Guys, my Uniden 396T is rapidly becoming obsolete. I was considering a Uniden replacement handheld receiver. I live in Buffalo Grove now and I can still here NWCD fire dispatches and ILL SP traffic out of the Lake County towers with ease but I know Phase 1's days are numbered. Not only do I scan law enforcement but I also do a ot of civil and Milair monitoring with the 396T through a discone up 25 feet at my house. As almost all the North suburban PDs are encrypted, I was thinking that the outlay for the SDS100 is a bit much and I understand that the VHF/UHF performance may not be as good as the T/XT serise of radios. The 436 is a natural consideration and the pricing has come down somewhat with the roll out of the SDS100/200 radios. I like the idea of having the entire RR database available in one download. I can create my special FLs for my aviation needs. However, the 325P2 intrigues as it seems to be similar in set up and operation to my old 396T. It doesn't have the ability to download the entire DB but I know how to handle this now anyway. The only issues I can seem to find are the lack of battery life in the 325P2 and the inability to charge it while plugged into the power supply. Not a deal breaker to me. I have plenty of good AA batteries. Do any of you know if the VHF/UHF performance of the 325P2 is akin the 396T/396XT units? Any thoughts or suggestions?
P25 Phase 2 Scanner questions
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In my personal opinion and using my area my 325P2 is very close to my 396XT in performance on VHF/UHF...Its very good on hearing Starcom T113,102 and 126 tower sites which are all about 10-25 miles away....The audio is very good if you use the "volume increase menu" and audio is very clear...It does have the "batt" issue as i only get about 5 hours no matter what batteries i use but all you need is 2 extras in your pocket and your up to 9 hours....Very simple to prgm by hand in fact like the 396xt.....Its excellent on Phase II as Grundy County uses P2 and i have had it up to NWCD and it worked great there....
Thank you Ron. The 325P2 sounds like my choice .
I agree with Ron in Joliet. The 325P2 would be a great choice. Remember though, your 396T, if in good shape, is still a great choice for analog VHF, UHF and air comms. It isn't all 700/800 trunking out there in the world.
why waste your hard earned money on something that is way over priced for what it is, if the 396xt works and meets your needs id use it like it was meant to be and besides i think the 396/996 is a better radio anyway.
If like the op said phase2 is coming to his area the xt series will not work for his needs.
I monitor the Starcom21 system here in Illinois. For those not in the local area, most of the suburban police departments in my area have joined Starcom, but have chosen to encrypt so these are lost to me. The ISP on the othe rhand is still in the open but gradually, the state is converting the P1 towers to P2. So, I will need a P2 scanner shortly. The reason why I am not sold on the SDS100 since most of the local PDs are now encrypted, I am not getting the most bang for the buck as it were. I will keep my 396T as well to drag to airshows and such. Its a great unit.
Blunt360, NWCD PDs are as well as many of the northshore communities are. Deerfield isn't and perhaps McHenry isn't. But the rest are and you can see that in the RR database.
For the time being I think your choice for the 325 is a good one. I have a SDS100 and am not sold on it. Yes it can do a million things but I don't need a million things. Your original post mentioned VHF/UHF performance and I think P2 reception. The SDS100 appears to be severely lacking in VHF reception. The 325 is very good for that and should give you little problem. Good luck with it.
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