Best Software & Scanner Combination ???

[bigcheez_69]

I am looking at setting up a small monitoring station in my apartment with a base scanner and computer dedicated to control the scanner plus other misc accessories. I will be starting from scratch and am wondering what is the best scanner and software combination. I already have a scanner to monitor the general police/emergency stuff. This new setup will be for monitoring things such as military, clandestine police ops, news reporters, etc.. Trunking is very low on my list of desired features and wouldnt mind not being able to follow such transmissions. I would like advanced searching, logging and recording features, so that alot of the work can be done during normal business hours (while i am at work). Other features I desire are wide frequency range, decoding and squelching of digital and pl tones, automatic controls such as digital skip.

Although money is not a big factor, I would like the computer requirements to be low (dos would be ok) and an older scanning reciever (readily available on the used market) would be an ideal fit.

Any suggestions?

 

[corbintechboy]

Sounds like you might be looking for a winradio or a icom pcr-?. Check them out and see if they meet your needs.

 

[fineshot1]

The Icom PCR-100 does not decode PL/DPL and the PCR-1000 only decodes PL not DPL
and seems rather limited(i have used one for a couple of weeks). You may want to see if you can find on the used market a RS Pro2035 or Pro2042 with the OptoElectronics OS535 interface and run Probe 7.0 as I do. This is a great combo for scanning/logging/recording conventional analog comms. The Probe 7 scanning application software is a real nice feature rich scanning app and you will enjoy.

 

[bigcheez_69]

The 2035/2042 w/ OS535 does look like my best option. The scanner does not seem that hard to find but the interface is a different story. Being a former owner of a two 2006s w/ OS456 (full) and two Optocoms, I am kicking myself for ever selling these radios. Why is there nothing new in the market comparable to this?

 

[MacombMonitor]

My choice would be a Uniden BC796D, and Butel's ARC250 software! The radio covers just about anything in VHF/UHF that's out there, and has adjustable modes, so it can also receive Military Aircraft in the AM mode. The software not only logs hits, it can record the audio, and relate the two togeather. Set this up on a low end PC (even 500MHz is fast enough), and a big hard drive. Let it run 24/7, and you'll be overwhelmed with info!