New Hanover County, NC

[TPLeister]

Hi - I am new to scanning and am looking for advice to a good scanner to purchase. I live in New Hanover County, NC. The county uses a digital 800 MHZ trunking system and the state uses the VIPER system. Can I get some recommendations on handheld (or at least portable) unit that would be appropriate for my area?

Thad

 

[SD70MAC]

Nhc

When I am in that area I use my PSR800. The NHC system is super busy with WPD/NHC SD,I had to block the city TG's because you miss the fire calls.I like my PSR800 ,but here are the con's. It is easier to program with the PC because it took a long time to load the Viper system. The battery life sucks compared to my Motorola's. The Pro's are that you can be scanning in about 30 min if you use the PC,thats installing the software and all ! I believe it sounds better than all the others I have listened too so far.

 

[oft]

I recently purchased the Uniden/Bearcat BCD396XT scanner because of both the recent changeover in the radio system and also due to previous reliability with Uniden/Bearcat products. It is a difficult radio to learn how to operate but I recommend that if you get this radio, also do the following

purchase the USB-1 cable at the same time and download/install the cable to use in programming the scanner.

purchase a premium subscription to RadioReference

download / install Freescan by a Canadian named Assaf to program the radio with the Radio Reference files that are available for download with a premium subscription to RadioReference.

bookmark - Easier to Read BCD396XT Digital Scanner Manual

The rubber ducky antenna is "decent" on all ranges when outside. However, when you are inside your house, reception does suffer and in my case, I can not even get the marine radio band (156-158 MHz) even though I can easily get the Aircraft band (135 MHZ) and on the other side; the Railroad band (159-161 MHz) and the local Weather Radio KHB31 at 162.55 MHz and I live 3-5 miles from the coastline. Right now, I am currently pursuing other indoor antenna options when using the scanner indoors due to restrictions stated on my house lease.

But overall, I do love the scanner.