Im thinking of buying a hand held and need advise 🤔

[KF0AWL]

He everyone, its been years since I was listening to RR and local first responders on my analog Radio Shack scanner.
I'm a newer HAM and been thinking about getting another hand held to listen to when I'm not in the shack.
I was looking at a mobile at a hamfest last weekend and another guy I know came up and said I'm in (digital country) so a trunking wouldn't do me much good 🤔
Thats when I realized that scanners have advanced ALOT more then I realized so I better ask the experts for advice.
I live in the corner of Iowa/Minnesota/South Dakota if that means anything to what I need.
What would be a decent $100-$200 range scanner that would get me were I need to be?
I would prefer a mobile, but if its not in the budget I can go with hand held to save a few bucks.
I just need to find out what I'm looking at these days.

 

[marksmith]

Get ready to spend more for a digital trunking scanner. Especially if you need a P25 phase 2 receiver.

 

[natedawg1604]

Yeah unfortunately a lot of agencies are using p25 trunked systems, in big metro areas they're often simulcast which requires a fairly pricy scanner. Honestly you might consider looking into RTL SDR dongles and decoding software, it does require a computer but it's way cheaper than a modern P25 scanner.

 

[KF0AWL]

Looking through the data its mostly FMN with only two P25 channels in the areas I frequent. I live in Osceola County Iowa over to Nobles/Rock County in Minnesota and Minnehaha County in SD.
Would a general digital scanner cover me except the two p25 channels?

 

[KF0AWL]

Ok another question that crossed my mind and I'm not finding much on Google.
I have a Yaesu FT2DR I already read here that it can't do the P25 but will it pick up the FMN?

 

[SteveSimpkin]

Looking through the data its mostly FMN with only two P25 channels in the areas I frequent. I live in Osceola County Iowa over to Nobles/Rock County in Minnesota and Minnehaha County in SD.
Would a general digital scanner cover me except the two p25 channels?

Ok another question that crossed my mind and I'm not finding much on Google.
I have a Yaesu FT2DR I already read here that it can't do the P25 but will it pick up the FMN?

Yes! Your FT2DR has a very wide band receiver that will pick up FMN well. It is not as fast at scanning as a dedicated scanner but it is not terrible if you are not scanning to many frequencies at a time.

 

[KF0AWL]

Yes! Your FT2DR has a very wide band receiver that will pick up FMN well. It is not as fast at scanning as a dedicated scanner but it is not terrible if you are not scanning to many frequencies at a time.

Awsome! I'll give it a try, thanks 👍

 

[RTmed519]

If you do go down the P25 rabbit hole, look at the WS1040. Not the highest of quality scanners, and they don't handle simulcast well, but it's a great starter scanner (I got mine for $219 each, but the prices are much higher right now due to COVID). It does P25 Phase I and Analog (FMN) only. It looks like only the Osceola Sheriff's use P25 conventional (non-trunked) in VHF, I personally haven't tested the WS1040 in VHF P25, so I can't tell you how it'll perform there.

 

[IrvingtonVFD43]

I have an antique RadioShack Pro106. Which the WS1040 is operationally the same (I am assuming the guts are operationally the same too) including the GRE PSR 500, et al. Nebraska State Radio System is a VHF P25 Phase 1 system and my Pro106 does an excellent job receiving it. My local Police/Fire is a P25 800mhz non-simulcast trunked system and is excellent with 800mhz as well BUT As RTmed519 mentioned, it doesn't handle simulcast systems well.

 

[tfhphoto]

Up in your neck of the state, you will be fine with a plain old scanner that will receive P25 conventional and P25 Phase I trunking (South Dakota and Minnesota have statewide P25 Phase I trucking systems). So I don't get bashed, I know South Dakota isn't technically P25 trunked, but it scans like it is. Iowa's statewide system is P25 Phase II (tower in Rock Rapids). So, IF you want to hear ISP, or the air ambulances or the mutual aid traffic, you WILL need a Phase II capable scanner. Also, if you think your county will migrate to the statewide system, you will want a Phase II scanner. I'm not familiar with the Whistler scanners, but an old Uniden 396T scanner will work well for a plain P25 Phase I scanner. If you decide to go with a Phase 2 scanner, a 325p2 should work well for you (very little simulcast up there).