Looking for a scanner recommendation for Dane Co

[agroom]

This is my first venture into the scanner world, so know very little about it, though I've read though several of the beginner pages here. What they recommended was posting to the local forums as finding out from others in the area what works, so here I am.

Primarily just looking for a handheld that will pickup the local fire, police, emergency, etc channels. Specifically McFarland, but am interested in something that will work for all of Dane Co. From some older posts here, I've read that most of Dane is going to digital, so I assume that is the way to go, or would an analog scanner still work for some time? A related question, is trunk tracking already a feature of digital scanners, or do you have to get one specifically with that feature?.

I assume digital scanners are more expensive? Is it possible to get something for < $150? Doesn't have to be feature-rich, just functional.

Thanks in advance!

 

[KC9UNK]

This is my first venture into the scanner world, so know very little about it, though I've read though several of the beginner pages here. What they recommended was posting to the local forums as finding out from others in the area what works, so here I am.

Primarily just looking for a handheld that will pickup the local fire, police, emergency, etc channels. Specifically McFarland, but am interested in something that will work for all of Dane Co. From some older posts here, I've read that most of Dane is going to digital, so I assume that is the way to go, or would an analog scanner still work for some time? A related question, is trunk tracking already a feature of digital scanners, or do you have to get one specifically with that feature?.

I assume digital scanners are more expensive? Is it possible to get something for < $150? Doesn't have to be feature-rich, just functional.

Thanks in advance!

There's no scanner on the market that is 100 % compatible with the type of system Dane County uses. Any digital scanner that does P25 trunking will work but not the greatest.
You won't find one for $150 unless you get lucky finding one on eBay used. 90% of Dane County is digital. Analog will only work for the small here n there repeaters that some of the town's use for small conversations. Or for the fire and ems paging channel that is still analog that's about it. The cheapest scanners I've seen are radioshack pro-106 radios.

 

[JohnStreet]

I can recommend the HomePatrol 2. Its super easy to use and actually picks up DaneCom on occassion if its positioned the right way. In either case, make sure you get the Phase 2 of the APCO 25 trunking or you will be in radio darkness from Dane co communications. The drawback is you cant touch one for the $150 price range.