I have a Bearcat 350A I was thinking of using in my 88, and wondered if anyone else had one in their car. If so, where'd ya mount it? Antenna?

 

what do you mean by police scanner? i have a radar detector. whays the difference?

 

A scanner is a radio that picks up the police bands so you can hear what they are saying.

 

are they detectable?...i know they used one in Fast and the Furious when they were doing that 1/4 race... and everyone had their rice that night.

 

Detectable? It's just a receiver like a fm radio is. I have one in my truck, and it's help keep me out of traffic jams from accidents more times than I can count. It wouldn't hurt to know if my tags are being run either

 

Any luck getting and advance knowledge of speed traps with those? I've thought that might be a nice compliment to the Escort 8500 in my never ending fight against speed limits.

 

I was going to put on in my car but then i herd it was illegal to have them in your car.

 

many things in my car is illegal, whats your point?

 

you gotta put it somewhere they can't see it....or won't be able to see it...

 

what do they cost? and is it easy to install?

 

Any one know about the Cop Dectors NOT RADAR My friends dad used to have one basicly it would pick up a cop in a 3 mile radious and said what direction they were in so you know to avoid that area.

 

where can i get one? $?

 

wouldn't that thing be beeping like crazy all the time in every direction then? 3 miles is a lot... around here there's about 16 or 17 cop cars at least in a 3 mile radius

 

Now just how the hell is it supposed to do that?

 

I dont know i just Seen it work my friends dad was a truck driver and had one. My friends mom also had one i think it had to do with how strong there brodcating signal was from there cruiser i belive.

 

man, i gotta get one of those Cop Dector things.. where would you get one?

 

If i knew were id get one my self i think they are homeade things

 

the best thing for knowin of police hideouts is a CB. my family was goin to pittsburgh, pa for maily stuff and i had my handheld CB with me. and a truck drive about 100 feet up from us told people on the CB channel that there was a smokie off the side of the exit ramp and ya know what after we got off the exit ramp sure enuff there was a cop sittin there with his lights off hiddin in the dark (white state trooper car kinda hard to hide in the dark).

 

in utah at least, scanners are only illegal in commercial semi-trucks, you can have them in any other type of vehicle, and they do more than just pick up the cop frequency, they also pick up the ambulance frequency, and most come with a weather frequency, and my favorite a personal frequency, with my dads bearcat, dont know the model #, we can pick up cell phone conversations from about 10-15miles away from the source

 

I don't think they're illegal in PA either, but I guess I should mount it out of sight. I guess it could go under the seat for now. I just don't want some ***** stealing it, and there ain't too many other options I guess.

On a side note, one time I was on the road in my truck, and heard the police dispacher tell the local cops there was a naked woman walking around the local Chevy dealerships garage. I might have missed that She was all doped up.

 

if you guys really want to know...they are not expensive but if you go and get the hand held scanners they run about $80 bucks at radio shack...You really dont need an antenna they reach pretty far and you can punch in different codes like highway patrol, local, and other things...as far as being legal? Sure they are legal or they wouldnt sell them. Now to have them in your car? I dont know but it wouldnt hurt.

 

hook the scanner up to your radio antenna I don't listen to the radio anyway, just for CDs.
I had went through the car wash once with my IROC and the antenna was still on... it was a power one from the factory and the **** would NOT go down... so i just broke it off after i got out Radio still worked...

 

Alright, here's the final word of several issues.

First, the "cop detector" feature on scanners, like the one on my Bearcat BCT7, simply has preprogrammed the frequencies of Mobile Extenders for every state. A mobile extender is a radio unit on all state patrol cars that simply rebroadcasts, at a low output, any radio traffic received by the car radio. This way, the trooper's walkie will work when he is out of the vehicle. Only stateys have these, as they have such large jurisdictions that would prevent the use of mobile radios. So, every two seconds, my scanner scans through these mobile extender frequencies, and if it picks up a signal strong enough to qualify for being within 3 miles, it beeps and an LED lights up. Very convenient. Yes, scanners RULE, mine was only $130 and does everything except trunk tracking. But, perhaps even more useful for cop evasion on the highway is your standard ol' CB radio...far cheaper and a lot of fun. I've done a TON of research on CBs, antennas, and scanners relating to thirdgens, and I'm more than glad to share this "wealth" of information with whosoever may come. Drop me a line - ChoirShortBus@hotmail.com

Also, scanner legality varies by state, but most non-**** states allow them. It's not hard to find out your state's status online. Search for scanner legality or something

I discussed my ideal mounting location for CB and scanner in a nearby post, give a look.

- Gerry

 

is there a scanner that i can permanently install in my car that would work through the stereo speakers or one that has a speaker in it........basically something that i wouldn't need an outside antenna for??

if so what brand or where should i look? i agree it would be nice to know whats going on in the area and if that cop behind you is really calling in your plates.

 

My scanner is a BCT7, which I decided on after MUCH research. It's a fairly new design, so it should be around and very available for a while. It cost me just under $150 off the internet, where they are relatively easy to find. Just search for Uniden Bearcat BCT7, and you should find many. The reasons I chose it were good price, backlit display, and vast features, including the highway patrol alert. It scans every range except cellular, which is illegal. The only thing it doesn't do is trunk-track, but that's only useful for large cities who are on a trunking system - it wasn't worth the LARGE price increase for that. If you live in a booming metropolis, consider it, but I'm getting along pretty well in Nashville without it, I just don't know what Metro is up to. No biggie. This scanner is also very small as far as radios go...my CB dwarfs it. It's only about 5-6 inches wide, 2 tall, and about 5 deep. Compact, yet powerful. Amen.

As far as external speakers - this, and all, to my knowledge, scanners have built-in speakers, usually down-firing. If you want, for $15 you can get an external speaker that you can mount wherever for better sound, but I'm pleased with my scanner down-firing. I've got an auxiliary speaker mounted next to the CB and scanner for the CB, since it "down-fires" directly into the scanner. Scanners are simple - give 'em power, give 'em an antenna, secure 'em down to something, and you're golden.

Hope this helps.

- Gerry

 

antenna.........what can you use? i don't want an external one...

 

If your car has a regular antenna, you can get a 2 into 1 connecter and tie it into that.

 

are these units specially made for cars or are you just hardwiring them?

 

A friend of mine has one of those in his riced out focus, seems to work well, not sure what signal it uses to detect rhe pigs though???

 

Are they making scanners now that pick up the 800mhz handhelds? Thats what most cops are using now, rather than radios in the car. Many cops also use mobile computer terminals in their cars to do things like run tags and driver information, or even send messages to other officers.

 

fast rs..........you must be talking about a valentine radar detector or something similar that basically points out the direction they are at.

there are no "cop" detectors.

 

Yes, many later model scanners have the 800-916 MHz range in them. Surprisingly, MOST police traffic out there is in the mid 400's, with highway patrols around 40 and some local stuff in the 150s. I think the 800 MHz craze is mostly proclaimed by scanner companies boasting about a new feature. Also, I'm not aware of any departments using handhelds over car radios - handhelds simply don't have the range needed, particularly for county departments or highway patrol. Radios in units are far easier and receive better. And, in this day and age of computers, they are primarily used for recording information about calls - all calls still go out over radio, and that is how officers communicate. They have no time to be typing into computers, especially while driving. The less they have to read on a screen, the more they can pay attention to what needs it. Also, officers radio the dispatcher with tags and perhaps later licence numbers and VINs, and the dispatcher telephones the state for the information. Very few departments are completely automated...most of that is hollywood. So, don't worry, scanners are NOT a thing of the past.

 

so do you have to hardwire them into the car??

 

Baron, I beg to differ...actually the Sheriff's Office here uses Motorola handhelds in the 800mhz range, they have boosters all over the area. The handhelds give them a greater degree of flexability. They also have MDT's in their cars, and they use them, a lot, to the point that they have experimented with HeadsUp displays in patrol cars. Most of the other major departments in the area use a similar setup.

 

I stand corrected. You Florida punks with your technology. There's none of that anywhere near Nashville, or any other department I've worked with. Come to the hills of Tennesee sometime and tell the chief he ought to buy computers for his cruisers. Like I said, that stuff is out there, but radios are far from being out of style. Unlike louvers. *flame shield up*

 

Of course I forgot to mention that the sheriff's office here also has a 4th gen SS they use for chasing speeders, so do the FHP

 

thats crazy! id get pulled over just to check out their cruisers.

 

I think the FHP cruisers might be RSes with Z28 packages and no badging, reminiscent of the B4C's I do my best to *not* get pulled over.