Help?

[rbahri5206]

would a pro-96 digital scanner be a good starter scanner for san diego i have no clue i am gettin my first scanner thank you for any info and help you can provide.

 

[SCPD]

I would recommend the PSR-500 over the PRO-96. There is more capacity in the 500 and you are not constrained to fixed numbers of channels in each bank, such as the 50 in the PRO-96. You can have one channel or several hundred in each "scan list" (banks). The 500 allows you to set narrow band tuning channel by channel, so as the transition to narrow band continues with some using the older 25 kHz spacing and some using the 12.5 kHz spacing the PSR-500 can be programmed for both.

Narrow band reception is lower in volume than the older 25 kHz frequencies. The PSR-500 allows you to program a audio boost function channel by channel. This allows you to keep one volume setting even if you are receiving both narrow and wide band signals. Without this, setting the volume in order to hear the narrow band signals, results in being blasted out of the room when a wide band signal is being received.

The PSR-500 has features built into it that will handle many of the changes in two way radio use in the foreseeable future, something that the PRO-96 does not have. It is best to purchase a scanner with all the latest technology so that it is useful for the longest period of time possible.

 

[rbahri5206]

How long would I be able to use this model for and would it work for the san diego sherrif

 

[SCPD]

Yes it will work for the San Diego Sheriffs Department, which is on the San Diego Regional Communications System (RCS). How long the scanner will last depends on if an entirely new type of radio technology is employed sometime in the future. The next change is likely to be an even narrower "narrow band." The PSR-500 is capable of a channel spacing of 6.25 kHz. This is something the PRO-96 will not do.

If a department starts using encryption, or Open Sky, or similar technologies any scanner will not work for those systems and most likely never will. I don't see that happening very soon for the RCS as the system is huge and the cost would be very high.

The PRO-96 is best programmed with computer software. Programming via the keypad on the scanner is quite difficult considering the scanner has a 5,000 channel capacity (10 V Files of 500 channels each). The PSR-500 has 20 V Files with an "object capacity" of 1800 plus for each file. An object is a conventional frequency, a trunked system (all the trunked channels in a trunked system is one system and one object), a talkgroup, a limit search, and a signal sweeper search. With that capacity a computer is definately needed. I recommend Starrsoft Software for the PSR radios and the PRO-96. Don Starr puts out a very good product.