History of police scanners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

History of police scanners - Essay Example In the modern era, the devices have helped in promoting security, and enhancing quick responses to emergencies. Additionally, police scanners play a crucial role in journalism and crime investigation centers. Therefore, through the application of the police scanners, the world has been compressed to a smaller area in terms of space and time. However, the evolution of police scanners has undergone tremendous changes since their invention. This essay will cover in details the history of police scanners. The idea of using receivers and transmitters began in the early 20th century where 2-way telegraphy traffic was in commercial use in the Atlantic Ocean. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, military and naval warships were applying the 2-way form of communication through the installation of both transmitters and receivers in the ships. Therefore, a two-way communication enabled ships that were apart in distance to communicate effectively. Australia.gov states that the Victorian Police were among the first sectors to invent portable 20-way radio in Australia in 1923; they installed the devices in police cars and used them to replace the previous telephone boxes that were cumbersome and at times inefficient in communication. However, the initial sets were also bulky and occupied large spaces. For instance, they occupied the entire back seat of the Lancia patrol cars. According to Scanner Master, police departments implemented the aid of tunable radio receivers to monitor police channels using a low frequency at the receiving end of the AM radio dial around 1700 KHz. They used this frequency to broadcast to their patrol cars regardless of the distance, and the communication equipment proved effective in transmitting signals. Police and fire departments used the FM radio channels that operated between 40 and 155 MHz in the 1960s, which motivated radio developers to develop scanners that could perform rapid tuning functions by