New to hobby. Have WS1040.

[russelljmott]

Attempting to listen to Hancock county police, fire, EMS and Ellsworth PD and EMS.

Also would like to listen to same in Penobscot a county (sheriff, fire EMS) Bangor PD and if possible Maine state police.

Is the WS1040 going to work? I’ve tried programming the trunks for MSCOM and Hancock and Penobscot counties conventional frequencies using radio reference and PSRediy and thus far am underwhelmed by the few brief transmissions I’m picking up at home or while driving around any of those areas. I *know* that either my scanner isn’t programmed correctly or it just won’t do the job.

Anyone offer any feedback?

 

[wormwood1978]

Ellsworth police is DMR and the WS1040 won't decode DMR.

 

[russelljmott]

Would the uniden bc325p2?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Would the uniden bc325p2?

Not out of the box. Uniden offers a paid DMR upgrade for $60. More info here. Every so often a seller will offer one 2nd hand on the classifieds with paid upgrades already applied, usually a seller will disclose in the listing if any paid upgrades are included

 

[wormwood1978]

I'm seeing $75 for the DMR upgrade for the BCD325P Uniden Police Scanner ProVoice-DMR-NXDN Software Upgrade Keys

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I'm seeing $75 for the DMR upgrade for the BCD325P Uniden Police Scanner ProVoice-DMR-NXDN Software Upgrade Keys

Bearcat Warehouse marks up the upgrade prices a bit, always best to buy direct from my.uniden.com
DMR = $60
NXDN = $50
Provoice = $50

 

[russelljmott]

So if I purchase the DMR upgrade it automatically decodes Ellsworth? What about the other agencies listed. Will they pick up with either the WS1040 or the BC325P2 (without the upgrade)?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I skimmed the other agencies you asked about and most look to be analog conventional. Maine State Police operates on MSComnet which is P25 Phase-I so you shouldn't have any issues with them on your WS1040 if programmed accordingly assuming RR database accuracy. Only exception is those talkgroups ID'ed in the mode column as "DE" which denotes full time encryption. These talkgroups cannot be tracked by any receiver, period!