Newbie Questions

[mhudson59]

I live in Sussex County DE. Want to scan lower sussex fire/ems and fire company channels.
Which handheld scanner would be my best choice?
The BCD436HP or the SDS100

 

[pspc389]

My 436 works great receiving the States 800 MHz system. No distortion from the simulcast. $400 was enough for my toy!

 

[jtwalker]

I have tried my BCD536HP (base version of 436) and my SDS100 in Fenwick Island. Both perform great on DE's 800mhz public safety system. I don't have as much success with local FD company channels (450mhz). I receive them but they are scratchy. I suspect this is my antenna and my location more so than an issue with scanner.

There was a post floating around that the existing state-wide public safety system was being deprecated in lieu of a P25-2 system, so there may be changes headed for these PS departments.

 

[pspc389]

Those freqs in the 450mhz are rebroadcast of the 800 MHz simulcast, that is rebroadcasted from a few fire companies, and you may hear the dispatch for fire & ems and some of the fire ground channels. Ex SFIRE3 STAC4F

453.70000

WPOZ485

BM

Sussex FD

Sussex County Fire Dispatch/Alerting

FM

Fire Dispatch

453.07500

458.07500

WPSG928

BM

146.2 PL

Fire-2

County Fire 2 (patch to 800Mhz system)

FM

Fire-Talk

As far as the individual fire companies using the 450 Mhz as talk around is probably slim to none. I can vouch for Little Creek in Kent Cty, when the 800 mhz radio were installed in the trucks the other radios were removed.
The state is still on the P-25 Motorola type 2 system.

These maybe the freqs that are used to alert (tones) the specific station via there minitor pagers or what ever they are using

Version:1.0 StartHTML:000000211 EndHTML:000013293 StartFragment:000002411 EndFragment:000013163 StartSelection:000002531 EndSelection:000013153 SourceURL:Sussex County, Delaware (DE) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Sussex County, Delaware (DE) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Frequency Input License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 453.50000 WPOZ486 BM Blades Fire Blades Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.12500 WPOZ486 BM Bridgeville Bridgeville Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.77500 WPOZ486 BM Dagsboro Fir Dagsboro Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.35000 WPOZ486 BM Delmar Fire Delmar Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.10000 WPOZ487 BM Ellendale Fi Ellendale Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.42500 WPOZ487 BM Frankford Fi Frankford Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.15000 WPOZ487 BM Greenwood Fi Greenwood Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.87500 WPOZ487 BM Gumboro Fire Gumboro Fire FM Fire-Talk 458.93750 KJS921 M 114 DPL F-8 Indian River Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.55000 WPOZ491 BM Laurel Fire Laurel Fire FM Fire-Talk 460.55000 WPOZ491 BM Lewes Fire Lewes Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.37500 WPOZ491 BM 179.9 PL Millville Fi Millville Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.60000 WPOZ491 BM Millsboro Fi Millsboro Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.45000 WPOZ491 BM Milton Fire Milton Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.57500 WPOZ485 BM Roxana Fire Roxana Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.90000 WPOZ491 BM 516 DPL Seaford Fire Seaford Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.95000 WPOZ491 BM Selbyville F Selbyville Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.47500 WPOZ491 BM Slaughter Be Slaughter Beach Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.70000 WPOZ491 BM Sussex Fire Sussex Fire FM Fire-Talk 453.07500 458.07500 WPSG928 BM 146.2 PL Fire-2 County Fire 2 (patch to 800Mhz system) FM Fire-Talk

Kent County only has 1 alerting freg 151.4, but there area some stations that rebroadcast K-disp, fire 1 and the K-tac channels

 

[Audiodave1]

Either radio is a good choice but success on the UHF receive side will come down to the antenna, signal strength and location relative to the target. Seems you are looking to be portable so I might suggest an antenna near a window at home and possibly exterior on a vehicle. The 800 system covers pretty on the eastern half of the MD/DE line based on my listening.

 

[maus92]

I have tried my BCD536HP (base version of 436) and my SDS100 in Fenwick Island. Both perform great on DE's 800mhz public safety system. I don't have as much success with local FD company channels (450mhz). I receive them but they are scratchy. I suspect this is my antenna and my location more so than an issue with scanner.

There was a post floating around that the existing state-wide public safety system was being deprecated in lieu of a P25-2 system, so there may be changes headed for these PS departments.

It will be P25P1 - not TDMA. Several years away, but a 436 probably won't work so well.