A stringer needs to invest in equipment. Like a camera, smartphone, computer and a radio capable of reliably receiving police and fire in the area you want to cover. The Baofeng won't work on systems this region because virtually all public safety radio systems in this area are in the 700/800 band, and for newsgathering, you really want a scanner anyway. You could buy a Uniden 325 for about $335, but it does not perform well on simulcast radio systems (for technical reasons it can miss or garble radio traffic,) and virtually all public safety radio systems in this area are simulcast. I recommend a Uniden SDS100, but it is expensive - I just sold mine on eBay for $565 (replaced with a second SDS200,) and new ones run $650. If you want cheap, I could sell you my old GRE PSR-800 (factory converted to a WS1080) that is technically capable of receiving 700/800 radio systems, but is not optimized for simulcast thus will have the problems I outline above.
Last edited:
