Best Scanner for Sacramento Metro Area

[Sccafire]

I have an old Uniden BC235XLT. What would be the best scanner for me to be able to listen to the Saramento Metro area? I mainly will listen to all the area Fire Depts including Cal Fire and the U.S Forest service. I know nothing about the new system...there's another thread for that. I would like the scanner to be able to scan trunk and conventional at the same time. If that even possible.


Thanks in advance

 

[kma371]

I have an old Uniden BC235XLT. What would be the best scanner for me to be able to listen to the Saramento Metro area? I mainly will listen to all the area Fire Depts including Cal Fire and the U.S Forest service. I know nothing about the new system...there's another thread for that. I would like the scanner to be able to scan trunk and conventional at the same time. If that even possible.


Thanks in advance

how much do u want to spend? where do you live?

 

[gmclam]

Sacramento scanning

You can see the scanners I use from my tag line below. Generally, I think the best scanner right now (considering price and performance) would be the PSR-300, which is an updated version of the PRO-97. More here: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-300

You can save dollars right now by finding a cheaper PRO-95 or PRO-97, but rebanding & narrow banding are around the corner. There are a few signals on the air which are digital and can not be decoded by these scanners, but not the stuff you've indicated you want to monitor.

 

[Sac916]

You can see the scanners I use from my tag line below. Generally, I think the best scanner right now (considering price and performance) would be the PSR-300, which is an updated version of the PRO-97. More here: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-300 You can save dollars right now by finding a cheaper PRO-95 or PRO-97, but rebanding & narrow banding are around the corner. There are a few signals on the air which are digital and can not be decoded by these scanners, but not the stuff you've indicated you want to monitor.

Your BC235XLT will work with the current Sacramento Region trunked radio system. It just won't have all the bells and whistles of modern scanners. My first trunked scanner was the 235 and it worked very well in 1995/1996

As gmclam stated, it can not monitor "digital" channels and rebanding is in the future. However, there are only a few digital channels in the region and rebanding isn't happening tomorrow, but maybe in a few months or more. I agree with gmclam about the PSR-300 if you want to get a new scanner today. It's my understanding that the PSR-300 will be able to handle the rebanding change to the trunked system whereas most scanners on the current market will not. A new scanner will carry a bit more of a learning curve, it will also have a tremendous amount more bells and whistles, including a tremendous amount more memory to store frequencies. If you have a computer and a bit computer literate, it's best to program modern trunked scanners via a PC connection.

PS

Rebanding is basically a frequency change to the system - all of the frequencies listed in the database will be different.


Links


SRRCS
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4499

Rebanding
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Rebanding


BC235XLT
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BC235XLT

 

[Sccafire]

I live near Arden Arcade........Thanks for the information

 

[servo_fan]

I'd keep the 235 until if/when they reband, or more channels go digital. I'm still using a 245 and it works great. You don't need alpha tags, after a while you'll have all the new id's memorized.

 

[Sac916]

Your BC235XLT will work with the current Sacramento Region trunked radio system. It just won't have all the bells and whistles of modern scanners. My first trunked scanner was the 235 and it worked very well in 1995/1996

As gmclam stated, it can not monitor "digital" channels and rebanding is in the future. However, there are only a few digital channels in the region and rebanding isn't happening tomorrow, but maybe in a few months or more. I agree with gmclam about the PSR-300 if you want to get a new scanner today. It's my understanding that the PSR-300 will be able to handle the rebanding change to the trunked system whereas most scanners on the current market will not. A new scanner will carry a bit more of a learning curve, it will also have a tremendous amount more bells and whistles, including a tremendous amount more memory to store frequencies. If you have a computer and a bit computer literate, it's best to program modern trunked scanners via a PC connection.

PS

Rebanding is basically a frequency change to the system - all of the frequencies listed in the database will be different.


Links


SRRCS
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4499

Rebanding
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Rebanding


BC235XLT
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BC235XLT

Future Uniden scanner update
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116910