Newbie- Scanner Info

[bigdoghd]

Just came across the forum and was wondering, what would be the best set up for a hand held unit.I'd like to be able to monitor local PD and FD in the New Lenox Illinois area. I remember numerous years ago I had a scanner and also a frequency book. I would imagine time have changed.Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[ERICMYERS]

New Lenox police is on Lincolnway dispatch, (but is planning to move to Will County EDACS system more on that below). Fire is on Southwest Central Dispatch. You could hear those frequencies on just about any scanner.

Check the database here http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=689 for the frequencies.

Will county is a lot of fun to listen to. It is a trunked EDACS system, so if you get a new scanner make sure it can handle that. Joliet is your neighbor and a lot of fun to listen to as well, and is on a Motorola trunked system. If you want to hear Illinois State Police you will need a scanner capable of Digital. Digital capability is where the scanners get pretty expensive.

A UnidenBDC396T will do everything you could ever ask for but it's a little expensive. A sponsor of this forum, Scannermaster, has a great website to research, and I have enjoyed doing business with them. Radioshack had their PRO-96 on sale recently, and it too will do pretty much anything. Be careful to get a scanner that supports rebanding (check the wiki) if you're going to invest in something. Both of these will according to current knowledge. Skip the Digital and you could consider a BR330T or a BC246T from Uniden or a GRE PSR300 for around $200 and have something worthwhile.

Modern scanners are programmed with a computer and software. Theoretically you can punch the buttons, but I think that's a little silly and difficult. It is possible to download frequencies directly from this website with a inexpensive subscription (although you can look at it and punch it into the software for free too), software, cable, and capable scanner. It's not that hard if you're a little techy....if you are not, pay someone like Scannermaster to preload your scanner for your home area. Radioshack will 'sort of' program one of theirs for free, but you'll find that programming pretty lame pretty quickly.

Your Midland 75-800 is a CB radio. It will not hear anything related to the fire or police anywhere.

Welcome to the hobby and the forum. Read the forum, the Wiki and the Database, ask questions when you get stuck. Lots of locals on here that can and will help you.
Eric

 

[bigdoghd]

Thank you for your reply. I went out and bought a Pro 164 from radio shack. It appears to be a little more complicated than I thought.I figure this would get me started. I'm more of a hands on person, so it might take a little time to absorb all this program stuff. Would be nice to find a local techy and get a quick hands on demo. Thanks again

 

[RoninJoliet]

Scanning New Lenox

New Lenox is still on the VHF band- PD 155.670, FD is 154.40 but just received a new freqy of 151.1825 which some scanners of old will not take perfectly....There is a memo on the Will Co site here on rr.com that Lincolnway Dispatch has purchased Will Co Edacs Trunking radios for the future....The new ILL State Starcom system is on a digital 700/800mgz system which means if your also a state PD listener you would need a Uniden 396/996 or a GRE500/600 digital trunking scanner-$500.00...If not your local RShack can provide a VHF 800mgz trunking H/H or base for around $200.00...The Police Call book was discontinued in 2005 so www.radioreference.com or www.carmachicago.com is your best bet on freqy's....

 

[ERICMYERS]

Read the wiki about programming software for RS scanners. It will take a few hours of effort to learn to program a modern scanner, but that's really part of the fun once you get the hang of it. I like ARC the best, but Don Starr's Win97 can be downloaded and tried for free, and it's only $25 to register anyway. You'll need a cable you can get at RS to use it wth your pc.

Pro 164 was a good pick for a starter, I think. It does what you need to hear the best stuff around here.

 

[bigdoghd]

programing

Thanks I picked up the cable and down loaded it's software. Now I have to figure out how to get the program off the internet and program it. As of right now, it's not clicking for me.