Toast or Useable

[SparkyCal]

Many years ago, when police scanners were popular, I purchased a Uniden TrunkTracker 3.

I remember that it was expensive. I still have it, and it is in very good shape as I hardly used it.

I realize that everything has changed where the world of scanning is concerned.

Is this unit completely useless now? Can it be modified so that it becomes useful?

Thank-you

 

[davenn]

I purchased a Uniden TrunkTracker 3.

what frequency bands does it cover ?

 

[Martaine2005]

Is this unit completely useless now?

Not at all.
I am not familiar with your model, probably a Bearcat of some guise.
If you only want to eavesdrop on police or cell phones, you're out of luck.
If on the other hand, CB, PMR, HAM, security, construction sites etc, it will still work just fine.
I have several scanners that I use.
Aircraft, space station, marine etc can be listened to.
To answer your question in detail would require knowing what frequencies interest you and what frequencies your scanner can tune to.
I used to have a handheld in my flight box. Once upon a time, RC helicopters and planes were on 35Mhz (UK). I would scan that frequency for possible interference by other enthusiasts.
It was fun at parties too, listening to naughty deals going down!. That's when cell phones were on 900 - 1300.
And of course, the criminal getting a 'Heads up' of the police ETA!.

Martin

 

[bertus]

Hello,

From this page:
https://uniden.com/products/trunktracker-iii-handheld-analog-trunking-scanner
Frequency Coverage - 25-225, 400-512, 806-960, and 1240-1300 MHz (excluding cellular bands)
There are some hamradio band in this covarage.

• 10 meters – 28–29.7 MHz – Best long distance (e.g., across oceans) activity is during solar maximum; during periods of moderate solar activity the best activity is found at low latitudes. The band offers useful short to medium range groundwave propagation, day or night. Due to Sporadic E propagation during the late spring and most of the summer, regardless of sunspot numbers, afternoon short band openings into small geographic areas of up to 1500 km occur. Sporadic E is caused by areas of intense ionization in the E layer of the ionosphere. The causes of Sporadic E are not fully understood, but these "clouds" of ionization can provide short-term propagation from 17 meters all the way up to occasional 2 meter openings. FM operations are normally found at the high end of the band (Also repeaters are in the 29.5–29.7 MHz segment in many countries).
• 6 meters – 50–54 MHz
• 4 meters – 70–70.5 MHz
• 2 meters – 144–148 MHz
• 1.25 meters – 219–220 MHz (Canada only), 222–225 MHz (US & Canada)
• 70 centimeters – 420–450 MHz
• 33 centimeters – 902–928 MHz
• 23 centimeters – 1240–1300 MHz (1240–1325 MHz in UK)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_frequency_allocations

More frequency allocations can be found on this wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_allocation

Bertus

 

[SparkyCal]

Thank-you Bertus. Here is a link to the user manual.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/184932/Uniden-Bc246t.html?page=9#manual


The frequency coverage starts at page 9 in the manual, I n vcase anyone wants to see the manual.

I don't know much about frequencies. Given today's environment, what would be the frequencies that I would more likely find activity? I assume Ham radio, as per Bertus' post.

When I turn it on, it works find but does not find anything. if I knew where to look, I would set the range to scan there.

 

[Martaine2005]

If you are close to an airport, look up that airports frequencies.
Heathrow airport , Heathrow, is mine.
If you enjoy air shows, you can find the frequencies of that airshow.

UK Marine are here.

That's just a couple of examples. But your location, setup and antenna will play a big part.

Martin

 

[SparkyCal]

Thanks Martin. We do have an airport in our city, but it’s not close to me.

 

[SparkyCal]

I managed to find some free software that imported all then local channels I can get, into this scanner. I can no longer get the police (because they are encru=ypoted now), but I can still get ambulance and other things. Better than having it collect dust ;-)