the scanner that you helped. He carries it with him everywhere. The other night he heard a Mayday, Mayday call. A fireman was trapped in between the first floor and the basement of a building. We could hear him struggling for air as he was saying he need oxygen, and someone to help him. Nobody was hearing his calls for help. It was terrible to listen too. My husband called the local fire department and they somehow tracked down the fire dept. company that was at the fire and we really don't know what happened from there. I just hope that the relay got there in time.

I want to thank you for helping me pick out such a wonderful gift. It may have saved someones life!

Kendra

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From Patrick

Hello,

My mother recently completed construction on her retirement home in Port Angeles Wa. and her new home overlooks the coast guard station and the Strait of Juan De Fuca. The location, I assume having a bird's eye view of the harbor goings-on, stems from her father's history as a Mississippi riverboat captain. Last year my brother and sisters and I purchased a quality telescope for her to feel more a part of her newly rediscovered love of all things nautical. It brought a tear to her eye. So I believe the next step is a scanner to let her listen to the Coast Guard, river pilots and captains chatter. In short any recomendation for a simple scanner that is easy to opperate that she could take out on the deck with her telescope would be highly appreciated. Her home is in line-of-sight of the entire harbor, at about 300 ft. elev., maybe 4 miles from the center of the harbor.

Thank you,
Patrick

Note: We recommended to Patrick a GRE PSR-200 which has a one-touch marine service search button. He purchased it and gave it to his mother for Christmas.

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