Unitrunker works just fine with RTL sticks nowadays (using the preview builds available at:
Index of /download/preview). I've been using Unitrunker for a long long time now and loved it ever since day one without any major issues that can't or haven't been resolved with updates.
SDR# is by far the most popular and probably (personal opinion) easiest to use SDR software for most folks. It does have memory functionality but you're better off adding the
Frequency Manager Suite plugin which adds on that rather impressively and has no limitations on the amount of them (it's not the default frequency memory plugin, mind you, you have to install it yourself). As for scanning speed of programmed frequencies it can be quite fast depending on what you're doing and how many frequencies you're having to work with.
Other SDR applications like HDSDR and CubicSDR offer something similar but nothing matches the sheer breadth of what SDR# offers when you start adding in some of or all of the available plugins so that's probably going to be your best bet.
Unfortunately, nobody has created a truly proper "scanner" type application so far that literally takes an SDR hardware device and basically turns it into a scanner like what we're all familiar with in terms of classic scanning receivers. I doubt anyone will ever do that considering how limited scanners are in terms of what they're capable of - SDR software and hardware have basically become the next big thing in our monitoring hobby and there's no turning back now.
Having said that, if I could design and build my dream type device it would be a receiver with an open source operating system of some kind that would be fully user programmable meaning it could and would be capable of handling anything it's capable of receiving with even the potential of decoding encrypted comms as long as the authorized keys were provided (that's all I'll say about encryption/decryption).
But that's a ten million dollar pipe dream I suppose.
Just for the record all I use nowadays are two RTL sticks, best $20 investment (I got both for $20 total) I've made in this hobby I've been part of since the early 1970s. I don't count the cost of the computer involved because that's a tool with other purposes and just happens to be relevant on the SDR side of things nowadays as a bonus. The two RTL sticks I use are pretty much on 24/7 since I bought them using Unitrunker to monitor a very large trunking system here in Las Vegas and I've never really had any problems at all with this setup.
I also use them along with Unitrunker and with DSD+ to monitor a growing P25 Phase I system here too - it's the same system I just mentioned but this is the conversion side moving to P25 which is now underway. Again, no real issues of any kind with the whole process, it works quite well actually. I'm hoping that someday DSD+ will be capable of handling P25 trunking by itself using FMP and perhaps even adding P25 Phase II decoding support, at least that's the hope (and I know I'm not alone there).
