Police scanners...

[tripod]

if you were a newbie to this and looked to experience to advise you,what would they tell you on how to get started?

 

[Mr Tony]

it really depends on the area where you live. Lots of smaller areas still use the old VHF/UHF bands while bigger cities use digital trunking.

I just gave my buddy my old 16 channel Rat Shack mobile unit that I converted to home use. Where he lives the 3 counties near him all still use VHF band (153-156 Mhz) so the digital trunking ones are just a waste for him. Me here in MInneapolis suburbs I need that kind...still looking myself

 

[1JoeSky]

Can you tell me what equipment my area would require? 12180-4205 / Area code518

 

[bscabl]

Can you tell me what equipment my area would require? 12180-4205 / Area code518

troy ny uses a digital trunk system.. so to hear all activity you either need a 900mhz capable unit and need to program all the channnels in, have it scan, and catch -most- of the activity.. or you can pick up a trunked unit [which is more expensive] which will pick up the carrier freq and get -all- the activity..
albany also trunks.. and has 2-3 times as many freq as troy.. waterford still uses analog.. i belive cohoes does as well..

 

[goaliebob99]

I have the uniden bearcat BCD996XT and love it... It picks up everything.

 

[1JoeSky]

Thanks, I'm appreciating any and all help I get.

 

[pro96]

Pro 96 and 106 is wat I got... nuff said

 

[mikelib]

Take a look at this Scanner

I heard nothing but good thing about the Uniden Home Patrol Scanner.

HomePatrol

It will be my next scanner, I now have a Uniden Bearcat BCD-396T hand held which works great. With a subscription to Radio Reference I can load any location that I want.

mikelib

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would love a Home Patrol, but it is SO expensive!

 

[n1wbd]

Compared to what folks pay a month for Sat TV and FTA stuff?? It's a bargain. Hey Near-fest is here Apr. 29 and 30 in Deerfield,NH you might find a used one for sale.

BTW there is a rumor going around that there is another digital mode coming out supposedly to replace APCO25 just think if that happens all the current digital scanners will be obsolete.

I would love a Home Patrol, but it is SO expensive!

 

[Cham]

Will take a while to upgrade all the trunking systems for something new. Apco 25 will likely be around for a few years. Still new stuff going up all the time, no new modes yet. I suspect it will be a PSK mode of some kind, better bandwidth utilization; much like wireless routers and easy to plug into TCP/IP networks. "To the cloud!"
-C.

 

[turbosat]

Didn't take long for me to get disappointed somewhat with the scanner-listening, after I decided to hook mine up again last summer.
When anything really interesting gets started-they all tend to say "Go to 800". A lot of the departments around here bought into the Southernlinc cellphone/digital radio system and carry those along with their regular police radios. Oh I can still keep up with whats happening, just bugs me that the technology has left some monitoring behind. I was a dispatcher for 20yrs, but the places I worked didn't have such back then.

 

[Juan]

there are android apps that are tied into scanners too...some work very well

 

[pedrogarcia]

I am having an equipment clearout and have a Radio Shack Pro2096 Digital trunking scanner if anyone is interested please PM me (just shipping cost)

 

[pedrogarcia]

I am having an equipment clearout and have a Radio Shack Pro2096 Digital trunking scanner if anyone is interested please PM me (just shipping cost)

Scanner now going to new home in Ca

 

[SatelliteAV]

Scanner now going to new home in Ca

A very GOOD home in California! Getting back into scanning after 15+ years.

Thank you, Pedrogarcia!

 

[Frank Jr.]

N1wbd has touched on something here. Encryption may one day render scanners useless for people who want to listen in on their local police or sheriff's department. In Lexington County SC which is a neighboring county to me the sheriffs department has gone totally encrypted. No listening in on those folks. Some radio traffic in my county (Richland) is encrypted as well. Encryption is a dirty word for the folks in the scanner industry. Will it happen to you? Only time will tell..........

 

[boister340]

Never heard of Home Patrol - thanks for the info. I looked at their site but could not find the frequency coverage or specs. It looks TINY!

 

[Cham]

There is a lot of digitally encoded signals now, but very few are actually encrypted. Mostly a cost issue. There are several types of digital voice systems; even Motorola has several different "systems" but utilize the same basic apco25 but the trunking is set up differently.
Around here there are many systems using digital trunking but still use analog voice due to range limitations and cost. Our Fire department still uses VHF but has 900MHz backup, the VHF FM range runs circles around the 900MHz equipment. I guess that's progress...
C.

 

[monoxyde]

Anyone know anything about the Spartanburg (29301 zip code) or Greenville county (South Carolina) areas and what frequencies they use? If they are digital and/or encrypted?

Do digital trunked scanners also pick up VHF/UHF frequencies?

I'm looking for a nice starter scanner, I was considering the pro 96, but I'm still keeping my options open.

Thanks