The $767 question

[Jrod74]

I am a Spokane County, Washington resident and am seriously thinking about buying a uniden Sds200. My only worry is the police will go to full encryption and my scanner will be obsolete in the near future. I currently listen to scanner 5.0 nightly here, but can’t tune out AMR and fire which is very annoying. Any opinions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[rf_patriot200]

I am a Spokane County, Washington resident and am seriously thinking about buying a uniden Sds200. My only worry is the police will go to full encryption and my scanner will be obsolete in the near future. I currently listen to scanner 5.0 nightly here, but can’t tune out AMR and fire which is very annoying. Any opinions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Move ? We All suffer from the same dilemma, so we try to find alternative radio interests such as Rail, Aircraft, Military, Marine, Gmrs, Murs and Fire/rescue.

 

[Jondrew55]

It really depends on your area. Right now I receive limited police traffic in Orange and Seminole County. But as previously noted, there are still lots of things to listen to. I have a local university, public works agencies, city bus routes as well as some fire and EMS that are very active. I get weak, but still some aviation as I am located between 3 airports. It's all fun to listen to and beats leaving the news stations on in the background since you get all this unfiltered.

Now, is this worth $700+ for the radio(you'll be buying antennas and other stuff not to mention DMR, NXDN and waterfall upgrades for your radio). Oh yea, programming software like Proscan and I'd suggest getting a premium sub to RR.

If I get a year or more of enjoyment out of this, it will have been worth the money and time. But your milage may vary.

 

[buddrousa]

@Jrod74
Here is a question that you need to answer yourself.
If you spend $767 for a scanner and a year later they encrypt and you sell the scanner for $600 did you get $167 dollars of use for 1 year?

 

[dave3825]

I am a Spokane County, Washington resident and am seriously thinking about buying a uniden Sds200. My only worry is the police will go to full encryption and my scanner will be obsolete in the near future.

While enc can happen at any time, research is always advisable prior to making a large purchase.

Looks like your a new member here on this site. You should look in your states forum and see if there is any mention of enc for the systems you monitor. It could already be in the works. If you know anyone that works for the agencies you wish to monitor, have they heard anything?

Another thing to consider is what would you want to listen to? There is DMR, P25 and NXDN listed in that county. Addition paid upgrades are required for DMR, NXDN and Provoice (which does not look to be in use in that county).

Airway Heights Corrections Center	Project 25 Phase I	Various
Avista Utilities	MPT-1327 Standard	Various
Community Colleges of Spokane	NXDN NEXEDGE 4800	Spokane
Day Wireless (DMR)	DMR Tier 3 Capacity Max	Various
Day Wireless UHF	LTR Standard	Spokane
Eastern Washington University	NXDN NEXEDGE 9600	Cheney
Gonzaga University	NXDN NEXEDGE 4800	Spokane
Huntwood Industries	LTR Standard	Liberty Lake
Justice Integrated Wireless Network	Project 25 Phase II	Various
Meadowwood Partnership	LTR Standard	Liberty Lake
Mobile Talk Wireless	NXDN NEXEDGE 4800	Various
Northern Quest Casino	DMR Motorola Capacity Plus Multi Site (TRBO)	Airway Heights
Pacific NorthWest DMR	DMR Conventional Networked	Various
Providence Medical Centers	DMR Conventional Networked	Various
Spokane Regional Emergency Communications System	Project 25 Phase I	Spokane
Spokane Transit Authority	Project 25 Phase II	Spokane
Spokane Tribe Casino	NXDN NEXEDGE 4800	Airway Heights
TRBOWEST (WA-OR-ID-CA)	DMR Motorola Connect Plus (TRBO)	Various
United States Air Force (57C)	Project 25 Phase I	Multiple
Washington Department of Transportation (P25)	Project 25 Phase II	Various
Wiztronics Inc	NXDN NEXEDGE 4800	Various