Scanners can be a good source of info in a emergency situation.Find out whats going on if your Bugging out in your home,or see when rescue will happen.It's a good device. I have a handheld one and it picks up police, and sometimes hospital signal.Its also a way to hear all the bar fights around town,haha, well around here anyways.

Do you use one?

I have one, but, probably thanks to listening to the radio in patrol vehicle for 30+ years it just isn't as much fun as it used to be. And my wife, after being on the other end of my radio for the same length of time, hates the thing. But I like to carry it on trips, sometimes it can give you a hint about traffic problems ahead, or maybe why that black & white just blew by you at 120 mph. In an emergency one could possibly get some good info. Knowing the nine, ten, and eleven codes comes in handy too...

I am lucky enough to have a take home work radio, it doesn't cover all agencies but enough. Although I usually only listen in when I see a call that may be interesting come across my pager.

yea oldbaldguy knowing the codes helps alot. Unfornutaly I lost the piece of paper that had what the codes meant... <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I too have a take home radio, but most of the time it is not on at home. The pager will let me know what’s up. But a scanner could be a handy thing to have for someone not in the public service field.

That's what Google is for...

Ten codes

Eleven codes

Couldn't find a list of nine codes, but I don't think they are too widely used anyway...

Sweet!

Thanks a bunch. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Be warned, radio codes are not the same everywhere. In fact, here in Maricopa County there are at least 3 variations of the 10-codes that I know of with significant differences. I would try and find what your local agencies are using.

And, that is why DHS is trying to end the use of codes.

Looking over the list of the 10 codes I see that a lot of them are different then the ones we used to use.
Just one example of this is the 10-22 for us it is to call of other units.

Those elven codes link to "W3 architecture domain site"

Sorry. $%^&*(*&^%^&* computers!!!

Just do a google search for police radio codes, you should find it. Not all that many agencies use the eleven code anyway, and there are a bunch of variations of the ten code. Only agency I am aware of that uses the nine code is the Los Angeles Sheriff...

nine codes are common in Arizona also. the 960 series (car accidents) are almost consider plain talk amoung EMS providers in maricopa county.

Right - 10 codes vary from place to place - and even in the same place (for instance, NYPD 10 codes are different than NYPD Transit Division 10 codes!)

That is why the National Incident Management System (NIMS) - which is a superset of the "Incident Command System" (ICS) REQUIRES the use of "plain speach" - no 10 codes - you get to the site, you say "I'm on site"

BTW EVERYONE (partiularly the folks here) should probably take the FEMA "IS-& A Citizen's Guide to Disaster Assistance" at

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is7.asp

And if you want to learn more about how FEMA is SUPPOSED to work, take IS-22, IS-100 (a big one) IS-200 (ICS for single resources), IS-271 was fairly good, IS-288 is good if you do any volunteer work, 292 wasn't bad

Haven't take 394 (That'slooks new since the last time I looked) - IS-700 was very good

If you look at the list, you'll see a LARGE stack of classes you can take. When I have "down time", I'll often take one, just to keep the skill level up (and yeah - I'm just a dumb civilian...)

Didn't know that.

I love your sheriff by the way...

It really aggravates me that public service agencies (law enforcement, ems etc.) can't even standardize on a phonetic alphabet. Traffic laws are fairly standard, why can't communication be also? We don't (usually) drive on the right in some states & on the left in others!

I have an old one so that can't do trunking so I can't hear the police in my location so I want to get a better one so I can see when their emergency response time is around 30 minutes from the first 911 call.
Some states have laws prohibiting scanners where they can destroy them if they find them in your posession so if you get a portable one don't drive into states like KY and NY or get a HAM license so you can carry it.

Yep, I use one. I commute 100 miles/day and it provides situational awareness for going around accidents plus it has NOAA weather.

Interagency differences in 10-codes is not really a problem here even though I cross 4 different jurisdictions. Even in a strange area one can learn a lot by listening for context.

I consider scanner use to be vital. Your local broadcast news isn't going to advise you of an armed felon fleeing the police in your neighborhood. (for instance)

unimogbert

I've found them to be most useful when on long car trips. It's nice to know about accidents ahead, road closures, etc. Picking up the NOAA weather channels is nice, too.

The NOAA channels are pretty nice. I don't have a scanner yet but have a CB radio in my truck which will alert loudly when the NOAA sends the tone out, when were down on the farm I leave it on with a window down so I'll hear if something comes up because on top of the mountain storms can roll in fast.