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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:31:01 PM EDT
[#1]
Uniden HomePatrol-2 Scanner
pre-programmed by Zip Code. Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP Police Scanner same as above in hand held package. Ham Radio 360...All About Scanners Scanner School Podcast |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:33:42 PM EDT
[#2]
You want a Uniden HomePatrol-2.
Quoted: The topic of scanners is way over my head. I know when I'm in too deep, and this topic is out of my wheelhouse. So I decided I want to get a REAL scanner instead of using my phone app. The choices are endless, and I know I will pick one that will not work. (Encryption, trunking, etc) Its purpose will be to monitor police/fire/etc. Areas will be: Hastings, MI Portland, OR Vancouver, WA And any other station I feel like monitoring. Is there a decent scanner for around $500 that I can program for these areas? Even with encrypted broadcasts? Maybe even a cheap used "beginner scanner" to learn the ropes before buying a good one? I would like just getting the gear and running it, and I would like it as a tool for SHTF. (Tornado, riots, wildfire, etc) Search brough up 1 thread here on ARF, and the Googles show me threads that are all in Greek with the nomenclature everyone uses. Any help? I need one of those books "Scanner use for Dummies" |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:38:30 PM EDT
[#3]
You do know the radio signals most likely won't be strong enough to cover MI and OR. You will need to be closer to the repeater to receive the actual transmission. The phone apps scanners are being re broadcast over the internet and not actual radio signals as such.
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:41:57 PM EDT
[#4]
NVM
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:44:48 PM EDT
[#5]
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:45:46 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You do know the radio signals most likely won't be strong enough to cover MI and OR. You will need to be closer to the repeater to receive the actual transmission. The phone apps scanners are being re broadcast over the internet and not actual radio signals as such. Ya, I travel a lot. I have an office in Portland, and Vancouver. Edit, are scanners more line of sight? I was wondering if you can listen from across the country by bouncing off repeaters like Ham users do. |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:46:58 PM EDT
[#7]
I should have mentioned I would like it to be battery operated and portable since I travel a lot.
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Posted: 10/8/2020 2:49:00 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Uniden HomePatrol-2 Scanner pre-programmed by Zip Code. Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP Police Scanner same as above in hand held package. Ham Radio 360...All About Scanners Scanner School Podcast Do you think $500 is the bare minimum to do what I want? I was looking at the BCD436HP yesterday. I think this is the one I should get, but figured I would double check. People also said the SDS100 and 200 |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 3:04:47 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Do you think $500 is the bare minimum to do what I want? I was looking at the BCD436HP yesterday. I think this is the one I should get, but figured I would double check. People also said the SDS100 and 200 For ease of use and the price point, the 436 is GTG, wish I'd kept mine  no relays on Scanners, phone app is the only way for that. |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 3:34:43 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: For ease of use and the price point, the 436 is GTG, wish I'd kept mine no relays on Scanners, phone app is the only way for that. Thanks for the advice! I'm thinking ease of use will make this the one to get. I thought about buying one of these to try out, but I dont know if they are paperweights now. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Radio-Shack-Pro-528-1000-Channel-Handheld-Triple-Trunking-Scanner/392965192014?hash=item5b7e8cf94e:g:trgAAOSwWhlfSB2K I may buy 2 scanners. The 436 is probably #1 tin my list, b ut I may try a cheapo triple trunking scanner just to see what I canker. Is that crazy? I also joined the Uniden scanner Facebook group and in their rules, talking about encryption is banned. Is it a taboo subject? |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 4:52:16 PM EDT
[#11]
Encryption is only a taboo subject for absolute cucks.
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Posted: 10/8/2020 5:41:35 PM EDT
[#12]
The problem with preprogrammed scanners is that they may miss somewhat more obscure frequencies and tones.
For example, city has a repeater licensed for 460.100 and the repeater tone for the main channel (likely programmed into the scanner at the factory) is 100.0Hz. But the factory doesn’t know that there’s a car-to-car simplex on 460.100, 110.9, and the parks bicycle patrol uses simplex 465.100, 203.5. Not to mention perhaps an HT-only simplex for details on 465.100, 77.0, and a rarely-used on-scene simplex of 460.100, DCS065. |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 6:03:12 PM EDT
[#13]
You probably want this:
https://uniden.com/collections/scanners/products/handheld-trunktracker-v-scanner I have the older version, and it works well. A bit of warning though, they are complex. Don't try programming it by hand - you will be there forever. There are programming applications that pull their data from the RadioReference site that make the task much easier. They are pretty much line of sight, but just about all emergency services use repeater systems (usually P25), and have lots of linked repeaters covering a wide area, so listening to anything in the area is pretty easy. |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 6:04:37 PM EDT
[#14]
I would beware of the pre-programmed radios. The channels used get swapper around/modified pretty frequently.
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Posted: 10/8/2020 7:18:31 PM EDT
[#15]
I'd got with the SDS100. It's the most up-to-date scanner when it comes to design (it will actually handle simulcast without distorting).
So Hastings...uses a P25 Phase 1 trunking system. Portland...uses a P25 Phase 1 trunking system. Vancouver...uses Motorola SmartNet (Type II) trunking system which is EOL and they are migrating to a P25 Phase 2 system but I bet there will be an ISSI interface with Portland or some other level of interop. So you need a scanner that can handle P25 Phase 2 and simulcast (again I come back to gets a SDS100). There was also some conventional stuff listed but most of the good stuff will likely be on the Astro 25 systems. As far as encryption goes, no scanner on the market today will decrypt an encrypted transmission (because it's illegal). So if you go onto Radio Reference and see the big "E" marked aside from "D" or "T", you won't be able to listen to anything marked "E". |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 7:36:18 PM EDT
[#16]
The SDS scanners are phenomenal.
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'd got with the SDS100. It's the most up-to-date scanner when it comes to design (it will actually handle simulcast without distorting). So Hastings...uses a P25 Phase 1 trunking system. Portland...uses a P25 Phase 1 trunking system. Vancouver...uses Motorola SmartNet (Type II) trunking system which is EOL and they are migrating to a P25 Phase 2 system but I bet there will be an ISSI interface with Portland or some other level of interop. So you need a scanner that can handle P25 Phase 2 and simulcast (again I come back to gets a SDS100). There was also some conventional stuff listed but most of the good stuff will likely be on the Astro 25 systems. As far as encryption goes, no scanner on the market today will decrypt an encrypted transmission (because it's illegal). So if you go onto Radio Reference and see the big "E" marked aside from "D" or "T", you won't be able to listen to anything marked "E". |
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Posted: 10/8/2020 10:10:37 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Encryption is only a taboo subject for absolute cucks. Go on... 
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Posted: 10/9/2020 12:33:48 AM EDT
[#18]
Programming is easy. Pony up for a radioreference membership and get all the latest frequencies and download them straight to your scanner. Very easy.
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Posted: 10/9/2020 7:05:24 AM EDT
[#19]
Ordered a 436. @PhilipPeake Do you think the 436 will be as good as the one you referenced? I saw your post after I ordered the BCD436HP.
I may order a different one also. 2 is one.... Plus I'm sick of being on the fence. I'm just jumping in. I may end up with 3. Who knows. I'll need one for travel. Maybe a HP2 for the house so the wife can use it. (Needs to be SUPER user-friendly since my wife is not a tech person) |
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Posted: 10/9/2020 7:10:27 AM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Programming is easy. Pony up for a radioreference membership and get all the latest frequencies and download them straight to your scanner. Very easy. I always hear that it is complicated to program one. Which scanner do you think would be good? Philipeake above recommended one. I'm pretty sure I'll be needing to get a radio reference membership. |
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Posted: 10/9/2020 9:31:33 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I always hear that it is complicated to program one. Which scanner do you think would be good? Philipeake above recommended one. I'm pretty sure I'll be needing to get a radio reference membership. Programming them isn't extremely complicated but scanning performance can really suffer if certain actions aren't taken and sometimes it's if you know a thing or two about the system you can better optimize the programming of the scanner. For example, most people who program scanners for P25 trunking systems really go overboard with sites and channels. Typically you only want to program immediately local sites (simulcast systems are simply a single site as far as the radio/scanner is concerned). Also, the scanner really only needs to know the control channels (it doesn't need to know the rest of the channels at every site). With Motorola systems (including Privacy Plus a.k.a Type 1 and SmartNet a.k.a Type 2) there are typically 4 control channels per site. With Harris systems, any channel at the site can be a control channel (so you have to program all channels at the site). Also, I wouldn't hesitate to consider the control channel data inaccurate and it's good practice to use a control channel decoding software (such as Unitrunker or Pro96COM) as the system actually will advertise the current and alternate control channels in addition to adjacent site control channel info. Also, when scanning conventional systems and trunking systems just keep in mind the radio can only scan x frequencies per second so the more frequencies you force it to scan, the slower the decode becomes. |
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Posted: 10/9/2020 10:02:16 AM EDT
[#22]
if you want to leave one at home for her to listen to, make sure all she has to do is power it on.
If there is anything else involved, she'll skip it and just blow up your phone instead. I'll go as far forward to suggest this complicated hack. Buy Scanner that hears what you want her to hear. Program Scanner to hear what you want her to hear. Purchase Low Power FM Transmitter. Install LP FM Xmitter in home and power on. Set all Presets of Home FM radios to the freq the FM Xmitter is on. Connect Scanner to FM Transmitter and leave both on 24/7. If she's interested, all she has to do is turn on a Radio in the home, in any room and listen to what you wanted her to hear. 
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Posted: 10/9/2020 10:09:29 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: if you want to leave one at home for her to listen to, make sure all she has to do is power it on. If there is anything else involved, she'll skip it and just blow up your phone instead. I'll go as far forward to suggest this complicated hack. Buy Scanner that hears what you want her to hear. Program Scanner to hear what you want her to hear. Purchase Low Power FM Transmitter. Install LP FM Xmitter in home and power on. Set all Presets of Home FM radios to the freq the FM Xmitter is on. Connect Scanner to FM Transmitter and leave both on 24/7. If she's interested, all she has to do is turn on a Radio in the home, in any room and listen to what you wanted her to hear. Holy shit that's a good idea!  I was thinking of getting the HP2 for the nightstand and programming for our city. Then she would just have to power it on and listen. |
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Posted: 10/9/2020 10:39:56 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Holy shit that's a good idea! I was thinking of getting the HP2 for the nightstand and programming for our city. Then she would just have to power it on and listen. I got tired of trying to carry around a portable scanner with me while cooking/cleaning/folding laundry/changing diapers (or having a base scanner in the laundry room and me in the back bedroom)...the above hack corrected the problem for me (stay@home dad x5). |
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Posted: 10/9/2020 1:22:40 PM EDT
[#25]
Love my BCD436 and 536. The SDS is interesting, but a bit pricier.
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Posted: 10/12/2020 5:24:20 PM EDT
[#26]
Kinda hoping there is a Amazon Prime Day deal on one......
If the HP2 is on sale, then I will have my second one. My 436 arrives Friday. Cant wait to try it out. :-) |
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Posted: 10/12/2020 6:16:36 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I got tired of trying to carry around a portable scanner with me while cooking/cleaning/folding laundry/changing diapers (or having a base scanner in the laundry room and me in the back bedroom)...the above hack corrected the problem for me (stay@home dad x5). Can you recommend a good FM Transmitter? |
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Posted: 10/12/2020 6:53:01 PM EDT
[#28]
this is the one I use...>CoVid has really screwed with the pricing (churches bought all of them up for parking lot meetings)
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Posted: 10/12/2020 8:17:25 PM EDT
[#29]
Go with the SDS series. Either the 100 or 200. Ignore everything else. Eventually you WILL encounter simulcast and they are the only thing that reliably works.
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Posted: 10/12/2020 11:16:47 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Go with the SDS series. Either the 100 or 200. Ignore everything else. Eventually you WILL encounter simulcast and they are the only thing that reliably works. Portland Police going encrypted sucks, but I spent 75% of the time listening to FD anyway, and they still come in just fine. I do need to figure out their on-scene simplex channels though. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 12:48:54 AM EDT
[#31]
Broadcastify Scanner Feeds
Another way to listen to you local action is the Broadcastify via the Internet. Cheaper than a scanner and good enough for listening to one agency. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 1:03:35 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Broadcastify Scanner Feeds Another way to listen to you local action is the Broadcastify via the Internet. Cheaper than a scanner and good enough for listening to one agency. If it's there. You won't get tac or similar either. Not it's another resource. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 3:58:44 AM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: If it's there. You won't get tac or similar either. Not it's another resource. Broadcastify is a good way to see the agency you want to listen to is encrypted without having to spend any money. It would suck to drop $400 to $700 on a scanner and hear nothing in the clear. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 4:35:51 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryCame to post that very pic from the documentary.
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Posted: 10/13/2020 5:21:37 AM EDT
[#35]
Hi OP. I own a HP-2, a Whistler TRX-2, and a SDS-100. The HP-2 is horrible with multicast and generally has a poorer
receiver than the TRX-2. Ace in the hole is AA power so it is cool for a backup radio. The SDS-100 decodes multicast perfectly and also has great audio. It sucks power and runs warm so find a good back up supply for power out. I find it's receiver poorer than the TRX-2 as well in terms of sensitivity. Both of the unidens are easy to flash with latest frequency updates from radio reference. You don't even have to be a member...they have an agreement with uniden...use the included uniden software. Reflashing the TRX-2 is a sinister and taxing affair. Muggles will fail hard on this radio. Of course the TRX-2 is what I use 24-7 and it works fine. Much, much better than the HP-2. Decode is poorer than the SDS-100. Programing is 100x worse too. Buy some high endurance SD cars for whatever rig you choose. The type used for car cameras. They are slow cards so buy only the amount of memory you need. Clone a couple of them. Whatever scanner you choose, you will need an SD card. Have a back-up. Trust me on this...unless you want a brick. Good luck! |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 6:00:48 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Hi OP. I own a HP-2, a Whistler TRX-2, and a SDS-100. The HP-2 is horrible with multicast and generally has a poorer receiver than the TRX-2. Ace in the hole is AA power so it is cool for a backup radio. The SDS-100 decodes multicast perfectly and also has great audio. It sucks power and runs warm so find a good back up supply for power out. I find it's receiver poorer than the TRX-2 as well in terms of sensitivity. Both of the unidens are easy to flash with latest frequency updates from radio reference. You don't even have to be a member...they have an agreement with uniden...use the included uniden software. Reflashing the TRX-2 is a sinister and taxing affair. Muggles will fail hard on this radio. Of course the TRX-2 is what I use 24-7 and it works fine. Much, much better than the HP-2. Decode is poorer than the SDS-100. Programing is 100x worse too. Buy some high endurance SD cars for whatever rig you choose. The type used for car cameras. They are slow cards so buy only the amount of memory you need. Clone a couple of them. Whatever scanner you choose, you will need an SD card. Have a back-up. Trust me on this...unless you want a brick. Good luck! Lots to unpack in this post. :-) Thanks! I will have to research a lot just from what you posted. Maybe the key is a 436 for my office, HP2 for home in Hastings, and SDS100 for traveling. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 10:30:30 AM EDT
[#37]
I think some are getting confused by the term simulcast and multicast being used interchangeably here.
Simulcast > The simultaneous transmission on the same frequency at multiple RF sites. Multicast > The simultaneous transmission on different frequencies at multiple RF sites. P25 trunking come in three forms, standalone (just a single RF site for the system), simulcast (multiple RF sites but operating on the same frequencies) and wide-area (multiple sites, with multicast). With a simulcast system, there only appears to be a single site when looking at the site ID information from the radio/scanner. With simulcast you have two things, a prime site (Motorola term) and then sub-sites (again, Motorola term). The prime site contains the "brains" of the simulcast cell and has the site controller (just like any other site), voting comparators/channel banks (which analyzes the SNR from the incoming transmission and assesses which site has the best signal quality to use), and the simulcast controller/reference (which tells each sub-site when to launch the transmission so they are all in sync and in phase). The sub-sites just contain the RF hardware (receivers and transmitters) as well as a GPSDO to provide an accurate time reference for launching. The Catch-22 of widearea systems...they can contain multiple simulcast systems within them. As an example, the City of Austin's GATRRS system has the following simulcast systems within the widearea network: Austin/Travis County Wide, E620, Williamson County, Bastrop County, and Texarkana along with many, many other 700 MHz, 800 MHz and VHF sites. |
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Posted: 10/13/2020 11:26:34 AM EDT
[#38]
Op, I'd get the 436 in my fingers and begin to get my head around it before I dropped any coin to make sure you're not still "scared"
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Posted: 10/13/2020 1:26:52 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Op, I'd get the 436 in my fingers and begin to get my head around it before I dropped any coin to make sure you're not still "scared" Wife said I got a package today from Uniden. I'll get used too using that one to get some experience. :-) |
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Posted: 10/14/2020 12:21:25 AM EDT
[#40]
Radio Reference Forums
Here a link to the Radio Reference Forums. Lots of good scanner info there you might be able to use.
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Posted: 10/16/2020 11:24:24 AM EDT
[#41]
got it just in time for a car chase.
Tuned this in, Radio Reference, and my 5-0Radio app. They all played the same stuff, but the scanner got the direct signal, and 20-30 seconds later the other 2 broadcasted the recording. Seems pretty sweet. Should I upgrade the antenna? 
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Posted: 10/16/2020 1:52:45 PM EDT
[#42]
Definitely will be needing a different antenna.
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Posted: 10/18/2020 12:55:07 AM EDT
[#43]
Nowdays most recommendations will be for the Remtronix 820 or similar. There are also Comet and Diamond brand antennas that will do the job just as well. You may end up like many of us and have multiple antennas for different bands and situations. For instance, many who monitor the air bands end up with specific antennas for that task.
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Posted: 10/18/2020 8:27:28 AM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Nowdays most recommendations will be for the Remtronix 820 or similar. There are also Comet and Diamond brand antennas that will do the job just as well. You may end up like many of us and have multiple antennas for different bands and situations. For instance, many who monitor the air bands end up with specific antennas for that task. Yeah, the beginning of H-CRS - ham crowed roof syndrome |
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Posted: 10/18/2020 9:12:33 AM EDT
[#45]
I think I would like a BNC antenna to quick swap depending on what I'm listening to.
I'll be in the 700-900 range most of the time for police bands. |
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Posted: 10/19/2020 3:59:39 PM EDT
[#46]
Hastings, MI?!
What the hell is in Hastings that you want to listen to? I'm in that neck of the woods and need to know what I'm missing out on. |
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Posted: 10/20/2020 12:33:09 PM EDT
[#47]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Hastings, MI?! What the hell is in Hastings that you want to listen to? I'm in that neck of the woods and need to know what I'm missing out on. We are always doing Speck-Opz around here. LOL |
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Posted: 10/25/2020 5:17:11 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Nowdays most recommendations will be for the Remtronix 820 or similar. There are also Comet and Diamond brand antennas that will do the job just as well. You may end up like many of us and have multiple antennas for different bands and situations. For instance, many who monitor the air bands end up with specific antennas for that task. Got this on coming. REMTRONIX REM-800B |
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Posted: 11/22/2020 3:01:00 PM EDT
[#49]
The antenna made a huge difference. :-)
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Posted: 11/22/2020 4:05:04 PM EDT
[#50]
So do I need to buy these upgrades?
NXDN Key ProVoice Key DMR Key $50 each? |
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