Need Help With Radio Purchase NE Ohio

[axp]

Hi, I was interested in purchasing a radio to scan local police departments and highway patrol in northeast ohio. Mostly Mentor and surrounding area. Frankly, I am a little confused about what kind of radio features I should be looking for to pick a radio that suits my needs. Any help would be appreciated, or direction of where I can read about different radio features so I can educate myself a little bit.

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by axp

Hi, I was interested in purchasing a radio to scan local police departments and highway patrol in northeast ohio. Mostly Mentor and surrounding area. Frankly, I am a little confused about what kind of radio features I should be looking for to pick a radio that suits my needs. Any help would be appreciated, or direction of where I can read about different radio features so I can educate myself a little bit.

Welcome to RadioReference. You are in the right place to learn. In addition to the many knowledgeable and helpful members here in the forums, there is a ton of information in the RadioReference Wiki.

The items underlined in blue are links. Click on them for more information.

You will need at least a digital scanner. I personally monitor both of these systems on a BCD396XT.

Mentor and Lake County are on the new Ohio MARCS-IP P25 Digital Trunking System

Note: Some talkgroups on the IP system may use Motorola X2 TDMA modulation which can ONLY be monitored using a GRE PSR-800, however there have been no reports of this "yet".

OSP is on the Ohio MARCS Trunking System.

OSP will eventually migrate to the IP system with Lake County as the older MARCS system will be discontinued.

[davidzimmerman]

I'm Dave i live in Parma i use UHF CDM1250 and a VHF CDM1250 as base radios.
i have a BCD396XT,GRE-800,PRO-197 mobile scanner in car.
I have 2-UHF HT1250s and 1-HT1250 LOWBAND 35-50MHZ to monitor ODOT and some service departments on lowband frequencys.

[rdale]

axp. - ignore the first and last lines of David's post and you'll be fine. Look at those scanners.what do you want to listen to? Do you plan on using it at home, road, portable?

[davidzimmerman]

i was only listing what i have for monitoring not for him to buy BE NICE!!!!!!

[axp]

Thanks, I would like to listen to Lake County Sheriff and Highway Patrol. Mentor and Painesville PD. I plan on using it on the road and portable. I am not looking for a home based unit. any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Originally Posted by rdale

axp. - ignore the first and last lines of David's post and you'll be fine. Look at those scanners.what do you want to listen to? Do you plan on using it at home, road, portable?

[Swipesy]

APX-

Based upon the areas that you want to listen to that you stated in your post here are some specifics.

Lake County switched to a P-25 System in 2012 and have a dedicated set of Control channels for that system. Additionally, in 2012 the Ohio MARCS System also set up a P-25 System that is accessible by Lake County as well as some Eastern Cuyahoga County communities, Geauga County and Chagrin and Solon and this system has a seperate set of Control Channels. Any day now Geauga County will be switching over to a P-25 System also.

What you need to be aware of is that all these P-25 Systems are simulcast systems and any of the radios that have been mentioned by others in answer to your question have problems in providing clear audio on a consistent basis. Sometimes the audio is so garbled you can't understand the transmissions and other times it can be very clear. Sometimes you can move the radio a few feet and get a completely different quality of voice quality. I have both a GRE PSR 500 and a GRE PSR 800 and the 800 has a slight (very slight) audio advantage but still suffers badly frequently on the P-25 Systems mentioned to you. One last piece of information you need to be aware of is that GRE has ceased manufacturing of radios. Once those that are in inventory are sold no new ones are available. GRE still is maintaining warranty and service in the U.S. and hopes to get back into the business of manufacturing but hoping and doing can sometimes be very different.

There has been some recent chatter on the Uniden RadioReference Forum that Uniden is in the process of releasing a Firmware update to their BC386XT that is supposed to help with the P-25 distortion issue. Hearing will be believing.

So what do you buy? If it were me I would wait at least 30 days and see if Uniden's upgrade works. If it does your choice is clear. If it doesn't work then any of David Zimmerman's radios will perform about the same.

Lastly, there are no radios currently being used on the P-25 systems I mentioned that are using TDMA Phase II so the GRE PSR 800 advantage of monitoring those radios is a mute point.

Hope this helps.

John

[LZ56]

AXP,

I use a Uniden Home Patrol 1 (HP-1) scanner and am very satisfied with it. An HP-1 will receive all the stuff you're interested in. I use mine to hear Lake county, Geauga County, eastern Cuyahoga county, OSHP, and airplanes. Of course, how far you hear depends on your antenna. See:

Uniden Home Patrol 1 Scanner Homepatrol

http://www.homepatrol.com

You can use your PC to setup and configure (customize) the HP-1 to hear only what you want to hear. Amateur Electronic Supply in Wickliffe probably has some in stock, and can explain some of the customization procedures to you. You can also check out the Uniden scanner forum here in RR for more info.

Amateur Electronic Supply: http://www.aesham.com/cleveland.shtml

http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/

Considering a HomePatrol - thoughts from owners?

[Sportster77]

Stop by the Amatuer Electronics Store in Wickliffe and talk to them. You can actually hold and try the various models from Uniden and Gre that will work and they will help you decide which is best for your needs and skill level( how programing savvy you want to be), and can help you with programing if needed.
I really like the GRE PSR-800 Ibought from them. It may cost you maybe $20 more than an internet deal, but you will know what you are getting and will have post sale support.

[Swipesy]

Originally Posted by LZ56

AXP,

I use a Uniden Home Patrol 1 (HP-1) scanner and am very satisfied with it. An HP-1 will receive all the stuff you're interested in. I use mine to hear Lake county, Geauga County, eastern Cuyahoga county, OSHP, and airplanes. Of course, how far you hear depends on your antenna. See:

LZ56, neither you nor any of the posters of current users of the HP-1 that you provided the link to comment on how the HP-1 performs on P-25 Simulcast systems. Can you comment on what your experience is with regard to Lake and Cuyahoga County P-25 distortion issues?

Thanks

[rdale]

No need to comment on it now - wait a few days for the new firmware release for the HP1...

[Swipesy]

Originally Posted by rdale

No need to comment on it now - wait a few days for the new firmware release for the HP1...

And who appointed you the director of what can or cannot be commented on that other members have an interest in?

[radioscan]

Alright guys let's keep it civil, good info has been passed. Stay on topic or the thread will be closed.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by Swipesy

And who appointed you the director of what can or cannot be commented on that other members have an interest in?

Uhhh, guess you read that message completely wrong. Back off the harshness, and read what was written versus what you think you are reading.

The HP1 as of today performs just the same as any other scanner on CQPSK (i.e. not that good.) The HP1 of next week may perform better.

[LZ56]

Originally Posted by Swipesy

LZ56, neither you nor any of the posters of current users of the HP-1 that you provided the link to comment on how the HP-1 performs on P-25 Simulcast systems. Can you comment on what your experience is with regard to Lake and Cuyahoga County P-25 distortion issues?

Thanks

Sure. Distortion occurs sometimes, but not too often. When it occurs, usually one or two words are dropped or sound like "blub blub". Some days it's worse than others (I guess it depends on environmental conditions like weather, trees blowing in the wind, large vehicles passing by, etc.--- kind of like FM multipath distortion). It's never so bad that I lose entire conversations. I use a roof-mounted discone antenna and am in the crossfire between the Wickliffe and Kirtland Hills towers. There's NO distortion when no antenna is attached to the HP-1, I assume because I'm only picking up the Wickliffe tower which is closest to me. Frankly the distortion issue is just not a big deal to me, but of course other folks may be experiencing a lot of distortion due to their location, etc. I can only comment on my situation. I have no other P25-capable scanners to compare to the HP-1. Well, that's my 2 cents.

[Swipesy]

Thanks for the info LZ56. The distortion down here in Russell is terrible. I use a discone and a YAGI but most times the distortion is so bad on my PSR 800 I just turn it off. Tonight it is as good as it ever has been. Nice and clear. I will be anxious to see what happens with the Unidens with the firmware upgrade. If it improves the distortion issue I am going to sell my 800 and buy a Uniden.

[LZ56]

Originally Posted by Swipesy

Thanks for the info LZ56. The distortion down here in Russell is terrible. I use a discone and a YAGI but most times the distortion is so bad on my PSR 800 I just turn it off. Tonight it is as good as it ever has been. Nice and clear. I will be anxious to see what happens with the Unidens with the firmware upgrade. If it improves the distortion issue I am going to sell my 800 and buy a Uniden.

When I said "distortion occurs sometimes, but not too often", I guess that's not really helpful. A rough guess is that, on a typical day, about 8% to 10% of transmissions contain some distortion, usually just a few distorted words. But what's tolerable to me may be unacceptable to others. I have two HP-1s and they both perform the same.

I think scanning was much more enjoyable back in the old analog days when you didn't have to spend so much time programming your scanner and keeping the firmware up to date. I miss my old Bearcat 250 loaded with Lake County's old VHF-LO frequencies. Now that was fun.

[jpadley85]

I live in Eastlake and have a PRO-197 in the car as well as a BCD396XT. The Uniden has performed flawlessly on the new Lake County MARCS IP system. My mobile PRO-197, on the other hand continues to cut out in transmissions even though it shows full signal strength. I highly recommend the Uniden!

[LZ56]

Originally Posted by Swipesy

Thanks for the info LZ56. The distortion down here in Russell is terrible. I use a discone and a YAGI but most times the distortion is so bad on my PSR 800 I just turn it off. Tonight it is as good as it ever has been. Nice and clear. I will be anxious to see what happens with the Unidens with the firmware upgrade. If it improves the distortion issue I am going to sell my 800 and buy a Uniden.

Distortion is horrible today on the HP1. About 50% of comms are dropping words or sound like they're talking with a throat full of phlegm. Very unusual. Dunno why it's so bad today.

[rdale]

With the new firmware? Make sure you post that info in the main thread.