05kas05 said:
would like to purchase a scanner i live in round rock and would also like to listen to the
police and other stuff from austin ,georgetown and other surronding areas.i would like to purchase a handheld model.i have no idea what i should get i have not had a scanner in about fifteen years so i don't have any idea as to what frequencies they run on.if you know of a store or you could help me figure this out it would be appreciated
Welcome to the site.
Your county, Williamson, as well as city (Round Rock) is currently on this
system. However, as this
thread elsewhere in the Texas forum discusses, they apparently will be converting to digital, and joining the
Austin/Travis County system. (Anything underlined &
blue is a link.)
To be able to listen to what you mention, you would need a digital scanner. For handhelds, at the moment, there are three current models available: The
Pro-96, sold through Radio Shack; the Uniden
BCD396T, sold through various scanner retailers, mostly on the internet; and the GRE
PSR500, sold also through scanner retailers. (The PSR500 is the newest one of the three, just released for sale last week.) All of these retail for about $500, though Radio Shack occasionally puts their's on sale. The BCD396T & the PSR500 both come with ac adapters and a pc interface cable. For the Pro-96, ac adapter & cable are all extra cost. For more details, use the links to see the Wiki page for each scanner, including a list of what else comes with each one.
You may also keep an eye on the for-sale forum here. You will find 396's & Pro-96's for sale occasionally, sometimes at a very good price. With the release of the PSR500, there have been a number of Pro-96's listed, some in the low to mid $300's.
There are few "bricks and mortar" stores that carry digital scanners. Fryes does, in some of their stores, but pricing is well above what you'd pay from one of the established scanner retailers on the internet.
