Help with setting up a police scanner for people to listen to

Mesilo

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Jan 12, 2022
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Hello everybody Im currently seeking help to set up a radio police scanner going for my local area as the one that already exists does not provide good coverage at all it cuts out too much & it’s annoying if anybody could provide me good antennas & radios also what program/programs I need to get started I will take any advice I can get?
 

scanlist

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First question which agencies are you wanting to monitor. This will determine what model of scanner will be required and if they are in the process of or considering joining the encryption club.

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scanlist

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Not sure if OP was serious or the up front costs disueded them.

Still we are here to assist them.

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RaleighGuy

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Hello everybody Im currently seeking help to set up a radio police scanner going for my local area as the one that already exists does not provide good coverage at all it cuts out too much & it’s annoying if anybody could provide me good antennas & radios also what program/programs I need to get started I will take any advice I can get?
There are several ways to feed audio, either to the RR Calls Platform or on your own, below are some suggestions and information from the RR wiki. If you have an available laptop/computer I would suggest using an SDR and feeding to the calls platform, which you can do even if there is another feed.

 

Mesilo

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Sorry for the super late response I’ve been busy with other things but I’m looking to cover Mesa County Colorado & as far as agencies I’m not sure if you mean certain fire/ems & police departments or something different & what would the upfront cost be for good coverage for my area specifically?
 

scanlist

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Cost of the scanners approach the $500 range for a uniden BCD996P2 to the $650 to $700 price range for a uniden SDS200.

Both are desktop models.

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Enforcer52

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Hello everybody Im currently seeking help to set up a radio police scanner going for my local area as the one that already exists does not provide good coverage at all it cuts out too much & it’s annoying
I just spent some time listening to Mesa County and Grand Junction Police, Fire and EMS and did not detect any cutting out or any other problems. The site had 108 folks listening in so it must not to be too bad.

There are 8 towers in Mesa county, probably because of the terrain of the area, so it is pretty well covered tower wise. Perhaps the current feed needs a better antenna and when receiving on a distant tower there are some issues with reception. But I didn't hear any.

In any case as @scanlist stated, you are looking at $500 to $750 for a P25 scanner, then up to $200 for a good antenna.

You could use sdrs to stream the system, it would take 4 RTL-SDRs or Noolec at around $38 a piece, plus a good antenna (not a discone), with a good splitter to hook antenna to the sdrs. Or an Airspy that would cover 10Mhz at around $200. Plus at least a quad core computer with 12 gigs of memory. The SDRTrunk software is free.

I would suggest clicking on the Report a Problem link on the Mesa County and Grand Junction Police, Fire and EMS site and tell the owner what you are experiencing and see if he can do anything to improve the problems you are having.

And since there is already a couple of feeds on Broacastify for that area, you may not get approved for a new feed.
 

Mesilo

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Jan 12, 2022
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Cost of the scanners approach the $500 range for a uniden BCD996P2 to the $650 to $700 price range for a uniden SDS200.

Both are desktop models.

.
is the Uniden SDS100 any good & what is the Range on it?
 

scanlist

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That question would be best answered in the Uniden sub forums.

I expect the "it's the best thing since sliced bread" crowd to give me grief on the following take... It's not a serious radio.

I would not invest in the 100. Proprietary battery and rapid battery depletion. Poor performance reported on VHF. Numerous quality issues that have been posted in the Uniden forums. If you plan on using the scanner for streaming this would not be a good fit.

If you really really really need a scanner you are better off with the SDS200.

.
 

K9KLC

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Southwest, IL
That question would be best answered in the Uniden sub forums.

I expect the "it's the best thing since sliced bread" crowd to give me grief on the following take... It's not a serious radio.

I would not invest in the 100. Proprietary battery and rapid battery depletion. Poor performance reported on VHF. Numerous quality issues that have been posted in the Uniden forums. If you plan on using the scanner for streaming this would not be a good fit.

If you really really really need a scanner you are better off with the SDS200.

.
I had the opportunity to test one for a couple of weeks while the other party borrowed my Unication G4. At the end I returned his SDS 100 and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse on the G4.

I personally want a fan of the 100 for the battery life, it's size to carry and it just didn't perform as well as the G5s do on the simulcast systems I monitor.
 
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