Hello I am Jonathan I have a Baofeng UV-5R I need step by step help programing my Baofeng UV-5R as a police scanner and saving frequiences can you please help me step by step my email is jonathangellatly2@aol.com
Jonathan, the Baofeng UV-5R is not the best choice for use as a scanner for several reasons.
First, the scan function is very slow, as it was intended for scanning specific frequencies programmed into the radio, and not a wide range of frequencies or an entire band. The reason for this is simple. It was designed to be a two way radio, not a radio scanner.
Second, This is a full transceiver, so it is capable of transmitting on the frequencies you program into the radio as well as receiving them. This can be risky, especially if you are in the US, because the UV-5R is not legal for use on many of the frequencies it is capable of transmitting, and requires a business or amateur radio operator license for those frequencies on which it is allowed to transmit.
Third, even if you are only listening on the police band and public services bands, you may not be able to receive much these days, or much of anything that is intelligible, because the Baofeng UV-5R is an analog radio, and many agencies and municipalities in the US have all migrated to digital communication systems.
As far as programming the radio is concerned, there are many resources on the Internet that include tutorials on programming the UV-5R, both from a PC and directly from the keypad on the radio itself.
Here is an example:
How to manually program the Baofeng UV-5R from the keypad