Receiver / Scanner suggestions

[matador]

Hello:

I am "new" to "scanning" and am looking to buy a receiver that can monitor the trunked networks in my area (Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, USA). I have a wonderful Kenwood FH-6A for my amateur service, but no equipment that will "trunk."

I would love to hear from someone who has opinions regarding handhelds that they/you would recommend for listening to trunked netwokds.

Thanks,

M

 

[ka3jjz]

A quick check of the RR database shows your area to be serviced by a type 2 Motorola analog (smartzone) system; therefore, any of the older trunktrackers, in addition to the current crop of digitals, will do the job.

If you're not interested in computer control - you only want to be able to up/download frequencies, not interested in tracking talkgroups on a PC or other computer control functions - then any of the older PRO9x series (PRO92, 93, 94, 95) would work. These scanners also cannot scan military air frequencies well (there is Win9x software for most of these that opens up the scanner to cover these freqs, but because their RF sections aren't designed for these ranges, performance is rather poor).

The Uniden BC245XLT also cannot do milair, but has the bonus of having many different software packages that will allow computer control, tracking, up/downloads and more. The new digital tts would also work, though they are kinda expensive. They are capable of hearing the military air stuff, if you get interested in that.

One thing that bothers a lot of folks is that Uniden insists on using a proprietary battery pack (there are several 3d party suppliers, though), while the RS/GRE models use standard AAs.

There are numerous Yahoo groups that are devoted to these scanners; I'd advise doing some research on these and make your decisions after you've read up on them. In addition, you have 2 dedicated Yahoo groups that also can give you some guidance...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/obx_scanning/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NC_scan/

73s and GL with your decision....Mike

 

[INDY72]

Here is the crop of Radio Shacks that will work for you-

Handhelds- PRO-91, PRO-92, PRO-93, PRO-94, PRO-95, PRO-96

With Aplpha Tagging- PRO-92, PRO-93, PRO-95, PRO-96

With CTCSS/CDCSS- PRO-92, PRO-96

Digital- PRO-96

Base/Mobiles- PRO-2050, 2052, 2053, 2066, 2067
With Aplha Tagging- 2053, 2067
With CTCSS/CDCSS- 2067


Both with LTR Trunking- PRO-92, PRO-2067

Upcomming very awesome RS Scanners- PRO-97, PRO-2096, PRO-2051

 

[matador]

model options

Lo:

Thanks for the replies. I see the Radio Shack models 95, 96, and 97 may be options. Is there a reason there is not a recommendation for the BC296D?

Thanks,

M

 

[INDY72]

Well just that I am an old school Radio Shack fan... but the BC296D would work for you with all but the following types of systems:

EDACS Provoice (with or without ESK)
OpenSky
TETRA
, and you can follow the following conventionally:
LTR Passport

 

[matador]

Well just that I am an old school Radio Shack fan... but the BC296D would work for you with all but the following types of systems:

EDACS Provoice (with or without ESK)
OpenSky
TETRA
, and you can follow the following conventionally:
LTR Passport

So, the RS-96 or RS-97 would get all of those systems but the BC296D will not? What are the benefits and can the RS-96 and RS-97 be "unlocked" so to get continuous coverage from the 50MHz up to 1300MHz or so?

Thanks for the info!

M

 

[ka3jjz]

Well just that I am an old school Radio Shack fan... but the BC296D would work for you with all but the following types of systems:

EDACS Provoice (with or without ESK)
OpenSky
TETRA
, and you can follow the following conventionally:
LTR Passport

So, the RS-96 or RS-97 would get all of those systems but the BC296D will not? What are the benefits and can the RS-96 and RS-97 be "unlocked" so to get continuous coverage from the 50MHz up to 1300MHz or so?

Thanks for the info! M

No scanner made - and that includes the newer PRO96, and I would imagine the 97 as well - can trunktrack (or in some cases, even hear) those systems. TETRA is very rare here in the US - it's more often found in Europe. There are several Provoice systems nationwide, and many fewer LTR Passport systems. AFAIK OpenSky is another M/A Com system that, quite frankly, hasn't had a succssful implementation anywhere. The state of Pennsylvania's statewide system is supposed to be OpenSky, for example, but it is years behind schedule and way over budget.

Now as to 'opening up' the PRO9x scanners - it's important to keep in mind that if the scanner's RF sections are not tuned to work in a range - say the 200 mhz band- then the sensitivity will likely be rather poor. The PRO92 thru 95 (not sure if the 94 suffers the same fate, but likely it does) have a very poor track record in this regard. Don Starr has a page devoted to the specs on some of these scanners when opened up using his software.
Interestingly, his page also shows that the 96 he had opened up had reasonable performance in the milair range. However, most other folks have reported rather poor performance in this range. This is to be exptected, since the DSP is not rated to perform in this range, no quality checking was ever done for it, so one unit might be OK, others not. There's no way to be sure.
In other words, to put it simply, it's probably not worth it.