BC75XLT: BC75XLT - worth consideration ?

[wordsmithereens]

Hi All;

Have received a Uniden BC75XLT as a gift and wondering how to find active, and I presume, non-trunked frequencies in use in Western Washington State. Main interest is for local/countywide fire and EMS.

Question is: is it even worth spending the time looking , or should I look into trunked models instead?

Thanks!

 

[jonwienke]

Look in the database (there is a button on the top of the page) to see what analog freqs are active in your area. If you are interested in aviation, railroads, CB, FRS, GMRS, businesses, or ham radio, that is still mostly analog. EMS and fire often broadcast their dispatch on an analog frequency even if they are on a digital trunked system, to support tone-activated pagers. But most public safety stuff is on digital trunked systems, or will be soon.

An analog scanner isn't completely useless, but it shouldn't be your only scanner. You might consider getting a 436 or 536, and using the 75 to monitor analog stuff and the digital scanner to monitor digital trunked stuff.

 

[wordsmithereens]

Thank you. Those are both a bit spendy, b=ut I'll take a look at the thread and stats for consideration.

 

[jonwienke]

They are worth the money, especially given their capabilities. I have both. I have the 536 in the house, and use the WiFi to stream the scanner audio and remote control to various devices in the house. The 436 is used either handheld or in vehicles. I've modded my 436 with an internal GPS, so it will automatically adjust what it scans based on where it is located without having to manually turn stuff on and off, without having any extra external wiring or cables involved.