Northeast Tarrant County

[tech47502]

I am looking to purchase a new scanner. I am mainly interested in receiving Grapevine Police Dispatch. I know this is an APCO phase 2 system, but is it encrypted?

 

[cgoodban]

According to the database, it looks like Grapevine is in the clear regarding encryption.

 

[tech47502]

Thanks, any reccomendations for a new scanner?

 

[hiegtx]

I am looking to purchase a new scanner. I am mainly interested in receiving Grapevine Police Dispatch. I know this is an APCO phase 2 system, but is it encrypted?

Not encrypted right now. Grapevine and the other Northeast Tarrant County cities currently are using P25 Phase I talkgroups, as shown by the D in the Mode column. However, most of the agencies near them (Arlington, Grand Prairie, Irving, are Ohase Coppell, as well as the Denton County which also includes Lewisville) are already Phase II, and I would suspect that every agency on the system will, at some future date, will convert from Phase I to Phase II.

Northeast Tarrant’s site is simulcast, which can be an issue for many scanners. I have a close friend who lives in Grapevine. I gave her my old 996T, which works well for her, but she’s only a few blocks away from the Grapevine transmit site near Main & Hwy 26.

 

[tech47502]

I live in Grapevine, so I don"t think the location would be an issue. I was thinking of the Uniden 436HP possibly. The SDS100 is a bit pricy and I can get a used 436 on Ebay

 

[cgoodban]

I have a BCD996P2 that works well for Rockwall County with little simulcast issues. It really depends where you are in the city, and if simulcast is a problem. I'm not in Grapevine that much, so i'm not sure if simulcast is an issue on this system. My next suggestion would be the BCD436HP though. I agree that the SDS100 is pricy. That will probably be my next big purchase if I ever get a raise at work .

 

[IAmSixNine]

The SDS100 will for sure work. The 436 MIGHT work. They are on a simulcast system but until you actually test it no body will know for sure if the 436 will work for you or not. Also IF it does work in your residence it may or may not work if you go mobile. Again this is a simulcast system with multiple sites and the 436 was not designed to deal with that type of system. Save your money and get the SDS100.

 

[hiegtx]

I live in Grapevine, so I don"t think the location would be an issue. I was thinking of the Uniden 436HP possibly. The SDS100 is a bit pricy and I can get a used 436 on Ebay

Even though you indicate that you live in Grapevine, that does not guarantee that you won't have simulcast issues. The Grapevine site is on that water tower near Main & Hwy 26.

My friend lives a few blocks east of that, so the strong signal from a nearby site overrides the out of sync signals from the other two sites. Because of that, the 996T works for her.

However, if you are in that portion of Grapevine farther south & west, like along Hwy 121, you might have problems because you would be closer to the Colleyville location. A 436HP might work for you, but the only way to know for sure would be to try it.