Noob needing advice

[Ender73]

I live in Bell county TX and my local police fire and rescue use P25 phase 2 format. Uniden suggested I get one of the following to be able to listen to the police scanners (I know it isn’t going to pick up encrypted signals and frankly I’d like it to stay that way):
BCD325P2 & BCD996P2
HomePatrol-2, BCD436HP or BCD536HP
SDS100 & SDS200
These are fine radios ranging from about $250-$800 depending on wher you look and purchase. The problem that I am having is I don’t need all those bells and whistles, I just want to keep informed and have an emergency weather radio. I don’t need to call out or use it as a HAM radio as I am not yet licensed.
My question is, are there any police scanners that will pick up the frequencies on the following link that won’t cost me more than $150?

Bell County, Texas (TX) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Bell County, Texas (TX)

www.radioreference.com

Thank you all in advance for your helpful advice

 

[Sanscanman]

Bell County TRS is identified as Phase 2, but I don't see any of the Talkgroups with the T mode designator, so there is a chance that maybe something like a Pro-197, Pro-651, or a PSR-500 might be viable until you are forced to move to a phase two capable scanner. If you could get your hands on an older Pro-668 and upgrade it through Whistlers program you would have a WS1080 that could do Phase 2. These are all options that will work only if they are just doing phase one and haven't updated to TDMA. Aside from that, I don't see any low-cost options for you if Bell County is indeed truly operating in phase two. In that case I might suggest a TRX-1 as long as LSM isn't a factor, otherwise, a SDS-100/200 or a Unication G4/G5 but that is pricey territory indeed.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
It appears the Bell County system contains simulcast cells here. With that being the case you may experience a phenominon known as simulcast distortion, perhaps the most discussed issue on these forums. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single transmitter at a specific location, but rather a collection of transmitters spread out over a certain area that all transmit on the same frequency at the same time. It's all those signals coming from different transmitters at different distances, on the same frequency, and out of sync with each other that cause most scanners to lock up, stutter, miss transmissions, etc. Ultimately the only scanners designed to mitigate the effects of simulcast distortion are the Uniden SDS100 or 200. Yes they are the most expensive but they do the job right. There are a number of workarounds for other scanners mentioned in the wiki I linked but they work in very few cases

 

[Ender73]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
It appears the Bell County system contains simulcast cells here. With that being the case you may experience a phenominon known as simulcast distortion, perhaps the most discussed issue on these forums. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single transmitter at a specific location, but rather a collection of transmitters spread out over a certain area that all transmit on the same frequency at the same time. It's all those signals coming from different transmitters at different distances, on the same frequency, and out of sync with each other that cause most scanners to lock up, stutter, miss transmissions, etc. Ultimately the only scanners designed to mitigate the effects of simulcast distortion are the Uniden SDS100 or 200. Yes they are the most expensive but they do the job right. There are a number of workarounds for other scanners mentioned in the wiki I linked but they work in very few cases

not exactly what I wanted to hear in that like most I am not made of money but I am thankful for your response. I will just have to save my pennies till they come down in price or I have enough saved 🤣🤣🤣

 

[hiegtx]

I live in Bell county TX and my local police fire and rescue use P25 phase 2 format. Uniden suggested I get one of the following to be able to listen to the police scanners (I know it isn’t going to pick up encrypted signals and frankly I’d like it to stay that way):
BCD325P2 & BCD996P2
HomePatrol-2, BCD436HP or BCD536HP
SDS100 & SDS200
These are fine radios ranging from about $250-$800 depending on wher you look and purchase. The problem that I am having is I don’t need all those bells and whistles, I just want to keep informed and have an emergency weather radio. I don’t need to call out or use it as a HAM radio as I am not yet licensed.
My question is, are there any police scanners that will pick up the frequencies on the following link that won’t cost me more than $150?

Bell County, Texas (TX) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Bell County, Texas (TX)

www.radioreference.com

Thank you all in advance for your helpful advice

Welcome to RadioReference & the Texas Forum.

Unfortunately, as already mentioned, your $150 target is not going to get you what you need.

The legacy Bell County EDACS system has some talkgroups using ProVoice. There are four listed as using ProVoice, as indicated by a D in the mode column.


The only scanners capable of receiving ProVoice are Uniden models such as the 325P2, 996P2, 436HP, 536HP, as well as the SDS100 and SDS200. ProVoice capability is a paid upgrade, I believe it's $50. While the HP-2 can deal with P25 Phase II, it cannot be upgraded to handle ProVoice.

Bell County is migrating to a P25 Phase II system. As John has pointed out, the primary Bell County site is simulcast. Here's the map of the transmit tower locations:

Look at the link already provided by John on Simulcast. If you're lucky enough to be very close (less than a mile, preferably a quarter mile or less) to that tower site near Harker Heights, then you may dodge the complications caused by simulcast. Otherwise, you'd need to either upgrade to a scanner that deals with simulcast, or perhaps use a directional antenna to limit simulcast distortion.

Bell County TRS is identified as Phase 2, but I don't see any of the Talkgroups with the T mode designator, so there is a chance that maybe something like a Pro-197, Pro-651, or a PSR-500 might be viable until you are forced to move to a phase two capable scanner. If you could get your hands on an older Pro-668 and upgrade it through Whistlers program you would have a WS1080 that could do Phase 2. These are all options that will work only if they are just doing phase one and haven't updated to TDMA. Aside from that, I don't see any low-cost options for you if Bell County is indeed truly operating in phase two. In that case I might suggest a TRX-1 as long as LSM isn't a factor, otherwise, a SDS-100/200 or a Unication G4/G5 but that is pricey territory indeed.

Actually, three of the Temple PD talkgroups are tagged as Phase II, as noted by the T in the mode column.

There is another one, farther down in the list.

While only that handful are currently Phase II, the system itself is capable of Phase II. I would suspect that, at some point, all will convert to Phase II. I recently saw that in the Ellis County portion of FWRRS. Red Oak & Midlothian were on the system, using Phase I talkgroups (the D in the mode column), but when Ellis County, Waxahachie, and some of the other cities joined, that portion of FWRRS went fully to P25 Phase II.

 

[Ender73]

Welcome to RadioReference & the Texas Forum.

Unfortunately, as already mentioned, your $150 target is not going to get you what you need.

The legacy Bell County EDACS system has some talkgroups using ProVoice. There are four listed as using ProVoice, as indicated by a D in the mode column.
View attachment 115322

The only scanners capable of receiving ProVoice are Uniden models such as the 325P2, 996P2, 436HP, 536HP, as well as the SDS100 and SDS200. ProVoice capability is a paid upgrade, I believe it's $50. While the HP-2 can deal with P25 Phase II, it cannot be upgraded to handle ProVoice.

Bell County is migrating to a P25 Phase II system. As John has pointed out, the primary Bell County site is simulcast. Here's the map of the transmit tower locations:
View attachment 115323
Look at the link already provided by John on Simulcast. If you're lucky enough to be very close (less than a mile, preferably a quarter mile or less) to that tower site near Harker Heights, then you may dodge the complications caused by simulcast. Otherwise, you'd need to either upgrade to a scanner that deals with simulcast, or perhaps use a directional antenna to limit simulcast distortion.


Actually, three of the Temple PD talkgroups are tagged as Phase II, as noted by the T in the mode column.
View attachment 115324
There is another one, farther down in the list.

While only that handful are currently Phase II, the system itself is capable of Phase II. I would suspect that, at some point, all will convert to Phase II. I recently saw that in the Ellis County portion of FWRRS. Red Oak & Midlothian were on the system, using Phase I talkgroups (the D in the mode column), but when Ellis County, Waxahachie, and some of the other cities joined, that portion of FWRRS went fully to P25 Phase II.

I want to thank you for your response. I’m just gonna have to save my change and get an SDS200 then. I figure that if I’m gonna have to spend the money I may as well get something that will last a while and be useful for longer.

 

[TexasHighway357]

For what it's worth, Bell Co EDACS will retire in September 2022 as it moves completely to a P25 system. Previously, they were simulcasting on EDACS which made for easy affordable listening with a more affordable EDACS analog voice scanner. Looks like I'll also be having to upgrade equipment.