Newbie: Recommendations for Raleigh/Durham/RTP

[skyyview]

Greetings,

I live in north Durham and work in Gardner. I am looking for a hand held scanner that will allow me to access:

* Hiway patrol accident reports while in route from home to work
* Durham Police dispatch
* National weather service
* Durham Regional and/or Duke Med
* RDU (airport)
* Amtrak
* Military Aircraft

How close does one have to be to the transmitter in order to recieve a good signal? For example: RDU

What is a good site for newbies?

Thanks In Advance!

 

[skyyview]

Will a PRO-95 do the job?

 

[fmon]

Will a PRO-95 do the job?

* Hiway patrol accident reports while in route from home to work yes
* Durham Police dispatch yes
* National weather service yes
* Durham Regional and/or Duke Med yes
* RDU (airport) yes
* Amtrak yes
* Military Aircraft no

How close does one have to be to the transmitter in order to recieve a good signal? For example: RDU

You should be able to pick up the airport trunking system at home. For airport Tower and GC, you will need to be fairly close with the ducky. Airborne aircraft, you should receive ok at home also.

What is a good site for newbies?

Look through the RRDatabase (link above) for NC.

Edit, note: Some of the 'Viper" is digital, ie Butner, Oxford and some in the Raleigh area.

 

[KE4ZNR]

Greetings,

I live in north Durham and work in Gardner. I am looking for a hand held scanner that will allow me to access:

* Hiway patrol accident reports while in route from home to work
* Durham Police dispatch
* National weather service
* Durham Regional and/or Duke Med
* RDU (airport)
* Amtrak
* Military Aircraft

How close does one have to be to the transmitter in order to recieve a good signal? For example: RDU

What is a good site for newbies?

Thanks In Advance!

Do you mean you live in Durham and live in GaRNER or Gardner?
I think you probably mean Garner....
Your best bet is probably going to be a Radio Shack Pro96 APCO25 digital capable scanner....soo much of the triangle area is moving over to the VIPER mixed mode digital/analog system...and any agencies added from here on out will only get digital talkgroups....
Consider the agencies that are already digital:
--Wake County Sheriff
--Garner Police
--Most smaller Wake County towns
--Wake County Fire
--Morrisville Fire
--Cary Fire (if not already should be very soon)
Then consider the following:
--RDU Airport Authority should be on the VIPER system soon
--I have good info that says Raleigh Fire Dept will also
be on the VIPER as well....
Durham 800Mhz is still analog for the time being but I am sure down the road they will eventually convert to APCO 25 as well....
The Pro96 will cover UHF Military when that range is unlocked using Don Starr's Win96 software....it is not the best UHF military receiver but people have said it is at least decent.....
Bottom Line: if you can afford a Pro96 go ahead and get one because more and more of the triangle is going digital....if you don't mind missing alot of the public safety comms then get a Pro95 analog only trunktracker....
Hope this helps and feel free to PM or email if you have further questions about the triangle area!
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall Sherard, KE4ZNR
Central NC Viper System info
RR.com System Admin

 

[Donf]

Why is Cary Fire going to the VIPER system? Will they still be dispatched by Cary Central?