Cool Find

[susandennis]

Back in the olden days when I was a newspaper reporters, one of the big perks was the police scanner. It was always really interesting to hear why the cop car was whizzing down this street or the ambulance going that way. I've missed it especially here downtown where we get a fair amount of mysterious emergency traffic.

Well, some cool soul on LJ -- in the Seattle community - posted a link to a website where you can just hit enter and get all of the recent emergency calls. I just heard a siren and gave it a go and found the answer:

2/23/2003 12:10:45 AM F030012291 1 A5 M10 800 OCCIDENTAL AV S ,SEA near S KING ST [SEAHAWKS STADIUM] MEDIC RESPONSE

Occidental is the street between me and the parking lot. Wild. Love it. Check it out!

Comments

yanno ...

[henare.livejournal.com]

scanners are pretty cheap. you could have *your own* :)

yeahbutt

[susandennis]

Then I'd have to listen to it all the time. I just want to know why that siren is going down the street. If I had a scanner, I'd hear the siren and turn on the scanner and be too late.

But, having said that, I could still get a scanner for amusement. I didn't know they were cheap. In the olden days they were expensive and only businesses (newspapers, hospitals, etc) had 'em. Oh and ham radio operators.

Re: yeahbutt

[henare.livejournal.com]

you can get a scanner at radio shack for a few hundred, i think ... perhaps less.

[melodysk.livejournal.com]

Wow!

That is SOO cool Susan :)

Have to admit to being a blue light freak :)

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

Very very cool. I just sold a scanner on ebay a few months ago. When we were up in Yellowstone for the summer, there wasn't much to do except listen to the rangers, etc.

Scanners

[knarl.livejournal.com]

That site is great.

I'm a scanner freak. I have 6 on right now in the "pit". I keep at least 2 in the car and keep one in my backpack. If I can afford them, they can't be that expensive. It's not like the old days where you had to buy crystals and plug them in. You pretty much just grab a list of freqs you want and bang them in.

Working scanner: $75
Trunking scanner: $150
With Bells and Whistles: $450

My favorite scanner site:
www.strongsignals.net