Hey K8TEK, didn't your momma ever tell you that if you don't have something nice or constructive to say, shut the hell up? She should have.........
Raisindot, although I don't live in the Boston area, I do live in a large metrolopolitan area and eventually everything will be going digital. However, it will be a long time before all analog transmissions disappear, if ever, so probably at this point its more of a "want" versus "need" to have a digital scanner. Check the Radio Reference database for your area, that will help you with your research. RR is by far the most up to date database you will find anywhere on the internet. Here are some of my observations about the PSR500 that I recently posted to another list: I've had one since the day they were released and shipped. I've been very happy with the unit, and it is now my go everywhere scanner. I haven't listened to hardly any MilAir so can't give you a definitive word on that part, but it seems to do well on airband AM, and VHF and UHF conventional. I do enjoy the NAC decoding capability. If you set the channel to code search, it will tell you immediately what type of tone is being used (CTCSS, DCS and NAC) and what the number is. If you enter a NAC tone on a channel, it works just like the CTCSS and DCS tones do. I took it to Colorado over Christmas and it performed very poorly (missed lots of initial transmissions on a talkgroup) on the statewide digital trunked radio system, a pure ASTRO P25 system. It performed poorly in this area compared to my PRO-96. However, GRE has released another firmware upgrade, which according to initial reports, has improved its performance on these types of systems. Around our area, it performs very well on trunked systems. And I have every one for our area entered into mine. I'm up to about 1750 objects and its not full yet. But, if you are used to Uniden scanners and to breaking down your systems into subgroups, forget that concept. You enter in each conventional channel or talkgroup as an object affiliated with a system & assign it to a scan group. If you want to listen to all talkgroups in a system you have to create a Wildcard object for that system. You can't turn it on and off other than locking it out, then turning the unit off then back on. You are limited to only 20 scan lists. So what I did was combine several systems who are close into one scan list, like Grand Prairie and Mansfield for instance. Arlington has its own scan list, but since I don't get up to the northeast corridor often, I have Richardson, Garland, Plano, McKinney and Collin County all in one system to save scan lists for other items. The audio is crisp and clear like the PRO-96, and I really like the colored LED light at the top of the scanner. It helps in identifying who is talking on a scan list without having to glance at the screen; like red for fire, blue for police, yellow for EMS, green for Media and pink for wreckers! It has been mentioned that the unit is very sensitive. Forget about hearing much of anything around a NEXTEL tower. The audio on mine washes out. And you can't set it near computers. And if you have a 800MHz cell phone, you will hear the hamster claw sound coming out of the scanner's speaker each time the phone pings, or gets pinged, by a cell site. Guess that's handy if you want to know if someone is calling before the phone rings or if Jack Bower is looking for your GPS coordinates! But, the receive capability with the stock antenna is awesome. I can hear systems here at the crib that are deaf to all my other scanners including the PRO-96. The scan rate is remarkably fast and comparable to older GRE scanners "back in the day." With four 2500maH Energizer nickel metal hydride batteries it will run for about 8 to 10 hours.