what scanner to buy?

[magic8161]

i live on the south side of milwaukee and want to get my first scanner. i went to amature electronics on browndeer rd about 6 months ago to buy a scanner. the guy there told me not to bother. that the milwaukee police channels are changing over to some kind of digital system and no scanner would work. dose anyone know if there is a scanner that will pick up milwaukee police calls? and the areas around milwaukee. i dont want to spend alot of money now but do want something nice and mabe used......thanks........Jimmy

 

[Sac916]

i live on the south side of milwaukee and want to get my first scanner. i went to amature electronics on browndeer rd about 6 months ago to buy a scanner. the guy there told me not to bother. that the milwaukee police channels are changing over to some kind of digital system and no scanner would work. dose anyone know if there is a scanner that will pick up milwaukee police calls? and the areas around milwaukee. i dont want to spend alot of money now but do want something nice and mabe used......thanks........Jimmy

See http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=254

There are digital capable scanners that monitor Project 25 systems.

 

[hankv]

i live on the south side of milwaukee and want to get my first scanner. i went to amature electronics on browndeer rd about 6 months ago to buy a scanner. the guy there told me not to bother. that the milwaukee police channels are changing over to some kind of digital system and no scanner would work. dose anyone know if there is a scanner that will pick up milwaukee police calls? and the areas around milwaukee. i dont want to spend alot of money now but do want something nice and mabe used......thanks........Jimmy

Both Uniden and Radio Shack have scanners that will track these:
This seems to be the current system: http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=254
This looks like the new one:http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=4300

There are no scanners that will track this: http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=3173

 

[Tim]

Howdy There....

The City of Milwaukee is still operating on an analog UHF system for police and analog VHF for fire. A local TV news report on the up and coming system mentioned August '07 as the "start up" date, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Everyone else in the county is migrating to the Milwaukee County 800MHz TRS analog system (Police / Fire). Over the course of time, agencies on the analog 800MHz TRS will migrate over to the new P25 system.

Which scanner to buy will depend on what you want to listen to. If it's just Milwaukee stuff, I would find a used radio scanner online since possibly in a year or two your scanner might be a paper-wieght. The BC246T is a pretty good choice. It's only around $150-200 new (Depending where you go).

If you are interested in the other agencies in the area (Waukesha County, Milwaukee County, Racine, etc)...you probably should get the bearcat 796D or bearcat 296D used (These are "discontinued" radios...but most likely would be cheapest thing you could find). These scanners will track the 9600 Baud (True Motorola P25) systems that Milwaukee County will be mirgrating to (..and maybe Waukesha down the line).

Tim

 

[Karl_KS9E]

The RadioShack Pro-97 *does not* do P-25 or Digital. The RadioShack Pro-96 does.

I personally own a Uniden Bearcat BCD396T. It seems to be the most popular digital and P25 capable scanner on the market. It has the capability of doing many things including 700 MHz which is said to be the "future" public safety communications band once analog television broadcasting is shifted over to digital. The Pro-96 does not have 700 MHz capability. The BCD396T (and several other Uniden models) also has Dynamic Memory which means groups of channels are arranged into flexible "systems" as opposed to "banks" with a set fixed number of channels per "bank".

Decide what your primary interest area(s) are and how much you are willing to spend. Devote some time to researching the features you consider important. Check with interest groups to find out what the pros and cons are to a given model. The more time you spend before you buy, the better your chances of finding the best fit for your needs.

Some things to consider are:

frequency coverages (aircraft / government / ham radio / FRS / GMRS / MURS / military / weather / news media, etc.)

tuning modes (am / fm (narrow / wide) / SSB / analog / digital / trunking (LTR, EDACS, Motorola) etc.)

features (user selectable tuning step sizes, fire tone out mode, cloning, SAME for WX, computer programmable, computer controllable, etc.)

Welcome to the scanning hobby!

 

[cristisphoto]

Yes grab the BCD396T
I'ts the Bomb LOL

 

[SCPD]

Uniden BCD996 for mobile/base. This scanner is the BEST!!!!!

 

[magic8161]

i only have $200 to spend. what can i get for that? that picks up the p25 digital stuff?

 

[wannabescannist]

i only have $200 to spend. what can i get for that? that picks up the p25 digital stuff?

...for $200...not a digital scanner!

 

[Karl_KS9E]

for $200.00 or less it will either be 1) not digital / P25 capable 2) Stolen or 3) the deal of a lifetime and likely 1 and or 2.