Hello Everyone,
I'm somewhat new to scanning, I've owned a few radio shack scanners and know how to program them. I'm looking to upgrade to a new mobile/base scanner. I've looked at Uniden's Bct15x and the GRE PSR-600. I'm looking to get something that can do the new narrow banding and everything new, also would like it not to be outdated in a hurry. Any advice on which one is the better pick?
Thanks!
Welcome, Mixer
I see you have yourself tagged as both Wichita Falls & Southlake, Texas.
Either of the scanners you have indicated will do narrowbanding, as will other scanners. The
BCT15X is, of course, an analog scanner, while the
PSR-600 is a digital trunk tracker. While you have not specified what, exactly, you want to listen to, especially in the DFW (Southlake) area, the majority of it is still analog, but that is beginning to change.
In the Wichita Falls area, for
Wichita County, most agencies, other than Wichita Falls itself, appear to be using conventional, analog, frequencies, so either scanner would work. However, in
Archer County, just to the south, the Sheriff's Office is using both analog & digital. And, from what I've been seeing on my occasional trips out to that region, that's becoming a pattern. Many of the agencies are having to upgrade older radio systems due to narrowbanding requirements and are also taking the additional step of also changing over to a digital format instead of analog. Note that a change to digital is not required as part of narrowbanding, but many agencies are making the switch.
For the Southlake area, the city is on this
analog trunked system.
Fort Worth &
Arlington are also analog, for now. However, Fort Worth has a plan in progress to create a countywide P25 system, that will encompass not only the current Fort Worth/Tarrant County TRS, but also the other area systems, including N.E. Tarrant (where Southlake is) and Arlington, among others. That's
projected to be in operation by 2015. So, I'd recommend a digital scanner if at all possible.
You've mentioned the PSR-600. It's $349.95 @
ScannerMaster, but currently out of stock. Another dealer shows the
same price. There are other sources as well. However, the only difference between the PSR-600 and the Pro-197 sold by Radio Shack is that the 600 comes with the pc cable, whereas the 197 does not. The
Pro-197 is currently on sale for $299.99. (It seems to go on sale about once a month.) The cable would cost $34. Operationally, these are the same scanner. Same programming, use the same software ($35 for Win500 or PSREdit500, $39.95 for ARC500).
The Uniden base/mobile scanner is the BCD996XT, which is more
expensive. You can, however, use FreeScan to program it (or the BCT15X, if you hold off on a digital, though I would not recommend that).
Your other "base" choice would be the Home Patrol. Fry's over in Irving has had them in the $460 range, and I've seen comments on purchases being made on eBay in the $415 range (see the Uniden forum). You can get a mounting kit (like for a GPS) to mount it in a vehicle, but it's not a "mobile" scanner in the same sense as the BCT15X, PSR-600, etc. (I do use my Home Patrol in my SUV, with a GPS now.)
If you have more DFW area/Southlake specific questions, you may want to drop down to the Texas Forum, or visit the
DFWScan Yahoo group.
