New to the board from NJ

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MaritimeMatt

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Dec 7, 2009
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25
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Little Egg Harbor NJ
Hi everyone.
Glad to be part of this forum.
I'm looking for a New scanner. Simple and easy to use is my goal.
I'm looking to monitor the Little Egg Harbor/Tuckerton NJ area Police, Fire and Ems along with Emergency Management and State Police which comes into play with tidal floods, storms, evacuations ect.
I'm thinking handheld as I can monitor it in my home, my marine business at the marina and in my service vehicles. I don't mind paying for a Quality unit as I need it to work and be able to hear it clearly.

Its listed that the PD uses a Motorola Type II Smart Zone transmitter.
Brands and places to buy are needed.
Thanks. Matt.
 

whiskeytango

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Location
sacramento ca/reno nv
if none of that is digital, then get the handheld that suits you,,,

Portable Scanners

the ones in the 150-250 price range should be good for you, radio shack, gre, or uniden are all great, for your car get an antenna which you can also find on that site i linked
 

jblake76

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310
Location
So.Jersey
Go to the classifieds section of this web site. I have a ad up for a portable digital scanner.
 

902

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Downsouthsomewhere
Matt,

LEHT and Tuckerton PD both use Project 25 digital. DO NOT get yourself an analog-only scanner. Fire is on the Ocean County trunked system. You will want a scanner that can monitor Motorola Smartnet trunked on 500/506 MHz. Because they are repeaterized, a handheld scanner should work fine. You could also load those with the VHF marine channels and the Marine Police talkgroups. All very interesting monitoring.

Good luck and maybe I'll run into you at the bagel shop on Radio Road.

Hi everyone.
Glad to be part of this forum.
I'm looking for a New scanner. Simple and easy to use is my goal.
I'm looking to monitor the Little Egg Harbor/Tuckerton NJ area Police, Fire and Ems along with Emergency Management and State Police which comes into play with tidal floods, storms, evacuations ect.
I'm thinking handheld as I can monitor it in my home, my marine business at the marina and in my service vehicles. I don't mind paying for a Quality unit as I need it to work and be able to hear it clearly.

Its listed that the PD uses a Motorola Type II Smart Zone transmitter.
Brands and places to buy are needed.
Thanks. Matt.
 

Highpockets

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Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Messages
3,836
Location
Toms River, New Jersey
Hi everyone.
Glad to be part of this forum.
I'm looking for a New scanner. Simple and easy to use is my goal.
I'm looking to monitor the Little Egg Harbor/Tuckerton NJ area Police, Fire and Ems along with Emergency Management and State Police which comes into play with tidal floods, storms, evacuations ect.
I'm thinking handheld as I can monitor it in my home, my marine business at the marina and in my service vehicles. I don't mind paying for a Quality unit as I need it to work and be able to hear it clearly.

Its listed that the PD uses a Motorola Type II Smart Zone transmitter.
Brands and places to buy are needed.
Thanks. Matt.

I would take a look at one of these three scanners and they will do the job.

PSR-500 - The RadioReference Wiki

BCD396XT - The RadioReference Wiki

Pro-106 - The RadioReference Wiki

There is also software that will assist in programing these scanners listed in each of the above articles.
 
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MaritimeMatt

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
25
Location
Little Egg Harbor NJ
Thanks for the input from everyone.
902: Are these units easy set-up? For reference, back in the late 80's I bought a Uniden Bearcat BC 145xl that I still have that was simple to punch in your frequency #'s and you were on.
How do today's units work? Where are my purchase options besides the internet?
That is the best bagel shop around.
Matt.
 

jclarkr6

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Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
155
Location
Coles County, Illinois
Are these units easy set-up? For reference, back in the late 80's I bought a Uniden Bearcat BC 145xl that I still have that was simple to punch in your frequency #'s and you were on.
How do today's units work? Where are my purchase options besides the internet?

Matt, the newer digital trunking scanners are going to be more complicated than your BC145XL, regardless of which one you decide to purchase. Everybody has their own opinion of which digital trunking scanner is easier to use. Personally, I like the way that the Uniden BCD396XT is set up. It took me a few weeks to learn how to properly use all the features on it, but once I got it figured out it became relatively simple to program and use the scanner. I was able to get the BCD396XT working and scanning digital trunked systems on the same day that I received it. I should note that the BCD396XT was also my first digital trunking scanner. If you want to know more about the BCD396XT, you can check out this link BCD396XT < UnidenMan4 < TWiki. Scannermaster.com also offers a good comparison between the BCD396XT and the GRE PSR-500/RadioShack Pro-106, just scroll down the page to look at the comparison Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT Police Scanner Radio

I have purchased both of my scanners and most of my scanner accessories from ScannerMaster.com (Scanner Master - Police Scanners by Uniden Bearcat, AOR and Radio Shack.) without any problems. I highly recommend ScannerMaster.com for good service and great prices, they are also offering free shipping during the month of December. If you do not want to purchase a digital trunking scanner on the internet, then you are generally stuck with buying your scanner from RadioShack, which will limit the options available to you. My local Wal-Mart carries the Uniden BC72XLT, but that is only Uniden scanner I have ever seen in an actual Wal-Mart store and it obviously will not work on digital trunked systems. You might try asking about what physical stores sell scanners in your area in your state forum since those in your state would be more familiar with the stores in your area. I hope you are able to find a scanner that works for you. Good luck!
 

MaritimeMatt

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
25
Location
Little Egg Harbor NJ
Thanks again for the info. Looks like Scanner Master will be my choice for the sale. Great site they have.
Now I'm narrowing it down to which one. Quite possibly the Uniden.
As far as reception inside the house and marina office? Will the rubber duck be good enough or should I opt for another? Magnetic mobile antenna?
How is the volume and sound from these handhelds? Loud and powerful like a handheld vhf?
Having it pre-loaded with the counties right from Scanner Master? Yes/no ?
I'm not sure what the State Police Marine Units are on
Thanks again.
 

rvictor

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Apr 30, 2006
Messages
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Milwaukee, WI
I'd recommend that you program it yourself. You are going to need to know how to do so to get maximum enjoyment and utility out of any scanner that you buy so you may as well bite the bullet and learn how to do so now. While knowing how to manually program is worthwhile, I'd recommend starting with one of the programs available that will make the task much easier, both to learn and to do. If you get the Uniden, FreeScan is a good starting choice. If you find that you need more features, check out ProScan (my preference) and ARC-XT, both of which have free trial periods. All three are Windows programs and permit you to download data directly from the RadioReference database if you have a premium membership.

The Uniden comes with a serial cable to connect to your computer. If your computer has no serial port, you will need either a serial to USB converter or the Uniden USB-1 cable which includes such a converter. In either case, you will need to install the appropriate drivers before connecting the cable to your computer.

It's hard to predict whether you will want/need an antenna beyond the one that comes with the scanner that you buy. Certainly, a better antenna is likely to improve what you hear. I'd wait and see how things go with the stock antenna before making that decision. If you find that you need more antenna, a magnetic mount mobile antenna can serve both on your vehicle as well as indoors if you place it on something with a large metal surface such as the top of a file cabinet or even a cookie sheet/pizza pan.

Dick
 

MaritimeMatt

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Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Messages
25
Location
Little Egg Harbor NJ
If I go with a desktop scanner, do they come pre-loaded with everything I need without having to download all this data from a computer and websites?
I'd rather up the price or change over to a desktop if it makes it easier and a less time consuming set-up.
 

jblake76

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Messages
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Location
So.Jersey
Matt I have a 6-8 month old Digital hand held scanner for sale. I am local to you and will program anything you want into it!
 

whiskeytango

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Location
sacramento ca/reno nv
handhelds and desktop are the same animal, just in different skin. this website is really the only one you'll need for all info to program. programming is part of the fun ha
 

rvictor

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Milwaukee, WI
If I go with a desktop scanner, do they come pre-loaded with everything I need without having to download all this data from a computer and websites?

Both desktop and handheld scanners usually come with some basic systems programmed, but almost never with the specific things that you will want or need.

I'd rather up the price or change over to a desktop if it makes it easier and a less time consuming set-up.

There's nothing easier about programming a desktop than a handheld. You should figure that any of today's fully capable trunking scanners are going to require a bit of effort to learn both to program and to operate. I know of no way to avoid that and still enjoy the capabilities of these scanners. There is plenty of help here if you run into any problems. Plan to spend a bit of time and to have a bit of patience with any of them.

Dick
 
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