New member needing help

[jmanning72]

Hi I am new to the scanner world and looking for advice on the type of device I should be searching for. I have listened to scanners in the past that would scramble certain transmissions such as state police. I am looking for a scanner that is capable of decoding this, but do I also need a digital scanner to accomplish this? I live in Virginia btw, so I guess they use the STARS system if that helps. I also have a friend that works for the county and has a radio in his office, the Motorola XTS 2500. He says it picks up a lot of "private" information that a scanner may not be able to. I looked up the specs on it and it says "Prevents scanners, unwanted listeners and other interference." Is this even possible? Or does that refer to analog scanners since this is a digital device? I guess I'm wondering if the XTS 2500 or a similar device would be better suited for what I want than a scanner? Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[WA0CBW]

This may help to understand what you have been told. Today there are several "types" of radio systems and communication methods. Radios can be either analog or digital. Radio systems can be radio to radio, radio to repeaters, radio to systems. Systems can be conventional or trunked. There are several flavors of trunking, LTR, Pasport, simulcast and several others. So to answer your question sort of depends on what system you are looking to monitor. One thing that affects your ability to monitor a system is if it is encrypted. Encryption will prevent you from monitoring what is being said. There are NO scanners that decode encrypted systems. Also being able to do so is prohibited by law. The radio you mentioned, XTS2500 is a professional public service type of radio and can monitor encrypted communications. Individuals can purchase these radios but getting them programmed to the system by the system manager can be difficult if not impossible. It is kind of like buying a new phone and getting it to work without going through a carrier. Getting one of these radios to monitor a system can be done but it is extremely difficult and would require some hacking with the possibility of causing harm to the radio system.
I would suggest sticking to a high end scanner that is capable of monitoring digital P25 trunking or conventional systems. These same scanners can also monitor analog systems as well. This will give you the most bang for your buck.
BB

 

[N8IAA]

Hi I am new to the scanner world and looking for advice on the type of device I should be searching for. I have listened to scanners in the past that would scramble certain transmissions such as state police. I am looking for a scanner that is capable of decoding this, but do I also need a digital scanner to accomplish this? I live in Virginia btw, so I guess they use the STARS system if that helps. I also have a friend that works for the county and has a radio in his office, the Motorola XTS 2500. He says it picks up a lot of "private" information that a scanner may not be able to. I looked up the specs on it and it says "Prevents scanners, unwanted listeners and other interference." Is this even possible? Or does that refer to analog scanners since this is a digital device? I guess I'm wondering if the XTS 2500 or a similar device would be better suited for what I want than a scanner? Thanks for the help in advance.

Jmanning72, welcome to RR First, Franklin county is not on the STARS system according to the RR database. Second, I just love the disinformation that the LEO's are given by the manufacturers. Your county is using conventional P-25 frequencies. So, I believe that what your friend is trying to say, is on the old conventional analog scanners, there are frequencies that those older scanners will not decode. Any of the older digital scanners: Pro-96 and 396T, as well as, the newer ones: Pro-106/197, BCD396XT/996XT/HP-1 will do a great job of listening to the "Private" channels your friend is talking about.
You may want to ask your question in the VA state forum for more information Of course, you can always spend around $1500 for the XTS2500 and about $300 for software and programming cable!
HTH,
Larry