Digital Scanner or not for Burlington County?

[Monoxide16]

Hi I am new to scanners and I am interested in monitoring the police and emergency frequencies in burlington county, specifically Cinnaminson. I don't really know much and I am considering between the Pro96 and the BCD396T digital scanners. Would I actually need one of these for my area? Would I be "future-proof" by getting a digital scanner?

I went to radio shack a couple weeks ago and the guy there said that everything is going to be digital by 2009. Is this accurate? Also if I wanted to listen to Philadelphia frequencies do I need digital? If I don't need digital for my area what would be some recommended models? Thanks for any help!

 

[policefreak]

Digital is a must !!!!

Unfortunately, for monitoring both Burlington county and Philadelphia a digital scanner is a must. All activity on both systems are digital.
Cinnaminson operates on the Northwest system in Burlington county BTW.
The truth is there is no future-proof scanner. Both the Burlington county and Philadelphia digital systems can be monitored because they are Motorola APCO-25 digital systems. All other types of Digital systems such as EDACS Provoice or VSELP cannot be monitored by any scanner and I highly doubt that it ever will be, at least not in the near future.
I have the BC396t and it doesnt do bad for scanning. It has some really useful features that the pro-96 doesnt have, yet I have heard that the Pro-96 misses less digital transmissions. Keep in mind the Uniden scanner is more $, but not by a lot if you can get a good deal. I got mine in Delaware for $519.99 (and on top of that there is no tax in Delaware) but also keep in mind that you also get with the Uniden stock rechargable batteries, as well as an AC adapter, whereas with the Pro-96 you get just the scanner for around $500.
I would also recommend if you want to scan Philadelphia that you go to Radioshack and get an 800MHz antenna, otherwise (depending on your location, but definitely in cinnaminson) it will be very hard to pick up. Radioshack has an 800Mhz rubber antenna perfect for portables like the bearcat or Pro, and its not bad Good luck and happy scanning.