Waze: Sherriffs push to have police tracking disabled in app

@ Frovingslosh,

I think he ment that there are apps to hear Police and other radio calls on your cell phone.

I use to have one but not sure how good they are, some of the statiions i belive were recorded.

Anyone use a app like that? (one that I used was called Scanner Radio" for android

If I go on a long road trip, I bring my scanner to listen in on the CB band. Has proved to be valuable many times. My scanner also has many other bands, including police and public safety.

I have a cross country road trip coming up this year and I'm looking into getting a CB, instead of just listening in on the scanner. A good scanner with the right band coverage is also very valuable since you can listen in on public safety bands and police bands for any potential traffic or accidents.

It is hard to guess what someone intended to say, I took it as it sounded.

I have used a couple of the Android apps, as I indicated in my last paragraph of my prior post. Another nice thing about them is that you can use them when you would otherwise be out of range, I used one recently to listen to what was happening when looters, arsonists and racists were attacking Ferguson Mo. It is pretty interesting to hear what is really happening that the news doesn't want to report.

The App that I used most recently is the app that you named, Scanner Radio. I didn't name it because I have not done a good review of all of the apps available, so I had no interest in naming one over any other.

While some might be better than others, all depend on the quality of their original sources, which are predominately individuals scattered all over the Internet. Some sources do indeed indulge in such nonsense as replaying recorded audio, when I find that I avoid listening to those stations again. Others may scan multiple stations and play whatever audio that they stop on. This can be like listening to an actual scanner, with the disadvantage that you can't stop and stay on a particular channel when something interesting is occurring. My preference are the channels that stay on one source and make it available.

This isn't just done for police use. There are actually a number of locations on the internet that similarly put ham radio traffic on audio feeds available on the Internet, and many provide ways for the end-user to tune or otherwise control the radio. Some will even allow you to broadcast over the radio as long as you have the proper ham radio license, but anyone is welcome to receive.

By the way, just for the benefit of others thinking of doing this, you should know the law in your state and the states that you intend to drive through. Some states have made running a police scanner illegal when operated in a vehicle, and in those state the local law enforcement is all too glad to enforce that law with tickets and equipment confiscation. Just another case of the kind of us versus them mentality that started this thread.

I know that IN and MN are two states that do this, but I expect that there are many more.

Want to get around this law legally and not risk a cop spotting your scanner when he pulls you over for something else? The FCC has declared that any licensed Ham Radio operator can legally have a scanner that covers the police and public service bands and operate it in a moving vehicle. So if you just get any ham radio license, you can legally operate a scanner in a car anywhere in the country (except maybe the radio quiet areas around radio telescopes, although that may or may not be an issue since a scanner shouldn't radiate). You don't have to be licensed to operate on those bands (no ham is). There is a very small cost for taking the test, and the test is pretty straightforward. The license needs to be renewed every ten years, but renewal is free.

Fortunately, law enforcement seems to have been made well informed that the Federal regulation allowing licensed hams to use scanners in cars trumps their local state laws and they generally back down when you know the law and show them your FCC ham radio license.

Well, I do have an FCC Ham license. I am allowed to operate a ham radio, scanner, etc.

Scanning the CB band will notify you of where a helpful LEO is waiting. That info is not usually available on the police band.

I've been using scanners since the time they required a crystal you'd pick up at your local radio shack type store and plug in. My first scanner took 7 crystals. My current scanner can scan 39,000 'objects'.

One problem with using a scanner for a cross country trip would be keeping up with the frequencies for your ever changing location. Even with the newer zip code type scanners you'd still have to stop and change it every so often. And, as I mentioned, a lot of departments are either encrypting their signals or using a system most scanners can't pick up.

Here in Pennsylvania, for instance, the PA state police (and all other PA state agencies) use a system called "open sky" (Pennsylvania STARNet). There is no scanner that can monitor or follow Pennsylvania STARNet so if you traveled a PA state police patrolled highway you'd be out of luck hearing them on a scanner (or phone app for that matter).

On the other hand a CB will cover you coast to coast as far as other CBers helping out, but as I said, CB's popularity isn't what it used to be. I can call for a radio check, see dozens of trucks with a CB antenna and maybe, maybe, one CBer will respond.

Scanner apps for cell phones are pretty cool but can be very limited. For instance in the City of Philadelphia the cities 21 districts are divided among 11 different trunked channels plus a few city wide channels, and that doesn't include any specialty squads like the swat or highway patrol. The phone app more than likely only broadcasts the city wide channels which broadcasts the 'be on the look out' type stuff for the most part.

I imagine for area where the PD is much smaller it would work fairly well. Remember though, normally what you are hearing with those apps is someone rebroadcasting their own scanner feed, and as such are limited as well.

By the way, according to this site:

http://www.fireline.org/scanlaws/phoneaps.html

Using a scanner cell phone app may be considered the same as using a scanner in those states.

Another good scanner info source:

http://www.police-scanner.info/scanning/police-scanner-laws....

And finally to go to site for anything about radios of all kinds: http://www.radioreference.com/

I recently picked up a Uniden Home Patrol scanner which is one of the zip code type units. It has the option to hook a puck style gps receiver to it and then it can automatically update frequencies as you drive. From what I have read about it, the updates are as local as county by county.

This country is still great! We have just let the wrong politicians in! The country didn't make these laws, it was the politicians, if you don't like the way something is working change it, get out of the the Lazy-boy and vote these people out

If the scanner has search capability, as just about all of them do, then what you brought up is not an issue. The scanner will SEARCH the entire band, or bands, selected and pause for a couple seconds when it finds an active frequency. This is far better than having to know all frequencies used in many different regions. The SEARCH function goes through the entire band to find active channels, the SCAN function merely polls known and preprogrammed channels. This works.

The problem, as I see it, with search is it starts from the lowest frequency (or what you put in as a start point) and works it was through every frequency, in order, from there, that can take a very long time to loop back to the beginning and when you consider that not all frequencies are active every minute of the day it will undoubtedly miss a few. Not to mention there will be a lot of non police or safety active channels picked up. I'd think the GPS based scan rlohnes mentioned would work much better in unfamiliar areas.

That said .... I have a feeling we're going to just keep playing tennis here, volleying back and forth, plus we've sort of strayed off the WAZE app topic, do whatever floats your boat.

I have my scanner sitting nearby and it completes a "loop" in well under a second.

You aren't going to search the entire electromagnetic radio spectrum, just a few well defined bands. It takes a modern scanner just a few milliseconds to run through all you need to cover, and then start over.

The entire CB band is so small, the scanner can search the entire CB band a couple times per second.

I like the headline "Fuzz Sayz No Waze"

lol

Did you think that everyone in the USA was only using scanners purchased from stores? No, many folks either modified receivers to receive the "banned" frequencies, used scanners made before the ban, or just made their own.

Today, with cell phone (and PCS and AWS) communications encrypted, the encryption used has many weaknesses and much of GSM encryption can be decrypted with the proper equipment.

That should read, improper.

You are driving down the road, you see a LEO with your eyes. Let me repeat, you see a LEO with your eyes. Is that a crime? The LEO is observable. Is that a crime?

You now enter the sighting in Waze. What is the issue?

As any Waze user knows, the average number of “wazers” in a given geographic area is quite small. That means only a few would be close enough to a reported LEO sighting to get to the scene before the LEO moved on. The chance that one of the few is a cop killing wacko is incredibly small.

That puts the effectiveness of LEO spotting by Waze on par with motorists who flash their high beams to warn oncoming traffic of police presence. State laws on the books that make this practice illegal are quickly being overturned in many state courts, including here in my state of PA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/05/federal-judge-rul...

Staking out the local donut shop is a far more effective way of spotting a cop.

I would think that I misspoke about that. It is a scanner for listining on a cell phone.

Read it here. http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/12/miami-police-waze/

Well.. I guess it better than them sitting in a coffee shop eating doughnuts

Sorry but in this day and age the police can and probably will have it both ways. I don't have a smart phone so I can't use the app but I hope Waze doesn't give in.

If these LEO's are making the false Waze reports from their police vehicles, they are just calling more attention to themselves and in effect, shooting themselves in the foot.

Even if they are making the fake reports on their own time in their personal vehicles, they are still cops and are reporting their location.

This practice is marginally effective at best since "fake" reports are short lived. When a Wazer passes a reported LEO location, Waze asks if the LEO is still there. A "Not There" report by the user removes the police presence icon.

While I hope they don't remove this useful feature of Waze to avoid speed traps, who are they kidding about this being a risk to police? With their new ridiculously bright over the top extreme bright blue and red LED lights, I bet you can spot them all from the moon! I hate those lights especially at night. So bright they're blinding! Totally unnecessary to have 150 flashing bulbs!!!!!

Judging by the number of dummasses that continue to hit stopped Police cars and Officers, there aren't enough lights yet!

It seems the more lights they have flashing the higher the likelihood their car will be hit by an impaired driver..

Ever wonder why cops stand off to the sides of stopped cars instead of between them???

Of course, if donugnuts are involved ... they would likely stand in the middle of a traffic lane and disrupt traffic... Repeat after me.. DOUGHNUTS.. YUM.. BREAKFAST OF COPS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

The California Highway Patrol found the large blinking yellow light they have in the left rear of their cars attracted drunk drivers. The cars were rarely rear ended by unimpaired drivers, it was almost always those under the influence.

I had CB radio in the car back in the 70's and 80's, and decided to get back into it recently. My hopes were high but the reality is very disappointing.

As soberbyker noted, you can see lots of CB antennas and no one bothers to answer a break or radio check on Channel 19. When there is conversation on Channel 19, it is all too often loaded with cursing and obscenity. I've been around the block several times, but it is disgusting.

Channel 9 often has conversations in Spanish that are clearly not emergencies.

Illegally stepped-up radios flood several channels with non-stop one-person jawboning from states-away. What's the point, since they're way too far away to reply to?

All in all, CB radio of 2015 is lousy compared to its heyday. But, it is still a great means of communication when used properly. I have been saved from long traffic jams due to accidents and/or snow/ice, and gotten forewarned of speed traps. I keep it on, but mostly I keep the squelch turned way up, so that only very close transmissions get through (other than the unavoidable stepped-up intruders who thankfully usually use Channels other than 19).

In my business the CB is a tool to talk with asphalt plants, the loader operators, other trucks on the job etc. The channel we work on most often is channel 5. Unfortunately those guys with radios that can reach the moon hang out on channel 6 and bleed over. Channel 5 is so well established here we have to deal with it but squelching them out shortens the range we can talk on the job to each other, which is important on an asphalt job when trying to navigate an area without traversing fresh asphalt.

I think they are HAM operators using CB bands because when they give their handle it normally includes where they are and I've heard IDs from halfway across the country.

CB radio is far less useful now due to the reasons you point out. We used to use it when travelling as a group but have since switched to FRS/GMRS radios. They have almost the same range as CB, are portable and can be useful both in and outside the vehicle. Most of the time we have the channels all to ourselves.

These days, I keep the CB in the back of the truck for emergencies.

I used to use CB's from around 1977-1985. I remember during that time that it was nearly impossible to talk on AM when an SSB user was on. Is SSB still used on CB radios? I know HAM radios still have it.

Yes. Upper and Lower all 40 channels.