The Wide Wide World of Scanning
The police, fire, and ambulance units all have radios. As do the
public works crews. Who else has radios?
Airplanes and airports - fuel trucks - baggage handlers - plows - air
traffic controllers - etc
Railroads and rail ways - locomotive engineers - conductors - railroad
police - maintenance crews - baggage handlers - train dispatchers -
station masters - repair yards - etc - typically 1 or 2 channels per
line - 1 or 2 security or mtnce channels per railroad
Truckers - most truckers probably use text for most comms - many long
haul drivers might still use CB radios
Marine - big ships - little ships - fat ships - skinny ships - Coast
Guard - harbormasters - fishing ships and aerial spotters - shipyards
- marinas - locks - dams - etc
Hospitals - nearly every hospital has at least one channel to talk to
incoming ambulances - plus 1 channel for paging staff - plus one
channel for internal comms with security and mtnce
Shopping malls and highrises - most have 1 channel for security and 1
channel for mtnce
Factories - multi channels for production crews and security and safety
News media - channels at 450 mhz and 455 Mhz for talking to reporters
Federal government - multi channels in multi bands for all federal
agencies - security patrols - fire and safety units - investigators -
undercover units - researchers - scientists - astronauts and more oh
my
Zoos - yup - every zoo has a radio channel usually - security, mtnce,
and animal control ops
Museums - anywhere from 1 to a half dozen channels at the largest museums
Stores - shoplifter patrols - mtnce - store ops - etc - usually these
are short range channels
Restaurants - order takers - food servers - maybe security - maybe
mtnce - usually very short range radios
Hams - radio enthusiasts - 28 Mhz - 54 Mhz - 145 Mhz - 220 Mhz - 440
Mhz - 900 Mhz - 1300 Mhz - etc
Universities and colleges - typically each has 1 security channel and
1 mtnce channel as a minimum
Local schools - more and more elementary and high schools are getting
their own local radio systems - 150 mhz and 450 Mhz typically - short
range systems
Intercity buses - dont rally use two way radio systems AFAIK
Public transit agencies - usually one radio channel per bus garage or
subway line - plus 1 or 2 channels for security units and maybe for
mtnce units
Public housing authorities - usually at least 1 mtnce channel for the
larger agencies
Apartment house complexes - usually at least 1 channel shared by
security and mtnce units
Nursing homes - sometimes they have 1 radio channel for nurses or mtnce
Cemeteries - sometimes they have a special channel for speaking to the
dead - er - maybe not
Farmers + ranchers + loggers + heavy industry - they all use radios
also to various degrees
Non profit agencies - Red Cross - disaster volunteers - etc
Ski resorts have ski patrol and mtnce channels
Places of assembly - ballparks - football stadiums - large churches -
movie theatres - channels for guards, medical aid, mtnce, performers,
etc
Cranes - you will hear the spotter talking to the crane driver -
"down, down, down, down, stop!"
Private ambulance companies - the largest agencies have separate
channels for chair cars and ambulances
Landscapers - you might even hear them in the winter doing plow jobs
in the northern USA
Tow trucks - use a wide variety of radio channels - AAA units can be
heard at 150 Mhz typcially
Delivery companys dont seem to use voice radios - they seem to mostly
use text messaging
Post Offices - just the large sorting centers usually have radios -
postal inspectors have some federal radio channels
Armored cars - ? no radios - or rarely used ?
Utility companys - electric power and gas companys have radios for all
of their line employees typcially - they are the busiest after storms
Movie production outfits - many short range channels are used by the
technical folks - channels in the business bands are usually used -
461 Mhz ish
Who did I leave out? I left out taxicabs - who commonly use a split channel radio
system - therefore you usually just hear the dispatcher when you
listen in