Digital scanner mass confusion

Hello,
I recently got back into the scanning hobby this year. The last time I was active I was still using all analog radios. Trunk trackers were just coming out shortly before I left the hobby to do music. Unfortunately for me I am totally clueless on trunk tracking, to begin with. I do have a Uniden BC8500xlt I picked up from ebay. I use it mostly for aircraft. Works great. This radio apparently receives 800mhz frequencies. So just for the heck of it I went on the frequency database for a nearby local city and found a section for Providence RI. I live in Cranston which is the next town to the south. The information on the page says that the Providence police as well as some other state agencies use what is called "Rhode Island Statewide Communications Network (RISCON)" So there is a list of 800mhz frequencies. So i programmed the lowest freq to highest and have been searching on my bc8500xlt. I seem to be picking up loud and clear what sounds like the state prison, which is a few miles from here. The funny thing is I am using a dedicated 127mhz custom made (by me) vertical dipole antenna cut for aircraft. Anyway the transmissions are always VERY brief. Not sure if the Providence police are using these freqs but I havent heard anything that sounds like police transmissions. So is what I am listening to "trunk tracking"?
This brings me to my next issue. I see many nice digital scanners on ebay. The NEWER ones are prohibitively expensive. Used ones are a little cheaper. I watched a bunch of videos showing people "upgrading" the firmware on their digital sets. It looks and sounds VERY complicated. Would it be wiser to bite the bullet and buy a NEW radio so you will not be possibly left in the dark when wanting to do an upgrade? Seems like as time goes on, updating old radios will be a big hassle. At this point I am VERY thankful there are still TONS of analog scanning available here. But the confusion of the new technology stifles me from considering a new digital rig. All this talk of "talk groups" and "projects" "phase 1"......I find it overwhelming. And I am an EXTRA CLASS ham!!!! It was easier to do phase angles!!! I thought by downloading a manual on one of the current digital radios would offer a little information. Or possibly a tutorial video? Any suggestions for an ol' scanner listener stuck in analog?

Digital Scanner confusion solved*

THIS says it all about today's "digital scanners" regarding P25 Trunking Simulcast systems. If you don't need digital you won't have to worry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsxxUoLDLEk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAq-XJHrvC4

Those links are useless for someone who doesn't even know what trunking is or how it works.

Try this instead:
Trunked Radio Systems - The RadioReference Wiki

Digital..... yada

They were more than helpful to me to make the best choice after the WS1080 mistake

Again useless if the OP's systems aren't simulcast. Or if he wants to monitor more than one.

You answered a question the OP didn't ask, and may not even be applicable.

jonwienke said:

Again useless if the OP's systems aren't simulcast. Or if he wants to monitor more than one.

You answered a question the OP didn't ask, and may not even be applicable.

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More condescending comments once again. Why don't you just add your comments instead of being a know it all and stop cutting people down when they are trying to help. Let the OP decide what he perceives as legitimate. You've used more effort to tell this guy your opinion on his content then helping the OP.

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Because the comments aren't helpful, and probably don't even apply to the OP.

jonwienke said:

Because the comments aren't helpful, and probably don't even apply to the OP.

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Sorry. Forgot it was your job to police the comments. Geez. One of those.

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Other than personal attacks, what have you contributed to this thread? I actually gave the OP a link to information that answers the questions he asked, unlike you or anyone else that has posted here so far.

jonwienke said:

Other than personal attacks, what have you contributed to this thread? I actually gave the OP a link to information that answers the questions he asked, unlike you or anyone else that has posted here so far.

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Saw that coming. Why would I? You would tell me if it were up to your posting standards or not. See my point smart guy. You create a hesitation of people wanting to post when they know Mr forum cop is commenting on whether their posts are relevant or not.

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Hey guys where getting way off topic. To the OP Google is your friend, you will want to do as much research as possible about trunking and the site(s) you want to monitor. In my opinion you would probably want to go with one of Unidens newer scanners either a 536HP or 996P2 if you are looking for a base/mobile or a BCD436HP or a BCD325P2. The Uniden scanners are much more responsive and sensitive on simulcast sites then the current whistler radios are. It will also handle DMR but save that for another day as you seem to be quite confused already. I'm sorry the help here has been minimal but Mr.Wienke did have a good suggestion about the basics and Johnny had a good suggestion about unication pagers only they don't handle P25 Phase 2 so if your system is Phase 2 you may want to go with a Uniden for now and buy a Unication in the future when you better understand trunking and what is needed for your system. Again sorry for the lack of interest in your posted topic sometimes things just go a different route . If you have any other questions I am more than happy to help and I'm sure Mr Wienke would be as well. And to the person attacking Mr Wienke, "Frazpro" how about the golden rule and top it off with if you have nothing nice or productive to say don't say anything you aren't helping anyone go away unless you actually want to help the OP.

-Bob

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Unication pagers are a special-purpose solution for a very specific problem. They receive P25 simulcast better than standard scanners, but they can only be programmed to receive one system, and cost more than any scanner. If you don't have simulcast in your area, then you are paying extra to have fewer features for no reason. The 436 can be configured to receive simulcast systems in most cases, and do a reasonably good job. My county system is simulcast and I am able to monitor it and get >95% of traffic clearly. If the OP posted his specific location, we could see if there were any simulcast systems nearby.

As stated here before where you are and what you want to listen to goes a long way in what type scanner / receiver you will need. Looking at your location you have.
1.Motorola Type II Smartnet
2.Project 25 Phase I
3.LTR Standard
4.DMR Motorola Connect Plus (TRBO)
5.NXDN NEXEDGE 9600
Now knowing what you have in your area If you want to listen to all 5 types listed above then your options are Whistler TRX-1 and the Whistler TRX-2 are the only two scanners that receive all of the above 5. Buying from EBAY is hit and miss find a HRO or other store and you will find the prices at or below $500.00 good luck in your endeavors.

W1AV - If you want to start with the basics, there is a new tutorial website for the scanner hobby. Phil W2LIE has a podcast for beginners and walks you through the details of scanners. Take a look at https://www.scannerschool.com/

digital scanning woes

OK I did view those 2 Youtube videos. Apparently in my area, as far as I know (I am in Rhode Island) the Providence police use digital, The State Police do too as well as a couple of smaller towns. I live in Cranston which is just south of Providence and my town police are digital. So with a few State agencies that have gone digital I think I might just stay put on analog. I really don't listen to much Police activity cause it is mostly routine stuff. However there have been times in the past back in the 80's when I used to listen to Boston and Providence police on Friday and Saturday nights and it was really crazy action filled listening. So I kinda miss that. I am finding the vast majority of agencies still use analog around here, and or have migrated up from old vhf frequencies to UHF ones. I have found the State Prison using some kind of frequency hopping? Trunking? not really sure. I am scanning 851-853.8 mhz and so far I have logged 5 VERY active frequencies loud and clear. The state prison is just a few miles south east of me way up on a big hill. So the transmissions seem to pop up on these 5 channels. I have a small Uniden bc700 on the way from ebay so I will be using that as a dedicated state prison monitoring radio just in case we have a big riot or something. But anyway I would much rather try to find people locally who have digital scanners who can show me in real time how they work and how to use them before I think about buying one. I am really not impressed with Whistler at all. I have a ws1025 and I dont like it. I think Whistler shoulda stayed in the radar detector business. I think putting an FM (music) receiver in a scanner is the ultimate in STUPIDITY. Plus the tinny speaker sounds bad and the squelch is the sloppiest. I might give it away or sell it. I regret buying it. Shoulda spent a little more money and got a Uniden.

Whistler vs. Uniden comments aside (everyone has likes and dislikes), it sounds like you should

• 
  spend more quality time with your analog trunking radio(s)

• continue to research what is in your area that you might want to listen to

• 
  Do you want to do more than just "listen"? (i.e. Pro96Com, Unitrunker, etc.)

• continue to research radio options...

Bottom line is I see lots of folks go out and make purchases but aren't really sure what they need or what they are buying. People even spend money on Uniden "upgrades" for DMR and ProVoice and then ask "what do can I listen to with this extra $100+ I spent?" (which obviously should have been a question they asked and answered before they made that purchase).

Regardless of what radio you decide to buy (today or 6 months from now), two more recommendations:

• experiment and play with the radio while reading the documentation and learning - most default programming software is readily available for download; you can learn how the software works, and it's limitations and quirks before you purchase a radio
  
  
• program it yourself - too many people spend lots of money having their radio programmed by a company and then are frustrated - both due to a lack of understanding of how the radio works and what is (or is not) programmed into it.

Troy he also has a NXDN Private owned Trunking system i his area it looks new not sure who uses it he may would also like to listen to it depending on what users it has.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=9205

troymail said:

[*]program it yourself - too many people spend lots of money having their radio programmed by a company and then are frustrated - both due to a lack of understanding of how the radio works and what is (or is not) programmed into it.

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Definitely! I picked up a TRX1 from a local and it had been programmed. Once I looked at the scan list and what he was monitoring it was no wonder he sold it. He wasn’t able to hear half of what he could have been.

There will plenty of help from users on this forum with programming and what’s best. Don’t waste your money.




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I recently got back into scanning and I'm a General and was confused. As in post #14 this guy has started a podcast and will have many more to come. https://www.scannerschool.com/category/podcasts/ What caused most of my confusion was that P25 is commonly assumed to be C4FM. Many don't know that scanner manufaturers are marketing scanners made for common C4FM but can't correctly decode the CQPSK used in LSM. If you try listening to LSM simulcast then Unication is the only one to properly decode it. If you use a common scanner you have to "trick" it by using beams, paper clips, and attenuators.

scanmanmi said:

If you try listening to LSM simulcast then Unication is the only one to properly decode it. If you use a common scanner you have to "trick" it by using beams, paper clips, and attenuators.

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Not necessarily. I don't use any of those, and pick up >95% of traffic on my local simulcast systems (Franklin and Adams counties in PA).

It's all about your location relative to the broadcast towers. If you are in a location where two or more simulcast towers have nearly equal signal strength, then scanners will have difficulty (some more than others) and a Unication pager is probably your best bet to monitor that system. But if you are in a location where one simulcast tower's signal is significantly stronger than the rest, then it is possible to get good reception with a normal scanner, particularly the Uniden 436 and 536. If you're in a problem area, you can use a directional antenna to boost the signal of one tower above the others, but that isn't practical for mobile or handheld use. Attenuation is less useful because it only works in a very narrow range of circumstances.