Any reason for a digital scanner in NJ

[tekviper]

Still new to this and don't have a scanner. I have been looking through the database and I don't really see any digital (im probably reading it wrong) departments. I mainly want a scanner for police/fire/ems but also aircraft/military aircraft. Is it nessacery to go digital? I have been looking at the pro-96 but the price has put me off and it appears you can get a much better overall scanner minus the digital for $100 or $200 less then the pro96. Does anyone from NJ have any recommendations on a scanner?

 

[SCPD]

where

where are you listing from what towns, areas. some places have them others don't, some NJSP channels are digital

 

[tekviper]

monmouth mostly and some mercer. also, central state police around the GSP, 195, 295. Aircraft (civilian/military) monitoring also a consideration.

 

[SCPD]

its really up to you if you want to go digital. you can use a trunk tracker scanner and be fine with the areas you are looking into. i presently have a 996 and a 246. i recommend that you look into buying a uniden 246-t very good scanner. i have one and i get everything in my area and state police fine.

 

[kenisned]

It depends... great answer huh?

If you want a scanner that will last for probably another 10-20 years, get a digital. Eventually, most public safety will be digital. In Morris County, where I am, the county system is all digital. However, it's only used for multi-agency responses (very few of those)... but in a few years, who knows.

If you are good with this purchase for the next 10 years or less go with a non-digital.

If you only listen to your local town, get the cheapest one that meets that need.

If you don't need the newest digital, you can get some used digital scanners pretty cheap.

Older Unidens:
796D
785D (need the apco card)
BC296D (portable digital)
BC250D (need the apco card here)

 

[ers1121]

Digital Scanner

I'm in Union county and only one township (Cranford) is digital. With all of the budget problem for the state and local municipalities I don't see a lot of digital systems coming very soon. A good trunking scanner should serve you well for while.

 

[NESN]

Monmouth County is currently pursuing the construction of a new county dispatch center in Freehold Twp to accomadate the increasing number of towns who want the county to take over their 911 ops and general dispatching duties. Obviously, as the county continues to grow (developments) the workload is increasing.

Currently most M/C radio traffic is analog, Vhf-low, Vhf-high, and Uhf. While this dispatch center will be years in the planning, funding, construction and outfitting, it is going to happen, and it should to keep up with advances in workload and technology. The radio room was becoming cramped 15 years ago, it's far worse now.

While no one knows for sure, Monmouth being one of the last counties in the state operating manly on simplex Vhf analog clear voice will probably be looking to do a major upgrade, if for no other reason than intercommunication capablity with other agencies and counties. There is still Federal DHS money out there for this specific upgrade. While FD's and EMS companies will complain about funding for radios, as we have in the past, if the county wills it to be, they will have to comply. As in the past the County will probably try to help stations and squads to locate funding to upgrade. Of course individual towns are free to do as they please. I'm addressing this towards the M/C radio system.

Some of the standard county PD, Fire & EMS frequencies have been in use for 40 years with no real upgrades other than remote site receivers and a few repeaters being added to fill dead spots. Most are still analog/simplex.

SO, to get to the point, if you buy an analog non-trunking scanner now in 3-6 years (or however long it takes this center to come online) there "may" not be too much to listen to in M/C. I don't know the specifics of their intended radio system upgrades, yes, I am speculating, but it only makes sense from here on out. I myself am holding off on any upgrades till I see or hear the plan. If you can afford it, play it safe and look ahead for the possiblity of digital voice and/or trunking.
Maybe Kevin can update us.

 

[ka3jjz]

Another reason to go digital; if you ever travel there are numerous dig systems on the air now. For example, Delaware's statewide system is totally digital.

73s Mike

 

[SCPD]

It depends... great answer huh?

If you want a scanner that will last for probably another 10-20 years, get a digital. Eventually, most public safety will be digital. In Morris County, where I am, the county system is all digital. However, it's only used for multi-agency responses (very few of those)... but in a few years, who knows.

If you are good with this purchase for the next 10 years or less go with a non-digital.

If you only listen to your local town, get the cheapest one that meets that need.

If you don't need the newest digital, you can get some used digital scanners pretty cheap.

Older Unidens:
796D
785D (need the apco card)
BC296D (portable digital)
BC250D (need the apco card here)

Cheap. Not exactly. I did a Google search awhile back and there are a few used ones and some new older models are just as expensive as newer models.

 

[kenisned]

Cheap. Not exactly. I did a Google search awhile back and there are a few used ones and some new older models are just as expensive as newer models.

Well, I saw a used 796D and 785D going for mid $200's right now, this second, on ebay.

Good luck finding a 996T for anywhere near that.

 

[tekviper]

Thanks for the information guys. I decided to get a pro-96 from ebay, should be here maybe next week or the following week. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and the scanner works properly.

 

[SCPD]

FYI, Uniden makes RadioShack scanners, unless that's changed.

 

[tekviper]

The pro-96 appears to be a rebadged GRE.

 

[ansky]

Right now it probably doesn't make sense to buy digital unless there is a specific department that you want to listen to that is using digital. Over the coming years as more and more systems go over to digital, I would expect the price of digital scanners to drop just like every other new technology.

 

[bigray246]

Right now Atlantic City PD is digital, Point Pleasant Beach PD digital, Cranford digital, Bayonne going digital by the end of the year, and most of the Federal band is now digital.

 

[Analogrules]

Yes, Bigray is correct..........so many things are digital now. It's also my opinion that many of these places such as Atlantic City and Cranford that are currently digital will eventually be going totally encrypted (which will make a digital scanner useless as well). Going encrypted is the next step after going digital. So please keep that in mind. Asbury Park is a good example of that.

 

[bigray246]

Kearny NJ did just that. Got on 500 Mhz. went digital, then fully encrypted! Friend of mine bought a $500 digital scanner which is now useless to him.

 

[Bentley]

Same with Dover Twp, in ocean county. Went digital, now 99% encrypted. My pro-96 and pro-2096 are now useless to me. I purchased them specifically for Dover Twp. , the other towns I monitor are all conventional...for now!

 

[SCPD]

Buy stock in Motorola!

 

[bigray246]

Just a question here. How is the media going to handle this? If every public safety dept. goes digital encrypted how are they going to get their news? Does a dept. have to give the news media encrypted radios? Do they have the right to recieve info over the general public?