New guy DFW area

[fam3854]

Brand new here and to scanning. I would like to listen to Fort Worth PD. Can anyone advise me what scanner would allow me to do this? I was going to buy a bearcat bc95xlt but was not sure it would do what I was looking for. Also is there any way to single out a certain division such as east or north on the Ft. Worth frequency? Thanks for any and all help.

 

[DickH]

Brand new here and to scanning. I would like to listen to Fort Worth PD. Can anyone advise me what scanner would allow me to do this? I was going to buy a bearcat bc95xlt but was not sure it would do what I was looking for. Also is there any way to single out a certain division such as east or north on the Ft. Worth frequency? Thanks for any and all help.

Ft. Worth uses a Motorola trunked system. Any trunking scanner will work OK. The North and South divisions have separate Talk Groups, so you can monitor them separately.

 

[KB1UAM]

I would go with the radio shack pro 163 base station. But if you want digital I would go with pro 197 which is about 299 refurbished. The 163 is 199 I think. The refurbished is just as good as brand new

 

[fam3854]

Thanks for the replys. Would the Radio Shack Pro 164 handheld be a good buy?

 

[nd5y]

You would probably be better off buying a digital scanner. The Fort Worth/Tarrant County system will be changing to P25 within a couple years.

 

[fam3854]

Thanks Tom, what reasonably priced hand held do you think would be a good investment?

 

[fam3854]

What about the GRE PSR 700?

 

[hiegtx]

What about the GRE PSR 700?

The PSR-700 is an analog scanner. While that would work, for now, as Tom has pointed out, Fort Worth, along with most of the Tarrant County systems, are looking to convert over to a regional P25 (digital) system by 2015.

See this short thread, particularly the link in the post, in the Texas Forum.

I would agree with Tom. Go with the digital, if at all possible. The Pro-106 and Pro-197 often go on sale in the $299.99 to $329.99 range. However, Radio Shack does not include the pc cable ($34), which is required for firmware updates, & needed if you would like to use software for programming. Also, for the Pro-106 handheld, The Shack does not include the ac adapter (about $30, I think).

Both of these scanners are made, for Radio Shack, by GRE. The equivalent GRE models are the PSR-500 (handheld) and PSR-600, the base/mobile. Lately, the PSR-500 has been running just under $350 at ScannerMaster, among other dealers at about the same price, and it does come with the ac adapter & pc interface cable, unlike the Pro-106 (which does not).

If you are interested in the 'easy to use' format of the PSR-700, the PSR-800 is the digital 'version' of that format. Uniden has a similar type product, the Home Patrol. I purchased my Home Patrol at Fry's. You'll also find many of these scanner models on Amazon, and elsewhere, so shop around. And don't overlook the classifieds here on RadioReference, or check eBay, if you think a gently used scanner might suit you, and save some money in the process.

 

[fam3854]

Thanks for all the great information. Since I am just starting out I ended up buying a used Radio Shack Pro 94 for $50.00 I think that was a good deal. Can anyone give me the frequencies for the Fort Worth PD? Also once I get those in how do I put in the certain divisions talk groups? I really appreciate all the help.

Frank

 

[hiegtx]

Thanks for all the great information. Since I am just starting out I ended up buying a used Radio Shack Pro 94 for $50.00 I think that was a good deal. Can anyone give me the frequencies for the Fort Worth PD? Also once I get those in how do I put in the certain divisions talk groups? I really appreciate all the help.

Frank

Frank,
Unfortunately, it's not as simple as just 'entering the frequencies' for Fort Worth PD. Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and a number of the other cities in the county, are on this trunked radio system: Fort Worth / Tarrant County Public Safety Trunking System, Fort Worth, Texas - Scanner Frequencies
There are apparently three versions of the Pro-94. A Pro-94, a Pro-94A, and a Pro-94B. For more information on how to tell which one you're getting, and the differences between them, see the "Easier to Read" manual. There, you can also find information on how to enter the Fort Worth/Tarrant County system (it's Motorola Type II). For more on how a trunking system works, there are several good articles in the Wiki. On the Wiki's main page, see the Links for Newcomers section, especially Trunking Basics and Common Trunking Programming Questions.

Unfortunately, I've never owned that specific model, so I've never tried to program one myself.