KSICS Scanner Question

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WQOC472

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Hello all,

i am looking for a scanner to monitor KSICS. Which is best.? i am looking for a base/mobile i want to be able to monitor the whole KSICS system if possible. i live in Cowley County.

any suggestions??
 

PVPD730

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Hello all,

i am looking for a scanner to monitor KSICS. Which is best.? i am looking for a base/mobile i want to be able to monitor the whole KSICS system if possible. i live in Cowley County.

any suggestions??

Depends on how much $$ you want to spend. Performance wise, I would go with a Uniden 996XT. You can set up "sites" within the programming software and listen to just about any tower you want. I traveled out to KS quite recently, and my 396XT did an awesome job handling the Topeka, Burlington and Butler County towers. In comparison, the RS Pro-197 did okay, but not nearly as well the Uniden.
 

WQOC472

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I will most likely go with the uniden 996. I'm mainly interested in the Statewide Interoperability Talkgroups, Emergency Management Talkgroups, and the Highway Patrol - Troop F: Wichita Talkgroups. I see Dexter has a tower site. That would be closest to me, would that work?
 

PVPD730

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I will most likely go with the uniden 996. I'm mainly interested in the Statewide Interoperability Talkgroups, Emergency Management Talkgroups, and the Highway Patrol - Troop F: Wichita Talkgroups. I see Dexter has a tower site. That would be closest to me, would that work?

It should work. Just program as many sites (towers) that you're interested in, add talkgroups, and you should be up and running. Another plus with the Unidens is you don't have to deal with the encryption garble whenever the scanner hits on a secure talkgroup. Encryption is muted out. You don't get that feature with the Radio Shack models. That was one of my biggest reasons for switching to Uniden gear--oh, and the DMA setup beats the Radio Shack/GRE Object Oriented scanning hands down. It's well worth the extra cash!
 

compubandit

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The 396T and XT or the 996T or XT have limits on sites and numbers of talkgroups. The only scanner that I am aware of that can handle the complete KSICS system would be the HP-1. You can have all of the tower sites and all of the talkgroups. The 396 and 996 limit this.
 

bchappuie

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I've got a GRE PSR-500 handheld, and it works OK for me. There are base models also, The PSR-800 is the latest version. Radio Shack also has their own versions of the GRE's. PR0-106 and 197.
 

WQOC472

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The scanner will be stationary at my house. The dexter tower looks like it is the closest. Would i only need to program that one in if the scanner won't be moving location?
 

n0lqt

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No, you will really want to program in the sites surrounding the area you are primarily interested in listening to. If you are in Cowley County, I'd program in Dexter, Mayfield, Sedan, Wichita, Butler, and probably Severy. You may even want to include Virgil as well depending on how high your antenna is.

Include ALL of the KSICS talkgroups in your programming. You can then lock out the ones you don't want. If something comes up, you can always unlock them.

I have RS Pro-106 and Pro-197 scanners. They use an "object oriented" programming method. You create a single system "object" for KSICS that includes all of the control and alternate frequencies for the sites you are interested in and all of the talkgroups to be associated with that system. I program control and alternate channels only (it will hold up to 32 frequencies per trunked system) for the six or seven closest sites on my home unit and all control channels for my mobile unit. I can then break the talkgroups up into multiple "County/Agency" scanlists. These scanners allow for up to 22 scanlists. Uniden uses a different programming scheme; you can have more scanlists, but fewer talkgroups per system I believe.

With the RS and GRE scanners (they are really the same scanners, just minor external appearances) a scanlist can hold non-trunked and multiple trunk system talkgroups all in a single scanlist. Plus, each talkgroup "object" can be used in multiple scanlists without having to add the whole system over again.

I used to work for RS and had the advantage of being able to play with both Uniden and RS/GRE units. Although I really really liked the GPS feature of some of the Uniden scanners, I wasn't going to be traveling that much to make use of it. That was the one of the basic reasons behind my choice of the Pro-106 and Pro-197, the cost was significantly lower for the RS scanners versus the Uniden models even before an employee discount.

I have heard that the Uniden scanner do handle the simulcast systems like Butler County better that RS/GRE, but after some minor "tweaks" to some of the system trunking parameters with WIN500 software, I don't seem to have any problems with Butler County. One thing I don't like about the RS/GRE scanners is that unless the talkgroup is encrypted at the system level (as opposed to the radio level like most talkgroups seem to be around here) they won't ignore the encrypted traffic like the Uniden scanners will. So, from time to time, I have to put up with a couple of minutes of gobbledy-gook out of Andover PD or KBI-South-central or just temporarily lock them out.
 

WQOC472

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Thanks everyone for your input. I am selling a couple of radios on ebay to fund a P25 scanner. I believe i will go with the GRE PSR600 or the RS Pro197, since they sound like the same radio with all the features and considerably less price than the 996.

BTW, the antenna is around 20 ft. high above my house with no trees or obstructions around it.

I will get back to you all when i get the scanner purchased.

Thanks to all, for your help!
 
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