Need help purchasing
- Thread starter drew7262
- Start date
- Status
Reconrider
Inside the Galaxy
I don't know much about SC radio system. But taking a quick look, Richland county is on the SC palmetto 800 trunking system.
More specifically, the Richland county site is simulcast. Depending where you live, you could theoretically get something besides an sds100/sds200 working, those models would be the "easiest" to make work.
I see that you said budget/money is tight. I would suggest looking into the RTL SDRs, they can be had for around $50 from amazon and include everything needed, besides the program to listen to it.
If you go the route of the SDR, I suggest DSD+ (25$ for lifetime updates or I think $10 for 1 year of updates).
You could use the free SDRTRUNK, but it's pretty heavy weight for a program and sometimes doesn't work well with only 1 SDR while DSD+ has no issues with only 1 sdr.
More specifically, the Richland county site is simulcast. Depending where you live, you could theoretically get something besides an sds100/sds200 working, those models would be the "easiest" to make work.
I see that you said budget/money is tight. I would suggest looking into the RTL SDRs, they can be had for around $50 from amazon and include everything needed, besides the program to listen to it.
If you go the route of the SDR, I suggest DSD+ (25$ for lifetime updates or I think $10 for 1 year of updates).
You could use the free SDRTRUNK, but it's pretty heavy weight for a program and sometimes doesn't work well with only 1 SDR while DSD+ has no issues with only 1 sdr.
Richland county is all digital. If you want cheap to try and have a PC try a RTL dongle with DSD+Fastlane easy learning curve and 25 bucks invested.
I agree that an RTL SDR receiver and one of the decoding/trunk-tracking applications is the least expensive way to go for receiving digital radios systems like the simulcast P25 radio system in use by Public Safety agencies in Richland County. Keep in mind that Richland County Sheriff communications are encrypted. If RCSO is your primary listening target, understand that there's no way for a hobbyist to listen, regardless of what you purchase.
You don't say specifically what you want to listen to, and whether you're new to the hobby or not. My personal opinion is that the newer "traditional scanner" models are quite complicated to program even for some seasoned veterans in the hobby, and particularly for folks new to the hobby. Reading in the Whistler and Uniden forums you'll see plenty of folks new to the hobby asking questions about how to make their new scanners work.
It's easy to purchase an inexpensive RTL SDR receiver, but you really need to have some experience and comfort as a PC user to get it running. The software is generally free (true, DSD+ is $25 for the Fastlane version) but none of them are what I would consider "plug and play". There is quite a bit of steps and tricks to get them working and the documentation challenging for many to follow. There are lots of Youtube videos available to help, but many are dated and may leave out important steps that are critical in your specific situation. Again, there are lots of posts in the SDR forums about folks struggling to get these to work. It's true that some/most SDR dongles come with an antenna, but it may or may not be adequate for you based on your specific location and what you want to hear.
This isn't to discourage you from taking the RTL SDR route. Just make sure your expectations are properly set. Regardless of what you decide to purchase, be prepared for a steep learning curve if you're new to the hobby. The good news is that RadioReference is a great resource to help ge you started, including both the database of information that's here and the support from other local users that can answer questions and help get you going.
Let us know if we can help further.
You don't say specifically what you want to listen to, and whether you're new to the hobby or not. My personal opinion is that the newer "traditional scanner" models are quite complicated to program even for some seasoned veterans in the hobby, and particularly for folks new to the hobby. Reading in the Whistler and Uniden forums you'll see plenty of folks new to the hobby asking questions about how to make their new scanners work.
It's easy to purchase an inexpensive RTL SDR receiver, but you really need to have some experience and comfort as a PC user to get it running. The software is generally free (true, DSD+ is $25 for the Fastlane version) but none of them are what I would consider "plug and play". There is quite a bit of steps and tricks to get them working and the documentation challenging for many to follow. There are lots of Youtube videos available to help, but many are dated and may leave out important steps that are critical in your specific situation. Again, there are lots of posts in the SDR forums about folks struggling to get these to work. It's true that some/most SDR dongles come with an antenna, but it may or may not be adequate for you based on your specific location and what you want to hear.
This isn't to discourage you from taking the RTL SDR route. Just make sure your expectations are properly set. Regardless of what you decide to purchase, be prepared for a steep learning curve if you're new to the hobby. The good news is that RadioReference is a great resource to help ge you started, including both the database of information that's here and the support from other local users that can answer questions and help get you going.
Let us know if we can help further.
- Status
Similar threads
