Help me figure out what i need in a police scanner please.

I'm looking to get a police scanner to keep up with disaster preparedness in the Jefferson, Clay and St Clair county areas of Alabama. From my initial researching, it doesn't look like 800mhz will be necessary for any monitoring of fire, ems, or law enforcement in any of those locales. All I see utilizing 800mhz is the UAB school, and I can't see why I'd need to worry about their communications.

Please make some suggestions or comments. I'm considering a handheld Bearcat 75xlt or 125AT.

Thanks for constructive input.

Well, looking at the Database here, it looks like public safety in Clay and St Clair Counties are analog conventional. St. Clair has some digital but it looks to be encrypted anyway. For Jefferson County, it looks like the bulk of public safety is on a Digital/Analog Trunked Radio system. That would rule out the 75xlt and the 125AT. Some communities are still analog conventional (Hoover is one of them) with a handful that have gone digital.


The 75/125 are good scanners. I have the 125 myself. However, much of Jefferson, as I mentioned, is on a trunked system to the 325P2 might be a better option for you, if you have much interests in those communities as well as the Sheriff's Department. The 325 has the same form factor as the 75/125 but is, naturally, more expensive.

all of st clair fire is for some reason is encrypted, while police are in the clear.....pell city both pd and fd are vhf encrypted.........clay county vhf in the clear.......st clair county all volunteer fd all encripted...... hoover uses motorola type 2 smart zone.

For St. Clair county, fire appears to be using DMR, which also rules out the 75xlt or BC125AT. However, those channels are marked as being encrypted, so no scanner would receive them in any event. You'd need a digital, trunk tracking, scanner for the Jefferson County system.

While there are a number of digital trunk tracker scanners available, including discontinued models that still can be found at a decent price point on eBay as well as other sources online and locally for used/good condition units, your statewide system, Alabama First Response, is largely P25 Phase II. The three counties you specifically mention do not appear to be currently using that system, though others do, and more will likely convert to it at some point.

Thank you very much for the quick and informative answers. I must've missed something when looking over the Jefferson county information, because some of your answers surprise me.

ShyFlyer said:

Well, looking at the Database here, it looks like public safety in Clay and St Clair Counties are analog conventional. St. Clair has some digital but it looks to be encrypted anyway. For Jefferson County, it looks like the bulk of public safety is on a Digital/Analog Trunked Radio system. That would rule out the 75xlt and the 125AT. Some communities are still analog conventional (Hoover is one of them) with a handful that have gone digital.


The 75/125 are good scanners. I have the 125 myself. However, much of Jefferson, as I mentioned, is on a trunked system to the 325P2 might be a better option for you, if you have much interests in those communities as well as the Sheriff's Department. The 325 has the same form factor as the 75/125 but is, naturally, more expensive.

Click to expand...

looks like it's about $360. That's a little bitter to swallow when I was expecting under $150, but it is what it is.

kmi8dy said:

all of st clair fire is for some reason is encrypted, while police are in the clear.....pell city both pd and fd are vhf encrypted.........clay county vhf in the clear.......st clair county all volunteer fd all encripted...... hoover uses motorola type 2 smart zone.

Click to expand...

St.Clair is the least consequential of the three counties I listed. I only listed it because I used to live there, and I drive through quite regularly. I don't need to necessarily keep up with those frequencies.

Of note though, the police officers in Pell City (St.Clair county) keep fully automatic weapons in their vehicles. I don't know what that means in terms of encrypted comms, but it's a fact that I'm aware of.

hiegtx said:

For St. Clair county, fire appears to be using DMR, which also rules out the 75xlt or BC125AT. However, those channels are marked as being encrypted, so no scanner would receive them in any event. You'd need a digital, trunk tracking, scanner for the Jefferson County system.

While there are a number of digital trunk tracker scanners available, including discontinued models that still can be found at a decent price point on eBay as well as other sources online and locally for used/good condition units, your statewide system, Alabama First Response, is largely P25 Phase II. The three counties you specifically mention do not appear to be currently using that system, though others do, and more will likely convert to it at some point.

Click to expand...

Well digital Trunking system is what it looks like I need.

Thanks.

PepperPrepper said:

Thank you very much for the quick and informative answers. I must've missed something when looking over the Jefferson county information, because some of your answers surprise me.


looks like it's about $360. That's a little bitter to swallow when I was expecting under $150, but it is what it is.



St.Clair is the least consequential of the three counties I listed. I only listed it because I used to live there, and I drive through quite regularly. I don't need to necessarily keep up with those frequencies.

Of note though, the police officers in Pell City (St.Clair county) keep fully automatic weapons in their vehicles. I don't know what that means in terms of encrypted comms, but it's a fact that I'm aware of.



Well digital Trunking system is what it looks like I need.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

You will need nothing more than a Whistler WS1040 or WS1065 to monitor even the statewide system. Even though it shows Phase II, all of the TGID's are Phase I. The Whistlers won't do the DMR for Clay, but they're encrypted anyhow. It will do the Sheriffs department.
Jefferson and St. Clair are conventional,and either the handheld 1040, or the base/mobile 1065 will fit your scanning needs.
HTH,
Larry

And more affordable than spending $360.

But probably not less that $150 unless you get lucky at a pawn shop or craigslist.

$230-$275 is the likely price range for a new unit.