Cheapest way to listen to a single conventional frequency

[Stringer619]

What would be the cheapest way to listen to a single analog conventional frequency? I would like to buy several cheap "devices" (scanner, 2-way radio, cb radio, whatever) with each one dedicated to monitoring a single frequency. For example, 151.3550mhz and 39.4mhz. If you've ever been in a tv station, you'll know what I mean. There's always someone sitting at a desk surrounded by 10 or more police/fire scanners.

These "devices" will be on 24/7 and I couldn't care less about the user interface. Once I set them up, they'll never be touched. I don't need transmit capability. If I get audio coming out of the device, that's all I care about. It can be pink with "Hello Kitty" on it.. as long as it works. Buying 20 $400-$600 scanners is not practical, when I suspect I can buy similar devices for about $75-$150.

I'd possibly even consider circuit boards that can tune to a frequency, but they probably wouldn't work that good.

These need to be "new", so saying buy some ancient scanner from 1990 won't help. And using iPhone or web apps is useless, I need actual hardware in my hands.

I'm thinking my best bet is to buy a ton of these (and the cables/software/etc): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Sp...-Radio-128ch-45w-D43KXA7JA5BK-2-/261213932150

 

[popnokick]

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If that's a complete, working radio it's a good price. That may be a big IF....
The model shown is VHF high band only. It's not going to handle your 39 mHz VHF low freq.
One more thing - antennas. You're going to need a lot of them. How strong are the signals deep inside the building? Not so strong? You're going to have to run some coax and get antennas outside. Good sigs indoors and planning to use rubber duck or telescoping back of set antennas? Hope your indoor PC and other interference levels are low.

 

[DickH]

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If that's a complete, working radio it's a good price. That may be a big IF....
The model shown is VHF high band only. It's not going to handle your 39 mHz VHF low freq.
One more thing - antennas. You're going to need a lot of them. How strong are the signals deep inside the building? Not so strong? You're going to have to run some coax and get antennas outside. Good sigs indoors and planning to use rubber duck or telescoping back of set antennas? Hope your indoor PC and other interference levels are low.

Since it is a mobile radio you will also need a 12 volt power supply.

 

[dugan]

I think a bunch of handheld Bearcat's (the simplest one) would be the best. I see them go on sale frequently for under $100 each and they come with everything you need.

 

[fineshot1]

These need to be "new", so saying buy some ancient scanner from 1990 won't help. And using iPhone or web apps is useless, I need actual hardware in my hands.

By saying that you blew away your most probable way of reaching your goal and you started off by saying you don't care what they are as long as they work so which is it? Your sending mixed messages in your post and have conflicting statements.

I was going to suggest some older but not ancient scanners.

Oh and i can not click on your ebay link - my it people block all ebay links.

If i had them around i would be using something like an old GE MVP receiver - they had great audio response from the large internal speaker.

 

[Stringer619]

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is, what kind of ham/amateur radios out there (even handheld) are in the sub-$200 range? I know the ham/amateur radio hobby has some pretty good gear for their purposes, although I don't know if they can do 31/151/800mhz.

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Antennas, power supply, speakers, etc are not a concern either. I can handle all of that no problem. The signal in my area is excellent.

The link I linked to is just an example. I would buy the appropriate models for the appropriate frequency ranges.

Dugan, I will start scouring eBay and Craigslist for some older Bearcat's.

I'm wishing/dreaming there's a simple one-frequency radio somewhere out there that is cheap. The circuitry to receive a single (or a few) conventional analog frequency(s) has to be noticeably cheaper than a scanner that can do conventional, analog, trunking, P25, AM, FM, NOAA weather, and all the other specialized systems.

Fineshot1, I would accept older scanners, but that makes it difficult to locate 10+ of them. If I was just buying one, that would be easier.

One thing I know from other peoples experiences in my area, is that actual Motorola radios receive much much better than cheap consumer-quality police scanners. My area, although having an excellent signal, also has excellent interference. I live in San Diego.. it's very RF-rich out here. If I go with something that has a wide-band front-end receiver, I will likely need to buy bandpass filters.

I suppose I kind of have answered my own question. It looks like I need a ton of old Motorola's. Excellent front-end receivers, cheap(ish), plentiful. The hard part will be programming them, but that's for another topic.

Before I move on with my idea to buy a ton of Motorola's, are there any other suggestions? If someone said "oh hey, this is $50 new and can receive one analog frequency" I'd squeal like a little girl. Maybe hobby kits? Although I think those only receive AM/FM radio (music) and the quality would probably suck (cheap receiver).

 

[mmckenna]

A single small 12 volt power supply can run several radios in receive only mode.

I'd suggest something basic and cheap. Look at some of the older Icom, Motorola, Vertex mobile radios. Get them programmed as receive only. Use a basic scanner antenna with a receive multi coupler.

We did something similar in our dispatch center many years ago so they could monitor surrounding agencies. 3 separate VHF radios, one 12 amp 12 volt power supply, one multicoupler and an old antenna we tapped into.

Look for:
GM300
Maxtrac
Spectra
SM50
SM120
Icom F420s
Icom F320s
etc.
etc.
etc.
Don't make it difficult. If you only need to monitor one frequency, then you don't need a radio with a display. Motorola Spectra displays are known to be problematic. The GM300, Maxtrac, SM50, 120, Icom 420s, 320s, etc all are simple displays.

 

[Stringer619]

mmckenna, excellent, that's kind of what I was trying to ask for but couldn't really articulate it. Looks like I'll be heading over to the Motorola forum here. Thanks!

Still welcoming other ideas though.

 

[SOSull66]

I saw some cheap foreign transceivers on deal extreme. They were less that fifty bucks. They had UHF and VHF with pretty wide frequency bands

 

[KC8ESL]

I'll bite.

Why the need for 10+ single channel recievers? Everyone has their reasons, but man, you have me as curious as a cat at a seafood stand.

 

[searingxheretic]

Why not a bunch of SDR dongles running on a PC? Since you want analog conventional, you can listen with them with minimal setup. At $17.00 each, I don't think you can beat the price.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin

 

[mmckenna]

A scanner, while it will cover a number of frequencies, is still only a single receiver. For a news stringer, being able to listen to multiple feeds all at the same time can be an important part of the job. Same reason our dispatch center didn't have a scanner, they needed to hear the local PD, Fire and SO all at the same time, and not have a scanner get stuck on one frequency and miss the other traffic.

When we redid our dispatch center last year, we did the same thing with 4 Motorola CDM1250's set up as RX only. The consoles (Zetron) have these 4 receivers on their so they can see which radio is receiving, adjust volume individually, etc. They have the adjoining PD dispatch, Sheriffs Office dispatch, County Fire main dispatch and CalFire dispatch all going on at the same time. They then have an "agency" radio, a Motorola XTL5000 base that can transmit on those channels if they need to. The 4 receivers are on a multi-coupler hooked to a dedicated VHF antenna.
This gives them the most flexibility for the least cost.

 

[mmckenna]

Why not a bunch of SDR dongles running on a PC? Since you want analog conventional, you can listen with them with minimal setup. At $17.00 each, I don't think you can beat the price.

Sent from my cm_tenderloin

Good question. While I've never tried that, here's what I can add:
A radio designed to work on one band with a tuned front end will outperform a radio scanner or SDR that is designed to work over several bands. When you use a dedicated PC you are limited in your speakers. By having individual speakers, you get some spatial difference between speakers, which can help you figure out which radio you are hearing.

On the price side, you have a good point, except you'd need to figure in the cost of the PC, monitor, speakers, etc. If you have a spare one, this might be a good solution if the RF noise floor in San Diego wasn't so high.

 

[zz0468]

Knowing the application would be helpful. What do you intend to do with the audio? Do you need watts of audio power, or line level audio right off the detector? What about RF performance? Is it going to be exposed to strong signals, or is it going to be located at a fixed location that's quiet and interference free? Do the receivers have to be narrow band compliant, or will older devices work? Do the receivers need PL or DPL decoding? Will they all be sitting behind a multicoupler system? You mentioned VHF high and VHF low bands. Do you acually need that? What about UHF? What about 700/800/900? What services do you intend to listen to?

All of those questions could drive what I might recommend to you.

 

[mmckenna]

The original post answers some of that. He's a news stringer and needs receive only. He's looking for 39MHz, VHF High and from another post, maybe some 800MHz. He's looking at some Spectra's, however I'm suggesting something more basic for a base install, GM-300, MaxTrac, etc. For a mobile, I'd suggest something a bit newer, maybe a CDM 750, 1250, etc.

 

[Stringer619]

mmckenna is right on the money, and everything he's said is true.

I'd like a bunch of radios at my home/office, a bunch at another home/office, and the biggest of all, my vehicle. The below numbers could possibly be tripled over the next few years as I buy more and more.

1x radio for CHP is 39MHz, four channels.
1x radio for CALFIRE is 151MHz and 159MHz, about 27 channels. Would be nice if I can also pickup 153MHz, 155MHz, 156MHz and 168MHz too with this radio as these are related fire channels (about 4). Total channel capacity for this radio needs to be 31 or more.
1x radio for 450MHz for a single channel.

I'd really love to have a BUNCH for 800MHz analog trunking, but without a system key I guess 800MHz is a dead horse.

For CHP I'd most often be locked-on a single 39 conventional channel (39.40MHz). CALFIRE I'd lock-in on a 151MHz probably.

 

[searingxheretic]

Good question. While I've never tried that, here's what I can add:
A radio designed to work on one band with a tuned front end will outperform a radio scanner or SDR that is designed to work over several bands. When you use a dedicated PC you are limited in your speakers. By having individual speakers, you get some spatial difference between speakers, which can help you figure out which radio you are hearing.

I definitely agree, and good points. My suggestion was more because it seems like price is a main issue for the OP. I use multiple SDR dongles now myself, and I don't think its much different than using my multiple scanners. For instance, when a scanner stops on a frequency, I hear the audio, look up to see which scanner is stopped on said frequency. I find it much the same with SDR, I hear the audio, look up at the screen to see which waterfall/frequency is active. You are correct about needing the PC resources though, I just built my 8-core monster so its more than capable of fulfilling my SDR needs.


Sent from my cm_tenderloin

 

[Stringer619]

I definitely agree, and good points. My suggestion was more because it seems like price is a main issue for the OP. I use multiple SDR dongles now myself, and I don't think its much different than using my multiple scanners. For instance, when a scanner stops on a frequency, I hear the audio, look up to see which scanner is stopped on said frequency. I find it much the same with SDR, I hear the audio, look up at the screen to see which waterfall/frequency is active. You are correct about needing the PC resources though, I just built my 8-core monster so its more than capable of fulfilling my SDR needs.


Sent from my cm_tenderloin

Just out of curiosity (those may be useful too), where would I buy one of these? Manufacturer name? SDR is a little vague.

EDIT: Would this be it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kWfYpnPojrQ

 

[zz0468]

Ok. Low band Maxtracs are cheap on eBay. One caveat is to make sure you get the right split. Programming software can be had easily enough. You just have to know who to ask.

The VHF and UHF maxtracs are also cheap and plentiful. If you use Spectras, you could make some use of their scanning capabilities and maybe save a few bucks. pay attention to what you're wanting to listen to, so far as being narrow banded, P25, etc. and pay attention to any future plans. A lot of systems are in limbo right now, what with rebanding and so on. What exists today may not exist in the same format tomorrow.

Spectra and Maxtrac software is out in the wild and easy to find, if you know where and how to look and/or who to ask.

I'd avoid the SDR dongle route. They're fun for the experimenter, but if you're main goal is to actually hear stuff, you may not want to go through the gyrations necessary to get good performance.

 

[gewecke]

While this suggestion doesn't cover all the ops band requests, there is another source that might work well for a stringer,

www.safeceiver.com

I've been thinking about a couple of these myself.

73,
n9zas