New User UNIDEN BC75XLT

[jrobber]

So prompting a hostage situation right outside my house last night my mother urged me to pull a future Christmas present for me out of my closet. It was a Uniden BC75XLT scanner. I tried my best programming all of the local police and fire frequencies into it, as well as a few others, and got nothing. I live in Montgomery County, TN at zip code 37042. I only have the stock items that came in the package. I've picked up random chit chat here and there scanning, but not much else. I also noticed that I would pick up more things in my car as I drove to work this morning. I'm wondering if my local PD is digital or trunked and that is why all I get is either white noise or this really obnoxious "BRRRRRRRRRRRRR" when I search the service frequencies. I get the NOAA reports VERY clearly but anything else is very spotty. I was on the top floor of my home by the window in my bedroom. I believe maybe taht it's possible that they used something to mask their signal since SWAT and everything was there. So should I buy maybe a different antenna? Or do I have no hope at all of picking up much of anything? Is this a relatively decent scanner or did my parents waste their money?

 

[hiegtx]

So prompting a hostage situation right outside my house last night my mother urged me to pull a future Christmas present for me out of my closet. It was a Uniden BC75XLT scanner. I tried my best programming all of the local police and fire frequencies into it, as well as a few others, and got nothing. I live in Montgomery County, TN at zip code 37042. I only have the stock items that came in the package. I've picked up random chit chat here and there scanning, but not much else. I also noticed that I would pick up more things in my car as I drove to work this morning. I'm wondering if my local PD is digital or trunked and that is why all I get is either white noise or this really obnoxious "BRRRRRRRRRRRRR" when I search the service frequencies. I get the NOAA reports VERY clearly but anything else is very spotty. I was on the top floor of my home by the window in my bedroom. I believe maybe taht it's possible that they used something to mask their signal since SWAT and everything was there. So should I buy maybe a different antenna? Or do I have no hope at all of picking up much of anything? Is this a relatively decent scanner or did my parents waste their money?

Hi jrobber
Welcome to RadioReference.

Looking at the information in the database, for your county of Montgomery, it appears that that "BRRRRRRRRRRRRR" you're hearing may be NXDN, The county uses this system, Montgomery County (NXDN) Trunking System, Clarksville, Tennessee - Scanner Frequencies, which is NXDN. No scanner currently made will decode or track that transmission format.

Fire and EMS are listed as being on this system: Tennessee Homeland Security District 7 Trunking System, Various, Tennessee - Scanner Frequencies
That's a Passport system, which no scanner will track correctly (your BC75XLT is not a trunk tracking scanner), though in some cases you can program and listen in to the channels individually. But I see a note in the system that says "this system is being being upgraded to an NXDN (NexEDGE) digital capable system." Someone in the Tennessee Regional Forum might be able to confirm that.

For Clarksville, the database page indicates that they are moving to the digital TACN system. Their previous system, Clarksville Public Safety Trunking System, Clarksville, Tennessee - Scanner Frequencies, is shown to be ProVoice. No scanner will decode Provoice either. In any event, both of the systems shown for Clarksville use frequencies that your scanner cannot tune to, in the 800MHz range, besides also being digital, which also is beyond what your BC75XLT can do.

While the BC75XLT appears to be a good little scanner for some users, for the frequencies in your area, it is not a good choice. Just remember that for the county NXDN system, there is no scanner made that will work for that system. A digital trunk tracking scanner would work for TACN, once Clarksville is fully moved over (presuming they don't encrypt their transmissions).

You may want to request that your thread be moved to the Tennessee forum, where someone closer may be able to give you additional information. If so, use the red outlined triangle in the upper right corner to 'report' your thread, and make the request that it be moved.