good in vehicle mounted scanner

[hunter3014]

okay So Im Not That Good With Scanners. I Have A Radioshack Pro 404 Hand held That I Really Like ButIt Only Goes To Like 512 Or So And The County Next To Me Which Im In Alot, Their Cops Use Some Where In The 800S.Also I Want One I Can Mount In My Truck And Not Have To Worry AbouT Batteries So I I Dont Want A Hand Held.

What All Do I Need To Look For When I Buy ANew One? I Like How My 404 Has 200Channels And I Can Separate The Scan Between 10 Sections. 20 Frequency PerScan Section. I Have No Idea What U Call That But.Its Really Nice Because When Im In One County I Can Scan Just Threw It And It Keeps The Round Trip Scan Times Down Othed Than That The Frequency Has To Be Atleast 900-1000

I Would Like To Buy A Used One And Not Spend 400$ If Possible... I Found A BTC15X For 150$, Are They AnycCount? I Herd The Programming You Have To Have Software Which Iv Never Used I Just Manually Type Mine In On My 404 Which I Love And Would Like To Be Able To Do On My Next One, I Can Just GooGle The Channels I Need When I Need Them...
If Thats Not A Good One What Scanner Would U Suggest And What ThingsTo Look For When Buying One.


Thanks!!!

 

[hunter3014]

okay so iv been doing some research and the channels i am trying to get maily is madison which is 855.5625, i was told this is digital now and that the BCT15X is analog and will not pick up this channel. Is this true?

 

[Sportster77]

Welcome to RR. First thing anyone responding to this will need to know is : where do you live and what are you trying to listen to. They need this in order to determine 1) if the BTC15 will receive what yoy want and 2) to make a recomendation if it won't.

 

[hunter3014]

Welcome to RR. First thing anyone responding to this will need to know is : where do you live and what are you trying to listen to. They need this in order to determine 1) if the BTC15 will receive what yoy want and 2) to make a recomendation if it won't.

I live in Limestone county Al but i also need it for Madison county police fire etc. because i work over there.

 

[ScanWI]

According to the Database Madison county is using a Digital system. This system can only be monitored with a Digital Scanner. BCD996t/xt, Pro-197, or PSR-600. I would suggest saving up for the new, Uniden Bearcat BCD536HP Police Scanner, that will be coming out because it can monitor P25 II which Madison county may change to since the system is Phase II.

The current Digital scanners may work for now but I would advise saving for the new scanner. The bonus about the new Uniden scanner is that it comes programmed.

 

[hunter3014]

So What Does Something Like That Cost New? Around Like 400?
Also When Is that Coming out Or Have They Said?

 

[W7FDX]

The BCD536HP comes out late January 2014 and has a MSRP of $599, if you dont mind staying with a handheld you could get the BCD436HP (eta JAN 2014) which has a MSRP of $499 and you could just run power to it via the USB port.

 

[JStemann]

I'm going to suggest you check the alabama thread for the best answer to your question. I did a quick check of the al. database and it looks like your area, especially madison county, is moving to or has moved to p25 phase 2. This pretty much requires either the gre psr-800 or one of the upcoming new unidens, mentioned earlier.

The big catch to all of this...encryption. It looks like madison co. is using the first responders network system and it looks like they are using encryption on a lot of the talkgroups. That's why I'm suggesting you you post in the alabama thread, at least maybe they'll have a better idea of what's actually going in the area.

You'll have to decide if the few talkgroups you'll hear is worth the expense of a new phase 2 capable scanner. A cheaper (phase 1) scanner might get you by for a while, but you never know when madison co. will switch over to phase 2. You could probably find a good used phase 1 scanner for around $300, it might work fine for a week or maybe years, who knows?

If I were in the same situation, I, would hold out for the new uniden phase 2 scanners to come out. Knowing that I would have to prepare myself for spending nearly $600 for yet another new scanner. (maybe i need to find a cheaper hobby)

Jeff.