Hello looking for a relatively cheap hand held scanner.

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Mr38

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Hello I am relatively new to the Radio world and I was looking for a cost effective hand held scanner to listen to the local PD and EMS as well as the local Gas Well frackers and others business buy my home and work.

I have a very cheap and outdated radio shack scanner that I picked up at a second hand store but it is not mobile or rally get the job done. I am willing to spend up to about $50 or a good hand held scanner but the cheaper the better.

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NWI_Scanner_Guy

SCANNING THE AIRWAVES SINCE 1987
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Hello I am relatively new to the Radio world and I was looking for a cost effective hand held scanner to listen to the local PD and EMS as well as the local Gas Well frackers and others business buy my home and work.

I have a very cheap and outdated radio shack scanner that I picked up at a second hand store but it is not mobile or rally get the job done. I am willing to spend up to about $50 or a good hand held scanner but the cheaper the better.

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Welcome to Radio Reference Mr38.

In order for us to give you any recommendations, we need to know where you are at. That way we'll know what type of radio systems are in use in your area and what type of scanner you'll need to hear them.

You mention that you are currently using an outdated RS scanner. What model is it, if you don't mind my asking?

:)
 

Mr38

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I live in Washington PA 15301 and I currently have a Radio Shack Weather Alert 200 channel scanner.

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Ensnared

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Limited Scanning

Since I don't know much about Washington County, I see two things that concern me. A) There is an Open Sky System in PA. Nobody makes a scanner capable of receiving this format. B) DNR system that can be monitored, but with a fairly elaborate setup involving a discriminator tap.

I would wait to see if you hear from someone in that area to see if there is much to listen to up there.
 

Mr38

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Well since I am picking up the local PD on my current home scanner I am sure there's stuff to listen to.

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N8IAA

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Hello I am relatively new to the Radio world and I was looking for a cost effective hand held scanner to listen to the local PD and EMS as well as the local Gas Well frackers and others business buy my home and work.

I have a very cheap and outdated radio shack scanner that I picked up at a second hand store but it is not mobile or rally get the job done. I am willing to spend up to about $50 or a good hand held scanner but the cheaper the better.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Gas and Oil for your county are on an encrypted DMR frequency. The gas company is P-25 digital. Everything that can be picked up by you is available on the scanner you own.
I believe that you are out of luck for less than $50 even for a good used scanner, much less a new one.
Check out the RR for sale forum. Maybe there's something you might want.
Larry
 

Mr38

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Gas and Oil for your county are on an encrypted DMR frequency. The gas company is P-25 digital. Everything that can be picked up by you is available on the scanner you own.
I believe that you are out of luck for less than $50 even for a good used scanner, much less a new one.
Check out the RR for sale forum. Maybe there's something you might want.
Larry

Well in that case what would be the price of a decent handheld scanner?

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captclint

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Well in that case what would be the price of a decent handheld scanner?
Basically, What Larry said was all the local PD/FD/EMS, and most businesses, can be received by the scanner you have. There does not appear to be any move to frequencies that would not be available on your scanner. However, if you want to monitor the Columbia Gas, you would probably have to spend $300-500. The MarkWest Liberty Midstream and Resources, Gas and Oil can not be monitored by any scanner. The State Police can not be monitored by any scanner, but the DCNR can be monitored fairly well by your scanner. They are Narrow band, but you scanner should do OK for the high powered DCNR VHF on narrow band. However, this VHF network is a back-up to their 800 system (which you can't receive on any scanner), so the traffic may be sparse..
 
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N8IAA

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Well in that case what would be the price of a decent handheld scanner?

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This is dependent on what scanner that you want to upgrade from and to.
Uniden has a great scanner, the BC75, which sells for $100. Then there is the BC125AT that has more frequencies, and alpha tags.
It is around $130.
Larry
 
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