Back....after many years!

pitbullfan · Jan 6, 2018

No I did not just get out of prison or anything of that nature.

I bought my first scanner in 1993 (guess I was a geeky even at 13 years old). Don't remember the exact model, but it was certainly not too expensive and was from Radio Shack. I got a book of frequencies and had it programmed pretty quick. I used that thing all the time as we lived in a pretty large suburb of Chicago. Then when we moved to Missouri, I befriended the local police officer and got a list of the local frequencies and was back to monitoring a week or two after we moved.

I moved away from home and left my trusty scanner with my dad. I think he used it for another 15 years lol.

I'm getting ready to purchase my first scanner since 1993 so stumbled on this amazing knowledge-filled site. So needless to say I'm blown away by the advancements made in radio technology in the years since I stepped away from it.

I'm now living the good life in Sampson County NC. Thinking it would be fun to monitor the airwaves out here. Thanks to this site I know I'll want to be able to listen to VIPER and so I need a newer scanner than I left my dad with.

Can someone confirm that these two models will allow me to get Fire/EMS/Sherriff/State Patrol broadcasts here in Sampson County?

Uniden BCD996P2
Whistler WS1065

I'm fairly certain they would both do what I want, but thought it best to confirm and go ahead and get my account setup here.

The Uniden can be programmed with freescan, so I'm thinking install that on my pc, upgrade my membership here, and upload the frequencies to the scanner. That simple right?

Only thing turning me off from the whistler is that there is no freeware to configure it with right?

Thanks for any help in advance.

-Jason

K4ASJ · Jan 7, 2018

pitbullfan said:
No I did not just get out of prison or anything of that nature.

I bought my first scanner in 1993 (guess I was a geeky even at 13 years old). Don't remember the exact model, but it was certainly not too expensive and was from Radio Shack. I got a book of frequencies and had it programmed pretty quick. I used that thing all the time as we lived in a pretty large suburb of Chicago. Then when we moved to Missouri, I befriended the local police officer and got a list of the local frequencies and was back to monitoring a week or two after we moved.

I moved away from home and left my trusty scanner with my dad. I think he used it for another 15 years lol.

I'm getting ready to purchase my first scanner since 1993 so stumbled on this amazing knowledge-filled site. So needless to say I'm blown away by the advancements made in radio technology in the years since I stepped away from it.

I'm now living the good life in Sampson County NC. Thinking it would be fun to monitor the airwaves out here. Thanks to this site I know I'll want to be able to listen to VIPER and so I need a newer scanner than I left my dad with.

Can someone confirm that these two models will allow me to get Fire/EMS/Sherriff/State Patrol broadcasts here in Sampson County?

Uniden BCD996P2
Whistler WS1065

I'm fairly certain they would both do what I want, but thought it best to confirm and go ahead and get my account setup here.

The Uniden can be programmed with freescan, so I'm thinking install that on my pc, upgrade my membership here, and upload the frequencies to the scanner. That simple right?

Only thing turning me off from the whistler is that there is no freeware to configure it with right?

Thanks for any help in advance.

-Jason

Both of the models that you have listed should work for listening to Sampson County as well as NC SHP. Both are on the NC Viper system. Below is the link where the Viper sites and talkgroups can be found. Sampson County utilizes the Taylors Bridge, Salemburg and Newton Grove sites on the Viper System.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7118

BCasto · Jan 7, 2018

Welcome back to the hobby. Indeed things are very different today. The material and people here on this site are incredibly helpful. At first it can seem overwhelming, but after a few weeks it will get a lot easier. Learn to search and scrounge around on the site for needed information and answers.

You definitely will need software to manage your modern scanner(s) with many frequencies, systems, talk groups, etc.. Gone are the days where 50 frequencies covered all you wanted to hear. If you are a paid member of this site and use recommended software apps, you can download the needed DB directly to your scanner. That is an incredible feature that saves a lot of time and organization effort.

Another difference you will find is the prevalence of 700-800 Mhz trunked systems. Learning how they work, the nomenclature, antenna specs, etc. is important. If you are like me, you will make some early errors building your scanner environment that will frustrate you. Just know that everyone goes through that learning curve.

Best of luck to you.

troymail · Jan 7, 2018

pitbullfan said:
Only thing turning me off from the whistler is that there is no freeware to configure it with right?

Thanks for any help in advance.

-Jason

Correct - but there are several nice programs available for programming - maybe $30 -- Win500, psrEdit, etc. and they all mostly come with a 30 day trial period to test them out.

In the case of either radio, unless you're planning to copy/cut and paste or just type, you'll also need a Radio Reference "premium" subscription which will allow you to import the programming data directly.

pitbullfan · Jan 7, 2018

T

Just pulled the trigger on the uniden as well as the account upgrade to premium. Looks like it comes with the programming cable too. So I think all I have left is download / install freescan on a PC, and download the Sampson County DB. When my scanner arrives plug it in and push the DB to the scanner via freescan right?

Seems pretty easy if that's all there is to it lol. But I'm sure oI'll be back on Wednesday with some questions on any of the nitty gritty.

Thanks again y'all.

-Jason

NYRHKY94 · Jan 7, 2018

Hi Jason:

Welcome. I have the BCD996P2 (great radio) and am quite sure you will enjoy it. Performs very well on the VIPER system. You may want to also download and play around with Proscan software. It has a fully featured 30-day free trial and is the best all-in-one software out there for Unidens "in my opinion". Nothing to lose by giving it a try.

P.S. You can import directly from the Radio Reference database within the software using your RR user id and password.

Mike

iMONITOR · Jan 7, 2018

I have a BCD996P2 and it's by far the best scanner I've ever owned, and I've owned them all. You made a great choice.

Also, as NYRHKY94 suggested, download a free trial of Proscan if you want to exploit the full capability of your scanner.

https://www.proscan.org/

danzan77 · Jan 7, 2018

troymail said:
Correct - but there are several nice programs available for programming - maybe $30 -- Win500, psrEdit, etc. and they all mostly come with a 30 day trial period to test them out.

In the case of either radio, unless you're planning to copy/cut and paste or just type, you'll also need a Radio Reference "premium" subscription which will allow you to import the programming data directly.

I don't rememner paying anything for win500 for my ws1065 and ws1040

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

troymail · Jan 7, 2018

danzan77 said:
I don't rememner paying anything for win500 for my ws1065 and ws1040

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

Hmmm... memory loss -- you might want to get that checked out.

Click on Help (right top side) and then License Key....

danzan77 · Jan 7, 2018

troymail said:
Hmmm... memory loss -- you might want to get that checked out.

Click on Help (right top side) and then License Key....

Memory loss, its a terrible thing

what can i say. Im getting old. Your right there is a key. Maybe im thinking of freescan. I've used so many of them im getting confused.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

troymail · Jan 7, 2018

danzan77 said:
Im getting old.
Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

We all are.

pitbullfan · Jan 8, 2018

So, I'm trying to have everything ready such that when the scanner arrives I can just plug it in to power and the laptop and be scanning in short order. Can someone more knowledgeable than myself (probably most of you here) confirm there isn't anything else I should do in preparation, besides read the manual?

For now I just opted to use freescan as there was a youtube tutorial that made it look too easy.

Downloaded the drivers for the scanner so I should be able to connect via USB with no problem (fingers crossed).

I downloaded / installed freescan to my PC.

I used the import function in freescan to login to RR database. I selected country, state, and county. I unchecked all sites except the one nearest me, should I be adding others? At least I think the left pane of the import is sites and right pane is groups? I also checked the Sampson County Group and ran import.

I now have a Motorola type 2 system, NC VIP, with my local site and the sampson group. I left everything about the system, site and group set to defaults.

I saved that config so my thinking is that I can just upload this config to the scanner when it arrives. Or am I missing a bunch of steps?

Thanks for all the help, this site has been an amazing resource.

-Jason

KE4ZNR · Jan 8, 2018

Jason,
As others have recommended I would suggest taking a look at Proscan. Development on Freescan has ceased (or at least stalled long term) while Proscan is still supported and is constantly being revised and updated. You can download a fully working version of Proscan for 30 days and see what you think. That way you can compare software and see which you prefer.

Marshall KE4ZNR

NYRHKY94 · Jan 8, 2018

Hi Jason:

I use ProScan to program my BCD996P2 (not familiar with Freescan). Regardless of what software you use, as noted above by JCFF54, you will want to import the Newton Grove, Taylor's Bridge & Salemburg VIPER frequencies from the RR database for Sampson County. You'll also want to import the Talk Groups for Sampson County, which should cover you for Police, Fire, EMS & Sheriffs that are on the VIPER system in your area. If you also want NC State Highway Patrol, you'll want to import the Fayetteville Troop B Talk Groups ( District 2 to be exact). See screen shots below from the RR database. Hope this is helpful.

pitbullfan · Jan 11, 2018

Man oh man! You guys are awesome! I had my unit scanning in like 10 minutes from the time it hit my door. You all made something that seemed a bit intimidating at first come together VERY easily.

Thanks again for all the help.

pinballwiz86 · Jan 11, 2018

Welcome back to the hobby!

Back....after many years!

pitbullfan

Member

K4ASJ

Member

BCasto

Member

troymail

Silent Key

pitbullfan

Member

NYRHKY94

Member

iMONITOR

Silent Key

danzan77

Member

troymail

Silent Key

danzan77

Member

troymail

Silent Key

pitbullfan

Member

KE4ZNR

Radio Geek

NYRHKY94

Member

Attachments

pitbullfan

Member

pinballwiz86

Member

Similar threads