Help with purhase

[rickmo]

I own the Uniden/ Bearcat B235XLT, which is an old model 300 channel analog trunking scanner. I am thinking about buyng Uniden Home Patrol 1. I don't know much about trunking, and, since I live in Chicago, is it worth buying this radio? Not sure if the Chicago Police Department and Fire Department, use the trunking that will be compatable with the Home Patrol 1.

 

[ScanWI]

At this time if you are just looking to listen to Chicago PD and FD, you will not need a trunking scanner. According to the database FD has P25 dispatch channels now so you would need a P25 scanner or some sort. The HP-1 is a great choice for a digital scanner.

In the Chicago area the main agencies that use trunking are;
Cook County Sheriff
Chicago Marine Unit
Illinois State Police
Other municipalities

There is a mix of conventional and Trunking as well as Analog and Digital in the Chicago area. Lots to listen to.

 

[hiegtx]

I own the Uniden/ Bearcat B235XLT, which is an old model 300 channel analog trunking scanner. I am thinking about buyng Uniden Home Patrol 1. I don't know much about trunking, and, since I live in Chicago, is it worth buying this radio? Not sure if the Chicago Police Department and Fire Department, use the trunking that will be compatable with the Home Patrol 1.

For what you state that you are most interested in, the HP-1 would work at this time. However, looking at STARCOM, the statewide system, I see that Cook County, which is on that system, is using P25 Phase II talkgroups. While many of the law enforcement groups are encrypted, which you cannot monitor with any scanner, those that are not encrypted are showing as Phase II usage, denoted by the T in the Mode column. I would suggest that possibly the HP-2 would be a better choice, since it is capable of the Phase II usage. I would also recommend that you request that your thread be moved to the Illinois forum. Perhaps someone in the state can advise more specifically as to whether more agencies will be converting to Phase II.