Help, what to purchase?

[dubshot]

Would like to purchase a handheld scanner for a reasonable amount {300-400} that will work on the state 800 system. I know there are bad, good and great scanners out there . Just need some good info before I dive into a mistake and regret my purchase!!
Thanks in advance!!

 

[Bob1955]

Would like to purchase a handheld scanner for a reasonable amount {300-400} that will work on the state 800 system. I know there are bad, good and great scanners out there . Just need some good info before I dive into a mistake and regret my purchase!!
Thanks in advance!!

I would call Bearcat Warehouse in Maryland and ask for Paul and their number is 877-568-7226 and ask him if the Bearcat BCD325P2 would work well in your area. It is a good problem free digital/analog/conventional/trunking handheld scanner.

 

[brian]

The best answer partially depends on your location and what specifically you want to listen to.

Many urban areas of the state are covered by P25 "Simulcast" sites for Palmetto 800. Simulcast is a particular type of radio modulation that is notoriously difficult for many digital scanners to reliably decode. There is currently only a single model of handheld scanner designed to reliably receive simulcast systems, and that's the SDS100. Unfortunately this model does not fall within your budget. There is another handheld receiver that isn't technically a scanner that also reliably receives simulcast systems, the Unication G4 and G5 pagers. These also aren't within your budget.

There are many models of handheld scanners that are designed to receive P25 trunked radio systems like Palmetto 800 that do fall in your budget range. However, they will all suffer with varying degrees of degraded reception in areas covered by simulcast sites. How much of an issue that is depends on your location.

If you look at this page Palmetto 800 Trunking System, Various, South Carolina - Scanner Frequencies and look at the list of sites show in the System Frequencies table, the site label will indicate which are simulcast sites and which are not. You can sort this list by county to easily find the site(s) in your area. It's reasonable to expect additional areas/counties to transition to simulcast sites over time as more agencies join the system.

I hope this is helpful.

Brian

 

[mlindler]

@dubshot What county are you in? @brian 's post above is spot on in recommendations. I'm in the upstate and I carry a Unication G5 VHF.

 

[dubshot]

@dubshot What county are you in? @brian 's post above is spot on in recommendations. I'm in the upstate and I carry a Unication G5 VHF.

Sumter, Clarendon area

 

[brian]

Sumter, Clarendon area

So Sumter is one of the areas with a simulcast site that covers the county. Clarendon is currently covered by a single tower (non-simulcast) site.

Some Sumter County talkgroups are likely carried on the Clarendon site, but likely not all of them all of the time. Likewise, some Clarendon County talkgroups are likely carried on the Clarendon site some of the time, but not all of them all of the time.

If you're more in the Sumter area, you will likely have problems with simulcast reception if you choose a lower-cost P25 digital trunking scanner that is not the SDS100. If you're more in the Clarendon area, you may be okay. If you plan to carry the scanner will you travel from place to place, you're likely to run into simulcast issues at some point. It's the unfortunate state of our hobby today that the cost of entry for most folks is a very expensive top-of-the-line scanner that has "all" the bells and whistles that many people don't want or need.

 

[mlindler]

@dubshot Uniden SDS100 or a Unication G5 VHF is what I would get. If it was me, I would hands down get a Unication G5 VHF. No Distortion on 800 Mhz with the added listening bonus of VHF.

 

[dubshot]

I would call Bearcat Warehouse in Maryland and ask for Paul and their number is 877-568-7226 and ask him if the Bearcat BCD325P2 would work well in your area. It is a good problem free digital/analog/conventional/trunking handheld scanner.

Thanks, great info!!

 

[mlindler]

@dubshot the only issue with the Bearcat BCD325P2 is that you are going to miss 1/2 the conversations you are wanting to hear. I recently had a customer bring me a BCD scanner to program. The distortion was so bad on the simulcast sites that he returned it back to Uniden and bought a unication. Not trying to push you one way or another, you came to this group for advise and I believe you are just going to be disappointed with you monitoring in South Carolina with that scanner. I think @Bob1955 lives in NY.

 

[Bob1955]

@dubshot the only issue with the Bearcat BCD325P2 is that you are going to miss 1/2 the conversations you are wanting to hear. I recently had a customer bring me a BCD scanner to program. The distortion was so bad on the simulcast sites that he returned it back to Uniden and bought a unication. Not trying to push you one way or another, you came to this group for advise and I believe you are just going to be disappointed with you monitoring in South Carolina with that scanner. I think @Bob1955 lives in NY.

Yes-I'm in Westchester County, NY-Eastchester.

 

[Bob1955]

Thanks, great info!!

If you want to hear/monitor simulcasting perfectly, then it's a Bearcat SDS100/200 or a Unication pager.

 

[KMG54]

I will say I own a pro 106 also and since we are still phase 1 when programmed correctly is does a pretty good job compared to other scanners, Sinulcast is not bad on them at all, I would say at least 85% decode rate. Yes some distortion but very minor.

 

[brian]

The effect of Simulcast distortion on radios is almost entirely dependent on one's location. Secondly is the quality of antenna being used.

Some locations are essentially unmonitorable with the older PRO-106 family of scanners. Charleston County is one such location. The Columbia area is also pretty bad in many locations. The only way to truly know its effect is to try it and see how it works.

 

[KMG54]

Actually my 106 does quite well here, not sure why, but it does. I thhink it comes down to programming and only putting in the CC from one tower. It is old but still workks better than my factory modded 668. It is a fine receiver for this area when programmed right. You can't have them searching multiple CC's and alternates, they will faulter there.