long island scanning

[kc2sgi]

i need some insight on what would be a good mobile scanner to monitor long island and nyc with?

[WayneH]

Moved to the New York forum.

[scannerman5555]

try the Bearcat 15 XT or the Bearcat 346 XT very good scanners 9,000 freq's can be program in them ; you can get them at scannermaster. com !

[kc2sgi]

It will work with the narrowband that is set up for next year or I should not worry about it.

[bkantor]

There is some digital traffic in the area, you may want to consider the HP-1. Couple that with a GPS and you will really have a great traveling rig!

[KC2OBW]

The radioshack pro197 or the pro 106 isn't a bad choice either better sounding on the p25 stuff then then the unidens

[w2lie]

Originally Posted by kc2sgi

i need some insight on what would be a good mobile scanner to monitor long island and nyc with?

Put aside the fact that mobile scanning is a violation of the NYSVTL, we'll move forward "assuming" you want to use a radio as a portable or desktop


Before I would suggest going with any type of radio, I usually ask my customers what type of scanning they are interested in. Do they just want to monitor NYPD or FDNY etc, or are they looking at listening to anything and everything out there. I also ask if they prefer a handheld and what their budget is. With that info, I can usually suggest 2 or 3 radios that would suit them best.

Assuming you're looking for the top of the line, you're going to be looking into a digital scanner. HOWEVER, there isn't too much digital out here yet and i usually suggest to my Nassau and Suffolk County customers that they save their money and buy a digital scanner down the road. Nassau Police are on a new P25 system, but they are encrypted. NYPD is working on a a P25 system, but it is yet to be populated. Suffolk County has a small number of digital talk groups on their trunk system. If you are interested in listening to Federal, USCG, or Westchester County Police, and systems in Jersey, I would also suggest to you to save your money and stick with analog for now.

If you are looking to scan a small footprint, then going into Radio Shack and picking up a PRO-163 or PRO-164 would be a good option. Those radio are cheap, easy to use, and only hold 1,000 channels. However, that is simply not enough for someone who is looking to cover a larger footprint.

A good upgrade to that is the Uniden BCT15X, BC346XT, or GRE PSR-310 or 410. The Uniden and GRE models have a lot more memory and will give you greater flexibility.

The Digital radios build on the radios listed above, with the exception of the PRO-106 and PRO-197 from Radio Shack. Those are great radios with a ton of memory. They are basically the same as the GRE-500 and 600.

There are also scanners on the market that interface right with the RR Database so there is no programming on your end to deal with.


If you are interested, I do have a chart on my website for scanners I suggest for scanning in the NY Area. It is at http://www.monitorlongisland.com/scanners

I also offer radio programming if you decide to pickup a new radio and find that it is a little difficult to setup. Long gone are the days of hitting a frequency and pressing enter to store it in memory.

Good luck on your new scanner purchase.
73
Phil

[mrg1999]

[QUOTE=w2lie;1877638]Put aside the fact that mobile scanning is a violation of the NYSVTL, we'll move forward "assuming" you want to use a radio as a portable or desktop

In a previous life, I was a cab driver on LI and had a scanner in my vehicle. Most of the police in my area were aware of it and never gave me a problem. One day a detective made a remark that it was illegal. The other officers shrugged it off saying it was merely a traffic violation until the detective pulled out a copy of the VTL and showed us that it was not merely a traffic violation, but a misdemeanor!
Out came the scanner, never to be in my vehicle again.