advise on purchasing a Police Scanner?

Q: I am in the process of purchasing a police scanner. I am interested in listening to local Police Departements, Fire, emergency, and weather. I have been looking at ebay and few others. any advise?

A: I would suggest you first verify what frequencies are used by your local law and emergency services. Due to the events of Sept 11, 01 most fire departments across the US and other countries are going to the 800MHz radios that you can't monitor on the average scanner. The same goes with the police departments. They have done this because these radios, built by Motorola, have the ability of changing frequencies in middle of a transmission, keeping your transmission not available to open channels. Find a magazine called 'Scanner' at your local magazine store. They list programs and websites that will help you determine the scanner needed in your area if you can get one that would work at all.

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