Question about Nashville and Surrounding areas

[00ebpsiboy]

I have been reading this forum for quite some time now and it amazes me how far technology has come in just a few short years..

I live in Murfreesboro but am in Brentwood quite often. My question to you all is, will Brentwood go digital in the near future? I know for a while they were encrypted but I am prety sure they took it off due to a bank robbery a few years back. I am looking at buying a scanner and if they wont go digital for sometime I can save myself some serious money.

Any input is apprreciated! Any reccomendations for a scanner <400 would also be very helpful.

Brian

 

[tbharper]

dont know if or when they will go digital but most of all nashville is digital. so i would spend the extra to get a digital scanner. i like the radio shack pro 96 myself or the base pro 2096 same features .

 

[tbharper]

theres a pro 96 on ebay right know for 275 that a sweet deal

 

[00ebpsiboy]

Yea I was in Radio Shack earlier this week. Do they make good, reliable scanners?

They are cheaper than name bands such as Uniden which I am looking at..

 

[bg_nashville]

Yea I was in Radio Shack earlier this week. Do they make good, reliable scanners?

They are cheaper than name bands such as Uniden which I am looking at..

Name BRANDS? There are only two major manufactuers of consumer radio scanners and those are Uniden and GRE (there are a few others like Alinco and ICOM, but none of those offer digital scanners). GRE makes the PRO series of scanners for Radio Shack. The PRO series IS a name brand. If you don't want to be able to listen to the Metro Nashville systems then you could go with the PRO-97. You should be able to get one for $150-$200. However, you would be missing out on a lot of interesting stuff. Nashville has one of the largest systems of any city in the country.

 

[INDY72]

Radio Shack sells the PRO series which is manufactured by GRE, and by Uniden.... They have less frills to be able to offer you the same product at a somewhat lower price on most scanners. The GRE series of PRO scanners is the easiest to program, and is a great quality product. Currently though RS is abehind on the scanner front as far as technology.. Uniden has released the current top of the line series with the 396/996 scanners. These not only do APCO-P-25, but do 700 mHz trunking, and have a new feature that allows you to decode fire/police pager codes for those services that have radio tone out. Currently RS does NOT have a scanner in the PRO series that can do this.... But, for the Nasheville area I would highly reccommend the PRO-96/2096 scanners. They work perfectly on the ASTRO TRS in use there, and you will be able to hear TWRA also as they are digital. Not to mention the GRE Manufactured, RS sold PRO scanners have a great software programming capability made so simple with the usage of Don Starr's software (WIN92, 93,95,96,97,99), designed specifically for the GRE interface.

 

[00ebpsiboy]

I appreciate the quick feedback!

The suggestions are great. I have around 400 to spend. The only drawback I may have later on down the road is programming the scanners to pick up all frequencies that are in and around Nashville. Are most scanners rather easy to program once reading through the manual?

The Pro 96 sounds like a good choice. Would online be the best way to go when looking for the best price on this scanner?

I already have a laptop mount so I am wondering if there is a mount available to mount the scanner so it is upright and easily accessible...

As always, thanks!

 

[W4EMS]

For programming you truly need Don Starr's Win96 and the programming cable.
Well worth the minimal added expense, especially when programming the virtual memories.