Police Digital
G'day Oz Redneck!
As far as Police going digital- here in Melbourne- the Victoria Police are now fully APCO 25 digital trunked- and running full crypto on all talkgroups. Short answer is NO, you cannot listen to them regardless of the scanner you have.
I have visited Darwin twice in the last 2 years- same story there- full encryption, using the equipment sold to the NT government from the Sydney Olympics as I understand it.
Brisbane is now also APCO 25 digital and encrypted- at least in the metropolitan areas.
Tasmania Police have had EDACS with AEGIS encryption for a number of years now.
Perth are upgrading to an APCO 25 digital system, no doubt with encryption.
Adelaide and most of S.A. have upgraded to a trunked digital network- the police are fully encrypted there as well.
NSW Police have upgraded to digital as well in the Sydney and surrounding areas- with encryption either in use or planned for the future.
The bottom line is- even with a digital capable scanner- you WILL NOT hear much, if any, police activity just about anywhere. Of course there will be exeptions- some areas are still using analogue, but for the major cities at least- listening to police will be a thing of the past. Some will say "about time", whilst others will be very concerned about Police being able to operate without scrutiny and media monitoring.
The best way to obtain a bargain digital scanner is to watch Ebay or your local classifieds for listings where some unlucky person has bought a digital scanner only to be dissapointed when they can only hear garbled nonsense instead of VKC etc...
I managed to get a Uniden UBC396T for much less than retail this way.
If your intentions are to buy a digital scanner for Police listening only- you really are potentially wasting your money, as encryption will most certainly be put into use at some stage, if not from the word go- as was the case here in Melbourne.
Good Luck- Commscanaus