Hello
What type of scanner do I need to run 800mhz freq's ( like 853.88750 and many others ) and its called western area regional radio for a small town in GA. I got 2 older scanners but would like to upgrade
THANKS
Is this the system you are referring to?
Western Area Regional Radio System Authority (WARRS) Trunking System, Carollton, Georgia - Scanner Frequencies
If so, that is a P25 (digital) system. It has two sites, one of which uses frequencies in the 700Mhz band. In order to receive both sites, you'd need one of the more current digital trunk-trackers. Older models such as the Pro-96 or BC296D aren't able to cover the 700Mhz frequencies.
Current models include:
Handhelds: GRE's
PSR-500 (which Radio Shack sells, with mostly cosmetic differences as the
Pro-106) and Uniden's
BCD396XT.
Base/mobile: GRE's
PSR-600 (Radio Shack's version is the
Pro-197) and Uniden's
BCD996XT.
The previous Uniden models, BCD396T & BCD996T, would also work.
Two other scanners that would work would be GRE's
PSR-800 or Uniden's
Home Patrol-1. These two scanners have the RadioReference database loaded in them. For the Home Patrol, you select the types of agencies you want to monitor (police, fire, ems, etc), then enter the zip code or city name for your location, and the scanner pulls the available information from the stored data in the scanner. The PSR-800 uses a menu driven selection to accomplish the same thing. (I don't have one, so not sure about exact steps required.)
Clint's already pointed out some of the differences between the GRE scanners and Uniden. The GRE's are more sensitive, but tend to overload when used near other sources of interference, such as cell towers and broadcast stations, That's been my experience as well with the PSR-500. However, out away from the city, that's less of an issue. You might also check in the Georgia forum, and see if anyone else is in that area, and has had better results with one model over another.