New Scanner

[jeffaucoin]

Hi folks,

I am new to this forum and I just have a few questions as I am in the market for a new scanner. I live in the area of Reserve Mines (just outside Glace Bay in Cape Breton). I currently have a Uniden BC72XLT and am currently only able to monitor East Division Police and Fire as well as some North Division Police. I am looking for a scanner that will give me access to all divisions of police and fire as well as EHS and hopefully RCMP. I am relatively new at this (but learning something new every day) so I was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance

J

 

[hfxChris]

Hi Jeff,

As long as you have all of the CB Regional Police frequencies programmed, you should be able to receive them. The only thing that would hold you back would be location, maybe if there are some divisions you can't hear, you're just too far away from those transmitters?

As for the rest of your question, pretty much everything else is on the province's trunked radio system, the NSTMRS.
So, in order to hear EHS, you will need a scanner that supports trunking, such as the GRE PSR-300.
The RCMP is also on the NSTMRS, however they use digital talkgroups, so if you want to listen to the RCMP you will need a digital trunking scanner, such as the GRE PSR-500.
Note that the PSR-500 will allow you to listen to the non-digital stuff as well, such as EHS, but the PSR-300 cannot listen to any of the digital stuff, such as the RCMP.

Hope that helps

 

[jeffaucoin]

I guess that is my question. How do I increase my range. I purchased a new antenna that extended about 2 feet in the air, but it didn't improve anything for me. Would a newer more powerful scanner change that or should I mount an antenna outside? I would be satisfied receiving all local Police and Fire. I'm not so concerned about RCMP and EHS.

Any further help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff