New member on this forum

[aredsailjunk]

We are in Haileyville Pittsburg County.

Joined in advance of purchases we need to make before Tornado Alley starts rocking and rolling.

We need two new scanners- probably hand held- that will work the best in our location`s

One unit would stay at house for a Mom to listen to and know when/ if to head to cellar on site and heads up for her on what local law enforcement is taking care of in our area.

same criteria for # 2 unit , but I like to head up to top of hill above house and watch the storms and get the latest.
would like to get into Storm Spotting- watching in our area this year.
We met a couple of Spotter`s up there last year just by accident and had a great time talking with them.


Had looked at Uniden Bearcat BC346XT ??
Better Suggestions ???

Can be two different unit`s but would like to keep about that price range and can purchase on line or at local area store`s - what ever best-would also like to purchased programmed if possible .
Thanks !
ps Had SW during Alaska / PWS time and considering another just for listening again .

 

[plaws]

Had looked at Uniden Bearcat BC346XT ??
Better Suggestions ???

I would recommend getting a dedicated weather radio for the house. Even though some scanners are capable of decoding the SAME data and only alerting for your county, you may miss an alarm while listening to something else. I think the BC346XT has this feature, actually.

If you have a dedicated weather radio, that won't be a problem. Radio Shack, Midland, and others make reasonably-priced radios, usually that run off 110 V ac with battery backup. Make sure that it is "SAME"-capable so that you aren't woken up by alarms for counties 100 miles away.

As for scanners, it all depends on what you want to listen to. The DB should have listings for your county.

The 346 is a nice radio and will hear everything in your county UNLESS they use digital or encrypted radios. Currently, Oklahoma City uses a ProVoice radio system that cannot be monitored with any scanner and some other agencies use P25 radio systems that can be monitored, but not with the 346. If your agency is encrypted, you're sure out of luck regardless of scanner. The only agency routinely encrypting *everything* is EMSA.