New scanner needed for Ottawa, Ont. ?

[davidmc36]

Morning All.

With Santa Fe gone to wreckers about two years ago and Rec Room under renos have not had hardly a scanner on for ages other than ATC at work.

Picked up a new toy this summer and have the 996 and 15 from SUV installed in PU and listening to 2014ish programming.

Looks like I have some catching up to do.

I guess the Pro-Voice Upgrade came along a little late for us.

Nothing significant yet to make one go shopping for hardware?

 

[bpsmicro]

Right now I can listen to the new P25 system on my 996T & 996XT. And I get Fleetnet analog & digital. With EDACS being decommissioned at some point, ProVoice is no longer of interest to me.

Now, Fleetnet's going to be around for a few more years. There may be talk about replacing it at some point, even then it's likely to be a P25 system. But those of us who've been around for a while know it's going to be many years before we see a roll-out. I mean, look at how long the Ottawa P25 roll-out has taken, and it's nowhere near done yet.

At some point there will be the Phase 1 vs Phase 2 discussion for P25, and if Phase 2 comes into play then the older scanners incapable of Phase 2 will be obsolete. That will be the first deciding factor on an upgrade.

But, and this is the biggie, word from many sources is that most or all of the users of the Ottawa P25 will be encrypted. Police for sure, but I'm hearing from people "in the know" that the plan is to make everybody encrypted eventually.
And when the new provincial system eventually rolls around, almost certainly encryption will be a discussion point then too.

So, my attitude is that when I lose the ability to listen to something I really want to listen to, and if there's a scanner upgrade available to get that back, and if there's no indication that this new scanner will become obsolete within a reasonable amount of time (ie. due to encryption), then I'll think about it.

Sorter answer: at this moment I'm not recommending anybody replace an existing scanner right now, if their existing gear can get most of what they want to listen to. And I'm similarly not recommending new enthusiasts buy anything now that may become obsolete in less than a year (ie. don't bother with non-digital scanners).

Put your money into repairing your parking brake so you don't need to put a wheel chock down when parking in the driveway. :->

 

[bigcam406]

the hobby is definitely dying a slow death.

 

[davidmc36]

Put your money into repairing your parking brake so you don't need to put a wheel chock down when parking in the driveway. :->

Nice catch. That was the day of purchase. 9K later it's working smooth, including handbrake. LOL

I expected that was how I read the development of the P25 since I last caught up on tech.

Some system work will be in order.

 

[davidmc36]

Wow. Things are different here. New thread created for me and everything.....

 

[mciupa]

Wow. Things are different here. New thread created for me and everything.....

The thread where you jumped into is really to be devoted to developments within the Ottawa P25 rollout, and for people to submit findings if they care to share.

I felt it was best split off from that thread to allow others to help you make a decision of whether to upgrade scanners or not.

 

[davidmc36]

The thread where you jumped into is really to be devoted to developments within the Ottawa P25 rollout, and for people to submit findings if they care to share.

I felt it was best split off from that thread to allow others to help you make a decision of whether to upgrade scanners or not.

Fair enough. It was a rhetorical question really but micro's detailed update of the current situation lays it out pretty good for somebody stumbling into the scene.

Some other forums could do well to watch and learn how real moderation is done.