Help needed for a scanner purchase

[BMEYER76]

We live in Henry County Indiana and the scanner apps have been going down frequently. We are wanting to get a scanner that would provide at least weather, police, and fire, as well as being user friendly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[west-pac]

It appears all traffic for Henry Co has moved to Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T system, with a number of simulcast sites. Based on that the only scanner designed for simulcast is the SDS100/SDS200 scanners. Others may work, but it isn't guaranteed. Other options would be a Unication G4/G5 or SDR and computer if you don't need to be mobile.

Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T Site: New Castle

Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T Site: New Castle Details

www.radioreference.com

Henry County does NOT have any simulcast sites. Please do better research before you suggest someone buys an SDS scanner.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Henry County does NOT have any simulcast sites. Please do better research before you suggest someone buys an SDS scanner.

Thank you, post removed. My mistake and I will in the future.

 

[west-pac]

We live in Henry County Indiana and the scanner apps have been going down frequently. We are wanting to get a scanner that would provide at least weather, police, and fire, as well as being user friendly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Indiana Project SAFE-T is P25 Phase 1, any P25 digital scanner made in the past 20 years will work for Henry County. With that being said, the state's radio system is ~20 years old also, and is overdue to be replaced by a P25 Phase 2 system, however, no infrastructure upgrades have to been completed by the state.

As far as buying a scanner that is user-friendly, your best bet would be a BCD436HP (handheld) or BCD536HP (desktop) which will also work if/when the state ever does upgrade to a P25 Phase 2 system. A dozen other less user-friendly, and less costly, scanners would work as well.

 

[K4EET]

Hi @BMEYER76, I’ll second the Uniden BCDx36HP series scanners. FYI, the Uniden SDSx00 series scanners are the latest and greatest line. Once you get familiar with your scanner’s operation, I would also suggest looking at ProScan:

ProScan

Computer Aided Scanning Software for the Uniden BC125AT BC250D BC296D BC346XT BC346XTC BC780XLT BC785D BC796D BCD160DN BCD260DN BCD325P2 BCD396T BCD396XT BCD436HP BCD536HP BCD996P2 BCD996T BCD996XT BCT15 BCT15X BR330T SDS100 SDS100E SDS200 SDS200E UBC125XLT UBC126AT UBCD3600XLT UBCD436PT...

www.proscan.org

ProScan is feature packed software and simplifies the programming process for many scanner types. It has a 30-day free trial to try it out. The developer of ProScan, @ProScan, is a regular here too. If one of us cannot answer any question you may have about ProScan, the developer generally will post an answer.

Radio Reference is the place to find answers. I see that this thread you started was also your first post so a great big WELCOME to Radio Reference!

 

[tvengr]

We live in Henry County Indiana

I just checked the database for the Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T trunked system and found that the same INDOC New Castle site in Henry County is listed twice. Administrators have been notified. You only need to enter the site once if not corrected. Welcome to the forums!

1 (1)	072 (48)	New Castle	Henry, IN	851.1625	851.3625	851.725	852.4875c	853.4875	853.525c	858.7125
1 (1)	094 (5E)	Knightstown	Henry, IN	769.81875	770.26875	770.81875	771.54375	774.43125	774.68125c
1 (1)	095 (5F)	Middletown	Henry, IN	769.80625	770.25625	770.80625	771.53125	772.00625c	772.68125c
1 (1)	097 (61)	INDOC New Castle	Henry, IN	857.7125	858.2375c	859.2375c
1 (1)	097 (61)	INDOC New Castle	Henry, IN	857.7125	858.2375c	859.2375c

							7

 

[BinaryMode]

as well as being user friendly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

With digital trunking and modulation there's going to be a learning curve. Especially if you don't know how it all works.

 

[west-pac]

I just checked the database for the Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T trunked system and found that the same INDOC New Castle site in Henry County is listed twice. Administrators have been notified. You only need to enter the site once if not corrected. Welcome to the forums!

1 (1)	072 (48)	New Castle	Henry, IN	851.1625	851.3625	851.725	852.4875c	853.4875	853.525c	858.7125
1 (1)	094 (5E)	Knightstown	Henry, IN	769.81875	770.26875	770.81875	771.54375	774.43125	774.68125c
1 (1)	095 (5F)	Middletown	Henry, IN	769.80625	770.25625	770.80625	771.53125	772.00625c	772.68125c
1 (1)	097 (61)	INDOC New Castle	Henry, IN	857.7125	858.2375c	859.2375c
1 (1)	097 (61)	INDOC New Castle	Henry, IN	857.7125	858.2375c	859.2375c

							7

Interesting. I'll have to go see if that IDOC site is actually real. Last I knew it was still on the old IDOC radio system.

 

[EAFrizzle]

We live in Henry County Indiana and the scanner apps have been going down frequently. We are wanting to get a scanner that would provide at least weather, police, and fire, as well as being user friendly. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The BCD325P2/996P2 would also work for you since there's not simulcast in your county.

As far as user-friendly, I haven't run into any scanner software as user-friendly and feature-packed as ProScan. Just try the 30-day free trial, and you'll see why so many here love it.

 

[K9KLC]

as well as being user friendly

Here's the deal... the more you can learn about programming the more successful your experience at scanning will be. I tried all the zip code gimmicks and such and was never happy. Take a bit of time, ask questions and get help and learn how to program exactly what you want in the thing. You'll enjoy it much, much more.

I second ProScan, I think I had it two days on the free trial and went ahead and paid for it. I use it on a BCD 436, 536 and 996XT and it's really brought the scanning stuff to life for me. while I don't use the Unidens that much any more on my main simulcast system I monitor, they're still working on what I need them to do.

 

[ThomasB3131]

There are also services on eBay and places like Zip Scanners and Scanner Master that will do all of the programming for you if you want to just skip the headache

 

[BinaryMode]

There are also services on eBay and places like Zip Scanners and Scanner Master that will do all of the programming for you if you want to just skip the headache

I personally wouldn't ever mess with that. Better to just learn the process.

 

[K9KLC]

I personally wouldn't ever mess with that. Better to just learn the process.

Exactly. What you gonna send it back every time something changes in your area? Of even if they use something like remote programming pay someone every time something changes? There's a lot of help available right here on these forums by both searching and asking questions and it's free. Learn the scanner and put in it what you want to receive not what someone else thinks you need to receive.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

There are also services on eBay and places like Zip Scanners and Scanner Master that will do all of the programming for you if you want to just skip the headache

Pay $50-$75 on top of the price of the scanner itself for someone in an area nowhere near yours to "program" your scanner versus either taking the time to learn how to program it yourself or having someone share their programming files on this forum for free...

 

[K4EET]

As others have eluded to, knowing how your scanner system works will yield years of enjoyable scanning. Things do change with communications systems, some minor and some major, some frequently and some rarely. Being able to program your scanner, even with our assistance, is a key aspect to the hobby. With practice, and by reading the various documentation on your scanner of choice, will bring you up-to-speed faster than you might think. Have fun, my friend!