Posted: 4/27/2011 1:11:32 PM EDT
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I am looking into getting a scanner but the radio waves in my county are digital and i am not sure what to buy...
I want one that will do Police Fire/EMS, S/O and weather ... 
http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032072&pg=1 |
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I found this site that may be of help. http://www.police-scanner.info/ |
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Quoted:
The digital ones with trunking are like 450$ but if they are digital thats what you have to get. They are expensive but they hold their value well. I had the Uniden BCD396T for a couple years. Paid $500 for it and sold it for $420 shipped. That's not bad for a piece of electronics. They aren't very good overall receivers, I hooked up the BCD to a 132' antenna in the back yard and it had piss poor reception compared to an entry-level ham radio that sold for a similar price. They must put all the money into the digital trunking. Luckily the public safety transmissions in the area are really powerful. When I had mine I ran an Austin Spectra mobile antenna in the car and a Diamond D130 discone antenna at home. If you travel a lot get a scanner that can accept GPS input to shut off invalid frequencies or you're going to get a lot of garbage. The Spectra can also be used as a 2M transmission antenna on ham bands. I sold all that crap because a) truth be told the novelty wore off in about 2 weeks and b) you can get live feeds online. |
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Another possible route is to purchase a handheld amateur radio, Yaesu makes some very good radios and you can purchase a small one with nice options for around 200 bucks, this will allow you the opportunity to scan many area agencies and will also get you in the game for small money, this will also serve the purpose of allowing you a small package that you can go portable with, another advantage is the ability to accept antennas from multiple bands. You might soon realize that you enjoy the new abilities that the radio affords and would now like to legally talk on some of the bands, this is where you realize that I have hooked you and without even realizing it you have soon become a new amateur radio operator.  |
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Quoted:
Another possible route is to purchase a handheld amateur radio, Yaesu makes some very good radios and you can purchase a small one with nice options for around 200 bucks, this will allow you the opportunity to scan many area agencies and will also get you in the game for small money, this will also serve the purpose of allowing you a small package that you can go portable with, another advantage is the ability to accept antennas from multiple bands. You might soon realize that you enjoy the new abilities that the radio affords and would now like to legally talk on some of the bands, this is where you realize that I have hooked you and without even realizing it you have soon become a new amateur radio operator.
i've been into this stuff for 30 years. you MUST get a trunking scanner unless you live in the boonies. in the boonies they still use a lot of the old sheriff and state patrol frequencies. most metro areas have gone to trunking systems. motorola loves this cause its cost a boatload of cash to set it up. a lot of stuff happened after 911 to put everyone on integrated systems in case the mooslims nuked parts of the country. war on terror money flowed like rivers of gold. the trunking uniden units are the goto stuff. as to ham radios, this are interesting but almost useless if your area uses digital trunking. im not a ham (used to be but let my ticket lapse). i have a yaesu ft-817 which is a tiny unit that even has internal bateries. i use it to listen to stuff sometimes, but not public service. if your area has encryption (another thing motorola wants to sell to everyone i think) your out of luck. one of the most useful things about having a scanner is during bad weather, the cops will talk about it and where its bad, where trees are down, power out etc. you also sometimes will pick up on some interesting stuff going on. |
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I think he said that sucks because his county is encrypted. Maybe I'm wrong.
I liked the scanner because I could tell where Cobb Special Traffic Revenue Enhancement Patrol was operating before I left work for home. Cobb S.T.R.E.P. works neighborhood subdivisions for stop sign rollers, jaywalkers, out of control stroller operators and 27.5% window tint. |