Posted: 4/25/2011 6:53:09 PM EDT
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Hello all - I am looking for recs on a good scanner to use at home to keep up with what is going on. We have had a lot of bad weather lately in KY which has produced many emergency situations, and it would be nice to hear about road closure due to flooding, storm dage etc as it happens. Also, a police helicopter was traveling up and down my rural road with a spotlight on the road, obviously I wanted to know what he was looking for.
So,in sum looking to increase my situational awarenes by listening to weather reports, EMS, and police and rescue frequencies. Those of you with some experience, what features should I look for? Goes without saying given the forum I want a battery backup/no power option but what else? Thanks for the help. I'm looking for a scanner first and as soon as funds allow would like to purchase some handheld radios - I was thinking MURS for that. Should those plans affect the scanner I should buy in anyway? |
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If you want to just listen to PD/FD, Get an android/iphone and download the scanner app.
PDs/FDs are going digital if they haven't already. you can get a digital scanner but it's gonna cost more. if you just want to listen to those, get a new phone. you can do so much more. I think Homeland Security wants everybody converted to digital by 2013. Don't remember the exact day.. |
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Quoted:
I have one of the droid scanner apps, but no one around here is putting the scan out on the 'net. you are gonna have to research what your local depts have. They might still be behind in converting over or they could have already and are encrypted.. also look at your county frequencies. many of the local depts where im at show up on the county radio band. |
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Quoted: I am to the point of getting a good one also, that comes on own its own and kicks in weather alerts, but is also battery-backuped  TAG-and in before someone points you at the HAM radio forum. Well, the OP would get a lot of really useful responses over there...  -Slice |
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Listen to many localities online here, and it's free:
http://www.radioreference.com/ |
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If you are looking at a scanner, you pretty much have to get one which scans trunked systems anymore. I live in the most backward county in my state and almost everyone has gone to a trunked system. All that "homeland security" money has gone into buying new toys for the FD, PD, and SO. This means you are going to pay for a scanner to be able to sort out the trunked system. I bought a Pro 106 a few years ago and am happy with it. I think it was on sale $100 off for Christmas if I remember correctly. It is the same as the GRE PSR 500, which you may be able to find cheaper. I am sure there other other good ones out there, but I got a fairly good deal on mine a year or two ago and am happy with it.
I don't know too much about the Pro 164 but this looks like about the cheapest you will find a trunking scanner. I don't know about the radio shack "refubished" condition, so you might want to look into it (12 months parts, but 12 DAYS labor doesn't sound too encouraging). It looks like this version also will not scan as many of the EDACS systems as the Pro 106, although I don't know how common those are. Here is a basic link about scanning. This talks about trunked systems. |
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Before you do anything, you need to figure out what systems your local Police, Fire, and Ems are using. Analog scanners can only pick up analog signals while digital scanners can pick up both analog and encrypted.
Look up your county here: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/ Or try this: http://www.policescanners.net/shop/select/ If you are in a small rural county chances are they will still be using the older analog systems. Analog scanners are relatively inexpensive. Digital scanners are a different story. Most being expensive (usually $350+ for a good digital) and a little intimidating for the novice user. The plus being it will be all you need for awhile, even if your county upgrades their comms to digital. Quoted:
I don't know too much about the Pro 164 but this looks like about the cheapest you will find a trunking scanner. I don't know about the radio shack "refubished" condition, so you might want to look into it (12 months parts, but 12 DAYS labor doesn't sound too encouraging). It looks like this version also will not scan as many of the EDACS systems as the Pro 106, although I don't know how common those are. The PRO-164 is a great scanner. You can pick a good used one up on eBay for under a $100. |
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this thread may help?
check links listed for scanner review site |
| I've been going through this same ordeal myself. Wanting a scanner that will cover all the freqs I want for emergencies. I checked into my area and they are all going to or are already running p25 trunking radios. That quickly narrowed it down to about two choices, the radio shack pro-106 or the uniden bearcat 396 (they each have desktop versions but mobility is huge for me). I read and read and read review after review and the radio shack radio is what I'm leaning towards right now. Even if your area hasn't switched to digital or even trunking systems yet, they will. And when they do, your analog or non-trunking radio will be worthless (to you in an emergency). The uniden bearcat 396 is usually around $500 but you can find deals a little lower. The radio shack pro 106 is usually $400 but radio shack has it on sale for the next two days at $299. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on mine tomorrow. |
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Quoted:
Unless you're already a radio geek, the best option really is the new Uniden (?) scanner that comes preprogrammed, you just enter your zip code and it goes to work. Handles digital, trunking, etc., so that you don't have to. I'm not a scanner geek, but I bought some radio shack digital trunking scanners and had them up and working in an hour. You can download the frequencies from radio resource )I think the first 5 downloads are free.. I would shudder at what would be involved in programming a trunkign system manually. I think I'm going to go buy another one for myself. Cost was $300 IIRC, cable and software was maybe $30 more. In my home town nothing interesting is trunked or digital. Local PD, SO, Game Warden, Forestry Service, VFDs, FD, State troopers, public works, EMS, state EMA, RR etc. I've got all the freqs loaded into an AOR handheld. (Not recomending it, it's not user friendly, and I only use it as a wide band reciever for direction finding) |
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Radio Shack Pro-106 scanner + USB Programming Cable + Win500 software.
Extremely impressed with mine. I'm a radio geek and this scanner is pretty amazing. Once you get past the cheesy boxy plastic chassis, underneath lies a very high tech piece of equipment. Covers every "scannable" system out there currently. |
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Y'all rock Thanks. From the link above I looked up my county and my local public safety stuff, ems/fire/police is trunked so I guess this will be expensive. Looks like I have some reading to do, and will look into the pro106.
I am definetely not a radio geek and there is obviously a big learning curve here. I have some like minded neighbors and we are looking to develop some good hanheld mobile comms with each other but none of us has any radio knowledge so it is frustrating getting started with this stuff. I thought the scanner will be as soimple as buying a good model and turning it on. 
Ok, so thanks again, and pretty soon I will be looking for some recs on rechargeable handheld radios to hopefully allow comms 5 miles or so out in the country, if that is possible. I'm sure now that will be worse! Got to get to reading now... |
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I guess it's not a hijack if the OP changes the subject, so...
Don't buy FRS/GMRS radios (like Midland/Motorola/Cobra/Uniden etc) with the expectation of 5 miles. Expect 1 mile max –– anything more is just gravy. Ignore any mileage claim by the mfg on the packaging. If 5 miles via handheld is a must, you need a 5-watt handheld, most likely VHF (as in ham), with probably an aftermarket 1/4 wave antenna and some luck. You might even have to have someone on a mobile or base setup on the other end. 5 miles HT-to-HT is tough, depending on terrain and obstructions. Your chances improve a lot with external antennas, but we're not talking about a grab it off your belt and talk situation then. We're talking a coax cable between your HT and the antenna, such as a handheld beam (yagi) or a flexible j-pole type suspended from a tree. The stickied "101" thread in the ham forum is what you need as a primer for VHF/UHF communications. |
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+1 GlockTiger's remarks. Get the dongle + a piece of programming software with any scanner you use unless its the Home Patrol from Uniden. Your life will be MUCH less complicated if you don't have to locate, then manually enter the frequencies, talkgroups, and control channel info that are in use in your local AO. PC programming concept works equally as well for FM HAM rigs, too. I have mobile + station P25 enabled trunking scanners that I use with moderate frequency. Knowing the reason for police and fire activity is the prime reason I own them. The stuff that makes the news is only a fraction of 1% of the stuff that happens in my home city. Having a line on reliable and timely information could also be immensely useful in some type of event in which a natural or man made disaster has occurred. |