Newbie in Mobile

[Mischief810]

I'm going to be in need of a scanner for my new job here in Mobile. My need is for a basic unit. My desire however, is something else!

I'd like to monitor police, fire, county, state and weather also. I understand the City is on a Motorola system and the County is on EDACS.

Any suggestions on models and features I should look at? Do I need digital to do all of the above?

Thanks for this great resource. I never knew it existed.

 

[kingpin]

First off, welcome to the group! I'm across the bay in Foley. You're definately going to need a trunking scanner to monitor the Mobile systems. My recommendation for this area is the Uniden BR330T. It's uniden's newest handheld scanner. It's very versitile. I suggest this because of the obvious trunking capabilites as well as the expanded receive capabilities. This area has alot of UHF aviation coms that mos scanners won't receive. If you're into aviation, this is the perfect radio for this area. You can find them for around 260 in the net. I've had one for 6 months now and love it. If you're looking for something for the house, you can pick up a BC780 or BC785D for 200 bucks or less that will work great for your home or vehicle. If you're looking for a less expensive alternative, you can pick up a Radio Shack Pro-95 for less than 100 bucks typically that will work well for the systems here.

Do you need digital? Not really. The only P25 stuff I've picked up in the area has been ATF and some FBI stuff. Really not enough to get excited about unless fedcoms is your bag.

Be sure to check out my Southalabamascan yahoo group at the link below. We share lots of information on the area there too!

 

[Mischief810]

Kingpin, thanks so much for the advice. RadioShack offers the Pro-94 and the Pro-97 (the 95 has been discontinued, apparently). I could go with either one.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it...

I used to visit the Mobile Police feed on al.com every now and then. But the last time I tried it (late last night), it was down. What happened to that? Any idea?

 

[cristisphoto]

GO UNiden ..GO SCANNERSUNLLIMITED,,,

As Much as I love my Pro 97
Remeber the rebanding issue
Ratshac is NOT sure as to whether or not
there scanner will be compatible
Whilst UNIDEN is ..
At least on their newer ones of course lOL
As of this past tuesday I now own the BCD396T
and I am EXTREMLY PLEASED....
But an anolog is probaly your best bet for an entry level..
Check out scannersunlimited..
here is the link to their scanner prices:

http://www.scannersunlimited.com/scanlist.html


Also note that IF you buy via landline or electronic web LOL
the prices are HELLUVA Cheaper..
Regards,
Crista

PS
Call them they are EXTREMELY HELPFUL...

 

[Mischief810]

'splain this rebanding issue, please.

Could this render a newly purchased Pro-97 incompatible with what the locals are using? Remember, I'm new at this and need lots of hand-holding.

I'd be extremely pleased with anything I spent $600 on. In fact, I'm extremely pleased with a new Trimble GIS platform I just spent $6,000 on (and I got a helluva deal on it).

 

[kingpin]

In the upcomming years, there will be some restructuring of the 800 MHz bands as far as the frequencies and channel spacings go. Uniden will release firmware to upgrade their newer scanners including the ones I mentioned to work with the changes. I don't see it being a big deal for this area but it will come eventually. The Pro 97 you mentioned is a great scanner. I just don't use Radio Shack equipment much anymore due to keeping my equipment MFR consistent. Only radio shack scanner I have left is my Pro 2006 and it's just gathering dust. Can't get rid of it.

I got both my BC246T and BR330T from Scanners Unlimited. Best deals I've found on scanners and customer service is there. No complaints.

 

[Mischief810]

I went with the 97 today.

I shopped around, compared features and prices. I felt better doing a walk-in buy than online (I almost never buy electronic gear online), and RadioShack's in-store price was the same as their online deal. I also picked up the USB cable, an earpiece, and a car adapter. I already had a 9V/300 DC adapter in my gadget box from another device.



Boy, have I got some catching up to do. This is nothing like that old brick of a scanner I had back in the day. I might actually have to sit down and read a manual. Thanks all for the advice.

EDIT: Anyone know which frequency or groups that Mobile County Emergency Management Agency uses?

Off to read the manual, I guess...

 

[kingpin]

They are onthe county system. I have some of the talkgroups that aren't in the database that are for ema. Check here http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=374 for now. Ill post them when I get home tonight. I'll also add them to the database for reference.


Congrats on the new purchase. I've read alot of good things on that radio.

 

[Mischief810]

Thanks, Kingpin.

I'm lost, though. I downloaded the Win97 trial version, and with a little help from the manual, I was able to program a few extra channels and groups into the outdated data RS programmed my unit with.

However, I can't seem to get pick up any of the county's EDAC system from the RR database link you provided. I copied and pasted, copied and pasted, copied and pasted a bank full of frequencies and talkgroups. When I sent the data to the scanner and cranked it up, no traffic was picked up.

Do you (or anyone else) know what I could be doing wrong? Putting the frequencies in the wrong order, perhaps? Would anyone happen to have a few WinXX.csv files with Mobile County EDAC frequencies and group id's that I can learn by or leach from?

 

[kingpin]

1st thing.
Make sure you only program one of the towers. You don't need them all. (just incase you did progam them all)

Make sure you have them programmed into the proper LCN order. With EDACS, , they have to be in order. Try putting the scanner in search mode on the system and see what you come up with.

 

[Mischief810]

Jason,

Thanks (again!)

Your advice about only programming one of the towers was right on. I thought I needed them all.

I've got the hang of this thing now (I think). I've also figured out WIN97's exported *.CSV format, which makes translating the data from the database files a lot easier than copying and pasting one record at a time. I can import the CSV file into Excel, copy and paste whole columns of data, import the CSV into Win97, and write it to the scanner.