Newbie Looking for recommendations to get started...

[dmkc1207]

greetings..I recently retired and will be spending a lot more time @ home and am interested in purchasing a scanner. I am not sure if this is the correct forum for my first post but I plan on becoming a regular & purchasing a premium account in the future..I try to do my homework first (which is how I wound up here!), and am pretty good @ researching what I need but the scanner world is confusing indeed!..I am a total newbie but have read the Wiki info and have a general idea what I want..I have a few questions but don't want to bore the readers with a bloated post so I'll be general to start...I'd like to listen mainly to New York State- Albany/Rensselaer/Saratoga County transmissions, police,fire,emergency type posts..I'm wondering if its worth it to spend the extra money on a digital trunking scanner as they seem so much more expensive..I don't mind the extra bucks if I'm not obsolete 2 or 3 yrs down the road, but don't want to waste money on features that a casual listener doesn't need either..also there seems to be a big difference in pricing on "pre-programmed" models...I'm comfortable around computers and I'll do whatever homework necessary to try & become proficient so I'm wondering if,as a newbie, I should buy a pre-prgrmd model or purchase software after the fact..I haven't decided on a handheld or base model but for my analog needs and budget I'm prone to

handheld:Uniden BC246T
base: uniden BCT15 or BC898T

and for digital:

handheld: Uniden BCD396T
base: Uniden BCD996T

(if this part would be better served directly in the Uniden forum itself, please ignore)

thanks for any info, I'm looking forward to having fun and being a part of this community in the future!..any suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[patrick911]

Hi and welcome in this wonderful world that is scanning

For your choice of digital or analog scanner. New-York state is working on a OpenSky network wich is not scanner friendly!!! No scanner on the market is able to follow this kind of digital communcations.

Saratoga County is apparently working on upgrading their communications. http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=1139 Only time can tell if they will go in P25 digital

Albany is Motorola type 2 analog transmission http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=5092 and I dont think they will change their comms anytime soon.

Rensselaer county is mostly in analog LTR and EDACS. http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=1009

A P25 scanner would be a good buy. In our time, radio communication is changing fast and the fashion is P25 digital. With a 396 or 996 you will not miss a thing thats for sure. Also if you travel, your neighbor from the north is working on a province wide network in P25.

If you have more question feel free to ask

Pat

 

[sjcscanner]

The BCD996T/396T does seem like your best bet, it covers all your needs.

 

[n2mdk]

Another good place to ask is in the NYS regional forum it's quite active, I like to read it although I no longer live in NY http://www.radioreference.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53

 

[SilentKillerx07]

Hey, I'm Larry. I live in Saratoga County and I have a Pro-2018 for a base and a BCT 8 for a mobile/base. The RR Database has a lot of great info for scanning, especially in this area. If you have any questions, IM or PM me.

 

[50NIT]

Like the OP I am coming back to the game after 16 years. Looking at the same model BCD396T. My question is will this digital model pickup my local county pd which is still on analog?(county in process converting to a digital system)

Thanks

 

[n2mdk]

Like the OP I am coming back to the game after 16 years. Looking at the same model BCD396T. My question is will this digital model pickup my local county pd which is still on analog?(county in process converting to a digital system)

Thanks

Yes a digital capable scanner will work fine on the analog trunking and conventional systems