noob

[den9]

hey im new to the site, and new to scanners. dont own one yet though but want to learn quick.

for bucks county it says its a trunked system, does that mean if my scanner is programmed to 501.2875 it will pick up all the bucks county pd's in range?

if i added that frequency to a bank, would it scan everything in the 500 up to 599.xxx?

i really dont have a good understanding on how it works.

any help would be appreciated!

 

[HM1529]

A trunked system works by sharing a pool of frequencies between groups of users. Computer controllers automatically tell radios which frequency to operate on every time a user keys up the radio. Essentially, you will have conversations hopping around between the shared frequencies. This is a more frequency efficient system than having everybody using a separate frequency for different channels (conventional system) since in a conventional system there will be times when one channel may be so busy nobody can talk and there maye be half a dozen other channels with nothing happening. The trunked system will keep conversations moving back and forth to maximize use of available frequencies.

With that said, you need a scanner capable of receiving trunked systems. For Bucks, you also need a scanner capable of receiving digital audio since Bucks uses digital audio (many scanners only receive analog). Many scanners are analog only, so you need to pay attention to the scanner features when shopping around. Expect to pay about $350 or more.

 

[den9]

thanks for the response

im looking to buy a pro-96, to keep this question as simple as possible, the freq stored in the pro96 is already set for bucks county, does that mean it will pick up everything in bucks within range. i was at radio shack and they had a working display of the pro96, i never seen the bensalem pd on the radio, but bensalem ems and bristol pd. i cant wait to buy it, i think it will clear alot of questions up. thanks again

 

[Paulsan]

You may want to look at the GRE PSR-500 for the same price. It seems to be on the cutting edge for scanners.

 

[den9]

You may want to look at the GRE PSR-500 for the same price. It seems to be on the cutting edge for scanners.

kinda looks cheap, i really want the bcd396t but i heard its hard to use for a beginner

 

[HM1529]

kinda looks cheap, i really want the bcd396t but i heard its hard to use for a beginner

The GRE might look cheap to you, but all the scanners are nothing but plastic nowadays and the GRE is, by far, the best thing on the market right now as far as newest available scanner goes.

 

[Paulsan]

kinda looks cheap, i really want the bcd396t but i heard its hard to use for a beginner

The Pro-96 is made by GRE for Radioshack. RS wants $500 for it and it is about two year old technology. I would guess that a GRE branded version can be had for a lot less than $500.

The PRS-500 is made by GRE for GRE. It came out in November if I'm not mistaken. It can be had for $500.

The BCD396 is made by Uniden for Uniden. It is 4 years old if I'm not mistaken. It can be had for $500. Radioshack want $600 for it!

 

[den9]

so whats the differences between the pro96 and the new psr-500?

 

[HM1529]

so whats the differences between the pro96 and the new psr-500?

Newer, more features, and guaranteed to still be usable after the 800MHZ rebanding is completed. The PRO-96 may not work with trunked systems at 800MHz after rebanding.

What is this rebanding, you ask? An attempt to physically separate public safety and nextel/cell systems to reduce interference at 800MHz. http://www.800mhzrebanding.com/

 

[den9]

is rebanding hard to do, or is it already an automatic thing?

edit-can i pick up space and satelite signals from a pro-96?

 

[Paulsan]

I would recommend reading The GRE forums and the RS forums.

I did read somewhere that the PSR-500 is the replacement for the PRO-96. Same price+newer technology=No brainer. Would you buy a 2006 PC for the same price as a 2008 PC?

 

[Paulsan]

I found this on the Yahoo group. It's a partial list of features the PSR-500 has which the PRO-96 lacks.

EDACS-Narrow
LTR (was already mentioned)
tri-Color Alert LED
Audio Alerts
true NFM and a audio boost control
P25 IDEN-UP auto configure
Timed battery charge
WX SAME mode auto unmute (dont have to run to press a button on an alert)
S-Meter
Real-time Trunking "T" indiator on the LCD
Dedicated Favorites and Skywarn ScanLists
Upgradable CPU
Data output for Control channel and weather SAME data
Possible to now lock out SAME message types
Signal Sweeper to find local signals
Will follow trunking in MAN mode
Temporary Lockout (power cycle resets)
Additional Search ranges
Remote controllable (There is a demo on www.starrsoft. com)
Most radio timing values are adjustable from a "super expert" menu.

 

[HM1529]

is rebanding hard to do, or is it already an automatic thing?

Every public safety entity involved is meeting with Sprint/Nextel reps and each system is being handled locally. It is taking years and millions of dollars. I suppose it is not really technically difficult...you're swapping out electronic components and changing the frequencies at which things transmit/receive, but it involves lawyers as well as the technical people since there is rarely immediate agreement between the parties involved about what needs to be done.

 

[den9]

im not quite sure what rebanding is honestly

 

[captclint]

im not quite sure what rebanding is honestly

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Rebanding

 

[Paulsan]

Thanks Clint. That was a good read. I think I understand it now.

 

[den9]

next question

how many frequencies can i put in one bank, for example, could i put north wildwood, wildwood crest, and wildwood borough all in one bank and scan all of them at once?

how about philadelphia and bucks county?

 

[Paulsan]

You'll be better off asking that question in the manufacturers forums. Are you talking about a RS or Uniden or GRE scanner?

 

[den9]

i dont have a scanner yet but i think im getting a gre