Looking for a radio I could use for gmrs and as a scanner

[gm991]

Just got my gmrs lic. And would like to kill two birds with one stone.
Do they make a radio I could field program all the gmrs frequencies in and program all my local police and fire and use it as a scanner also.

Would this work
RELM Wireless Corporation

Or this

The Wouxun KG-UVD1P is a compact VHF/UHF handie with 5 watts on VHF and 4 watts on UHF.

Thanks

 

[W8RMH]

Your Police and Fire communications would have to be in the 440-520 MHz UHF frequency range (conventional).

 

[redneckcellphone]

the radio you linked would work if police and such were in the range of the radio. the wouxun would be a better choice as to a scanner/gmrs radio

edit: here is the link to the frequencies for police and ems where you live http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1225 that should help you decide if it would work

 

[gm991]

the radio you linked would work if police and such were in the range of the radio. the wouxun would be a better choice as to a scanner/gmrs radio

edit: here is the link to the frequencies for police and ems where you live Suffolk County, Massachusetts (MA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference that should help you decide if it would work

thanks for the link.
I do already have a scanner with all my local police and fire.
I read the wouxun is hard to program. ANyone have any info on the unit?

thanks

 

[N0WEF]

thanks for the link.
I do already have a scanner with all my nocal police and fire.
I read the wouxun is hard to program. ANyone have any info on the unit?

thanks

Here's a rundown on the features. osCMax v2.0 : KG-UV6D Dual Band, Freq, Display, & Free shipping [18626-10002] - $174.95

 

[travisd]

thanks for the link.
I do already have a scanner with all my local police and fire.
I read the wouxun is hard to program. ANyone have any info on the unit?

thanks

As mentioned, you'll need to makes sure that the freqs you want to scan are in the receive capability of the radio, which is limited to 136 - 174 MHz & 420 - 520 MHz. Some systems (like here in Carroll County, MD) they have a VHF simulcast of the main Fire dispatch. I can hear the initial call, but not any on-scene activity which is only on the Trunked 800MHz system.

Scanning is not the fastest. It's all dependent on how many channels you're scanning. I've never tried to change what channels are scanned using the front panel, just via the PC software. There is a Priority channel setting, but I've yet to try it. It's more useful for finding which Ham repeater is active since conversations tend to be long. A quick Police or Fire call (those guys are good at keeping it brief!) may be completely missed if you have more than a couple of channels being scanned.

There's also no "close-call" type of function. You can scan based on any supported frequency and step (e.g. start at 144 MHz and scan up in 5.0KHz increments) but unless you get lucky, or the signal is on the air continuously, it's hard to catch it that way. And there's no limit other than the programmed edges of the band, though you can manually reverse direction.

That said, the PC software (in my case, the excellent KG-UV commander) is very simple to use. Plug everything into a grid that looks like a spreadsheet and Write it out to the radio. It's nice being able to save different versions for say, travel out of region.

Front panel programming is not really intuitive, but there's good 3rd party how-to's out there on the basics (programming a Repeater split for instance). Annoyingly, it's not easy to make a small change to a programmed channel (that I've found) if for instance you want to change the bandwidth or CTCSS/DCS code on the fly.

It's a decent little VHF/UHF transceiver that happens to have a scan feature. It's not going to make a scanner junkie happy unless they're moving up from an old crystal controlled Bearcat And even then, since it's FM only, you're not going to be getting things that sill run AM, like aircraft.

 

[gm991]

As mentioned, you'll need to makes sure that the freqs you want to scan are in the receive capability of the radio, which is limited to 136 - 174 MHz & 420 - 520 MHz. Some systems (like here in Carroll County, MD) they have a VHF simulcast of the main Fire dispatch. I can hear the initial call, but not any on-scene activity which is only on the Trunked 800MHz system.

Scanning is not the fastest. It's all dependent on how many channels you're scanning. I've never tried to change what channels are scanned using the front panel, just via the PC software. There is a Priority channel setting, but I've yet to try it. It's more useful for finding which Ham repeater is active since conversations tend to be long. A quick Police or Fire call (those guys are good at keeping it brief!) may be completely missed if you have more than a couple of channels being scanned.

There's also no "close-call" type of function. You can scan based on any supported frequency and step (e.g. start at 144 MHz and scan up in 5.0KHz increments) but unless you get lucky, or the signal is on the air continuously, it's hard to catch it that way. And there's no limit other than the programmed edges of the band, though you can manually reverse direction.

That said, the PC software (in my case, the excellent KG-UV commander) is very simple to use. Plug everything into a grid that looks like a spreadsheet and Write it out to the radio. It's nice being able to save different versions for say, travel out of region.

Front panel programming is not really intuitive, but there's good 3rd party how-to's out there on the basics (programming a Repeater split for instance). Annoyingly, it's not easy to make a small change to a programmed channel (that I've found) if for instance you want to change the bandwidth or CTCSS/DCS code on the fly.

It's a decent little VHF/UHF transceiver that happens to have a scan feature. It's not going to make a scanner junkie happy unless they're moving up from an old crystal controlled Bearcat And even then, since it's FM only, you're not going to be getting things that sill run AM, like aircraft.

thanks for the info, looks like I should keep my scanning for my scanner unless I just want to maybe scan just a couple surrounding town police and fire...

 

[gm991]

I found a used one and the guy says it only goes to 400-480 MHz.
Did they make radios Witt the same item number but different freq. limits?
Here is the link to the site.
Two Way Radio KG-UVD1

It's a bummer if it's true because I can get a good deal on it.
But I need it to receive 483.xxx for my local police and fire