Many police use digital encrypted radios. A digital scanner and a decryption key are required to receive these signals. Analog radios are still widely used by some police, many interagency communications, first responders, marine radio, railroads, the National Weather Service (NWS), a few businesses, and the public. These systems use narrow band frequency modulation (NBFM) and are simplex, use the same frequency for transmit and receive. Some analog radio systems are duplex (receive and transmit on different frequencies). A few systems are trunked, frequency depends on traffic. Most scanners also receive amplitude modulated (AM) aircraft radios.

Mid Band (VHF)
137 - 174 MHz

Use	MHz
Government Radios	137 - 144
Amateur Radio (2 meter HAM)	144 - 148
Police, Inter-Agency, Fire, Ground/Air Ambulance, Hospital, Business	148 - 156
Marine VHF Radios US Coast Guard, waterway traffic, locks, ports, docks, dock operations, ship to ship, ship to shore (see Channels and Frequencies)	156 - 157.5
Railroad Radios Dispatcher, Train, walkie-talkies, Amtrak Police, Yard Operations (see Channels and Frequencies)	159.8 - 161.6
National Weather Service Channel depends on region	Ch 1 - 162.400 Ch 2 - 162.425 Ch 2 - 162.450 Ch 4 - 162.475 Ch 5 - 162.500 Ch 6 - 162.525 Ch 7 - 162.550
Public Use	164 - 174

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LOWER MID BAND (VHF)

Use	MHz
FM Commercial Radio Wide Band Frequency Modulation	88 - 108
Aircraft Radios Amplitude Modulated (AM)	108 - 137

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Low Band (VHF)
30 - 54 MHz
Shortwave (Long Range)

Use	Frequency / Moduation
Citizens Band (CB)	26.965 - 27.405 MHz Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Amateur Radio 10 meters HAM	29.0 -29.7 MHz Single-Side Band (SSB)
Police & Public Services	30 - 50 MHz
Amateur Radio 6 meters HAM	50 - 54 MHz

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High Band (UHF)
380 - 512 MHz

Use	MHz
Airport & Aircraft Radios	380 - 410
Federal & State Government	410 - 440
Amateur Radio (70 cm HAM)	440 - 450
Government Trunk Radio	470 - 512
Broadcast TV UHF	470 - 608

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