Newbe in Southern Maine

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mcouture87

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I've been a long time user of a Uniden 700A scanner at home. I now want to start to get more involved in my listening pleasure.

I am looking at the Pro 164 mobile scanner as my first step into a more robust scanner.

I'm looking to monitor Westbrook, Windham, Gorham, Portland fire and police as a priority. I'd like to also monitor Maine State Police when traveling and since I work near the jetport, I'd like to monitor air traffic.

Will the Pro 164 do the job? Or is there another model I should be looking at? I'd like to stay 'cheap' for now....
 

mcouture87

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I'm looking at either staying analog for now and looking at the Pro-164 or GRE PSR-310. Or digital with the PSR-500.

I 'think' in southern Maine I can get most everything I want on analog still.

I'd like to get state police in Maine and when traveling to NH as well.
 
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ME343

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I'm looking at either staying analog for now and looking at the Pro-164 or GRE PSR-310. Or digital with the PSR-500.

I 'think' in southern Maine I can get most everything I want on analog still.

I'd like to get state police in Maine and when traveling to NH as well.

A Few things. New Hampshire State Police is digital and a lot of Maine Police Departments are slowly switching to digital. So your best bet would be to get a digital scanner.
 

N1BHH

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Jackson Square, East Weymouth, MA.
New Hampshire local and state police are nearly all P-25, there are a few still analog and some are mixed mode. I went with the Pro-106 and Pro-197's that I have because of the P-25 that is inching in all around. A number of colleges and public service agencies are starting to use P-25, some of which are full time encrypted. Since you may travel a bit in Hew Hampshire, you really need a digital capable radio.

The Pro-106 is the same as the GRE PSR-500 and the Pro-197 is the same as the GRE PSR-600 but they are just packaged differently. Go for the digital capability because you don't want to be losing out on that local town that suddenly switches to P-25 and you'd find yourself wondering why you can't hear them anymore if you got an analog radio.
 

94caprice9c1

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Dec 2, 2007
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Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Right now, Biddeford PD is about the only one that is digital in Cumberland and York counties. But, both Lewiston and Auburn PDs are digital as is Augusta. I agree, go digital if you can swing it. You won't miss much now, but who knows how much it el change.
 

ecps92

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Also Coast Guard has moved to P25

Two other locations to get local help/info are
Yahoogroups [ScanME and NewHampshirescanner]
as well as ScanNewEngland.net :wink:

New Hampshire local and state police are nearly all P-25, there are a few still analog and some are mixed mode. I went with the Pro-106 and Pro-197's that I have because of the P-25 that is inching in all around. A number of colleges and public service agencies are starting to use P-25, some of which are full time encrypted. Since you may travel a bit in Hew Hampshire, you really need a digital capable radio.

The Pro-106 is the same as the GRE PSR-500 and the Pro-197 is the same as the GRE PSR-600 but they are just packaged differently. Go for the digital capability because you don't want to be losing out on that local town that suddenly switches to P-25 and you'd find yourself wondering why you can't hear them anymore if you got an analog radio.
 

mcouture87

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Bringing an old thread back to life.

I ended up staying analog until recently....Uniden just stopped working...

What should I be looking for now in 2017?

I'm just interested in local/state stuff. Mostly Falmouth, Windham, Westbrook area and maybe jetport and state police and turnpike....
 

ME343

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Bringing an old thread back to life.

I ended up staying analog until recently....Uniden just stopped working...

What should I be looking for now in 2017?

I'm just interested in local/state stuff. Mostly Falmouth, Windham, Westbrook area and maybe jetport and state police and turnpike....
Anything that supports digital radio systems. As Falmouth has switched to Digital Mobile Radio(DMR), Portland is in the process of switching to P25. All of State police has switched to a statewide P25 System. SP units on the turnpike use the state system but the turnpike operations are still on VHF.
 

ecps92

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Taxachusetts
As Eric mentioned most agencies are going P25, and if you want to look into Business Freqs they are going DMR, all depends on your true interest [Public Safety or...] and eve then some PS have gone DMR instead of P25

Look thru the entire DB here, not just your county and see what it looks like for your county and neighbors as well as the MSP, Forestry, EMS, Fire, PD Etc

Bringing an old thread back to life.

I ended up staying analog until recently....Uniden just stopped working...

What should I be looking for now in 2017?

I'm just interested in local/state stuff. Mostly Falmouth, Windham, Westbrook area and maybe jetport and state police and turnpike....
 

mcouture87

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Nov 25, 2005
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any recommended units that do P25 and DMR? If I go that route, I'll setup so I can stream as well...

I don't want to say "what is the cheapest" but what is the least $$$ I can spend to get into the digital radio market?
 

ecps92

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If you are going to stream, then a dedicated radio for Analog/P25 would be the avenue.

However dedicating it to streaming, leaves you out of the option of scanning other stuff, besides what you have applied for to Stream.

If you are going DMR - most of those would violate the Steaming Policy as most DMR is commercial business/private business. atleast in our Region

any recommended units that do P25 and DMR? If I go that route, I'll setup so I can stream as well...

I don't want to say "what is the cheapest" but what is the least $$$ I can spend to get into the digital radio market?
 
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