New Member...Need Help, Advice and Direction

[RMSRich]

Hello, great site and superb forum. I have really enjoyed reading this stuff. I live in Waxhaw, NC in Union County and enjoy listening to the local activity on the scanner. With all the high tech equipment you guys have I am a little embarrassed to say I have some old 80's equipment but it works. I have a Pro50 handheld and a Pro2011 plug in unit. I know it is very limited and would like to upgrade but don't have a ton of money to do that. Could some of you help me with these questions???

#1: What brand/model could I get even on eBay that would be an upgrade from what I have so I can listen to some of the trunked systems.

#2: Does anyone have a list of frequencies that would cover Waxhaw, Monroe, Mineral Springs, Weddington, Indian Trial and Wesley Chappel. I have the codes listed on here under Union County but I am sure there are more that I don't have. Does anyone know what type of systems the PD departments use for the towns I listed above??

#3: Where is the best place to buy equipment?? I know Radio Shack has stuff, does Best Buy carry scanners?? Please give me any other tips and advice for getting a little more involved in this hobby.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, I look forward to becoming more involved in this forum for the area. Talk to you guys soon.

Rich

 

[seamusg]

Hello, great site and superb forum. I have really enjoyed reading this stuff. I live in Waxhaw, NC in Union County and enjoy listening to the local activity on the scanner. With all the high tech equipment you guys have I am a little embarrassed to say I have some old 80's equipment but it works. I have a Pro50 handheld and a Pro2011 plug in unit. I know it is very limited and would like to upgrade but don't have a ton of money to do that. Could some of you help me with these questions???

#1: What brand/model could I get even on eBay that would be an upgrade from what I have so I can listen to some of the trunked systems.

#2: Does anyone have a list of frequencies that would cover Waxhaw, Monroe, Mineral Springs, Weddington, Indian Trial and Wesley Chappel. I have the codes listed on here under Union County but I am sure there are more that I don't have. Does anyone know what type of systems the PD departments use for the towns I listed above??

#3: Where is the best place to buy equipment?? I know Radio Shack has stuff, does Best Buy carry scanners?? Please give me any other tips and advice for getting a little more involved in this hobby.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, I look forward to becoming more involved in this forum for the area. Talk to you guys soon.

Rich

I have both GRE( Raio Shack) and Uniden, and I like them. Which scanner to get depends on what you want to listen to and how much you want to spend. I have a PRO2052 for conventional (too old to do Trunked - 1988), a BC796D for Digital and Analog trunked and a PRO96 for portable.
A listing for your county is here:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=1976
I've never seen any scanners at Best Buy, but haven't looked that well.

 

[Newshound]

Welcome. This is Bob in Charlotte. If you are interested in listening only to Union County, a standard scanner will work, but if you are wanting to listen to Charlotte/Mecklenburg, you will have to upgrade to a trunking scanner. I would also suggest that if you upgrade, you go with a digital trunking scanner. Some counties are going to the digital systems in both North & South Carolina. Charlotte is still analog, but they have the capability to go digital with some upgrades.

Radio Shack has some good scanners, but I am a big Uniden fan. I buy most of the equipment for our business from Scanner Master, Scanners Unlimited or Grove Enterprises. They are all available on the web. There is a link to Scanner Master at the top of this webpage.

I know that the trunking scanners are more expensive, but in the long run it is well worth it. From Waxhaw, you should be able to pick up Charlotte as well as Lancaster Co, York Co. (which is going to a trunked system), Anson Co, and others.

Good luck with your search.

Bob

 

[RMSRich]

Thanks guys......do either of you listen to Union County. I have the frequencies listed on here from the Union County page but I think there are more than that....am I correct?? Any additional numbers would be appreciated.

Rich

 

[fmon]

Welcome to the forum Rich,

The Pro-50 will only store 20 frequencies for scanning, while Union County has 35 in the RR Database (link provided by Seamusg). 28 of the listed freqs also have PL settings, which will help keep you on the agency you want to hear. Your Pro-50 cannot be programmed with PL.

Review this Radio Shack Scanner page to determine which scanner may fit your needs. Several in the under 149 range will work for your county but the best bet is the Pro-97 at 169.99. Also, nearby Mecklenburg County has a very active Motorola SmartZone Trunking system which the 97 will function very well with.

The Bearcat BC8 and 15 will also work very well.

But, if you have know interest in Trunking, then most of those scanners under $150.00 will be fine.

 

[seamusg]

It doesn't look like you need digital the way I do (Where I live there is a lot of digital trunked and a lot more converting in 6 months). So if you want trunked systems the Pro97 would be great. If you get a PRO97 also get the PC cable (20-047) for it and download Win97 for it http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win97/default.asp .
It is much easier to program the newer scanners with a PC than by hand.

 

[bonus1331]

I live in Stallings.
I prefer Uniden over Radio Shack, but that's my personal preference.
What you see in the Union County database is what you've got.
Most of the towns here are patrolled by the Sheriff's office.
Everything in Union County is conventional so you could go very cheap.
However, I would assume you will begin to want to monitor the Charlotte Mecklenburg system, then York County, then the statewide SC system(Palmetto 800).
These would then all involve at least a trunk tracking scanner.
York County is going digital as well as the Palmetto 800 site has many digital TG's.
If you want to go all out and not worry about upgrading later I would recommend the Uniden 396(handheld) or 996 (mobile/base). These can monitor digital and will run you $500.00.
If you are only interested in Union County, and the Charlotte system I would recommend the Uniden 330 (handheld) or the Uniden BCT-15 (mobile/base). These will run you about $250.00.
I buy from Usascan.com. Have had very good service along with price. Very hard to find Uniden scanners in a brick and mortar store around Charlotte.
Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
Welcome to the site.