Thanks for the reply - Is this VIPER system the same thing as "trunking" I checked with Radio Shack today and they told me that it would cost approx $400 for a scanner that will work with the VIPER system.
Do you know of any other options? Thanks again for the help - It's literally been about 30 + years since I have been without a scanner - I miss the traffic ! At least for now I still have the fire departments and school buses.
Well the short answer is yes...VIPER is statewide trunking but it is more complex than that
VIPER actually stands for "
Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders"....It is actually a set of standards designed to make communication between public safety departments easier no matter if they are the dept next city over or across the state. There is a statewide Motorola trunked system of which the NCSHP (Highway Patrol) is the managing agency. This statewide system has been nicknamed "the VIPER system" over the last 10 years. An agency or county has the capability of partnering with the NCSHP and can have little access to the statewide system (ie: Johnston County) or large access (ie: Wake County) to the statewide system.
As far as the advice from Radio Shack: An employee was actually giving out mostly correct advice for once!
That employee needs to be given employee of the month status and bumped up to District Manager status!
If we look at the
VIPER database listing for Caldwell County one pesky fact stands out: The third column labeled "Mode". Since there is a "D" in most of those listings we soon realize that to be able to monitor Caldwell County well will need a digital scanner. And Digital Scanners average on the low end $350 all the way up to $500.
I have also attached to this post a copy of an Adobe Acrobat pdf document that was drawn up by Uniden America's Paul Opitz (UPMan here at RR.com). It is titiled "But I Just want to listen to the Police" and is a good read into the basics of trunking. I also recommend surfing by the RR.com Wiki which a link can be found at the top of this page.
I hope this gets you headed in the right direction!
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall KE4ZNR