All about Hand Held Scanners

Hand-held scanners
Scanners were made popular and were widely available during the1970s with the introduction of the CB radio, used mostly by over-the- road drivers. At that time, scanners often had between four and ten channels which required a separate crystal for each frequency received. Today, programmable scanners, such as, the Uniden 200-Channel NASCAR hand-held scanner, available from online merchants such as, Midwest Merchandise, at: www. http://www.midwest-merchandise.com/ and many retail electronics stores, allow hundreds or thousands of frequencies to be entered via a keypad and are stored in various memory banks which can scan at a rapid rate, given modern microprocessor technology.
These modern-day scanners use the FM, non-broadcast radio bands between 30 and 951 MHz. “CloseCall RF” technology available from Uniden means it's also able to detect nearby transmissions on any frequency and automatically tune into the discovered frequency. This means that operators can monitor air traffic without having prior knowledge of available area frequencies.
Popular among hobbyists, rail fans, off duty emergency services personnel, reporters, corporate spies, criminals and lawyers, scanners offer the amazing ability to monitor communications from police, emergency services, fire, amateur radio, public utilities, news media and more. Actually, every family should have a weather radio in the event of a severe weather emergency for the latest storm track warnings. A Uniden 200-Channel NASCAR scanner will provide the necessary early alert of thunderstorm, hurricane, tornado, flash flood or typhoon conditions.
Scanners also allow chosen frequencies to be stored in memory banks to allow them to be monitored later and will stop scanning only when there is a signal strong enough to break the radio's squelch setting.

In the United States, the following guidelines are essential. It is illegal to:
listen in on cellular and cordless phone calls,
intercept encrypted or scrambled communications,
sell or import radio scanners that are capable of receiving cellular phone frequencies (Note: does not apply to sales by individuals and radio scanners made before 1985),
modify radio scanners so that cellular phone frequencies can be received,
use information received for personal gain (A common example is where a taxi driver listens to a competitor's dispatch channel to steal a customer),
use information received to aid in the commission of a crime, or
disclose information received to other persons.
A partial copy of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 can be found here: "Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986"
The Uniden 200-Channel NASCAR hand-held scanner is fully PC programmable (software not included), at a range of 200 channels and 13 bands. There are 10 programmable search ranges and six pre-programmed service banks. For example, one memory bank can be assigned to air traffic control and another may be set for local police frequencies. They may be switched on and off depending on user preference.

The features included in the Uniden 200-Channel NASCAR hand-held scanner are: a backlit display, antenna, two AA batteries and belt clip. Its compact design of flexibility and portability can be purchased at http://www.midwest-merchandise.com/.