New to forum and needed scanner recommendations

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grumpy507

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Mar 15, 2012
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I had an old crystal scanner 30 years ago and got out of it....but as of late, looking to get back in so what I'm asking is for a scanner (portable or base unit) not to break the bank that will work for my area fire/police...area is Hubbard, Ohio...Trumbull County...

I've been reading on the web all about trunked lines, etc and it just gets more confusing...I just want to hear calls from Hubbard police and fire and Youngstown police..nothing earth shattering...weeding thru alot of sites has turned up nothing, just more confusing...

With the old unit, I needed the department frequency and bought a crystal....only want to buy one new unit capable of listening to what I want....any recommendations would be appreciated...Partial to Uniden, but there again, Uniden has tons of scanners at different price levels but don't know which will access my PD/FD or Trumbull County area ...thanks
 

captclint

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Dec 31, 2005
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Mountaintop, PA
Based on Trumbull County, almost any scanner will work for you. You do NOT need a trunking scanner unless you decide you want to listen to Ohio MARCS - Multi-Agency Statewide , which would require a digital scanner. I would look for one which has alpha tags(12-16 character description which flashes when receiving so you don't have to remember want to remember that 154.04000 is Hubbard FD. For easy transistion from Xtal to programmable, I would look for one that uses Banks.

While this is a portable, I use portables as my base unit, and that allows me to bring it along whenever I need it.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BC125AT It has all the bells and whistles of expensive scanners at a good price. You may also want to consider some of the older base units here: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Uniden_Scanners You can get them for a good price. The 895(does not have alpha tags) and 796(digital but is a great radio for the price) still very popular. Since you don't have any trunking, rebanding is not an issue.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-300 is a good portable, but tends to overload in the presence of nearby cell, radio, page, and TV towers. If you live in the burbs, it should be fine unless you are near any of these towers. I'm not a Radio Shack fan, but you could also look that those http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Radio_Shack_Scanners
 
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grumpy507

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Mar 15, 2012
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Thanks for the reply....

Helped clarify some of my issues.....good to know about the alpha system....my old scanner has red lights that ran back and forth and when it stopped on a channel, I had to look up the number on a piece of tape on top to see who was broadcasting...

Glad I'm not in a trunked area....we're in a small town with alot of neighboring town real close by that would make listening to more fun since not too much goes on in my town and I used to get more action out of the Youngstown PD....combine Liberty, Girard, Trumbull County Sheriff, Coitsville and surrounding townships ought to give me a good span of listening pleasure...

Any info for Ohio State Police or are they part of the trunked MARC system? I also like listening to road service in my area during winter and is it possible with the units you listed to get NOAA warnings? Thanks again for the help, like I said, I don't want to get burned on a unit that can't get calls in my area and don't want to spend a ton on some huge unit....handheld seems like the ticket..thanks again..
 

Nasby

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As Captain said, any scanner will work for what you need. Radio Shack has several nice units on sale for less than a hundred dollars (such as the PRO-404, etc.). If you are lucky, you might get a salesperson who can help show you how to program it (although a basic scanner is pretty easy to program yourself). Just look up the frequencies from the database and program them into the scanner with a few presses of the keypad.
Good Luck!!
 

Phreakin318

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Feb 15, 2012
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186
Location
Ruston,La
I had an old crystal scanner 30 years ago and got out of it....but as of late, looking to get back in so what I'm asking is for a scanner (portable or base unit) not to break the bank that will work for my area fire/police...area is Hubbard, Ohio...Trumbull County...

I've been reading on the web all about trunked lines, etc and it just gets more confusing...I just want to hear calls from Hubbard police and fire and Youngstown police..nothing earth shattering...weeding thru alot of sites has turned up nothing, just more confusing...

With the old unit, I needed the department frequency and bought a crystal....only want to buy one new unit capable of listening to what I want....any recommendations would be appreciated...Partial to Uniden, but there again, Uniden has tons of scanners at different price levels but don't know which will access my PD/FD or Trumbull County area ...thanks

i would recommend the bc95xlt on amazon it has close call which i love total was $90.00 shipped free has 200 channels 900mhz pc program port(software and cable sold seperate) alot say its hard to program but it was pretty simple to me. its analog but everything around here i can pick up except state police so yea i would recommend it but its non digital, non trunked, but i dont see a need for all that fancy stuff as long as you can hear what you wanna here goodluck in your decisions
 

grumpy507

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Mar 15, 2012
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Pulled the trigger...

After reading the comments from posters, and doing more reseach on the web, went ahead and ordered the Bearcat BC125AT scanner....seemed to have all the bells and whistles I could ever need...decent price and free shipping.....l'll be coming back here if any problems arise with the programming.....one last question, it comes with rechargable batteries and a usb cord to plug into a computer.....my Iphone has the same deal, but I have an AC adapter to plug the usb cord into to charge off of household current and another adapter to plug into a car power outlet thru the same usb cord....will this work with the scanners usb cord as to same voltage and current? Thanks everyone for helping a novice out..
 

kcoleman

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Jan 17, 2004
Messages
388
Location
Tallassee, AL
Below is the information from the BC125AT manual in the Technical Specifications section:

"Power Requirements:
2 AA Rechargeable Ni-MH Batteries (2.4V DC)
2 AA Alkaline Batteries (3.0V DC)
Connect to PC with USB cable (5.0V DC 500mA)"

Here is the information from the manual about:

"POWERING THE SCANNER
[FONT=ERIBS A+ Myriad Pro,ERIBS A+ Myriad Pro][FONT=ERIBS A+ Myriad Pro,ERIBS A+ Myriad Pro]You can power the scanner using alkaline (ALK) non-rechargeable batteries (not supplied) or the included Nickel Metal-Hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries. [Uniden provides a USB cable to charge the Ni-MH batteries on initial installation and to recharge them through your computer (or through a power adapter that provides USB charge power (not included, but available at many retailers)."

The manual also states that if connected through the USB, the batteries will only charge when the scanner is off. But I think almost everyone here would advise against using the radio to recharge the batteries... too many horror stories of burst batteries and damaged radios. It's better to use a separate charger with several sets of batteries to rotate between.

I think you'll really enjoy the BC125AT... great little radio!!!

Good Luck & Good Listening,
Keith,
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