Back into scanning after 40 years

[TGuelker]

Warning, I get verbose

New (again) to the hobby and learning more than I will be able to remember.

Had a Bearcat 800XLT about 40 years ago. It was sold when my bride complained about the “noise”.

Now that she is older, she is more understanding and has taken an interest in listening.

Bought a Baofeng BF-F8 HT from the Baofeng store on Amazon. Liked it so much I bought a Baofeng UV-S9 Plus from Wish, not knowing about counterfeit Baofeng radios. What was sent was a Baofeng HP-S9 Plus which is not tri-band. Wish refunded my purchase price and said keep the radio. Emailed Baofeng to see if this was a counterfeit. They replied if it was not purchased from their web site or their Amazon store, it is counterfeit. There is no HP-S9 Plus even though the label says that is what it is. Was hesitant to use my Baofeng USB cable since the radio model is unknown. Took a stab and said it was a UV-5R. Everything seemed to go well.
Found a Radio Shack Pro2096 on craigslist for a steal. Bought a Tram 1400 antenna and mounted it on the house gable. Picking up fire and EMS 30 miles away that I am not interested in. Need to figure out how to block those and still receive local on those frequencies. Might be the antenna.
There is a lot to learn about the scanner. It may be old but it’s a dandy for the price. Digital trunking and Project 25 make my head spin.
And I realize the Tram is overkill for scanning.

 

[N9JCQ]

Welcome back to the hobby! Not sure where in ILL you are but all the ISP and many local/county PDs are on the state's Starcom SC21 system and are p25 I and P252 Digital trunking systems. Its not hard to understand once you take the time to read a bit and ask questions. Everyone has to start somewhere. I live in NE IL north of Chicago. Let us know what questions you may have. That Tram will help you with SC21 once you decide to make the leap. As for hearing frequencies you don't want to listen to, delete them or lock them out, assuming they are not using the same freqs as what you want to listen to. Usually, you can set tones for the stations you want to listen to. I think the 2096 can do that. Others will know for sure.

 

[Omega-TI]

Welcome back!. I too have recently returned to the hobby, but only after a twenty year break. I still have my 800XLT, and recently pulled it out of the box it was stored in and have it humming away next to the computer monitors.

About a year ago I purchased a couple of really cheap SW radios, the Retekess V111 and << V115 >>. I'm still using the V115 for FM and SD card playing as it has a decent sound.

I then made a crucial mistake, I joined Radio Reference, that led me to buying an RTL-SDR which solidified my return back into radio. Of course visiting this site has now become a habit, and habit had me going to the Uniden area... and now I'm awaiting my first big radio purchase of 2022. So in short, I relate what to you are going through, I also bought more (radio) than I need, but at least I'll not outgrow it anytime soon! When it comes to the antenna, well I've decided not to cross that bridge yet.

 

[Omega-TI]

... although << this discone antenna >> seems to mesh perfectly with the SDS100's coverage.

 

[sonm10]

It is important to share your location

That scanner is probably a Phase I only - STARCOM is a mix of phase 1 / phase 2, SARA (Rock Island) is phase 2, and Chicago's system is phase 2 also. There will be some parts of the state where that particular scanner will not work.

 

[tvengr]

Picking up fire and EMS 30 miles away that I am not interested in. Need to figure out how to block those and still receive local on those frequencies.

One thing to be aware of is that the Pro-2096 cannot trunk track 700 MHz frequencies. If we knew your city, county, and which systems and agencies you want to monitor, it would enable us to help you program what you want. Are you using programming software?

 

[TGuelker]

Location is Collinsville, Illinois 62234. Madison County.

Would like to listen to police, fire and EMS for Collinsville, Maryville, Glen Carbon, Edwardsville, and police for Madison County sheriff and Illinois state police district 11.

Thanks!

 

[tvengr]

You lucked out that the Madison County site of the STARCOM21 system is 800 MHz and all of the talkgroups for Madison County are P25 Phase 1. For us to be able to help with the programming would require that you have programming software and a programming cable. I use Butel ARC96 software. Did a programming cable come with the scanner? Maybe someone in Collinsville who has a cable, software, and a file for Madison County will jump in and offer to help.

 

[TGuelker]

For us to be able to help with the programming would require that you have programming software and a programming cable. I use Butel ARC96 software.

I bought ARC96 a week ago. The RS cable is arriving today. I’m all ears (pun intended).

 

[tvengr]

The RS cable is arriving today.

You will need to use the mono adapter for the Pro-2096.

 

[TGuelker]

Sold the PRO2096 and bought a Home Patrol II. Sold the Tram 1480 and bought a Tram 1410 and added another 10 feet to the mast so the top of the 1410 is about 30 feet off the ground.
XYL isn’t fond of the chatter, so I bought a Bluetooth transmitter and a Bluetooth earpiece.
The BT transmitter and HP II are powered by a RAVPower 32000 mAh USB power bank which is kept charged by a 40 watt Anker wall wart. The power bank has pass through charging. If we lose power, the HP II will run for a few days on the power bank and internal batteries. The BT transmitter is also powered by the USB power bank. A gas tube lightning arrestor is grounded to a copper clad rod 8 feet in the ground a few inches from the entrance. I used 50’ of RG8x not knowing about LMR. Then there is another 10 feet of RG8x from the wall to the scanner.
Had no luck finding a cable prep tool for RG8x Emailed Klein tools and was told they don’t make a cable prep tool for RG8x, so I loosely rolled the remaining cable up under the siding. Really would like to cut the RG8x and solder a PL259 connector.
Always open to suggestions. I assume to be safe, the antenna should be disconnected during a storm because these amateur lightning arrestors are not 100% guaranteed to protect the equipment, not even the Polyphaser.

 

[tvengr]

If you don't already have it, here is the link for Uniden HomePatrol Sentinel. It has an orange icon and is different from the Sentinel with the green icon for the BCDx36HP and SDS100/200 scanners. HomePatrolSentinel < HomePatrol < TWiki

 

[TGuelker]

link for Uniden HomePatrol Sentinel.

The software was installed a few days before the scanner arrived so I could get the feel of it.

i really liked ARC96 for my PRO2096 but I am having a hard time convincing myself to buy ARCpatrol because Sentinel does everything I can think of. Get the frequencies here, send them to the HP 2, and I’m set. My scanner needs are basic. Trunking is still Greek to me. A certain level of knowledge is assumed and that is built on. Sort of like missing the first 2 months of school, and everyone in the class knows more than you.