New to the area question

[ilmfng]

I'm moving to Columbia this weekend and I have an old pro-94. Will it work for local police/fire? I know that picking up shp is out of the question, but I'm not that worried about listening to them. If not, any suggestions for someone on a budget. Thanks for the help?

 

[brian]

You're actually in a bit of luck.

Richland Co SD and Columbia PD both use digital talkgroups on Palmetto 800, so you won't be able to listen to them. Lexington SD is encrypted so that's out too.

But the three primary Palmetto 800 sites that cover the Columbia Metro area will actually work with the PRO-94. Even though they use frequencies in the rebanding "band" (851-854MHz), all of those frequencies have a "5" in the 4th spot after the decimal, so rebanding tables aren't required to properly track these sites.

So you should have luck with Columbia FD, Richland EMS, Lexington Co FD and EMS, SCHP and all other agencies that are currently analog.

More and more agencies will switch to digital talkgroups over time. But for this weekend and for some amount of time to come, you'll at least have some things to listen to.

Good luck with your move.