Equipment: Optoelectronics Scout

One of the main components of my radio kit has been given high accolades by scanner enthusiasts everywhere: the Optoelectronics Scout. It is a frequency counter, which is a device that can be used to acquire frequencies that might be hard-to-acquire through normal means. An example of use would be to stroll by an individual using a radio - the Scout would log the radio frequency the agent was using so that later you could type it into your scanner and listen in.

The Scout itself is large, and is unmistakably important and technical; i.e. you couldn't pass it off as a pager or garage door opener. It is slightly less tall than the very first GameBoys (for those of you that remember those), but about the same size in all other respects. The Scout does provide a number of features that are of interest for Intelligence value:

• Logging of each frequency encountered - up to 400 seperate frequencies - and counts of how many times it was received. Very nice, of course, when strolling through an area with it under your jacket. It also means that you can leave it in an area unattended (say, for example, your car or in a briefcase).
• A so-called "discreet" vibration alert when frequencies are received. However, this vibration is loud enough to be noticed - to the point that I typically will just use a "beep" instead.
• Different modes: capture and logging of frequencies, unfiltered analysis, and review of receptions.

The Scout also provides two things that set it apart from other counters. First, it typically is not fooled by non-voice transmissions - if it displays one, it typically is a real transmission (however, it can get overwhelmed by commercial FM radio broadcasts). Second, it can control certain other radios so that they are automatically tuned to the received frequency - the practical upshot is that you would hear whatever is being broadcast on the other radio without knowing their frequency.

Before you immediately jump in and buy one, you may want to assess how often you are going to need the Scout. Most frequencies are available on-line - just search for your city and add the word "scanner". For those radios that are not listed, you can typically find it out by social engineering. Just ask to see the radio and make note of the FCC ID - that can be checked to find out the frequency. Also, if you live in an area where most of the radio traffic is digital, you are out-of-luck since the Scout only picks up analog radio. Yes, there is a Digital Scout, but, alas, I know nothing about it.

However, the Scout is nice to find hidden transmitters and immediately display actual radio usage (or listen to them immediately with the right radio). There is a sale on them at Optoelectronics, but you can get an even better deal on EBay. Try to buy one with an included antenna. More importantly, make sure that the battery is holding a charge and they are including the charger.

Some information on the Scout that might be hard to find in case you don't have a manual:

• The more-obvious: setting the beep / vibrate / silent mode is all on how the switches are set when the unit is turned on.
• The slightly-less-obvious: clearing the memory is done by holding down the button while turning off the unit.
• The unbelievably-hard-to-find: if you are using the Reaction Tune feature, the Scout must be in CI-V mode. To go into that mode, put both switches in the down position, turn on the unit, pause for a beat, and toggle both switches up - if you do it right, you'll see a CI-V message. I thought my cable was bad for the longest time. Good luck finding this information anywhere else.

The Scout is a great piece of equipment for analyzing radio traffic in particular areas, and it is a reasonably affordable and very professional counter-surveillance device.

I've had my Scout for a long time, and it has been of some value acquiring frequencies. I am a big Icom radio fan, so I recently acquired an Icom IC-R20 with the sole purpose of using it with the Scout for a reaction tuning. If you go to the Optoelectronics website, it will say, yes, it will tune the IC-R10 and IC-R20... unless you go to purchase the actual cable, where it will say, no, in fact, it is not compatible. The truth of the matter is that you can reaction tune an Icom IC-R20. You will need to either create a specialized cable or purchase one. If you subscribe to the IC-R20 group, you will find an individual that will sell these cables, or you can make your own. Best source for that:

http://www.dg8jz.de/Scanner/IC-R20/ic-r20.html

An IC-R20 and a Scout is an ideal setup: both can be placed in a briefcase and used to acquire the frequencies. If the recording feature of the Icom is turned on, not only will the frequencies be saved, but any broadcasts will be saved to the Icom's internal recorder.