Question from a BRAND Newbie

[Showbizk]

Moderator, please feel free to move this question if it belongs somewhere else. I would like to purchase a scanner for my father-in-law, a retired Akron Policeman. He would love to follow APD, AFD, and nearby police traffic. Where may I find this equipment, and how much should I plan to spend? Hopefully we can find something under $300 for a Christmas present.

Thanks for all your help, and again, please excuse this post if there is a better place to put it!!!

 

[mam1081]

Looks like you'll need a scanner capable of APCO-25 voice decoding (digital Voice). Possible examples of these are the PRO-96 (handheld), 2096 (mobile) from Radio Shack, PSR-500 (handheld) from GRE, Uniden BC-250 (with i25 card), BC-296 (with card), BC-396 (all handhelds), BC-785 (with card), 796 (with card), or 996. The newest ones are the PSR-500 (which has had some reported problems, but not with the type of system you have there in Akron), and the Uniden 996. Both are around the $500 mark. Unfortunately, there are not many digital scanners out there for your $300 price range.

This page:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2707

lists the information on the system you'll need to listen to for Akron. Under the "Mode" column for the TGID's, you'll see many listed as "D" - those are the ones you'll need the digital scanner for. Otherwise, you could go invest <$200 and be listening away (to the analog ones ("A" in Mode)...

 

[hoser147]

If you watch you can pick up a good one with box and acc. in the equip.forum or ebay for 250 and up................Hoser