Erie county sds200 do I need to add DMR, NXDN or Provoice ~ newbie

[Jhagelberger]

So I am purchased a sds200 and live on the Erie and Niagara county border. I am hoping someone could tell me if I need to upgrade to DMR, NXDN or provoice to preliminary listen to fire and police in these respective counties? I would love to hear other counties such as Genesee or Wyoming as well. I hope I don’t get blasted here with go to radio reference because that site I find confusing. I will eventually learn RR but would like to know if I need any of those upgrades as I will be programming with Sentinel and just want to get up and running. I am studying Marks guide as we speak. If I need to add any what am I adding them for…I.e add DMR to listen to “x”. Thanks.

 

[dave3825]

For starters, this system spans a few counties and is DMR. If you want to listen to anything on this alone, you would need Dmr upgrade.

SaiaNet Trunking System, Various, New York

Have a look in the db at those counties you mention. Click in the trunked systems, as well as any schools/hospital/business/local police/fire you may want to listen to and look for the digital indicators listed on the page if any..

 

[sallen07]

So I am purchased a sds200 and live on the Erie and Niagara county border. I am hoping someone could tell me if I need to upgrade to DMR, NXDN or provoice to preliminary listen to fire and police in these respective counties? I would love to hear other counties such as Genesee or Wyoming as well. I hope I don’t get blasted here with go to radio reference because that site I find confusing. I will eventually learn RR but would like to know if I need any of those upgrades as I will be programming with Sentinel and just want to get up and running. I am studying Marks guide as we speak. If I need to add any what am I adding them for…I.e add DMR to listen to “x”. Thanks.

We'll start with the easy one: Don't bother with Provoice. There are only a handful of systems in the country still using it, and none of them are in Western NY.

Here is a link to Erie County in the database:

Erie County, New York (NY) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Erie County, New York (NY)

www.radioreference.com

Take a look at the "Mode" column. There are a number of entries that say "NXDN" or "DMR". If you want to listen to those entities, you'll need the corresponding upgrade. Unfortunately, if the mode is "DMRE" then they are using full-time encrypted DMR and you won't be able to listen, upgrade or not.

If you click on "Erie County Trunked Systems" in the upper righthand corner of the page, you will see Saianet (as dave3825 mentioned) and a number of other systems. There are a lot of public safety agencies using Saianet in Erie County.

 

[lkas]

I am not far from you and have a sds100. I would recommend the nxdn and dmr upgrade. Saianet system runs on dmr which includes lancaster, west seneca and lackawanna police. Nxdn radios are used by hamburg police, buff state, and twin city ambulance. The provoice is not needed. I have a omni x antenna outside. I have no issues picking up the following county sheriff radios: Erie, niagara, chat, catt, orleans, genesee and wyoming. I can prretty much get anything in those counties.

 

[Jhagelberger]

I am not far from you and have a sds100. I would recommend the nxdn and dmr upgrade. Saianet system runs on dmr which includes lancaster, west seneca and lackawanna police. Nxdn radios are used by hamburg police, buff state, and twin city ambulance. The provoice is not needed. I have a omni x antenna outside. I have no issues picking up the following county sheriff radios: Erie, niagara, chat, catt, orleans, genesee and wyoming. I can prretty much get anything in those counties.

Thank you so much for the reply. That is great to hear. Out of curiosity, how high do you have your antenna above your roof?

 

[Jhagelberger]

We'll start with the easy one: Don't bother with Provoice. There are only a handful of systems in the country still using it, and none of them are in Western NY.

Here is a link to Erie County in the database:

Erie County, New York (NY) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Erie County, New York (NY)

www.radioreference.com

Take a look at the "Mode" column. There are a number of entries that say "NXDN" or "DMR". If you want to listen to those entities, you'll need the corresponding upgrade. Unfortunately, if the mode is "DMRE" then they are using full-time encrypted DMR and you won't be able to listen, upgrade or not.

If you click on "Erie County Trunked Systems" in the upper righthand corner of the page, you will see Saianet (as dave3825 mentioned) and a number of other systems. There are a lot of public safety agencies using Saianet in Erie County.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

 

[lkas]

Thank you so much for the reply. That is great to hear. Out of curiosity, how high do you have your antenna above your roof?

i have a 2 story house. I have it mounted on the eve just above the roof line so it is not blocked by the actual roof. It is a omni x antenna. I went with this over a discone. Mainly i did not want the size and eyesore of a big discone and the omni x is not very big at all.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Thank you. This is very helpful.

My two cents, not being in your area I don't know what is there, but if you can afford it I suggest you add the NXDN and DMR (especially). Even if there is nothing you want to hear today that might change tomorrow, you never know and it is better to have the ability than not.

 

[tdave365]

I got them on the principle that I want everything that is scannable, period. And as you've been pointed to by now the RR database shows that you we do need them for certain agencies and services. In my case since I was only primarily interested in Buffalo Police and Fire (which I could have done using a much cheaper digital scanner to be sure) the only thing I figure I really gained in my upgrade with the keys was the ability to listen to AMR. Which, if your experience is like mine is listenable, but always way over modulated and mushy, even if I tolerate it. If you want to see my SDS200 in action I maintain a live YouTube feed showing off the display and everything while it scans at https://www.youtube.com/@buffscan/streams .

 

[Wackyracer]

Get DMR, NXDN keys and if you want the new waterfall key.

 

[Tomcu96]

Get the GM powertrain radio frequencies

General Motors (USA) DMR Tonwanda ​

Seneca Resorts and Casinos NXDN for Buffalo​