I am thinking about buying the scanner, had a few questions.
1) Does the siren app work enough where I can hear the scanner from my cell phone?
Sort of -- the app is somewhat limited and has issues. I "played with it" and then ignored it on my home network... However, from what I recall, using it away from your home over the internet requires (or at least used to) much more effort to get up and running.
2) Does the antenna that comes with the scanner work decent? Or do I need to buy another one when I buy the scanner. Looking to get either something easy to install outdoor or preferably indoor that works okay. Will be monitoring a P25 phase II system for the most part.
As with most things - it depends - on so many things.... what you want to listen to, where you are, where those systems are that you want to monitor, etc. It does a decent enough job to get started. Once you find issues with reception where you've ruled out other things (like bad programming or data, etc.), the antenna tends to be the next thing you look at in terms of "what can I get that will work better".... With most nearer P25 systems (particularly Phase 2), antenna isn't always the first thing that comes to mind that will solve the problems.... but wait until you determine if you have problems first....
Any other tips about the scanner before buying greatly appreciated.
Thank you
1. Read the documentation as much as possible about both the radio and how to use it as well as P25 systems - particularly items about multi-site (if that applies in your case) as well as simulcast distortion (Google).
2. Learn to program the radio manually - don't just rely on the program software.
3. "Play" with the radio and programming at first - don't spend a lot of time doing heavy or custom programming until you are comfortable that you are able to make good backups. It's terrible to do all that work and then somehow wipe it out in a SD card reformat (or even have it 'disappear' but really still be present - it happens).
4. Don't try to learn while driving (should be an obvious one).
5. Learn EVERYTHING about "service types"... it's probably the biggest issues new owners run into.
I got a million of 'em.
Ah- one more -- leave the siren app (toy) out of the picture until you are solid (as much as you can be) with knowing the radio itself. It will only make you crazy trying to do both... it ain't going anywhere.
