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XPR 3500 or 3500e as a scanner?

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sbruno82630

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Apr 23, 2016
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Cheektowaga ny
I was looking into having a motorola portable as a scanner. Yes I understand it can only scan a select amount of channels at a time as its a radio, but I was wondering if it would be a smart idea. The radio is as much as a scanner that I want and I feel that the radio is a better choice due to the battery capacity and radio build. I will have the person im buying it from program it for me so that wont be an issue. I was thinking about the XPR 3500 or the XPR 3500E does anyone know the difference between the both? I was also concerned of mdc1200 key ups working properly on these models. Will the chirps work properly and be a short noise instead of a longer burst? Lastly when they program it for me how do zones work? Are those like banks for the uniden scanner number? How many banks are there? How many channels are permitted per bank? Please provide any information that would be very useful and radio recomendations for this use and please note that I would get it programmed only to monitor not talk.
 

N1GTL

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CT
If you're getting it only to monitor, why are you concerned with MCD1200 "key up chirps"?

Buy a scanner. You don't have the software to make changes and you WILL want changes.
 

sbruno82630

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Apr 23, 2016
Messages
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Location
Cheektowaga ny
Its important to recieve them properly on my end when theyre transmitting. So that they are short chirps and not long bursts. I would prefer a radio because theyre cheaper, built better, and they sound better. I really wouldnt need to make changes as ill have every channel in my county programed basically.
 

cmdrwill

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Mar 30, 2005
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I was also concerned of mdc1200 key ups working properly on these models. Will the chirps work properly and be a short noise instead of a longer burst? .

You would need a radio that has Data Operated Squelch to shorten up those irritating MDC squawks. DOS is a receiver option. I use a Motorola Jedi to monitor one system that repeats the dammed MDC.

I do not know if any of the Motobro stuff has DOS.
 

clbsquared

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Oct 13, 2015
Messages
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Isle of Wight County
Assuming your county is analog conventional, and will remain that way, the radio you've selected will be fine. IF, your county decides to change their system and migrate to any type of digital trunking, you're not going to be able to monitor it with that radio. Just some food for thought. Scanners may seem expensive on the surface, but they have the ability to decode a host of different system types.

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk
 

Forts

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It is a digital radio, yes.... but only DMR/MotoTRBO digital. Nothing more, nothing else. And the only way it'll work with encryption is if you have the key, obviously.

You can have 16 channels in a zone and I believe a max of 51 zones. Your scan lists will be limited to 16 channels per list, and you can only have 1 list active at a time. You'll also need the MotoTRBO CPS and programming cable to program the radio.

If you just want to scan analog, buy a scanner...
 
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