Posted: 2/14/2012 7:22:00 AM EDT
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If this is the wrong forum to post this, please tell me where it should be.
Am looking to get a portable scanner that can pick up just about anything. I am thinking this means digital and trunking. Or, am I wrong? I would mostly just have it on in the house to catch fire and police calls for fun and to know what is going on around me. Might bring it on campouts too. Any recommendations on what to get or what to avoid? Also, what should I do about programming information and software? Thanks! |
| Digital and trunking is a start. Just be forewarned that it might be just about useless. Many areas have already made the move or are planning on shifting to encrypted comms. Your scanner might be able to find the signal but it won't be intelligible. Locally our police and fire is encrypted. Only fire dispatch is plain text but it's my understanding that will change soon. |
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Radio shack pro-106.. Just bought one from scannermaster.com for 299 its on sale.. Digital too... I can listen to everything.. Sounds good.. Great deal too.. You won't be unhappy. Thanks for the recommendation! Did you program the frequencies yourself, or use software, or...? |
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http://www.radioreference.com/ figure out what you want to listen to - then see if it's digital/encrypted or not if not, easy mode - easy scanner if it's digital, little bit harder if it's encrypted you're SOL they also sell programming downloads if you are interested for your area
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Jeez, how the heck did I not find that???  
$35 seems quite reasonable for that package. If I understand correctly, you can use the sw to program all the frequencies into the radio, and also track hits and so forth. That implies to me that one must keep the radio connected to the computer. Is that correct? Once programmed by the software, I could choose to disconnect the radio from the computer and use it in a mobile fashion with the newly programmed frequencies, right? Presumably one would lose the logging features when disconnected... |
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Radio shack pro-106.. Just bought one from scannermaster.com for 299 its on sale.. Digital too... I can listen to everything.. Sounds good.. Great deal too.. You won't be unhappy. Thanks for the recommendation! Did you program the frequencies yourself, or use software, or...? Yes I used software. http://www.psredit.com It hooks into radioreference allows you to just pull from the site and assign scan lists.. I have over 300 trunk groups and 400 total frequencies took about 20 minutes to program.. |
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I recommend the Grecom 500/600 series Will follow anything except encrypted. Buy the Win 500 software, and download the info from Radio reference I agree with this, which is why I got the radio shack.. The radio shack model is made by GRE.. Just costs less. |
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Radio shack pro-106.. Just bought one from scannermaster.com for 299 its on sale.. Digital too... I can listen to everything.. Sounds good.. Great deal too.. You won't be unhappy. Thanks for the recommendation! Did you program the frequencies yourself, or use software, or...? Yes I used software. http://www.psredit.com It hooks into radioreference allows you to just pull from the site and assign scan lists.. I have over 300 trunk groups and 400 total frequencies took about 20 minutes to program.. That looks like really nice software, too. Pulling directly from the site seems like a plus. ETA: Looks like Win500 pulls from the site, too. |
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Radio shack pro-106.. Just bought one from scannermaster.com for 299 its on sale.. Digital too... I can listen to everything.. Sounds good.. Great deal too.. You won't be unhappy. Thanks for the recommendation! Did you program the frequencies yourself, or use software, or...? Yes I used software. http://www.psredit.com It hooks into radioreference allows you to just pull from the site and assign scan lists.. I have over 300 trunk groups and 400 total frequencies took about 20 minutes to program.. That looks like really nice software, too. Pulling directly from the site seems like a plus. ETA: Looks like Win500 pulls from the site, too. I think most of the software can... But save the money and get the radio shack model.. It's the same as the GRE they make them... |
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Radio shack pro-106.. Just bought one from scannermaster.com for 299 its on sale.. Digital too... I can listen to everything.. Sounds good.. Great deal too.. You won't be unhappy. Thanks for the recommendation! Did you program the frequencies yourself, or use software, or...? Yes I used software. http://www.psredit.com It hooks into radioreference allows you to just pull from the site and assign scan lists.. I have over 300 trunk groups and 400 total frequencies took about 20 minutes to program.. That looks like really nice software, too. Pulling directly from the site seems like a plus. ETA: Looks like Win500 pulls from the site, too. I think most of the software can... But save the money and get the radio shack model.. It's the same as the GRE they make them... There's no advantage at all to having the GRE version? I mean, fifty bucks is fairly meaningless over the long term if there is something better about it. |
| Well, used to be the GRE was like $400 while the RS model would go on sale for $250 and it was a no brainer. However if you're talking a $50 spread, GRE is a better deal because it comes with the USB programming cable and an AC adapter while the RS doesn't. RS wants $35 for the prog cable alone. |
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Well, used to be the GRE was like $400 while the RS model would go on sale for $250 and it was a no brainer. However if you're talking a $50 spread, GRE is a better deal because it comes with the USB programming cable and an AC adapter while the RS doesn't. RS wants $35 for the prog cable alone. Ah. Yeah, at Scannermaster one is 299 and the other 349. And you are also correct about what's in the box or not. 
Unless you guys have a vendor that you like a lot more, I may get one from Scannermaster. ETA: Although since Scannermaster is in the same state as I am, they have to charge tax, and since I can't really get there during the week when they are open, I will have to pay shipping, so that means Amazon comes out less expensive. $2.00 less than the price Scannermaster wants with tax, before shipping. Maybe I'll give them a call and ask if they'll extend their holiday free shipping offer. 
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Scannerworld doesn't answer their phone. I was calling to see if they had the GRE PSR-500, since it wasn't listed on their web site.
I spoke with a nice gentleman at Scannermaster and we chatted a bit and I eventually got to pointing out that as I am in the same state, I have to pay the sales tax and then to have shipping on top put me at a disadvantage. I then asked him if he would be running his free shipping special like he did in December any time soon. He said no, they only run that during the holidays. I circled back around and he repeated that free shipping only happens in December. I thanked him for his time and said goodbye without ordering. Was I not obvious enough about what I was looking for? 
I am going to order from Amazon as they will give me free shipping and their price is less than Scannermaster with tax. 
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I have the BuTel software for my BCT-15 and it has been very easy to use!
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Turns out the warehouse they are shipping the scanner from is close enough that instead of next week, I will have the radio by the end of today! 
Now, there have been 3 software packages mentioned in the thread: http://www.butel.nl/ http://www.psredit.com/ http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win500/ Do any of you guys have an idea of which one would be the easiest to get up and running with? I'll be wanting to grab my town and the surrounding ones as well as the state police. I believe the staties are the only ones out of that group who use trunking. Mass SP Edited to delete question I figured out. |
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At least 2 of them have demo versions. I know the Win500 demo is fully functioning, limited only by time (30 days). So you can poke around in that and ARC500 (I think that's the one whose demo "comes with" the RS-106 and possibly the GRE).
When I was shopping, it seemed like Win500 had the biggest user group on the RR forums and Don Starr (the author) posts regularly in the forum. It has its quirks here and there but very powerful overall. Also, while I totally endorse using software to set them up, front panel programming of the 106 is totally possible if you have to –– don't let others scare you off. IMO it's as simple as it can be considering the relative complexity of digital trunking systems. I've traveled to new areas on short notice having just enough time to print off the relevant RR database page and have been able to punch in what I needed without any trouble (trunked or conventional). In fact, it's fewer keystrokes to program talkgroups than conventional with PL tones. Take a moment to map out (on paper or in your brain) how you'd like to break up the scan lists before you start programming. Figure out whether you want it by region, service type, or a combination of both. Everyone has different priorities in what they want to monitor, but I'll give you mine for an example. My main priority is LE comms, so you'll see that reflected here. FAV: the handful of agencies (LE, fire, EMS) I'm likely to interface with on duty. 1: Local LE –– all police agencies in my part of the county plus the county and state agencies that operate here (Sheriff and HP). 2: Regional LE –– all of above plus 2-3 neighboring counties and extra stuff like hospital/campus/airport security teams and DNR/Park Rangers. 3: Fire/EMS –– about 3 counties worth of Fire/EMS. 4: Emergency Mgt –– a lot of my state's EOC type talkgroups 5: Commercial / Municipal Services –– businesses, factories, news stations, buses, municipal authorities 6: Utilities –– power, water, lights, DOT 7: Ham –– all the ham repeaters and simplex freqs I like to monitor 8: Aviation –– local airport freqs, guard channels, plus goodies like Thunderbird/Blue Angel freqs. 9: Reserved for on-the-fly programming as needed 10: Federal –– lots of fed agencies, just based on the RR database. It's a new group for me and I haven't heard anything yet. Then 11-20 are a similar layout for a few different areas I travel to. For "way out" places, I use the V-Scanner slots. Very cool feature –– it's like completely re-flashing your radio to another setup. So when I visit other parts of the country, I can go nuts in Win500 and program the heck out of that area and save to a V-Scanner location, then come right back to my "home" configuration as soon as the plane lands. Hope this provides some food for thought. |
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I have a couple of older scanners that I use at home and I am thinking about buying a new one to replace them. I have a Uniden BC890XLT and a RS PRO-2026. I like the PRO-106 and the PRO-197. I seldom carry a scanner with me so I'm considering the PRO-197. I'd recommend the portable model any day of the week. You can always provide a power supply and external antenna if you want to use it as a "base" but for even the ONE time you want to go portable, you'll wish you had the handheld. They're the same thing electronically so you're not gaining any functionality with the 197. |
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I have a couple of older scanners that I use at home and I am thinking about buying a new one to replace them. I have a Uniden BC890XLT and a RS PRO-2026. I like the PRO-106 and the PRO-197. I seldom carry a scanner with me so I'm considering the PRO-197. I'd recommend the portable model any day of the week. You can always provide a power supply and external antenna if you want to use it as a "base" but for even the ONE time you want to go portable, you'll wish you had the handheld. They're the same thing electronically so you're not gaining any functionality with the 197. You are probably right. I called the local RS's here and nobody has them in stock. They told me I had to order them off the website. |