Columbus scanner advice... returning to the hobby...

[mparker]

Hey group, I have been out of monitoring since the rebanding around 2013 I think it was? At the time I had a BCT15 and really loved it. I had the "quick keys" set up like this,

(1) The entire Columbus PD system
(2) West Columbus
(3) Entire Franklin County Sheriff
(4) West Columbus Sheriff
(5) Entire Columbus Fire
(6) West Columbus Fire

That gave me the option of ONLY monitoring west Columbus (where I lived at the time)

I would like to get back into the hobby. Seems like Uniden is THE only game in town now, although the SDS is out of stock everywhere and not on their site anymore? There are also Unication pagers too I guess. The main driver for this is my wife has a app on her phone that somehow gets police activity updates and notifies her based on gps location. I would like to go a step further and get car/car, car/dispatcher, car/helo comms.

Two part question, the main question is, Can the new digital systems be isolated to scan ONLY one area/side of town? Second, Unication or SDS? Or is there another option? New Uniden on the horizon?

 

[smithken]

You would isolate what you want to listen to by talkgroup, in the database this is the number in the first column. On Uniden scanners once you program in a site forget that you ever knew anything about frequencies, think talkgroups instead.

As far as the second part of your question I would go with an SDS. I don't know anything about Unication so they might work also. The 2 Columbus sites are simulcast and, as far as I know, the SDSs are the only scanners that can deal with simulcast. If you are in the right spot other scanners may work well but I wouldn't bet on it. I must be in the right spot for my system, I monitor a simulcast site and neither my 996T or my 396XT have a problem with it, from what I've read on these forums they should have a big problem with simulcast.

 

[sonm10]

I am not from your area, but it really depends on who is dispatching who and on which talkgroup. There maybe a single talkgroup for several agencies, or some agencies may have there own talkgroups. Take a look at this page, especially the two systems for Franklin county public safety. Franklin County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference (radioreference.com)

Also,
Ohio MARCS-IP: Multi-Agency Radio Communications Trunking System, Statewide, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)
COIRS (Central Ohio Interoperable Radio System) Trunking System, Delaware, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)

Again, someone local may need to clue you to who is dispatching who.



Yes, SDS-200. Learn how to create your own Favorites Lists and assign quick keys.

 

[wdz]

FCSO is has channels for west and east so that makes it easy for you. CPD is divided in zones, each with their own talk group. It is not a perfect west side only solution but you can mostly isolate what you want to hear. CFD is the same, but if a battalion talkgroup is already in use or another battalion is taking the run they sometimes use a different fireground talkgroup so there's a chance you might miss what you want to hear.

I have both an SDS 200 and a Unication and both perform very well.

 

[hamstang]

Uniden SDS scanners are in stock at all Ham Radio Outlet's 13 stores.

 

[mparker]

FCSO is has channels for west and east so that makes it easy for you. CPD is divided in zones, each with their own talk group. It is not a perfect west side only solution but you can mostly isolate what you want to hear. CFD is the same, but if a battalion talkgroup is already in use or another battalion is taking the run they sometimes use a different fireground talkgroup so there's a chance you might miss what you want to hear.

I have both an SDS 200 and a Unication and both perform very well.

Thanks for the info! sounds like I could just copy your scan file...lol. I hope to pick one up at Dayton Hamvention

 

[redbluff1099]

You would isolate what you want to listen to by talkgroup, in the database this is the number in the first column. On Uniden scanners once you program in a site forget that you ever knew anything about frequencies, think talkgroups instead.

As far as the second part of your question I would go with an SDS. I don't know anything about Unication so they might work also. The 2 Columbus sites are simulcast and, as far as I know, the SDSs are the only scanners that can deal with simulcast. If you are in the right spot other scanners may work well but I wouldn't bet on it. I must be in the right spot for my system, I monitor a simulcast site and neither my 996T or my 396XT have a problem with it, from what I've read on these forums they should have a big problem with simulcast.

You also might want to check Bluetail Technologies. Several of us use them and the also do simulcast and in my opinion much better than SDS and they are 1/3 the cost.