New owner - Need help in figuring out what I can do.

[Soylentgeek]

Hi,
I remember the fun I used to have as a kid listening in on the various emergency calls in my area. I wanted to spark some interest with my kids and give it a whirl again.

Just purchased an old Bearcat BC80XLT and would like to use it to scan my area.

Every time I try to put a frequency in, it comes back with ERROR.

Is this just way too old of a scanner to work anymore or do I need to find a different source for frequencies?

I am located outside the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area if that makes a difference. (Halton)

I am very new to all of this, so be gentle

At this point, it would just be great to hear "something" from this radio.
D

 

[W8WCA]

Well you could listen to Civil Air. Maybe some businesses
You would need to look up frequencies for your area.
You could also listen to Ham Radio vhf/uhf

Look around here Halton County, Ontario (ON) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
But most services Police Fire etc) Are Trunked systems)

 

[fxdscon]

I do not see Canada in RR maybe someone here can point to a Canada Database?

RR database for Canada....

RRDB | Canada

RadioReference Database Browse - United States

www.radioreference.com

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Welcome to the RR forums. At the bare minimum you're going to need a P25 Phase-I trunk tracking scanner to pick up your emergency services (minus police which are fully encrypted)

Halton Region Trunking System, Halton Region, Ontario

Halton Region Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Strongly recommended to use a Uniden SDS100 or SDS200 to combat simulcast distortion you'll likely face with any other capable scanner if you're within listening range to two or more simulcasting towers on the system. Expect a significant learning curve if you have little to no experience with trunk tracking scanners but there are plenty of resources & folks willing to lend a helping hand here on the forums.

I do not see Canada in RR maybe someone here can point to a Canada Database?

 

[jbix1958]

As your area has switched to a trunked system, the 80XLT has very little it can now pick up in your area. There are a few VHF dispatch freq. for fire still in use if you are close enough (I'm not familiar with Toronto). I would strongly suggest you update your scanner to at least the SDS100 or SDS200 if you really want to draw your kids in.

Appeby Fire Disp: 152.345
Burlington simulcast of Applby fire disp.: 154.205
Milton & Halton Hills Fire Disp.: 154.160

 

[W8WCA]

Sorry it looks like the 80XLT does not cover Civil Air frequencies!