New member

[jsgjr021850]

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen. (and the rest of you too) Im a new guy looking to buy a scanner. Like most newbies I dont know what I dont know or where to start.
So I guess the most obvious question is where do I start?
A little about me. Im 72 Years old. I am retired I was a firefighter, and a paramedic, a mechanic, worked in the oilfield for a while. My hobbies are shooting, motorcycle riding, pocket watch collecting. I want to scan local PD, Fire mostly. Perhaps stuff on the road when I travel as well. I had a scanner 40 years ago that would work fine for that sort of thing. I would also get aircraft, and even the space shuttle occasionally. I live in Rural Central Louisiana. I am not looking for a base station or something to mount in a vehicle, I think probably a good hand held will do what I want. My price range is $400- to $500 give or take a little.

So what questions should I be asking?

Great to meet all of you guys and gals out there and thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Brales60]

I'm new here as well. Do your self a favor and get a SDS 100 or 200. It appears to be a trunked system, witch I assume is simulcast. I made the mistake of buying the wrong scanner. Spend the extra $200, believe me.

 

[ka3aaa]

do your homework firtst before you buy a scanner. then learn how to program and operate it using the users and software's manuals, take your time.

 

[mass-man]

While I don't own a portable, cuz I don't need one, the SDS200 is a heckuva scanner...it's HH little brother the SDS100 is by all accounts just as capable. It can be a bugger to learn, but the help here on RR is outstanding. If you can swing one, you won't need much more for awhile! That said, we are all at the whim and will of radio users and who knows where their future is going!!!

 

[ToddWilkinson]

Sentinel is a breeze to learn and once you do your home free, if you have simulcast towers dont waste time or money, grab an SDS model, i have the 200 and love it!

 

[bearcatrp]

Best to use the database on this forum to research your city, county and state to see what is being used. Digital, analog, trunaked, encryption, etc. if you have a lot of simulcast towers in your area, probably best to get the SDS100. The 436 may do good but not as good as the 100. If your used to the older scanners and punching in manually all your frequencies, consider the Icom R30. It’s discontinued but used ones pop up. It’s a receiver that has allot more coverage than scanners. No DMR though. Good luck on your decision.

 

[hiegtx]

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen. (and the rest of you too) Im a new guy looking to buy a scanner. Like most newbies I dont know what I dont know or where to start.
So I guess the most obvious question is where do I start?
A little about me. Im 72 Years old. I am retired I was a firefighter, and a paramedic, a mechanic, worked in the oilfield for a while. My hobbies are shooting, motorcycle riding, pocket watch collecting. I want to scan local PD, Fire mostly. Perhaps stuff on the road when I travel as well. I had a scanner 40 years ago that would work fine for that sort of thing. I would also get aircraft, and even the space shuttle occasionally. I live in Rural Central Louisiana. I am not looking for a base station or something to mount in a vehicle, I think probably a good hand held will do what I want. My price range is $400- to $500 give or take a little.

So what questions should I be asking?

Great to meet all of you guys and gals out there and thanks in advance for any advice.

I would suggest that you request that your thread be moved to the Louisiana state forum. Your parish, La Salle, appears to be using mostly conventional Vhf-high channels, but also at times using your statewide system, LWIN. The LWIN site for your county is not labeled as simulcast, but your site, like many others on LWIN, is using frequencies from the blanket license issued to your state. That means that there is no detail on the position, as well as number, of sub-sites (transmit towers for the site). To have your thread moved, click on the Report in the lower left corner of your post. Yjay will let you request that a moderator move it for you. That way, with the post in your state's forum, you might be able to get more localized information as to which scanners work well in your area, and which do not.

If your parish, as well as the others adjoining La Salle, do not have simulcast sites, then a BCD436HP (handheld) would be a good choise, That model has a good set of features, and if you keep your eyes open, you should be able to find one in your $400 to $500 target range. However, if your parish, or others that are near you are using Simulcast, then the SDS100 would be a better choice. Also note that if you travel to, or through, major metro areas (like New Orleans in your state), you almost certainly will encounter simulcast systems. There again, the SDS100 is a better choice when dealing with systems of that type.

 

[jsgjr021850]

Thanks. I'm leaning towards the SDS 100. Im not up to date on all the new Technology. Will this work with Trunked and non trunked systems? It may be a dumb question, but like I said Im really new to all this.

 

[doctordialtone]

Will this work with Trunked and non trunked systems?

Yes

 

[Technoguy58]

You won't need anything fancy for your area unless you just to want spend the money. No simulcast up there by you. BCD325 or 996p2 would work great for you. Most of LaSalle has transitioned over to LWIN just like virtually all the rest of the state(a few holdouts). The best monitoring for you other than local will be the Rapides 800 system. You should be able to get the Holloway site with no problem. It stays fairly busy. Local Alek LE is "E".

 

[jgorman21]

I’d tend to agree with Technoguy58. If there’s no simulcast an SDS 100 is not needed. And honestly, for conventional channels analog or digital an SDS 100 is not that great! if you did have a simulcast environment I would recommend a Unication Pager.

There are many choices. Read around on these forums. Ask questions.

 

[Brales60]

I'm getting the local airport on conventional like a rock star on my SDS200. Tower, and pilots.

 

[slayer816]

I go near Jena frequently but not enough to find all the local stuff that may not be in the database. PD/SO is on LWIN in the clear. So is all parishes near you (except Rapides as stated above). The closest simulcast sites are in Shreveport (Caddo Parish system) and BR/St Tammany LWIN.

Some rural FDs are trying out DMR and a bunch have new vhf licenses which I suspect are the same. Either case, I would recommend the SDS100 model as they do better with less signal (for us rural folks) with Remtronix antennas. But assuming signal is not an issue (as simulcast isnt unless you take it somewhere else), the 436HP is a good radio and has the same database/upgrade capability.

The only thing I would be worried about, is the spread out LWIN sites around that area. Last time I came through there, I had difficulty on LA34/US84 with Winn/LaSalle sites even with the SDS. The system does not have many poor coverage areas, but they all seem to be in north central of the state.

Edit: if you are looking for a base/mobile, substitute SDS200 for the 100 / 536HP for the 436HP and the above will still be accurrate.

 

[YardDart63]

I live in neighboring Caldwell and go through LaSalle sort-of frequently, but not enough to find anything not in the DB. Town PDs in LaSalle use the LPSO Dispatch talkgroup on LWIN. I don't know if Olla/Urania Fire or LaSalle Parish Fire have a talkgroup on LWIN (not in the DB if they do) but I've heard Olla/Urania on analog 154.16 Mhz. LE, EMS, and Fire in most of the surrounding parishes are on LWIN also.

LWIN is still phase-1 (for now at least) so older and cheaper digital scanners will work if you just want to listen to that. I personally use Whistler WS-1040 portables and a WS-1065 base/mobile with good results, except that cell towers overload them and "drown out" the LWIN control channels, so I don't hear anything when I'm in Olla, Jena, or various other places near 4G/LTE cell towers.

I have no experience with newer phase-2 capable Whistlers or any digital Unidens so I can't speak for those, but I'm sure they'd work just as good if not better.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[Bignut68]

Whistler WS1040 is an affordable and efficient scanner. You might want to give it a try.