More and more Arkansas police, fire and EMS services are going non-P25 digital, especially DMR (aka Mototurbo) but also sometimes NXDN48. Instead of letting yourself be in the dark, it's not hard to set up a dedicated scanner with a discriminator tap modded onto it and your computer's sound system to monitor what's going on.
A cheap scanner for modding can be found on eBay and the discriminator tap is usually not difficult to accomplish. For example, an old Bearcat 145XLT can be had for $25 or so, and this model is pretty easy to mod: BC145XL
If you don't have that particular scanner, instructions are available for modifying over two hundred different scanners at this website: Discriminator Output
Connect your tapped scanner to the mic input of your desktop computer with a regular stereo cable. On your computer, install a program called DSD+ which can be downloaded here: Download | DSDPlus
Carefully follow the installation instructions. There are plenty of videos on YouTube on how to install DSD+ on your computer.
Personally, I use an old Radio Shack Pro-96 with a discriminator tap. It is connected from the tap to the computer's mic input with an ordinary stereo cable. I run the DSD+ program in the background and I listen to the output from the computer's speakers.
Here is a list of the local non-P25 digital agencies I monitor from my location in Russellville, none of which can be heard on any off-the-shelf radio scanner:
Dardanelle PD (DMR)
London Vol Fire Dept (DMR)
Crow Mountain Vol Fire Dept (NXDN48)
Yell County EMS (DMR)
Logan County SO (DMR)
Logan County EMS (DMR)
Clarksville PD (DMR)
Clarksville FD (DMR)
Franklin County SO (DMR)
Franklin County Fire (DMR)
Franklin County EMS (DMR)
Van Buren County Fire (DMR)
Van Buren County SO (DMR)
Only a few non-P25 agencies in Arkansas are encrypted; none of the above agencies are, for example. So, if your local PD or SO has "gone dark", you just might be able to get 'em back with a simple modded scanner running through your computer's sound system.
A cheap scanner for modding can be found on eBay and the discriminator tap is usually not difficult to accomplish. For example, an old Bearcat 145XLT can be had for $25 or so, and this model is pretty easy to mod: BC145XL
If you don't have that particular scanner, instructions are available for modifying over two hundred different scanners at this website: Discriminator Output
Connect your tapped scanner to the mic input of your desktop computer with a regular stereo cable. On your computer, install a program called DSD+ which can be downloaded here: Download | DSDPlus
Carefully follow the installation instructions. There are plenty of videos on YouTube on how to install DSD+ on your computer.
Personally, I use an old Radio Shack Pro-96 with a discriminator tap. It is connected from the tap to the computer's mic input with an ordinary stereo cable. I run the DSD+ program in the background and I listen to the output from the computer's speakers.
Here is a list of the local non-P25 digital agencies I monitor from my location in Russellville, none of which can be heard on any off-the-shelf radio scanner:
Dardanelle PD (DMR)
London Vol Fire Dept (DMR)
Crow Mountain Vol Fire Dept (NXDN48)
Yell County EMS (DMR)
Logan County SO (DMR)
Logan County EMS (DMR)
Clarksville PD (DMR)
Clarksville FD (DMR)
Franklin County SO (DMR)
Franklin County Fire (DMR)
Franklin County EMS (DMR)
Van Buren County Fire (DMR)
Van Buren County SO (DMR)
Only a few non-P25 agencies in Arkansas are encrypted; none of the above agencies are, for example. So, if your local PD or SO has "gone dark", you just might be able to get 'em back with a simple modded scanner running through your computer's sound system.
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