Setting up Multiple Scanners?

[Skyd]

Hey all - I'm in the process of planning and slowly acquiring the materials and equipment needed for my ham/listening shack project. I'm planning to run a few scanners off from a single OmniX antenna (unless there's a similar option for less money). I'm not asking about how to do that in this thread, I already have a basic understanding of that. Instead I'm more interested in setting up the actual scanners.

I haven't decided what scanners I want to use, perhaps a combination. My current scanning is via a PRO-106 and across the 20 banks I have about 700 frequencies programmed in. I keep a spreadsheet and I filtered out the known digital channels (P25) of which there are only about 65, so let's say 10%.

That being said, I'm planning to have a few analog only scanners in my setup and for now I think I want to keep my setup to 4 scanners. So one of them will be capable of APCO25, there's not a ton of trunking near me and it's seemingly commercial use on NXDN for the most part so that's not a big consideration.

So anyway - I just wanted to give an idea of where I'm going with my setup. So my question to you all is if you have a few scanners how do you like to set them up. For example - 1 for Police, 1 for fire/ems. 1 for milcom, etc etc. Or perhaps by location, or band? I'm just looking for some ideas and opinions to help me plan out what scanners I want to buy and how to compile my frequency lists. I have very very little going on here in the 700/800mhz and up bands, at least not that I can find.

Thanks in advance!

OH P.S. - I try to keep my scanners running in a way that it can scan everything I have active in under 2 seconds. I just feel like much more than that and I'm likely to miss alot of stuff. Not sure what other people do, or if they even consider that.

 

[lbashaw]

Although my home setup is primarily HAM/Amateur related, I do have 3 older model scanners (Uniden 780-XLT) setup as follows: 1. Air/MilAir; 2. Legacy (non-P25) emergency, 3. Railroad. I do have a couple of P-25 APCO scanners as well. I don't have any "priority" channels set up, since that can interrupt my scanning.

 

[Dog]

I have 2 SDS and a SDR setup that I use to scan 3 trunking systems. I use a BC 125AT for mil and air. I have another analog scanner coming that I just bought that will be used for Mil/Air and Air and anything else analog. I will be using the 125AT for misc. and to scan bands.

 

[bearcatrp]

Start comparing scanners for how fast they scan. The more agencies on one scanner to scan will slow down the scanner since it has more to scan. I have a digital scanner for my P25 scanning. Have a RS Pro 26 for air band. My Icom R30 does both as does my R8600. I would recommend proscan to log your frequencies. You can run multiple scanners on proscan. I have one antenna (discone) to a 4 port hookup. Works great. Think a SDS 200 would suit you well for your digital needs. If your PD and fire are digital, try it on one scanner to see if it’s fast enough for you. If not, get a second digital scanner. Allot of analog scanners out there to choose from. The uniden 15X is a fairly fast scanner so recommend that. If air band scanning, some analog scanners can’t scan 380 to 400 mhz so pay attention to the specs. Do you need DMR or NDXN? Some scanners are capable but not all. Uniden scanners are pay upgrade capable. Easy to do it yourself. Good luck.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

I have a Uniden Bearcat BC75XLT and a Uniden Bearcat BCD436HP. My BC75XLT is set up like this:
Bank 1: Washington County law enforcement
Bank 2: Washington County Fire/Medical
Bank 3: Marietta College Police Department, Marietta hospitals, and Marietta city services
Bank 4: Wood County law enforcement
Bank 5: Wood County Fire/Rescue
Bank 6: Wood County EMS

My BCD436HP is set up like this:
List 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY
System 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY
Department 0: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Department 1: FIRE/MEDICAL
Department 2: CITY
System 1: OHIO MARCS-IP
Department 0: WASHINGTON COUNTY (84)
Department 1: OSHP DISTRICT 7
Department 2: WASHINGTON COUNTY (84) STATE CORRECTIONS

And then I have it in the same type of order with Noble County, Athens County, Morgan County, and Monroe County in Ohio. And Wood County, Pleasants County, Jackson County, Wirt County in West Virginia, and today I'm planning on getting Ritchie County programmed in too. After that I'm planning on putting in the Ohio statewide interop channels, and then the West Virginia statewide interop, and finally nationwide interop.

 

[kd1sq]

One suggestion and a cheap one - have all kinds of standalone scanners but also invest in a RTL-SDR dongle. Not the cheap things on eBay, order it directly on Amazon from the rtl-sdr.com store.

You'll find that its ability to monitor wide swathes of bandwidth visually is far and away the best way to hunt down active frequencies - so much so that I use my SDRs to hunt down activity first and then program the older style receivers with them. There's no comparison between the two types when it comes to frequency hunting.

 

[Skyd]

Ya an SDR is on my list for finding active frequencies...that's a good suggestion and actually I should go ahead and do that sooner rather than later.

I don't need DMR or NDXN as the only trunking in my area is some commercial use and while that might be fun, its' not worth the added costs for me.

Start comparing scanners for how fast they scan. The more agencies on one scanner to scan will slow down the scanner since it has more to scan.

Ya that's why I want multiple scanners, or part of why. This way I can keep it to about 1-2 seconds for it to make a trip around the channels. Looks to me like Uniden has the edge with alot of thier stuff claiming 100cps.

 

[Omega-TI]

I went totally "retro" for my main analog scanning needs. I'm using an RCA 16S400 that scans at 20 channels per second, since the scanner only holds 10 channels, it scans them all twice in one second, so I never miss a transmission. I then use my Bearcat 800XLT for the remainder of the analog frequencies. Lastly I dedicate my SDS100 for the digital stuff, mainly state patrol. I've been toying with putting the SDS on Broadcastify since I have a spare RPi3 hanging around, but never seem to find the time to take the plunge.

 

[dave3825]

One suggestion and a cheap one - have all kinds of standalone scanners but also invest in a RTL-SDR dongle

Dongle is the MUST have tool and the most used tool for finding new stuff and or using as Mil Air scanner. 225 to 400 in seconds beats any scanner..

 

[bearcatrp]

You may not need those DMR or NDXN now but consider future proofing. If you go uniden, you don’t have to buy the upgrade now but available when you’re ready. Nothing sucks more than buying a scanner that meets your needs to find out a year later that it won’t cover your needs due to agencies upgrading to a newer technology.

 

[Akuriko]

i would recommend a uniden 15 great lil scanner.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Since all mine that I personally use daily are modern Whistlers, they are all programmed identical and I just enable whatever scanlist I want on individual units. One is local fire/EMS, the other is law. Things aren’t generally busy enough here to need more than two at a time though on big holidays (the Fourth of July is a big one) I might break out a couple extras to track all the fires that get started.

 

[G7RUX]

Can I ask a related question?
Are you intending to transmit from your ham gear in the same shack? If so, will you be using V/UHF at all? If so then you might need to make come consideration of how to protect your scanners from excessive levels that might result from coupling antennas.

 

[Skyd]

You may not need those DMR or NDXN now but consider future proofing. If you go uniden, you don’t have to buy the upgrade now but available when you’re ready. Nothing sucks more than buying a scanner that meets your needs to find out a year later that it won’t cover your needs due to agencies upgrading to a newer technology.

This is a good point, and I do plan to have 1 "main" scanner that has all the bells and whistles and capabilities. That will likely have to wait a bit, but it's on my radar.

i would recommend a uniden 15 great lil scanner.

I was looking at these as a possible option, they do look like a nice little scanner.

Can I ask a related question?
Are you intending to transmit from your ham gear in the same shack? If so, will you be using V/UHF at all? If so then you might need to make come consideration of how to protect your scanners from excessive levels that might result from coupling antennas.

Yes I do intend to do that, I may use UHF/VHF occasionally, HF more often. Probably not more than 100 watts. Also my ham antenna and scanner antenna will be on opposite sides of the house and for sure the UHF/VHF one will be at a different height as well.

Should be plenty of separation to avoid any front end overload on the scanners

 

[G7RUX]

Yes I do intend to do that, I may use UHF/VHF occasionally, HF more often. Probably not more than 100 watts. Also my ham antenna and scanner antenna will be on opposite sides of the house and for sure the UHF/VHF one will be at a different height as well.

Should be plenty of separation to avoid any front end overload on the scanners

OK, shouldn’t be disastrous then. Power limiters are available fairly cheaply and you could make your own just to protect from that nasty surprise!

 

[Akuriko]

You may not need those DMR or NDXN now but consider future proofing. If you go uniden, you don’t have to buy the upgrade now but available when you’re ready. Nothing sucks more than buying a scanner that meets your needs to find out a year later that it won’t cover your needs due to agencies upgrading to a newer technology.

if I remember correctly those 2 upgrades on uniden are available I heard at no extra cost on a whistler TRX-2 and TRX-1 I would look into that if thats the case.

 

[mass-man]

HP1......county trunking system with sheriff, highway patrol patch and county fire
HP1......same system with local PD and FD
(duplicate programming in both)
BC780..local ham radio storm spotter repeaters, local ATC, VHF/UHF interop
996p2..highway patrol repeaters, interop, county trunking system.
By duplicating programming in more than one scanner, I miss little.
I am considering adding a BCT15X for mil air and enroute ATC freq

 

[Akuriko]

HP1......county trunking system with sheriff, highway patrol patch and county fire
HP1......same system with local PD and FD
(duplicate programming in both)
BC780..local ham radio storm spotter repeaters, local ATC, VHF/UHF interop
996p2..highway patrol repeaters, interop, county trunking system.
By duplicating programming in more than one scanner, I miss little.
I am considering adding a BCT15X for mil air and enroute ATC freq

i think you should do a BCT15X good scanner I thought of using another or 4 for other frequencies myself, I found them to be pretty good lil scanners. also being $172.00 on amazon sells me on the price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002IT1C8U/?coliid=I2XFC5REL0IFF2&colid=1SMA2NYFC665N&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[Firebuff66]

I do an east/west set up and use 3 scanners to listen to the state trunk system much in the way you do so I can have fewer channels per scanner for speed.
I use the XTL & XPR radios for 1 or 2-channel monitoring
My TRX is running pro96 24/7

 

[Skyd]

View attachment 136728

I do an east/west set up and use 3 scanners to listen to the state trunk system much in the way you do so I can have fewer channels per scanner for speed.
I use the XTL & XPR radios for 1 or 2-channel monitoring
My TRX is running pro96 24/7

That's a sweet setup! Looks very clean too.