What kind of equipment does the news media use for monitoring?

[a388sig2]

I programmed the NBC station here and they had a psr600, 2 gre 500's and a pro 96. The desktops were hooked to a discone somewhere on their tower.
The news radio station I programmed uses a 996XT also to an outside antenna.

Curious how often, or even at all, do you need to go back and update them?

 

[stingray327]

I programmed the NBC station here and they had a psr600, 2 gre 500's and a pro 96. The desktops were hooked to a discone somewhere on their tower.
The news radio station I programmed uses a 996XT also to an outside antenna.

I find that the Scat Ant or the discontinued Channel Master antennas work the best and cost less than the discone antenna.

 

[FlashSWT]

Good thread, interesting to hear how folks around the country do it.

At my newspaper we just use a bunch of Unidens. Mostly 396Ts with a handful of 396XTs and 996Ts. I've been sitting on the replacement budget for over a year waiting on the new models so it looks like we'll get some new toys sometime soon.

And as someone mentioned above, our main cops/courts reporter keeps his running 24/7. I'm always amazed how he can sleep through the crap but he always wakes up for the good stuff!

 

[stingray327]

Good thread, interesting to hear how folks around the country do it.

At my newspaper we just use a bunch of Unidens. Mostly 396Ts with a handful of 396XTs and 996Ts. I've been sitting on the replacement budget for over a year waiting on the new models so it looks like we'll get some new toys sometime soon.

And as someone mentioned above, our main cops/courts reporter keeps his running 24/7. I'm always amazed how he can sleep through the crap but he always wakes up for the good stuff!

Which new scanners will you be purchasing?

 

[FlashSWT]

Which new scanners will you be purchasing?

I'm sure we'll end up with a BCD-436HP first since I primarily use a handheld in my truck. Our cops reporter is already drooling over the optional WiFi feature of the BCD-536HP so I'm sure we'll have a few of those as well.

 

[stingray327]

I'm sure we'll end up with a BCD-436HP first since I primarily use a handheld in my truck. Our cops reporter is already drooling over the optional WiFi feature of the BCD-536HP so I'm sure we'll have a few of those as well.

sAME here. Uniden 436 and a 536. Whistler is also releasing GRE scanners. In any event time will tell and I'll wait and see which ones get the best reviews.

 

[fleef]

never heard of a news gatherer that does not use scanner

Do they use scanners? You bet (got this info from KPHO here in AZ) I am not quoting him as I didn't ask, but it's probably common knowledge. I think all news gatherers use scanners. The KPHO guy said he had 9 scanners on his desk and it's hard to pay attention to all of them at the same time. I found this out by a time I contacted their news desk to ask why a shooting wasn't on the news ("WHAT shooting?") some time back.

 

[OregonJourno]

I'm the cops reporter at a small daily in rural Oregon. We have a GRE PSR-400 in between the reporters desks, and a couple of BC125AT's for the car. The only digital stuff we have to contend with comes from the Coast Guard.

The CBS affiliate in town is using a bunch of Radio Shack stuff, IIRC.

 

[ofd8001]

I've helped one of our local TV stations set up their four Uniden 996XTs, two of which were just purchased. They've also got a couple of other "vintage" scanners. They are also using a roof top antenna system.