phase 2?

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just1bob

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I live in sw michigan (49348) and need a new scanner. Can anyone please tell me for sure if phase 2 is comming soon, or is phase 1 going to be around for a while. thx.
 

W2GLD

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Phase II is coming to some areas, but it'll be sometime before the entire state system switches over; there's allot of radios that would need to be replaced throughout the state. Most of the MPSCS towers have been outfitted with site equipment that is capable of Phase II and in large metro areas such as Detroit or Grand Rapids, Phase II may come sooner than rural areas; also, where new simulcast systems are expected, I wouldn't be surprised if you see those entities coming online as Phase II as they can coincide with Phase I still and be cross-patched; and since they're buying new equipment, this transition makes sense. The other reason to know Phase II is coming is the additional of all the new Paging talk groups; eventually sites will have to be converted to support all the additional traffic thats coming onto the system.

If you are purchasing a new scanner, I would only consider on that supports Phase II at this stage, consider the Whistler TRX-1 or TRX-2 or if you prefer Uniden, BCD436/536HP models. As for the Homepatrol-2, it's a good unit but support has severely lacked over the past two years, so it's likely we're not seeing any updates on that unit. I have the TRX's and they work great on everything Michigan has to offer and include DMR and NXDN at no additional cost.
 
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W2GLD

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That one is a little long in the tooth these days, I'd seriously consider a TRX-1 or TRX-2; unless you only listen to Police, Fire, and EMS type communications. If you watch Amazon.com, the pricing fluctuates and they can be had for around $425 some days. Otherwise, for just Project-25 and conventional analog, the 1098 is a good choice too for a little less.

Thx for your imformation. I was thinking of a ws1040 but maybe not?
 

Ronaldski

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I can tell ya first hand that many of the whistlers do lousy in simulcast(multiple tower) areas to the point many can't get anything while in their county with four towers nearby here- Midland and Saginaw counties. I have worked with many people and their radio models ws1040(pro 651),ws1065(pro 652), ws1080 off hand, worked fine here in bay county since it is farther away from the influence of four towers to maybe 1-2 of those towers signals get here.
I had em set the attenuater, change settings for roam, stat, off. ... Nothing worked.

Seeing your in Wyoming MI, Kent as mentioned in another thread is going to be something like a twelve tower simulcast system. Https://forums.radioreference.com/m...n-forum/341690-kent-county-mpscs-article.html

Yes at times the Whistlers work ok in some areas of a simulcast, but I have seen it first hand many times they dont.
Here is a link of the high end review of a TRX-1 with video link on the nearby Saginaw four tower simulcast system -
https://forums.radioreference.com/g...-trx-1-vs-unication-g4-video-mini-review.html I am not saying to get a g4 pager, more$ and programming will be more tougher for the average person to program.

One scanner that is a phase II model is the Uniden 325P2 that was missed in the list above.

I'm not saying I'm a fanboy of Unidens, but all I can tell ya my old 396XT in the above counties works pretty good, only ones who aren't getting any radio traffic are Whistler scanner owners. If it was me, it would be a Uniden and yes a phase II. Uniden has put out a couple firmware updates that went to alleviate some of the simulcast issues.

I don't mean to make this a Whistler vs. Uniden thread only to pass on my first hand findings I have had for you.
 

W2GLD

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I had forgotten all about the BCD325P2, that is a decent scanner for the money as well; I had my hands on one a few months back and the receiver in that radio is what proved to me that the BCD436/536 are POS; that radio is much better and cost much less than Uniden's supposed flagship model and I totally agree with a Ronald, the BCD396XT was a much better scanner; sadly it doesn't support Phase 2 or DMR, etc.
 

hazard78

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look into the unication pager g4 or g5 as a scanner. it does simulcast very well and will probably have an upgrade to phase 2 soon (for a small nominal fee of course)
 

paulmohr

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Adrian MI
I have the 325p2 and like it. No sd card to corrupt and the FreeScan software is free and pretty easy to use. Pay the 15 bucks to be a premium member on RR and you can download the data bases easily, edit them in freescan and upload them to your scanner.

Having said that, my next scanner will probably be a TRX-2. Since Michigan does have DMR and NDXN systems. Nothing I really want to listen to with that technology, but that could change in the future.

I live in Lenawee county by the way.

I don't really know if there is a good way to predict what a county or city will do in the future unless they actually release it publicly. There is good chance that what ever they change to they could decide to use encryption and it wouldn't matter what kind of scanner you had, it wouldn't work. Toledo Ohio has a mix of encrypted and non encrypted channels, so places have totally gone to encryption.

In my area the phase I system is fairly new I think, so I doubt they would be switching to phase II anytime soon. But just to be safe I got a phase II scanner. Heck, most of my area is still analog. Go one county over and its almost all digital lol.
 
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