scanner for convensional

[mattnelson26]

i am looking to buy a cheap scanner for covensional fire frequencies?

thanks,
matt

 

[Raven95150]

I'd look for a handheld 2 meter ham radio. That's pretty much all I use my VX-170 for is a VHF scanner. You can get something like this for about the same price as a scanner and the reception is much better. Only downside is you are limited to 136-174 mhz, but that's perfect for the fire paging frequencies.

You could also swing by Radio Shack and see if they have anything on sale. Sometimes they have some scanners on clearance.

Also check Ebay, Craigslist, and pawn shops for some good deals.

Sent from my HTC EVO 4G with Tapatalk

 

[blue5011]

i am looking to buy a cheap scanner for covensional fire frequencies?

thanks,
matt

I would look on ebay for an older R/S handheld scanner. I picked up a Pro-30 10 channel (VHF,UHF) for less than thirty dollars and a Pro-34 200 channel (VHF, UHF, Air, 800) for forty dollars last year. Once everything for police/EMS goes P25, conventional scanners will be a dime a dozen.

 

[W8RMH]

Just make sure your cheaper, older scanner will be compatible with narrow-banding or it will be useless. You are better off to spend a little more and get something modern. There are a lot of people unloading these older, soon to be useless, units on ebay.

Narrowbanding - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[mattnelson26]

there not getting rid of the fire pagers anytime soon so i dont know how they will be useless

 

[mmtstc]

most newer fire pagers are NFM compatible and the ones that are not NFM compatible are near the end or well past the end of their replacement cycle. Most fire pagers are Minitor 4 and 5's and wont need to be replaced.

 

[W8RMH]

there not getting rid of the fire pagers anytime soon so i dont know how they will be useless

From what I have read here in the forums and the wiki, these older scanners will not receive narrow-band, or if they do it will be very weak or distorted.

It has nothing to do with pagers.

I guess they are not completely useless, a bad choice of words on my part, but they will not perform as originally designed. Maybe this is more politically correct.

 

[mattnelson26]

thats ok. but all i want this scanner for is fire dispatch and most are on 154 frequencies.

thanks,
matt