New Scanners - When?

[swwesq]

When are we going to get some new scanners? I have had the same Uniden 246t, bct15, bc996, etc. for over 2-3 years. Come on Uniden give us some new scanners.

 

[kb9hgi]

When are we going to get some new scanners? I have had the same Uniden 246t, bct15, bc996, etc. for over 2-3 years. Come on Uniden give us some new scanners.

Why do you need a new scanner? You already have some nice scanners! You must have more money than you have sence and need to blow it.:lol:

 

[Airdorn]

How about a new scanner that can decode iDEN, LTR Passport, OpenSky, etc. etc. etc.? That would be nice.

And maybe a new scanner with a true, knock-your-socks-off PC software package would be great too. All the stuff these days are fair, but kinda 'amateurish-looking' and they all seem kinda clunky. Some you have to walk-around on eggshells for fear of them crashing miserably.

Oh, and maybe a new scanner that already has a discriminator output jack on the back.. maybe next to the RJ-45 ethernet jack for network awareness. Imagine programming your scanner via web interface and getting all data via same. Plug it into your router and its online.

And possibly a new scanner that will do what the old scanners do, but also decode trunk system control channels and dump the data to the PC, a la Trunker, etc.

Maybe a new one that can work a bunch of the digital formats, RTTY, etc., and display the data on a large, clear dot-matrix display, or (even better), a small color, high-quality LCD display, as well as the PC monitor.

And also, a new scanner with gigs of memory and a no-loss digital audio recorder on board... that you can access via the web interface, of course. That would be nice.

Just a few ideas.

 

[martymartin]

I would settle...

I would settle for a digital scanner around the $200.00 range. $500.00 for a digital scanner is about senseless to me. Most people cannot justify spending that much on a scanner. Just my 2 cents. They have been out for a few years now and you would think the price would drop to a more reasonable level.

 

[Airdorn]

...apparently there's an insatiable demand.

 

[SkipSanders]

I would settle for a digital scanner around the $200.00 range. $500.00 for a digital scanner is about senseless to me. Most people cannot justify spending that much on a scanner. Just my 2 cents. They have been out for a few years now and you would think the price would drop to a more reasonable level.

Sorry, not going to happen. First, 'digital' is only seen in scanners that are already 'the high end' of the line. Second, the scanner maker must pay a significant fee for use of the necessary codec/etc to decode that digital (APCO P25) into actual voice. And of course add the needed extra hardware/firmware to the scanner.

The only real benchmark available to us 'outside' the business (since the fee is proprietary information) is that when the BC 250 had a seperate digital decoder card, that fairly simple (electronically) card sold for $250. Guesstimates of the actual fee per scanner range from $50 to $150.

'Digital' is part of the increasing complexity, not of scanners, but of the radio systems they wish to monitor. Trunking, multisite, huge systems require a more complex, and more expensive, scanner. Add in digital's costs, and it'll never be on the cheap end of scanners. Just watch the 'updates' threads here to see how much hassle/continuing programming of the scanner's updatable firmware a scanner maker is 'in for' when they build this level of scanner. Costs money to do those updates, y'know... and so far, they haven't charged for them.

 

[Don_Burke]

How about a new scanner that can decode iDEN, LTR Passport, OpenSky, etc. etc. etc.? That would be nice.

Some of that will never happen, the rest will be so expensive that it would be cheaper to get a handheld for the system and hack your way into it.

And maybe a new scanner with a true, knock-your-socks-off PC software package would be great too. All the stuff these days are fair, but kinda 'amateurish-looking' and they all seem kinda clunky. Some you have to walk-around on eggshells for fear of them crashing miserably.

That does not involve a new scanner.

Oh, and maybe a new scanner that already has a discriminator output jack on the back.. maybe next to the RJ-45 ethernet jack for network awareness. Imagine programming your scanner via web interface and getting all data via same. Plug it into your router and its online.

The discriminator tap would be a good idea.

"Network awareness" would probably be better achieved by a retrograde computer acting as a scanner server.

And possibly a new scanner that will do what the old scanners do, but also decode trunk system control channels and dump the data to the PC, a la Trunker, etc.

That would bring us back to the scanner server.

Maybe a new one that can work a bunch of the digital formats, RTTY, etc., and display the data on a large, clear dot-matrix display, or (even better), a small color, high-quality LCD display, as well as the PC monitor.

Here you might be onto something. A couple of expansion bus slots that would take PCMCIA cards could make things like this happen. That would probably be a cleaner way to get "network awareness."

And also, a new scanner with gigs of memory and a no-loss digital audio recorder on board... that you can access via the web interface, of course. That would be nice.

That would bring us back to PCMCIA cards.

Just a few ideas.

...and some pretty good ones.

 

[RPSINFOMAN]

New Scanners

Some very good ideas indeed. Unfortunately you will never see them especially at the price point these units are selling. You can safely assume features like those mentioned would; triple the retail cost, Uniden would lose sales because of the limited market demand for such units. Personally 5 bills is about as much as I am willing to throw out for a general purpose scanner, and even thats a lot.

 

[Airdorn]

Well, I was just answering the "why would you need a new scanner" question.

 

[yaesumofo]

I agree it is time to move into the 21st century.
Like diversity reception /2 receivers. one for decoding trunking the other to go to the channels /groups you want to monitor.
you can also combine the diversity receivers for hyper sensitivity, an external memory slot for SD or what ever standard memory card they want to use. Personally I sort of like microsd the slots take up almost no room. this memory can be user to store realtime digitised data in real time on what is going on on BOTH receivers.
One can set the radio up to record while you sleep say a fire dept and a PD. the radio only records audio so monitoring the evenings activities can be done in a fraction of the time (vs real time) A nice color touch activated screen would be nice. a time display, and logging to that memory with time stamps...
a nice spectrum display....either recorded or realtime. Imagine having a nice spectral readout of your immediate area for 12 hours or so, How cool would that be? The second received is a must for all of this to happen. ONboard GPS? I can't think of a good reason NOT to. they are extremely cheap and would allow the radio to switch memory systems based on location Ala 996 (which IMHO should have had it's GPS built in or at least have come with one) IF UNiden would just do a real market research test on some of the end users they would get a picture of what we want. Instead they seem to rely on one or two people to Gide their radio programs...
We want more features we want higher technology, we want better diversity receivers, we want stereo FM broadcast, we want to be able to decode any and everything which is not encrypted (the licensing for all of those systems may get a bit expensive) We want heavy duty commercial grade hardware cases so our gear looks good and looks good while falling to the ground.
Yaesumofo

How about a new scanner that can decode iDEN, LTR Passport, OpenSky, etc. etc. etc.? That would be nice.

And maybe a new scanner with a true, knock-your-socks-off PC software package would be great too. All the stuff these days are fair, but kinda 'amateurish-looking' and they all seem kinda clunky. Some you have to walk-around on eggshells for fear of them crashing miserably.

Oh, and maybe a new scanner that already has a discriminator output jack on the back.. maybe next to the RJ-45 Ethernet jack for network awareness. Imagine programming your scanner via web interface and getting all data via same. Plug it into your router and its online.

And possibly a new scanner that will do what the old scanners do, but also decode trunk system control channels and dump the data to the PC, a la Trunker, etc.

Maybe a new one that can work a bunch of the digital formats, RTTY, etc., and display the data on a large, clear dot-matrix display, or (even better), a small color, high-quality LCD display, as well as the PC monitor.

And also, a new scanner with gigs of memory and a no-loss digital audio recorder on board... that you can access via the web interface, of course. That would be nice.

Just a few ideas.

 

[Boomeranger]

I agree it is time to move into the 21st century.
Like diversity reception /2 receivers. one for decoding trunking the other to go to the channels /groups you want to monitor.
you can also combine the diversity receivers for hyper sensitivity, an external memory slot for SD or what ever standard memory card they want to use. Personally I sort of like microsd the slots take up almost no room. this memory can be user to store realtime digitised data in real time on what is going on on BOTH receivers.
One can set the radio up to record while you sleep say a fire dept and a PD. the radio only records audio so monitoring the evenings activities can be done in a fraction of the time (vs real time) A nice color touch activated screen would be nice. a time display, and logging to that memory with time stamps...
a nice spectrum display....either recorded or realtime. Imagine having a nice spectral readout of your immediate area for 12 hours or so, How cool would that be? The second received is a must for all of this to happen. ONboard GPS? I can't think of a good reason NOT to. they are extremely cheap and would allow the radio to switch memory systems based on location Ala 996 (which IMHO should have had it's GPS built in or at least have come with one) IF UNiden would just do a real market research test on some of the end users they would get a picture of what we want. Instead they seem to rely on one or two people to Gide their radio programs...
We want more features we want higher technology, we want better diversity receivers, we want stereo FM broadcast, we want to be able to decode any and everything which is not encrypted (the licensing for all of those systems may get a bit expensive) We want heavy duty commercial grade hardware cases so our gear looks good and looks good while falling to the ground.
Yaesumofo

Wait awhile and we'll have scanners on chips that you can toss inside an iphone, then we could take all our scanners with us in one nice little package. Controlled from a beautiful "almost" living color touchscreen that fits in your shirt pocket.

Then, imagine if the license owners of the proprietary didigal encoding systems that we'll never be able to scan decided make a little extra pocket change and sell it to the public on chips, with plug & play operability with the scanner chips you have on board.

AOR8200 MK II scanners have the card slot for several features. CTCSS squelch/search (I have this one), memory, speech inverter etc. That was almost 10 years ago. Just get it down to the microSD size where you could stack 10 chips in it.

Now just put the AOR8200 MKII on a chip, the 396T on a chip, a few of those proprietary systems on chips and shove 'em in a slot.

That would be a monumental achievement!!!

Just don't hold your breath...

Andy
Scannist

 

[benjaminfs733]

Do the different systems require different hardware...OpenSky/LRT/Moto?
If not let me pay for what I want.
400 for a base digital scanner
100 for Moto trunking
150 for OpenSky
150 for LRT

Pay for what you need/want? I don't need OpenSky or LTR but perhaps you do, then pay for it. That way Uniden would sell a lot more scanners, but at a reasonable price.

But perhaps in my limited experience this would not be possible.