Hello from Hickory, NC.

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Jeff_L

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May 24, 2017
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Hickory, NC
My son was recently hired by the Catawba County Sheriff Department. I teach high school in the same county and talked to our resource office today because when listening to a scanner via an app on my phone I never hear Catawba County. He said that he county has channels in the 800 Megahertz range. Is there a canned that I can purchase that will scan those channels?

Thank you in advance!

Jeff
 

drayd48

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Nov 4, 2012
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My son was recently hired by the Catawba County Sheriff Department. I teach high school in the same county and talked to our resource office today because when listening to a scanner via an app on my phone I never hear Catawba County. He said that he county has channels in the 800 Megahertz range. Is there a canned that I can purchase that will scan those channels?

Thank you in advance!

Jeff

Iredell county runs on VIPER. VIPER is the NC statewide digital P25 trunking radio system. Any scanner that will do trunktracking, digital, APOC 25 /P25 will work. Hope this helps
 

reconrider8

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Dec 26, 2007
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Eastern, NC
You pretty much have 2 brands uniden and whistler. I love my whistler 1040 but as anything else if you talk to 10 people you'll have 11 different answers. As previously stated any p25 scanner should work
 

28056

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Mesquite TX
It might drive you nuts if you hear your son going to a dangerous call, so use caution listening too much.

Friendly advise passed on to me years ago.
 

Jeff_L

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May 24, 2017
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Location
Hickory, NC
Iredell county runs on VIPER. VIPER is the NC statewide digital P25 trunking radio system. Any scanner that will do trunktracking, digital, APOC 25 /P25 will work. Hope this helps

Thank you!

You pretty much have 2 brands uniden and whistler. I love my whistler 1040 but as anything else if you talk to 10 people you'll have 11 different answers. As previously stated any p25 scanner should work

Thank you Reconrider!

It might drive you nuts if you hear your son going to a dangerous call, so use caution listening too much.

Friendly advise passed on to me years ago.

Good point! He came home this morning and told me about his night with his trainer. Loves the job so far. Just wish he would have told me what he wanted to do with his life before I sent him through four years of college. :)
 
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medic611

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Oct 4, 2003
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133
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NC Foothills
My son was recently hired by the Catawba County Sheriff Department. I teach high school in the same county and talked to our resource office today because when listening to a scanner via an app on my phone I never hear Catawba County. He said that he county has channels in the 800 Megahertz range. Is there a canned that I can purchase that will scan those channels?

Thank you in advance!

Jeff

For a cheaper scanner their dispatch channel on VHF is patched to the 800mhz talkgroup in plain language you can listen to their channel they are dispatched on without spending 400+ dollars which most of their traffic is through. If you want all the other traffic then a digital scanner is required. I'm in Hickory and with an older vhf radio I listen to all the county dispatch channels at home without a digital scanner.
 

TylerMK

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Location
NC Foothills
CCSO is dispatched on CAT LAW 3. This talkgroup is not patched to a VHF frequency. The old VHF frequency of 155.550 (formerly called channel 4) is patched with CAT LAW 1 which is only used for Long View PD as they are the only agency in the county that still uses VHF radios. In addition to the sheriff's office the following police departments are also dispatched on CAT LAW 3; Brookford, Catawba (town), Claremont, and Maiden. Newton PD has their own dispatch talkgroup and comm center. Conover PD has their own dispatch talkgroup and is dispatched by the county.
 

RF-Burns

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May 5, 2007
Messages
324
This the best scanner your pocket book can buy. Yes there are more expensive ones, yes there is Whistler but for the money this is the best for what you want to listen too. This will also cover future upgrades to Phase II when Viper goes to that technology. It's years out but you will be covered when it does happen. If you want a handheld I can give recommendations for that as well. I'll even program it for you if you bring it to Mooresville.

Motoman

https://www.amazon.com/Uniden-BCD996P2-Digital-display-Mobile/dp/B00UJU5MUE
 

AK4FD

Catawba County, NC — FF/EMT, COML, AUXC, Skywarn
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I live in the Catawba County/Lincoln County area too, so here's my 02¢... Catawba County currently uses the Phase-1 P25 Digital system known as VIPER, however they DO Simulcast on their old VHF channels for Fire and EMS because they still use tone paging for stations and volunteers, so you would be safe for right now using an older scanner just to get by. However, you still should get a Digital Trunking scanner because they go to Tac channels on fires and big incidents and those are not simulcasted, and Lincoln County is still on UHF/VHF. As far as Catawba County the audio isn't too great on VHF most likely because of the patch, so it just depends how much info this hobby you wanna get. Everybody else in the state is either going to or already on their own Digital P25 systems or VIPER so your best bet is a digital scanner. I use Unidens for many years now but I'm hearing Whistler makes a nice product now so if I had the money I would sell my Uniden 536HP and buy a TRX-2. I'll be honest with you, digital scanners aren't cheap, even today they still are a few hundred dollars. But they're worth it! I hope this helped you in some way! :)

••David
 

Jeff_L

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Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
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Location
Hickory, NC
This the best scanner your pocket book can buy. Yes there are more expensive ones, yes there is Whistler but for the money this is the best for what you want to listen too. This will also cover future upgrades to Phase II when Viper goes to that technology. It's years out but you will be covered when it does happen. If you want a handheld I can give recommendations for that as well. I'll even program it for you if you bring it to Mooresville.

Motoman

https://www.amazon.com/Uniden-BCD996P2-Digital-display-Mobile/dp/B00UJU5MUE

Sounds like you know your stuff!! I appreciate your kindness and will take advantage of the offe to program it for me. The link to the scanner you sent is one that I have been looking at.

Thanks again!
 

Jeff_L

Newbie
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
4
Location
Hickory, NC
I live in the Catawba County/Lincoln County area too, so here's my 02¢... Catawba County currently uses the Phase-1 P25 Digital system known as VIPER, however they DO Simulcast on their old VHF channels for Fire and EMS because they still use tone paging for stations and volunteers, so you would be safe for right now using an older scanner just to get by. However, you still should get a Digital Trunking scanner because they go to Tac channels on fires and big incidents and those are not simulcasted, and Lincoln County is still on UHF/VHF. As far as Catawba County the audio isn't too great on VHF most likely because of the patch, so it just depends how much info this hobby you wanna get. Everybody else in the state is either going to or already on their own Digital P25 systems or VIPER so your best bet is a digital scanner. I use Unidens for many years now but I'm hearing Whistler makes a nice product now so if I had the money I would sell my Uniden 536HP and buy a TRX-2. I'll be honest with you, digital scanners aren't cheap, even today they still are a few hundred dollars. But they're worth it! I hope this helped you in some way! :)

••David

Thank you for the information and advice!
 

RF-Burns

Member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
324
Sounds like you know your stuff!! I appreciate your kindness and will take advantage of the offe to program it for me. The link to the scanner you sent is one that I have been looking at.

Thanks again!

Just shoot me a PM when you are ready and I'll help you out.

Motorman55
 

Lawson357

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Nov 25, 2017
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Motorman,
I am also from the Hickory area. I plan on purchasing the same unit in a few days from Amazon. Wondering if you would be willing to help another newbie out?

Thanks
 

AK4FD

Catawba County, NC — FF/EMT, COML, AUXC, Skywarn
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Joined
Jul 7, 2010
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588
Just following up going thru my past posts, did the both of you ever find a decent scanner to be able to monitor Catawba County with?

David
 
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