[Windwalker]

Originally Posted by Jackrabbit379

I've got a Bearcat handheld. I can even hear the cell phones. :P I dont turn it on that much anymore. I can pick up Wichita County, and the area towns/counties, but not our city police, or the fire dept. Last year, our city went to the digital radios. A friend of mine is a SWAT officer. I talked to him about it, and he told me that they dont put out a frequency. It's like they run scramblers, or something.

All radios have frequencies, no matter if they are digital or analog. However, they can use something called "sub-carriers" that are sort of piggy-back onto the main carrier. You can be listenning to the most boring elevator-music on the main carrier while the most top secret information is going thru on half a dozen sub-carriers and all you'll get is the music unless you have the special receivers that detect the sub-carriers. It's technology that's been around for some time, and may have been considerably improved since I've been out of that business.

[Jackrabbit379]

Kinda like running scramblers...