Are my scanners useless?

78k10 · Oct 10, 2018

Hey all, this is my first post. Love the amount of information I’ve come across so far. I got into scanning in high school, and got out for a while after college. Moved to a new state, settled down, etc. Anyway, we moved into our new house in March and I came across my old scanners and now I’m wondering if it’s even worth buying antennas for them, or are they obsolete? I have a bearcat 150, 10 channel base scanner for the house. I have a Realistic Patrolman 2025 in my truck, and a Uniden Bearcat BC350C in my car. My plan was to do a trunk lol NMO mount with Larsen tri band for the car, and I’m undecided on the antenna for the truck just yet.

I’m just outside of Hickory NC and plan to listen to Burke county EMS, FD and Sheriff. But I don’t want to invest in antennas just to find out that everything is digital or trunking, or both. I’ve looked through the database a good bit but I still need some direction. Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks.

bob550 · Oct 10, 2018

Welcome to the forums! Based on the RR database, https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1898#cid-2437, most of the frequencies you wish to monitor are VHF-HI band, well within the coverage range of your scanners. However, the North Carolina Viper System, https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7118, shows P25 Phase 1 digital systems for Burke County, among others. Unfortunately, your scanners won't allow you to monitor that. The good news is that there are a number of reasonably priced Uniden or Whistler scanners that will cover P25 Phase 1 digital systems.

My suggestion is to program some of the VHF frequencies in to either scanner, connect any antenna, and check for activity. Keep in mind that Burke County and others may be migrating to the Viper System. You'll probably find much more localized information in the North Carolina forum here: https://forums.radioreference.com/north-carolina-radio-discussion-forum/. Good luck, and welcome back to the hobby!

hiegtx · Oct 10, 2018

Looking at specifically Hickory, NC, I see both PD & FD talkgroups for them on Viper. There are additional talkgroups on Viper for other users in Burke County. As Bob has already noted, program the listed conventional frequencies in one of your scanners, and see how much activity is there. That would give you an idea of what you can hear before buying a digital, trunking capable, scanner.

Rt169Radio · Oct 10, 2018

Welcome to RR! A scanner is never truly useless, as you can monitor other things in the VHF and UHF bands/freqs.

N8IAA · Oct 10, 2018

78k10 said:
Hey all, this is my first post. Love the amount of information I’ve come across so far. I got into scanning in high school, and got out for a while after college. Moved to a new state, settled down, etc. Anyway, we moved into our new house in March and I came across my old scanners and now I’m wondering if it’s even worth buying antennas for them, or are they obsolete? I have a bearcat 150, 10 channel base scanner for the house. I have a Realistic Patrolman 2025 in my truck, and a Uniden Bearcat BC350C in my car. My plan was to do a trunk lol NMO mount with Larsen tri band for the car, and I’m undecided on the antenna for the truck just yet.

I’m just outside of Hickory NC and plan to listen to Burke county EMS, FD and Sheriff. But I don’t want to invest in antennas just to find out that everything is digital or trunking, or both. I’ve looked through the database a good bit but I still need some direction. Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks.

I'm going to suggest that you get a scanner that does Phase I digital. A Whistler WS-1040 handheld, or a the WS-1965 base/mobile. Both will work on the the NC VIPER system.

You may hear something on the analog scanners. Best to ask that this thread gets moved to the NC state forum by clicking on the red and white triangle in the upper right hand portion of your first post and ask the admins to move it. You'll get better answers in that forum.

Larry

K4EET · Oct 11, 2018

78k10,

Welcome to Radio Reference! Also, welcome back to the scanner hobby. As has already been stated, don't toss those scanners... There is still lots to be heard on them. Look through the databases that were cited earlier for frequencies. Then, if you were to purchase a newer scanner for monitoring the Phase I Digital systems, you might even want to consider a Phase II capable scanner since a lot of Phase I systems migrate to Phase II eventually. Enjoy!

Cheers! Dave

78k10 · Oct 11, 2018

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I was afraid that I would need a digital, trunking radio. I was really hoping to use what I had to see if I wanted to get deeper into the hobby. I’m not a hard core scanner enthusiast yet, but I hate to have these just sitting around not being used. I may go ahead and order the antenna and mount for my car and go from there. If nothing else, I’ll be able to pick up the weather broadcast. Also air traffic, and I could probably use a Larsen nmo-27 for the cb frequencies. Any recommendations on a good antenna setup for the patrolman 2025? I have not ruled out an nmo roof mount yet. I’m tempted to go nmo of some type just in case I decide to put my cb back in. I have a k40 on a mag mount, but I just repainted the truck and I don’t want the magnet to damage my fresh paint.

KevinC · Oct 12, 2018

Moved as requested by OP.

Cepheid · Oct 12, 2018

Welcome!. I live in the Hickory area too!

78k10 · Oct 12, 2018

KevinC said:
Moved as requested by OP.

Thank you!

78k10 · Oct 13, 2018

Cepheid said:
Welcome!. I live in the Hickory area too!

Thank you! What kind of scanner do you use?

78k10 · Dec 16, 2018

Well I got my bearcat in the truck and going. Took apart an old radio Shack mag mount antenna and made it a permanent mount on the cowl. There is still some analog activity in my area, so that’s good news. The bad news is that my realistic appears to be dead. It won’t even receive the weather channel when hooked to my truck antenna. But I did get a whistler handheld scanner for Christmas, so I can pick up a mag mount antenna and use that for my car. I also picked up a baofeng uv-82, in preparation for getting my ham ticket in February.

Soundman · Dec 23, 2018

Digital P25 Phase II Scanners This should help you out .

Are my scanners useless?

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