Steve, what is your distance from the airport? I'm looking at upgrading to a newer scanner, and am wondering if it would be worth it for me to buy the 436 for the pro voice upgrade as the airport is the only system with pro voice that I would listen to.
jasday,
I'm about 15 miles southeast from the airport proper (straight distance, driving distance is about 25 miles).
I can hear the airport on my 436HP if I use one of my rooftop antennas. Using one of the R/S 800MHz antennas (or the Remtronix equivalent), I need to get about to the Trinity River, somewhere west of downtown, to receive them in my truck.
I suspect you'd be able to hear them from Ponder. You would have less interference than I'm dealing with. I have multiple cell sites around me, and am sandwiched between down Dallas, with SMR systems on many of the taller buildings, especially the 'Green Monster', and Cedar Hill, the Mother of All Intermod.
Bear in mind that the Airport had indicated on a request for extension of time for construction on their planned
P25 system that it was scheduled to be activated this fall in the November/December time frame. See the request
here. (Click on Waiver-Extention of Time in the 'Attachments'.) If that holds, then the EDACS would no longer be active in about six months. I got the upgrade when it first was available, so I've had a longer time to use it.
Besides the 436HP and 536HP, the ProVoice upgrade can also be applied to the 325P2 and the 996P2. I have the 325P2, but only added the DMR upgrade to it. I figured that since ProVoice is headed for retirement, having one scanner capable of receiving it was sufficient.