Spotsylvania FD/EMS

[Satman_1234]

I don't know about the trx1 unless the service types aren't set up correctly. Spotsylvania fire is using phase 2 talkgroups tdma. Pt0/pt1 displays on uniden scanners

Hello,
Reaching out to you because I see you live in Spotsy... I'm in Stafford and would like to see if you can recommend a good hand held scanner that works for Emergency Services in our region... thanks

I was looking at three specific models
1. UNIDEN SDS100
2. Whistler TRX
3. Uniden BCD436HP

 

[KT4HX]

Hello,
Reaching out to you because I see you live in Spotsy... I'm in Stafford and would like to see if you can recommend a good hand held scanner that works for Emergency Services in our region... thanks

I was looking at three specific models
1. UNIDEN SDS100
2. Whistler TRX
3. Uniden BCD436HP

Not to answer for Ken, but I recently got an SDS200 and I've found it works great on the Spotsy and Stafford/Fredericksburg systems. So in my view I would go with the SDS100 for your needs.

 

[Dafe1er]

Hello,
Reaching out to you because I see you live in Spotsy... I'm in Stafford and would like to see if you can recommend a good hand held scanner that works for Emergency Services in our region... thanks

I was looking at three specific models
1. UNIDEN SDS100
2. Whistler TRX
3. Uniden BCD436HP

Only scanners that work in our area are going to be the Uniden SDS series scanners and also look into a Unication G5. All three of these units work great on the local systems.

 

[kainixon2187]

I use a 436 on Virginia Beach's system (ORION) and it works terribly. Would not recommend using it for simulcast. I started using and XTS5K and it works great. The problem is the XTS5K is FDMA and VB is starting to use a lot of TDMA so I'm looking into purchasing a G5 or possibly an APX7000. I have heard great things about both and the SDS units.

 

[N4VKF]

Echoing what others have said. Spotsyvania has a simulcast network. The sds scanners and unication pagers work best. You can use other phase 2 scanners if you are in the right space and receive from only one site but decode can be spotty.

 

[TJX400]

I use both the SDS series and the APX6000xe on Spotsy along with multiple other LSM systems. The only gripe I have about the SDS is that instead of decreasing the bitrate of the voice when signal strength is reduced, it cuts the voice audio entirely until enough signal strength is regained. The APX just decreases the bit rate and makes it sound slightly more "robotic". Other than that the SDS tracks flawlessly and is able to receive all unencrypted traffic just fine.

 

[motorcoachdoug]

Also the Harris XG100P would work on the VB system and cost less then a APX7K

 

[fredva]

Hello,
Reaching out to you because I see you live in Spotsy... I'm in Stafford and would like to see if you can recommend a good hand held scanner that works for Emergency Services in our region... thanks

I was looking at three specific models
1. UNIDEN SDS100
2. Whistler TRX
3. Uniden BCD436HP

The SDS-100 is made to work on digital simulcast radio systems used by Stafford, Fredericksburg, and Spotsylvania and would be your best choice. The other two in your list are older designs and not considered fully compatible with simulcast. The Unication receiver will receive simulcast well, but it has a limitation of only receiving one radio trunking system at a time. That means the Unication would not be able to monitor the Stafford-Fredericksburg system and the Spotsylvania system at the same time, or monitor Spotsylvania and the state police at the same time, as examples.

My SDS-100 is superior on Stafford-Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania compared to a 436HP and a Whistler WS-1080 that I've also used.

The only emergency services you will be able to monitor in Stafford, Fredericksburg, and Spotsylvania are fire and EMS. Law enforcement agencies in those jurisdictions have encrypted their communications so they can't be monitored by the public. The state police can still be monitored, but might go encrypted in the future.

I'm glad you asked on RadioReference before making a purchase. Some people purchase a digital scanner first, and then come to RadioReference asking why they aren't hearing much. Then experienced scanner hobbyists have to tell them that the scanner they purchased, though less expensive than other optons, wasn't designed for the systems they are trying to monitor.

 

[N4VKF]

Anyone notice a talkgroup 65535? I discovered that this morning with an all call broadcast on Spotsy 1. It appears to be a dynamic talkgroup created when a special broadcast is made to all radio users on the system.

 

[fredva]

Here is a video showing Spotsylvania County's current fire/EMS alerting system: