Searching Using 8.33kHz Steps

Many of the older radio scanners are quite limited in how many kHz steps they have. A lot of them just have the basic ones. So it has been quite interesting messing around with a modified Quansheng K5-8 [here] to see what can be found hiding under the many different kHz step types it has. My latest step number has been 8.33kHz. I think a lot of people, me included, always associate 8.33kHz with airband. Those who love listening to aviation frequencies always want scanners that have the 8.33kHz steps available. But I have no interest in airband, so I've been using the 8.33kHz step size to scan through all the frequencies not airband and have found some interesting "hidden" frequencies.

Don't get your hopes up, I haven't found anything top secret or anything. Just things like workplaces, people talking, etc. Still, it's interesting that if I was using a scanner that had no 8.33kHz step size, I don't think I would have ever know anyone was there. And I get the feeling that by the odd frequencies that these companies and people are using, they wanted it that way and are trying to stay undiscovered. Some of the communications are quite rare and sporadic, so I think there was some luck involved in finding them.

Anyway, if you have a radio capable of searching using 8.33kHz steps, start searching if you haven't already. A modified Quansheng can search using 8.33kHz steps, as well as many other steps. Some radio receivers can still go to frequencies that use 8.33kHz, even though they don't have that step size. 

One example is the Baofeng 1701, which is digital and analogue. I use the Quansheng to find the frequencies scanning in 8.33kHz steps, then type in the frequency on the Baofeng. 9 times out of 10 the Baofeng has been able to listen to the found frequencies if I type them in manually, even though it does not have the 8.33kHz step size / spacing.