how quickly is everything going digital?

[mole351]

how quickly is everything going from analog to digital? i may be buying a bc246t, but don't want to spend the extra $ (otherwise i'll be getting a sc230 just for racing) if it's going to be obsolete in a year or two b/c everything will be digital. i don't want to turn around next year and shell out another few hundred bucks. may be a stupid question...but hey...i'm brand spanking new to this. thanks!

 

[Dubbin]

If you let ud know where you are located then maybe someone can give you some info on your local system. Until then we wont have any idea what the plans are in your area.

 

[mole351]

richmond va.

also, any chance NASCAR will be going digital anytime soon? i'd say no, as it would greatly upset the huge fan base w/analog scanners, but you never know....

 

[LEH]

mole351,

If you are in Richmond, you really don't have any choice but to get a digital scanner. Both Richmond and Henrico County are digital and without double checking the data base, I think a couple of the surrounding jurisdications are too.

If you have waited this long to get a new scanner, then I'd wait for the BC396 later this summer or early fall (check the BC396 forum under Uniden scanners for more info on what it will do).

If NASCAR is going to Nextel (and I am NOT a sports fan in any way shape or form) like I have heard, then you won't be able to listen in anymore, they will be on the 'protected' cell phone freqs.

 

[Dubbin]

Dagnabbit Lynn I was just finished doing the research for him and you had to step in and take the spot :wink:

 

[INDY72]

Umm lil correction.. Nextel.. is NOT primarilay cell.. they are radio.. SMR... but you won't be able to hear em cause they are using iDen digital, which is an unscannable format.

 

[safetyobc]

I highly doubt that NASCAR would move to digital. It would upset their fan base that attends the races and they don't want to do that!!!! They can sell huge numbers of analog "race" scanners at the track for $150 to $250 all day long. You go to try and sell $500 + scanners at the track and the sales will suffer greatly! NASCAR is nothing without their fans coming to the tracks and keeping those tracks open! As far as going to NEXTEL communications, I am sure that almost every team has NEXTEL phones just to support the main sponser! I don't think NEXTEL will make them use any type of radio system just because they are sponsers! Winston didn't make them jump out of the car spray everyone with Gatorade and Coke and fire up a Winston cigarette in Victory Lane while telling the fans that he really didn't mean to wreck that other driver for the win :roll: Like I said, I am sure they all have obligations to promote NEXTEL every chance they get but I doubt they are forced to use NEXTEL communications......What about the Alltel driver or Cingular driver? What phone do they carry?

 

[Dubbin]

I highly doubt that NASCAR would move to digital. It would upset their fan base that attends the races and they don't want to do that!!!!

Not to get into a big NASCAR debate but they have been upsetting the fan base a ton here in the last couple of years and yet they don't seem to care. If theres money in it for NASCAR then they will do what they want :roll:

 

[mole351]

thanks for the help everybody! much appreciated, though it's not the info i was hoping for.

and here's to hoping NASCAR stays analog....or at least scannable! that's a HUGE part of the race experience for the fans. i can't imagine they'd risk upsetting that many people b/c it IS such a big part of racing, but you never know. almost everyone at the track nowadays has the headsets on.

Winston didn't make them jump out of the car spray everyone with Gatorade and Coke and fire up a Winston cigarette in Victory Lane while telling the fans that he really didn't mean to wreck that other driver for the win

:lol: that'd be hilarious...drivers getting out and lighting up ASAP!

 

[Dubbin]

Winston didn't make them jump out of the car spray everyone with Gatorade and Coke and fire up a Winston cigarette in Victory Lane

LOL I didn't notice that when I glanced over your post They did however have Dick Trickle lighting up while he was racing and showed that almost everytime :lol:

 

[mole351]

They did however have Dick Trickle lighting up while he was racing and showed that almost everytime :lol:

:lol: i didn't know that. freaking hilarious!

 

[Grog]

Dick Trickle, the best racing name ever.

BTW, he live about 8 miles from me. I think he still wore wingtips in his car to the end :lol:

 

[Dubbin]

Dick Trickle, the best racing name ever.

You know Grog, I never even noticed anything funny about his name until you pointed it out :lol: I bet he had a ruff time in school because I KNOW he would have never lived it down if I had knew him

 

[Thayne]

Ya Vo; Dick Trickle and Jack Hoff were both great guys-- 8)

 

[whooey]

Didnt Dick Trickle marry Mya Buthertz?

 

[PhilJSmith67]

NASCAR on Nextel?

Things happen in fractions of a second on a race track. I can't see drivers and crews dealing with the latency of digital communications. It's just too risky. When a situation is developing and someone in the pit yells "STAY HIGH STAY HIGH" that better be heard ASAP by the driver or there could be a big, or bigger wreck. If I were running 135+ coming out of a turn I sure as heck wouldn't want to hear things so much as 200 milliseconds late... Especially not over 1 second.

 

[N_Jay]

Re: NASCAR on Nextel?

Things happen in fractions of a second on a race track. I can't see drivers and crews dealing with the latency of digital communications. It's just too risky. When a situation is developing and someone in the pit yells "STAY HIGH STAY HIGH" that better be heard ASAP by the driver or there could be a big, or bigger wreck. If I were running 135+ coming out of a turn I sure as heck wouldn't want to hear things so much as 200 milliseconds late... Especially not over 1 second.

What system has a second of latency?

Also, Motorola just anounced soem non-P25 digital for the commercial markets.

 

[WesFFXFire]

I too am a scanner buff and hugeNASCAR fan. I have a BC296 for my area and a SC200 for Nascar. Last year the Nascar Scene did an article on this subject. I think most Nascar teams wish thier frequencies were not only digital but encrypted. They certinly have the money. it would do them no good to just go digital. But listening to the drivers are part of the overall Nascar experience. Scanning has gotten too big. If they switched to Nextel a lot of people and companies would be out of business and have a lot of angry fans........I think its too late to stop it.

 

[PhilJSmith67]

What system has that latency? Nextel, for one, can easily have latency of one second when traffic conditions are normal to heavy. It is not a consistent delay, either. Some voice comms might get through with only a 200ms delay, but some may take 1000ms. This is not even taking into account "channel acquisition" times, which are *always* present in any conditions.

The fact of the matter is that analog has almost negligible delay. You can't encode anything to and back from digital without a delay. For phone and SMR/2-way communication the delay is a non-issue. But, under time-critical situations, any delay could pose a problem. I'm sure some teams will switch to digital, but I would bet the bank that other's will not unless NASCAR ignores the safety issues and forces them to change.

 

[Al42]

Some of you are confusing analog/digital with trunked/non-trunked. Others are confusing analog/digital with clear/encrypted.

Digitalizing can be done with latencies of under 200 ms - considerably less. Nextel digitialzes, but it also has to assign a channel to a call, the same as a trunked system, which takes time. One has nothing to do with the other.

Going digital, unless it's to some non-published standard, won't prevent eavesdropping - see APCO. Encrypting doesn't need digitalizing - there are many analog encryption methods.