Any benefit to equipment upgrade in Triangle area?

[JohnDistai]

I'm in the Raleigh area and listen to local EMS on occasion at home. I have older equipment, Uniden BCD996XT and BCD396XT. Uniden released newer equipment since then. So far all I've been listening to is whatever's on VIPER and local HAM.

Is there any benefit to upgrading equipment? If so, what will newer equipment like the SDS 100 or 200 allow in this area that I can't listen to now?

 

[doctordialtone]

what will newer equipment like the SDS 100 or 200 allow in this area that I can't listen to now?

Phase II system scanning.

 

[RaleighGuy]

I'm in the Raleigh area and listen to local EMS on occasion at home. I have older equipment, Uniden BCD996XT and BCD396XT. Uniden released newer equipment since then. So far all I've been listening to is whatever's on VIPER and local HAM.

Is there any benefit to upgrading equipment? If so, what will newer equipment like the SDS 100 or 200 allow in this area that I can't listen to now?

As @doctordialtone mentioned, Phase 2, which Viper is scheduled to switch to in the next 5 years. Additionally, while I don't have problems hearing them, if you are listening to the Wake TRS you will probably have better luck with the simulcast issues that others have mentioned. But, Wake is slowly transitioning to P25.

 

[JohnDistai]

What's Wake TRS? What sorts of simulcast issues are people experiencing? I'm relatively inexperienced with this, so how would I know that I'm experiencing an issue?

Are local EMS or PD text messages visible on a pager such as the Unication G5?

 

[RaleighGuy]

What's Wake TRS? What sorts of simulcast issues are people experiencing? I'm relatively inexperienced with this, so how would I know that I'm experiencing an issue?

Are local EMS or PD text messages visible on a pager such as the Unication G5?

WAKE TRS is the Wake County Trunked Radio System. Wake County Trunking System, Various, North Carolina - Scanner Frequencies

Some scanners have problems getting a clear signal when multiple simulcast sites are near them. Simulcast Distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

I'm not familiar with the Unication G5 so I can't answer that for you.

 

[N8IAA]

I'm in the Raleigh area and listen to local EMS on occasion at home. I have older equipment, Uniden BCD996XT and BCD396XT. Uniden released newer equipment since then. So far all I've been listening to is whatever's on VIPER and local HAM.

Is there any benefit to upgrading equipment? If so, what will newer equipment like the SDS 100 or 200 allow in this area that I can't listen to now?

Your area is still Moto Type II and Phase I. You'll be wasting your money on those over priced scanners. If you think you need something that does Phase II, get a 996P2 or 325P2.

The constant bombardment by those that feel the need to push the SDS is ridiculous!
There has been no updates/upgrades since the passing of Paul Opitz last year. And, an obvious lack of support from Uniden on those scanners.

But, then again, it's your money.

 

[N8IAA]

What's Wake TRS? What sorts of simulcast issues are people experiencing? I'm relatively inexperienced with this, so how would I know that I'm experiencing an issue?

Are local EMS or PD text messages visible on a pager such as the Unication G5?

If you are hearing the system without problems, why upgrade??

 

[JohnDistai]

It seems I'm hearing things fine on the 996XT. My 396XT doesn't seem to pick up as well. I seem to get a lot of bus driver traffic on the 396XT, but not as much on the 996XT. Same programming. I thought I was missing out on something, perhaps I'm not.

The programming on these hasn't been updated for many years, back when I had a PC with a serial port; both long gone. Now I need to figure out how to connect to them using ProScan on a Mac with a Windows virtual machine and USB. I don't recall past success with the USB interface. Perhaps I will now. We'll see.