What would be a decent, basic, police/fire scanner for my dad?

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RockySC

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I'm totally clueless about this sort of thing, so any advice would be appreciated.

Growing up, my dad had a handheld police/fire scanner and whenever we would hear a siren or hear about something local going on, we would flip it on and just see what was going on. Well, I was just talking to him on the phone, some chicken houses were on fire and he told me to get on my iPhone and use the scanner app and listen to it if I wanted (I recently showed him how I could do it on my iPhone) and I asked if he was doing it on the handheld himself, and he said no - it broke down about a year ago and he hasn't been able to listen for things since.

Well, an idea for his Christmas gift instantly popped into my head.

We live in the upstate SC area, Seneca to be exact where he is located (I'm up the road in Anderson).

What would be a decent, basic, cheapish handheld scanner to get for him to use in this area? It doesn't have to be anything fancy. For the most part he would just keep it on the very local channels and just flip it on when he heard something going on. It doesn't need any bells or whistles, just the ability to pick up the police/fire type of stuff for the area.

What would be something good to look for? Is it possible to get anything that would work for these basic uses in the $50 range or so? Like I said, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

brian

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You're in luck.

If you click on the Database tab at the top of this forums page, and navigate to Oconee County in SC, you'll see that pretty much all Public Safety communications for Oconee County are conventional. In essence that means you can buy him just about any scanner made today, and many used ones, and program it to hear the goings on in Oconee Co and most of the municipalities.

Some scanners have additional features that many find helpful, such as alpha-tags (text names that you can associate with frequencies so that you can know who's talking without having to remember or look up a list of frequencies. Support of squelch tones (PL, DPL, CTCSS, DCS) is also popular because it helps to cut out noice and unwanted transmissions that make listening less enjoyable. Computer interfacing helps make the programming task easier and in some cases you can download data directly from this site without retyping. You'll probably have to pay a little more than $50 fo some of those features.

If you choose a non-trunking (conventional only) scanner for him, he'll miss out on SCHP communictions and other state agencies that operate on the Palmetto 800. And if he happened to live in Anderson Co. (as you do), you'd be looking for a much more expensive radio just to listen to the local agencies as most of Anderson Co's agencies operate on the digital Palmetto P25 system.

Hope that helps.
 

RockySC

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Thanks so much for the information brian! Do you have any models that you could recommend for me to take a look at?
 

brian

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I would look in the classified section of this website (top of this page, click on the classified tab) and see what you can find that might suit your price range. Decide what you want in terms of features - # of channels, alphatags, computer programming ability, availability of programming cables and software, etc - before you look.
 

RockySC

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Thanks for the help so far guys but I have still been unable to find anything, new or used, in the price range of $50 or so. Can anyone else help me out? I'm running out of time unfortunately.
 

brian

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Thanks for the help so far guys but I have still been unable to find anything, new or used, in the price range of $50 or so. Can anyone else help me out? I'm running out of time unfortunately.

Contact me by private message.
 

n5ims

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Contact me by private message.

They may not have the ability to use Private Messages since they're a new member with only 5 posts. I believe that this ability only kicks in once they're posts are no longer being moderated.
 

wingmaker

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His father is in the city of Seneca, Witch on the Palmetto system has one talkgroup for Oconee County and it is 52576 Seneca PD also a Digital Talkgroup, says law tac so might not be a Dispatch, but car to car or tactical maybe. He also might want to listen to the State and Digital scanners can get expensive.

But yes for the most part other then the above all yours seem Conv. Analog Freqs in the UHF range for Sheriff and VHF for The Counties Fire and EMS. For Seneca there are 3 VHF for FD and 2 UHF for PD and all for County and Seneca City are analog Besides on the Palmetto, BUT and this is a BIG BUT:) they might for interops get more talkgroups on the Palmetto System or they could move over, if they did the latter he wouldnt here nothing if he had a just an Analog scanner. Just my thoughts:)
LOVE AND BLESSINGS
 

RockySC

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Guys, would the PRO-90 Trunktracker 300 channel scanner from Radio Shack do the job for the area he needs it in?

I found out what he was using before it broke down on him. It was a Realistic PRO 20-302. It seems to be incredibly basic, and likely wasn't giving him nearly what he could be getting.

Thanks for the most recent comments!

I really, really hate having to ask so many basic questions of you guys. I know how annoying it must be, trust me. I simply don't want to screw up on what I find for him, that is all. This is just incredibly confusing for someone who doesn't know anything about any of this, although I'm trying to learn as I go. I look on eBay and have no idea what to pick to even research.

A local guy, well an hour or so away, has this one for $50. Would it do? http://greenville.craigslist.org/ele/3409666395.html
 
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LarrySC

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The link is to a PRO70 VHF/UHF. It would work for conventional freqs. The PRO-90 you mention would do the same but will no longer TrunkTrack the SC system.
 

RockySC

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But would either one pretty much do what he was using his other one for?

Thanks!
 

wingmaker

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Guys, would the PRO-90 Trunktracker 300 channel scanner from Radio Shack do the job for the area he needs it in?

I found out what he was using before it broke down on him. It was a Realistic PRO 20-302. It seems to be incredibly basic, and likely wasn't giving him nearly what he could be getting.

Thanks for the most recent comments!

I really, really hate having to ask so many basic questions of you guys. I know how annoying it must be, trust me. I simply don't want to screw up on what I find for him, that is all. This is just incredibly confusing for someone who doesn't know anything about any of this, although I'm trying to learn as I go. I look on eBay and have no idea what to pick to even research.

A local guy, well an hour or so away, has this one for $50. Would it do? Police Scanner Pro 70 Hyperscan, 50 Channels handheld

I would say they would work for pretty much all of what he would want to listen to. Us RadioReference people are always glad to help anyone in the need of it, alot of Awesome People here:) I can only speak for myself but Your Definitly not annoying me and more than likely not anyone else either, we definitly understand, I ask all kinds of Questions to figure out stuff before I buy So I cant blame ya there Brother;) Dont worry you will learn and pick it up, thats for sure Brother:D I would say the one for 50 on Craiglist would work as long as your dads just trying to get the 150s mhz and the 450 or 460s mhz, because I think that scanner only goes up to 512mhz so it would work for pretty much all they have beside one 800 Palmetto TalkGroup. LOVE AND BLESSINGS Good Luck hope you find one!
 
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RockySC

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I took the chance and won this auction, and received the two scanners today...

Pro 90 Trunktracker 300 Channel Scanner Plus EXTRAS | eBay

Living in Anderson, am I able to program and scan and listen to Oconee from here so I can have it ready for my dad? For these things, when you hit the scan button, does it scan just the programmed channels or does it scan everything that it can pick up in the area?

I'm not even sure how to go about programming either one.

Thanks in advance.
 
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