Uniden BC346XTC, Getting Started/Troubleshooting

[ASheffield]

For starters, I am very new to the world of radio scanners. My primary interest is listening to LE/Fire/EMS communications. On Friday, I purchased a used Uniden BC346XTC from Amazon. I have found the frequencies for the Raleigh, North Carolina. I have set up the radio and am able to listen to EMS communications, FM radio, and NOAA's forecast.

I know which frequency I would like to listen to however, when I enter it into the scanner, I don't hear anything. EMS, FM radio, and NOAA are literally the only channels I can pick up anything other than static or silence from. I can hear static from small portion of frequencies, the others are silent.

Since I'm new to all of this, what can I do to listen to other feeds? Could it be a problem with the scanner?

 

[wtp]

about the static

you have an analog scanner. so it will not "decode" digital signals.
so that is probably the static you hear.
if you look up the system and it has P-25 you will only heard buzzing.
use it for the analog systems and get a digital radio for digital.

 

[ASheffield]

you have an analog scanner. so it will not "decode" digital signals.
so that is probably the static you hear.
if you look up the system and it has P-25 you will only heard buzzing.
use it for the analog systems and get a digital radio for digital.

Thank you so much, I could have sworn the description said digital.

 

[sparklehorse]

It looks like most of the Public Safety in your area is on this system:

Wake County Simulcast Trunking System, Various, North Carolina - Scanner Frequencies

Most of the Talkgroups are digital, so as the previous poster explained you would need a digital capable scanner.

A "D" in the Mode column indicates a digital Talkgroup
An "E" indicates an Encrypted Talkgroup, which no scanner can decode
An "A" indicates Analog mode, which your 346 could receive if you have this trunked radio system programmed properly.

.

 

[hiegtx]

Thank you so much, I could have sworn the description said digital.

The description on Amazon does say digital, but that is incorrect.

Also incorrect are the answers to some of the 'questions', where a couple of people claim that the scanner 'does pick up digital'. Either they were not paying attention, or (common with Amazon) the answers for more than one product, all from Uniden, have been lumped together.