Moving To Dallas Area, What Scanner??

[frankr2003]

I'm going to be relocating from Michigan to the Dallas area, Do I need a digital scanner to access any frequencies down there or will just a regular trunking scanner work??

I'm looking at purchasing a new scanner, in Michigan a digital one is was is required to access a majority of the frequencies at this time. Any help on the topic would be very helpful!!

Thank you!

 

[reedeb]

At this timeI would say no [BUT as usual I may be wrong] I listen to DPD/FD on an old portable and they are loud and clear..They're on 460. and 453 mhz region right now [you'll have to check out the database here]

 

[BenScan]

There are some digital trunking systems in the area, including Grand Prairie, Mansfield, White Settlement, Fort Worth NAS, Parker County, also several federal agencies and Texas DPS use digital on non trunking systems. There is certainly more digital on the horizon. It really depends on where you end up living and what you want to monitor.

 

[Alliance01TX]

DFW Scanning

Howdy

Welcome to the DFW area and loads of scanning fun....Other folks in the Texas forum can chime in, but if you have the funds I would go ahead get a solid scanner with the normal analog capability and at minimum:

1. Trunking capability....as many areas in & around DFW use 800 MHz trunking
2. Digital / P-25 (APCO 25) capability as State Police and several Federal freq's are now or moving to P-25
3. Mil Air band (220~400 MHz) as you can pick off some amounts of military air, if interested
4. Large capacity memory (including trunking) as both Tarrant & Denton county are heavy trunked
5. Software programmable to manage the vast freq's in the DFW Metro area
6. National Weather Service 'alert' capability is nice-to-have for severe weather alerts, etc...
7. Car battery capable to allow for large travel area & multiple agencies...
8. Scanner that can handle the re-banding 700 / 800 MHz freq's and Narrow Band

Lot's of freq's (as noted in the RR Database) so more memory / storage is a big plus as you travel around the metro area...I have no idea how many freq's in the area, but with something around 5-6 million people in several large counties, you will have a lot to scan 24x7 depending on your location...

Dallas County / Dallas City are mostly analog today if you are only interested in that only....but you will miss a lot of other nice scanning in my opinion....

A good quality antenna and coax to pull it all together....

How this helps....

Thx

Bill

 

[n5ims]

One thing is that the DFW Metroplex is quite a large area with many systems. The answer if you were moving into central Dallas where much is conventional analog UHF may be different than the answer if you were moving to Plano, an northern suburb where P-25 digital is used.

The best all-around answer is to get one of the current digital scanners from GRE/Radio Shack or Uniden. Those would handle most of the systems you're likely to want to listen to. You may be able to save some money using a lower end scanner in certain areas with the understanding that you'll be unable to monitor some systems.

 

[SCPD]

After the Super bowl - start saving up for a digital unit. till then, most folks (with the exception of Collin Co. and Seagoville Federal Prision) are still analog. supposedly most agencies in Dallas & Fort Worth [Proper] don't plan to switch over until after the Superbowl.

 

[Russell]

If you plan to listen for more than a year, a digital scanner with 700 MHz capabilities will be needed. Uniden BCD396XT/BC996XT or GRE PSR500/600 will meet your requirements nicely. The SuperBowl is supposed to be the cut off, but some agencies will not wait. The 700MHz NCTOG DFW Overlay system is supposed to in place before the Super Bowl. The Uniden models are your best bet.

Russell

 

[frankr2003]

Thanks All!!

Thank you all very much for help in the matter!! We're actually looking into the Mesquite/Forney/Terrell side of Dallas.

Once again I appreciate everyones help!!