Scanner Question

bb45 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 07:14 PM

My son who lives in Morrisvilee/ Cary area of NC is looking for a scanner that covers the Wake county area. He previously purchased and returned a Uniden BC898Tscanner because it did not pick up everything. I would like to surprise him with a scanner for Christmas. Since I have no knowledge about this subject, and I don't want to discuss it with him and spoil the surprise, I was hoping that a knowledgeable person in this forum would suggest a scanner or scanners that cover the Wake county NC area.

Your help would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

KE4ZNR · #2 (**permalink**) 11-07-2009, 11:13 PM

Welcome To Radioreference.com!
As you have no doubt already found out, Public Safety radio systems and the scanners used to monitor them are very complicated.
Luckily there are people like me around to help you out. I am widely considered to be a Public Safety Communications Expert in Wake County.
Most of Wake Counties Public Safety communications operate off of the State of NC VIPER system in a digital format. Which means you are looking at paying anywhere from $300 to $500 for a digital capable radio that can monitor these communications. I would suggest looking at the digital models listed in the Radioreference.com Wiki. If you or your son decides to purchase a Uniden BCD396XT (Handheld) or Uniden BCD996XT (Base/Mobile) I can help yall get it programmed with a starter database file of public safety comms in Wake County.
Feel free to email me if I can help yall out further.
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall KE4ZNR

RMPDCOP · #3 (**permalink**) 11-08-2009, 10:56 PM

Welcome to Radioreference.com,
I would like to echo what Marshal said. Marshall is well known for his expertise in the monitoring community. You can not go wrong with his advice and he can get you started in the right direction.

dennisjamesnc · #4 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 07:24 PM

A Grecom PSR-500 (portable) or PSR-600 (desktop) wouldn't be a bad choice either. I own the PSR-500 and have been very happy with it.

Dennis

Drafin · #5 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dennisjamesnc

A Grecom PSR-500 (portable) or PSR-600 (desktop) wouldn't be a bad choice either. I own the PSR-500 and have been very happy with it.

Dennis

I agree with that. 100% happy with my PSR-500. But in all reality neither is a bad choice. Uniden and GRE both make fine products.

Draf

bb45 · #6 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 08:02 AM

I very much appreciate your responses of offer to help and recommended models which I am currently researching.