Looking for simple digital scanner with as many frequencies as possible.

daifuling

Newbie
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
4
Location
Stinnett, Texas
I'm not new to the monitoring world. I've owned scanners back to the time you bought specific frequencies & put them in your radio (1982). However, I'm old & not particularly tech savvy, so I have problems on newer model radios with simple things like programming channels. I live in an area prone to wildfires & hellacious snowstorms. Our county went from analog to digital with frequencies for fire & ambulance in the 700's. I have the finances to purchase what I want without restriction. I want to find a radio with as much coverage as possible that is simple enough for an average guy to program & enjoy. Any recommendations?
 

ScannerSK

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Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
1,429
Location
Weld County, Colorado
It appears the main system in your area is P25 Phase 2 (no mention of simulcast).

Conventional channels in the area:

Most would recommend a Uniden scanner. The BCD436HP (handheld) and BCD536HP (base unit) are mainstays. My understanding is the free Sentinel software for these scanners will allow downloading the programming automatically into the scanner for a specific area or the entire country. The best performing Uniden models are probably the SDS100 (handheld) and SDS200 (base unit).
 

Indianabrad

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Jasper County, IN.
"Looking for simple digital scanner" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Such a thing does exist. There are 3 requirements: The technical knowhow to use the programing software, an RRDB subscription & the 2 to 3 hours that it will take to create a scan list and commit it to the scanner and insure that it works properly. If you don't have those 3 things above and since you say that cost is not an issue, then pay the extra money to have your new scanner programmed for you (by the dealer) and when it arrives you will be good to go. ... As you can see in my sig, I have a lot of modern scanners and when I need to program one I don't consider it fun as a barrel of monkeys when doing so. And the fact that a lot of modern scanners can be cloned off of each other and also the fact that once you make a scan list you have it on your PC to use again. Are a couple of factors that make modern scanner programming slightly bearable.

 
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daifuling

Newbie
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
4
Location
Stinnett, Texas
It appears the main system in your area is P25 Phase 2 (no mention of simulcast).

Conventional channels in the area:

Most would recommend a Uniden scanner. The BCD436HP (handheld) and BCD536HP (base unit) are mainstays. My understanding is the free Sentinel software for these scanners will allow downloading the programming automatically into the scanner for a specific area or the entire country. The best performing Uniden models are probably the SDS100 (handheld) and SDS200 (base unit).
Thank you. I'm familiar with the Uniden radios. I'll look these over. Appreciate the reply.
 

marksmith

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Joined
Jun 20, 2007
Messages
4,338
Location
Anne Arundel County, MD
It sounds like your area is now covered by a simulcast system. This limits the number of proper scanners to the SDS100 portable or SDS200 base scanners.

I likewise started by putting specific frequency crystals in radios, so trust me that if you know how to use a windows PC it's very manageable. With trunked simulcast type 1 and 2 P25 repeater systems, it's not like the old days. Although I have programmed these manually into a radio, you don't want to other than to fully understand all the details, you don't have to.

The free Sentinel software is designed for the radio, and to handle this task fairly easily.

I own both radios as well as the 436 and 536, which do not handle simulcast very well. If you are not restrained by resources, the SDS100 and SDS200 are what you are looking for.

You can use the software to update any progamming changes to your local system and narrow your listening just to fire and plow operations for your local area and not the hundreds of other stuff on these systems.

So if you can find your way around a windows PC, this is your solution. If the PC is an issue, you need to find someone with PC to do an initial radio setup and favorites list (your specific desired listening) and then the radio is probably good for a good while before it needs programming, as long as your new system is getting mature enough to have everything on it you want to listen to.

The above stuff is pretty accurate, but one correction, you DO NOT NEED A RADIO REFERENCE SUBSCRIPTION to use this software. Connection to the database is built into Sentinel. You will need a subscription if you use 3rd party software to program tour scanner.

Good luck.
 
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Indianabrad

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Jasper County, IN.
For newbies it's almost as bad as that old drunk driving commercial from the 70's "Don't program the scanner, you'll kill yourself!".
🤣🤣🤣!!!!!!!
 
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tvengr

Well Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
9,866
Location
Baltimore County, MD
It appears the main system in your area is P25 Phase 2 (no mention of simulcast).
Both sites use linear simulcast modulation (LSM). If there are subsites, it is simulcast. The SDS100 handheld and SDS200 base/mobile are your best choice. They are the only scanners specifically designed to receive simulcast sites.

Stinnett
Modulation:CQPSK - P25 Phase 2 LSM
Notes:Subsites utilize state license

For newbies it's almost as bad as that old drunk driving commercial from the 70's "Don't program the scanner, you'll kill yourself".
No lives will be lost if you make a mistake programming a scanner. You will learn from your mistakes. It was very confusing for all of us when we first started. Programming becomes easy with practice. Don't let anyone scare you.
 

tvengr

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Baltimore County, MD

bearcatrp

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Apr 11, 2005
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Land of 10,000 taxes
If you don't need mobile, get the SDS200. Fantastic scanner, especially hooked up to proscan on a computer. Mine has been recording for past 2 years. Don't need a powerful computer to run it. But if you need mobile, get both. You can program one and share with the other.
 

Indianabrad

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Jasper County, IN.
If you don't need mobile, get the SDS200.
I can also say that with the past 2 firmware upgrades the SDS200 is now a decently sounding scanner. I've had to for 3.5 yrs and thought it sounded so bad that I nearly sold it on eBay several times and had started to doubt that it would be fit for its use. And when I put the last 2 firmware updates on my SDS200 I was totally shocked at the improvements to its prior despicable sounding audio. In 2019 the SDS200 wasn't ready for prime time when Unide released it and then with 3 major issues that caused as 3 yr wait for any firmware updates, of Uniden's chief engineer dying, then having to find a new one while a world wide pandemic was going on, caused some long term suffering with the sound quality issue. Also anyone who reads this, DO NOT lie like a Uniden fanboi and say that "My SDS200 always sounded great", because you know it didn't, because if it had Uniden wouldn't have made 2 firmware improvements to the decoding and audio quality.
 

BinaryMode

Active Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2023
Messages
521
Location
USA
I'm not new to the monitoring world. I've owned scanners back to the time you bought specific frequencies & put them in your radio (1982). However, I'm old & not particularly tech savvy, so I have problems on newer model radios with simple things like programming channels. I live in an area prone to wildfires & hellacious snowstorms. Our county went from analog to digital with frequencies for fire & ambulance in the 700's. I have the finances to purchase what I want without restriction. I want to find a radio with as much coverage as possible that is simple enough for an average guy to program & enjoy. Any recommendations?

Note that newer scanners from Uniden allow you to simply enter a zip code. SDS100 - The RadioReference Wiki

Though, doing that and you may be bombarded by stuff you're not interested in. So you'll need to have a general idea how to lock out or unselect the stuff you don't want to hear.
 

Indianabrad

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Jasper County, IN.
Note that newer scanners from Uniden allow you to simply enter a zip code
Zip code programming would be ideal if there was a check box for either "P25 only" or "exclude VHF". In fact if you could avoid the old "dead air" VHF freqs like that, there wouldn't really be any reason for making your own scan list.
 
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