New to the Gadsden area

[PhoenixxRising]

Hello everyone. I recently moved down here form the midwest. Im wondering what the best scanner option would be for me in the Gadsden area. I know it is mainly a Uniden trunked system with the majority of it being unsecured. Im new to trunked systems, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[radiopro52]

That depends on what trunking systems you want to listen to. There are different types of trunking systems. The most common are Motorola, EDACS, and LTR, and it can vary on what scanner moniors said trunking system. But, for the Gadsden area, if you just want to listen to the Gadsden Public Safety system, you would just need a scanner that tracks EDACS. Now, if you also want to listen to the McCord Communications system, you would need a scanner that tracks LTR.

Even if you don't want to listen to many other trunking systems now, you may want to at a later date. So, if your budget allows it, I would get a scanner that monitors all of the trunking systems. I recommend the Uniden BCT15.

 

[PhoenixxRising]

Thanks for the help. Its going to be mainly the Gadsden area Public Safety. Would something like the Pro-97 work? Im new to trunking. Only other experience I have had with it is back home in Omaha where they are on an APCO25 system. That and the scanner I had at the time came pre-programed. If the 97 works I will be picking that up since I would prefer to have something handheld. How tough is it to program a trunking system?

 

[radiopro52]

Thanks for the help. Its going to be mainly the Gadsden area Public Safety. Would something like the Pro-97 work? Im new to trunking. Only other experience I have had with it is back home in Omaha where they are on an APCO25 system. That and the scanner I had at the time came pre-programed. If the 97 works I will be picking that up since I would prefer to have something handheld. How tough is it to program a trunking system?

Check out the scanner Wiki, located here to compare all kinds of trunking scanners. The Pro-97 trunks all three of the common ones, so that would be a good choice. For a base scanner, the PRO-2052 is a good scanner for tracking EDACS, but it doesn't track LTR. For that, the BCT15 is a good modern base scanner.

Also, how far are you from Gadsden? If you're not in the city then you would need a good antenna setup to pick up the trunking system because it is 800Mhz.

As for programming, it shouldn't be too hard. Just follow the instructions in your scanners manual. It's basically typing several frequencies in order.