700 mhz digital scanners

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arlo

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Which scanners can receive 700 digital? Would a new 700 digital system be P25 phase 1 or 2? Is there a converter that would convert a 700 digital signal to a frequency that my digital Radio Shack scanner can receive?
 

jonwienke

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Which scanners can receive 700 digital? Would a new 700 digital system be P25 phase 1 or 2? Is there a converter that would convert a 700 digital signal to a frequency that my digital Radio Shack scanner can receive?

Any of the newer digital trunking scanners, such as the Uniden 436 or 536, 996P2, etc.

Could be either.

No. You'll need a new scanner.
 

arlo

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I am looking at the BCD536HP. Does it receive MotoTrbo? Does record and playback work good? How many minutes of record? It says it will decode CTCSS-DCS, fire tone out, and NAC? Does this mean it will show on display the tones being received?
 

rbrtklamp2

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I am looking at the BCD536HP. Does it receive MotoTrbo? Does record and playback work good? How many minutes of record? It says it will decode CTCSS-DCS, fire tone out, and NAC? Does this mean it will show on display the tones being received?
All of your questions can be answered by reading through the threads on it. Yes it receives moto trbo with a paid upgrade. I think it's 60 dollars for trbo and 50 dollars for Provoice when it comes to p25 phase 1 and are included for free and decode well. It does decode the NAC, Color Code and PL/DPL of the channels you are scanning if it's set to search for them. Fire tone out is a mode all of its own and I'm not sure if you can scan with it enabled but yes it will decode Fire tone out codes when using FTO mode. I would personally recommend the BCD325P2 and 996P2 as they are very good scanners that do all of the above as stated but with out the head ache of the home patrol programming scheme. But the 536 is a nice scanner with all its bells and whistles. You can even remotely monitor and control it via the siren app any where you have coverage from the WiFi system you have the scanner connected to. In the end it's up to you to make the call pretty and shiny with all the options would be the HP Series sturdy as hell with a few less options would be the P2 series. Choose wisely my friend. [emoji3]

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radio3353

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You must determine if any of your P25 Phase 1 or Phase 2 systems are simulcast. If so, you will likely be disappointed in any Uniden or Whistler scanner unless you are in the sweet spot (receiving transmissions from only one tower.)

You need to educate yourself by reading through the forums for the scanners and systems that interest you. Nobody can tell you what to buy without being at your location. Too many variables today.
 

natedawg1604

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You really ought to find a fellow scanner user in your State/Region who is familiar with the system(s) you wish to monitor, hopefully they can tell you whether the system is Phase I or II (and if it is Phase II capable, which talkgroups actually operate in Phase II mode), which talkgroups/agencies are Encrypted, etc etc.
 

ofd8001

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Does record and playback work good? Yes.

How many minutes of record? Depends on the size of SD card you get. It comes with 4GB, but you can use up to 32 GB. Each minute of recording consumes about 1MB on the card. (Note that Favorites Lists and other things beside recordings are on the card so you don't quite have the full capacity of the card for recording).

It says it will decode CTCSS-DCS, fire tone out, and NAC? Does this mean it will show on display the tones being received? Yes to CTCSS-DCS and NAC, depending how you set up the display. Yes to Fire Tone Out, but you may have to set it up to do a Fire Tone Out search for these to be displayed.
 

arlo

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When card is full of recordings, does it just start over or must card be erased? Do all channels record or can you pick which channels are recorded?
 

Jay911

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When card is full of recordings, does it just start over or must card be erased? Do all channels record or can you pick which channels are recorded?

On the x36HP line (and the HomePatrol line), the scanner will record until there is a small amount of room left on the card, and then will pop up a message saying that the card is nearly full and recording has been stopped.

An 8GB card will hold at least a couple weeks of recordings from a heavily used scanner.

When you turn on recording, all channels are recorded.
 

CanesFan95

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Any current scanners won't work on P25 systems that are simulcast. You will have many garbled or missed transmissions, unless you luck out and find a good sweet spot with a yagi antenna.
 

arlo

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I seem to remember that years ago, there was an auction of 700 mhz frequencies and a company bought the frequencies. Users would have to pay to use a 700 frequency. Is this true?
 

Jay911

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I seem to remember that years ago, there was an auction of 700 mhz frequencies and a company bought the frequencies. Users would have to pay to use a 700 frequency. Is this true?

Nope. There are two (perhaps three) different portions of the 700 MHz "band" commonly discussed.

The section which was allocated to public safety, from 763-806, was always allocated that way (at least since the band was eliminated as a series of TV channels on analog terrestrial TV) and hasn't changed.

There is another section which was auctioned to wireless providers and ultimately allocated for consumer LTE products. Most smartphones today use this band in addition to other frequency bands between 800 and 6000 MHz, to deliver your internet, telephone voice, SMS, etc. I don't recall the exact frequencies; this Wikipedia article may help.

The section which has made the most noise in the news media over the past few years is a section that was as-yet unused by both consumer LTE and public safety voice/data. These sections were the subject of various debates in both American and Canadian government sessions (both countries had similar situations ongoing) as to whether the bands would be auctioned off as more consumer LTE or given to public safety for a dedicated, public safety LTE network(s). In the end, the 20 MHz that was as-yet unallocated was designated for public safety LTE on both sides of the border. This will be used eventually for broadband data transmissions such as pictures, video, and other data relating to fire, police, and medical incidents. However, of all of these bands, only the original public safety voice/data, 763-806, is scannable, and 99% of it is APCO P25 digital.

As for "pay to use", technically all of it is, because you have to have a license to use (transmit on) a radio frequency, and you have to generally pay for a license.
 

ofd8001

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Any current scanners won't work on P25 systems that are simulcast. You will have many garbled or missed transmissions, unless you luck out and find a good sweet spot with a yagi antenna.

That's not a hard and fast situation. There could be simulcast distortion issues that might lead to garbled or missed transmissions. There are digital settings in scanners that can be fine tuned to improve the garble, in addition to using a Yagi antenna.
 

KA1RBI

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That's not a hard and fast situation. There could be simulcast distortion issues that might lead to garbled or missed transmissions. There are digital settings in scanners that can be fine tuned to improve the garble, in addition to using a Yagi antenna.

Homeboys-Scanna is substantially correct. And if the "digital settings" were enough to "fix" the problem, the manufacturers would have tuned them already, and we'd no longer be hearing reports from hapless users about troubles with LSM. Instead we'd be hearing many successes from gleeful users right and left that their simulcast problems are history now. The x36HP got a little bit of this but it most certainly has not eliminated the complaining.

As for Yagi antennas, ask mobile and portable users how that's worked out for them, esp. on VHF. We have a couple of VHF LSM systems now in this area. The questions about Yagis for that band have come up and they are not exactly small in size. Also it's very curious that pocket sized "real system" radios work well with omni antennas including the rubber duck type antennas without requiring the user to have a Yagi. Why are real system radios able to work without requiring a Yagi?

Bottom line for me: it absolutely *is* a hard and fast situation, and I've stopped buying any scanners and won't be buying any more scanners until it's truly fixed. Any time I want to listen to LSM systems without distortion, using an indoor omni antenna, I crank up my $20 RTL SDR and OP25. The scanner makers need to move their architecture in to the 21st century and start implementing IF-DSP. Ham Radio manufacturers have been doing so for a long time now.

Max

p.s. haha, yet another thread about simulcast.....
 

manspcr

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Get an Unication G4 or 5 , problems solved


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CanesFan95

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But the posts about simulcast are answering the original poster's (OP's) questions. It would be misleading to just say yes, current scanners do P25, and not mention the pros and cons.

Get an Unication G4 or 5 , problems solved

Not if you need Phase 2, and if you don't mind having no scan delay and no hold/resume button.
 

manspcr

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G4 & G5 has a few downfalls like you said, but when it talks, I can listen. No it's not a scanner, but the next best thing. I have 2 digital scanners that's only good for me if I find a sweet stationary spot. With my G4 i can hear on the move.


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