Douglas / Sutton / Oxford Looking for a Good Radio

[Unforgiven_AF]

Hello,
I'm new to this forum and it's been several years since I've used a vBulletin system. I'm trying to get a feel for how this place rolls, so if I'm stepping out of line, please shoot me a line.

Anywho, getting to my question, I live in Central Massachusetts and am looking for a future proof and easy to use scanner. I'm still up in the air about portable that I can carry between work and home, or a home model. My last scanner was about 15 years old and a Radio Shack brand where you punched in the frequencies manually. It was given to me as a gift and it no longer works, so when I started looking for a replacement, it was a little dizzying. I like to know what's going on around me, and am willing to pay a little extra.

My reading so far leads me to believe Mass is behind the times on radios so a cheapo will work, but not for much longer. Unfortunately, my reading also reminds me I know very little about radio communication and scanners, and each time I read a little more I confuse the last thing I read.

I'd like to follow (forgive me if I forgot my BB codes):

• Douglas PD
• Douglas Fire / EMS
• Oxford PD
• Oxford Fire / EMS
• State Police (I think district 5, but I have to verify
• CEMLEC (I'm note sure this is available, but it's a wish list
• The fire district

Any experience on good radios? I see Pepc is in neighboring Sutton and recently got one of the scanners I was checking out.

 

[Unforgiven_AF]

So I've been doing a ton of reading while waiting to get through the spam filters thumbsup: mods, I feel your pain ) I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to go with a BCD536. I'm actually getting a little geeked out with the possibilities. So I think my shopping list is:

• Scanner
• Proscan - so I can set up a stream and listen at work
• Oddly enough, a PC since I only have Chromebooks at home. Still looking at what's available in the Chromestore. I may go with a PC on a stick for this as well.

My next questions for you folks are:

1. Do I need/want Provoice? NXDN? DMR?
2. Are exterior antennas needed, or will I be OK to start with the internal one? My old scanner only had the telescoping metal antenna and worked fine.
3. Am I correct that I don't need to pay to have this programmed?
4. Are there any major holes in my understanding?

 

[jmorrissey23]

So I've been doing a ton of reading while waiting to get through the spam filters thumbsup: mods, I feel your pain ) I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to go with a BCD536. I'm actually getting a little geeked out with the possibilities. So I think my shopping list is:

• Scanner
• Proscan - so I can set up a stream and listen at work
• Oddly enough, a PC since I only have Chromebooks at home. Still looking at what's available in the Chromestore. I may go with a PC on a stick for this as well.

My next questions for you folks are:

1. Do I need/want Provoice? NXDN? DMR?
2. Are exterior antennas needed, or will I be OK to start with the internal one? My old scanner only had the telescoping metal antenna and worked fine.
3. Am I correct that I don't need to pay to have this programmed?
4. Are there any major holes in my understanding?

1. If all that you are interested in is public safety then I do not see the need for DMR/NXDN on your scanner. There are no ProVoice users in central mass, so there is no need to but that as well.

2. Having an external antenna will allow you to pick up signals from farther away, but the stock antenna may work to pick your local PD/FD. I would recommend trying the stock antenna and if that does not pick up the signal well enough then I would start looking at external antennas.

3. The 536 comes with a USB connector that plugs into any PC. Once you plug in and power on your scanner you can use the sentinal software from Uniden (BCD436HP < UnidenMan4 < TWiki). In the software you can program your scanner however you would like.

4. I'm have not played around with Proscan enough to know how you set up a stream in it, but hopefully someone else can chime in about that, as it a very useful software for logging and recording from the scanner. (I have a Macbook, so I sadly cannot use it)

 

[Unforgiven_AF]

Bah, how come there is no Thanks/Like button.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I've read a ton while waiting to get past the filters and settled on the 536. I should have it next week (UPS ground from NH should be early next week).

To be clear, MSP trunked system is supported out of the box? That's cool if so. I read Motorola and that made me think DMR, but I guess I still have more to learn. It will come as I put some of my reading into something I can actually push buttons on.

 

[jmorrissey23]

Bah, how come there is no Thanks/Like button.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I've read a ton while waiting to get past the filters and settled on the 536. I should have it next week (UPS ground from NH should be early next week).

To be clear, MSP trunked system is supported out of the box? That's cool if so. I read Motorola and that made me think DMR, but I guess I still have more to learn. It will come as I put some of my reading into something I can actually push buttons on.

No problem I'm here to help! Yes, the 536 supports the MSP trunk system without any upgrades. For your area you will want to listen to Zone 8 and the Troop C talkgroups.