SCANNER TRICKS

Sometimes scanning gets boring. This page has some 
tricks to do with your scanner to help make scanning 
a little more interesting.

AIRCRAFT TRANSPONDERS
1090 MHz AM You will hear a short buzz from each aircraft
 as the ground radar illuminates each aircraft

AMPLIFIERS
Go to your local radio shack or K-Mart or whatever and go 
to the TV supplies section. Look for FM, UHF, VHF amplifiers 
they cost around 10-20$ they can boost weak signals that would 
otherwise never be heard this is a extreamly important 
tool for satellite reception.

TV ROTARY ANTENNA
Hook your scanner up to a tv antenna and any frequencies that 
are close to tv frequencies like 400-500 MHz band will 
come in strong. I found that this is the best posible antenna 
for cordless phones in the 49 MHz band.

BUGS
Buy the most expensive kids walkie talkies you can find 
(the little cheapies don't work because the mic is not sensitive
 enough) take it apart and put the transmiter in something that 
will blend into the area that you will be using it in use 
a small peice of bendable wire for a antenna. Tape the transmit 
button down put the bug as close to the people talking as 
posible and tune your scanner to that frequencie 
( which is most often 49.86 MHz). 
I could pick this bug as far as 300 ft away with the tellescoping 
anntena with a TV rotary beam antenna you might be able to get 
up to 2 or 3000 ft. 

WX DXING
If you live near large bodies of water like the Great Lakes or the 
sea costs you can pick up NOAA weather radio stations up
 to hundreds of miles away when intense tropho ducting occurs I live 
in Michigan and I have heard stations from WI, OH, PA, IN. 

LISTEN tO AIRCRAFT FREQUENCIES CHEAP
Those of you who are cheap like me and don't want to buy a new scanner 
just
to listen to the aircraft freqs can make a simple modification to nearly
any basic FM radio.

First, find a basic analog-tuned AM/FM radio (this trick isn't possible
with most digitally-tuned radios). Remove the enclosure of the radio and
locate the component that is connected to the tuning knob (it's called a
variable capacitor and should be about one inch square in size). In the
vicinity of the variable capacitor should be some small coils of wire
(mysteriously, these are called 'coils'). Turn the radio on, switch it to
the FM band and tune in a station near 108 MHz. Take a small screwdriver
and tap any coils while listening to the radio station until you find a
coil that causes the frequency to change. Next, take the screwdriver and
begin to spread the individual coils of that 'coil' apart until you hear
nothing but static or occasional aircraft traffic. Then, tune the radio
back down until you hear the radio station again and spread the coil more. 
Repeat this process until you only have to tune your radio a quarter of the
way across the frequency indicator before you reach the radio station near
108 MHz.

By performing this procedure, you'll move the tuning range of your radio to
about 100-140 MHz. Although aircraft transmit an AM signal, the receiver
will still receive the signal well. So enjoy it, cheapskates!