Scanner Advice

[mike_walsh]

Looking to have something I can use at home/office - Carroll County NH - seems like no encrypted up here. But also sometimes down in Flagler Beach/Flagler County.

Want to be able to pick up marine traffic on the intracoastal, some air traffic for an airport down in Flagler that's on approach - but also pick up police/fire in both spots an just general scanning.
Seems to me like that Flagler Beach PD and Flagler County will be encrypted so no scanner will suffice? But curious what options exist that would be versatile - able to be transported easily enough when traveling and not just have to rely on batteries only. And wanted to make sure I understand the Database correctly enough to make sure I'm right that I shouldn't plan on listening to Flagler Beach/Flagler County Police - though it seems like maybe fire/ems would work.

 

[Enforcer52]

Looking at the databases (yes Flagler PD is encrypted) your best bet is a Uniden BCD325P2 or BCD436HP hand held models. Both run on batteries but can be hooked up to a usb wall charger, or computer usb port, or even a portable usb battery backup.

The SDS100 would also work, but is a lot more expensive, and overkill for you present needs. Of course there is always changes in the future. Just depends on what you want to listen too.

 

[EAFrizzle]

Welcome to the forums!

I've got a BCD325P2, and looking at your home county, it would do a great job for you. It'll do great for you for Marine band and Airband monitoring as well, both civil and military. There's plenty of space to program systems for both home and away.
Edit now that I've found Flagler county: while no scanner will get the encrypted talk groups, the 325 will work fine for the fire/EMS groups that are unencrypted.

For the AA rechargeable batteries, they all seem to work fairly well, provided you DON'T charge them in the radio. Get a proper charger/conditioner that will keep the batteries from overheating; you'll get 5-6 hours of operation from a pair, and they'll keep their capacity longer. Don't use the AA Lithium ion rechargeables; they have a voltage regulator chip in them that just makes noise to the radio.

An alternative antenna is something you'll want to consider soon (read: almost immediately) after starting with scanning. For everyday portable use, I like the Remtronix 843B. It covers VHF, UHF, and 700/800 MHz, and folds so that you can lay the scanner down if needed. I sometimes like a telescopic antenna for Airband and below, I'm using one called the Gabil GRA-RH795. It's a good antenna, but heavy, especially compared to the BCD325P2. Make sure the radio is secure if outdoors.

Since you're interested in marine and air comms, you have a lot of options for listening targets that get missed by folks only wanting to hear PD/FD/EMS stuff. The BCD325P2 will let you hear Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol, and the Military Airband as well. Should be good listening at both places.

Welcome to the hobby and the forums. There's an amazing amount of knowledge and information here, both online and in the users.

 

[EAFrizzle]

And yes, the BCD325P2 works well with external power, even with the AAs removed.

 

[ve1sef]

Looking at the database you county is mostly conventional VHF radio. However there is some P25
digital. As others have suggested the Uniden 325 or 436 model would be good choices. However
if this is a scanner you'd be leaving at the office many of the older scanners will work on P25 digital
as well. A second hand Uniden BCD996T/XT , GRE 500/600 and similar scanners would meet you needs.

 

[jmarcel66]

Anything you get for the Florida stuff will easily cover Carroll County, NH. Almost all the traffic up this way is VHF conventional, with police being P25 and Fire, Marine, etc. in Analog.

 

[W1KNE]

I will say this , what I've said before.

Go with the 436HP instead of the 325. It's a better scanner in just about every measure. The "memory" system that allows you to hold a whole department, the built in auto replay. It's a better receiver than the 325. And has a much easier to read display. Plus you can update it with free software and use the built in "zip code" feature should you travel to other places than Flagler County. It uses standard AA batteries (x3).
The price point is higher than the 325 but it's newer in implementation (it came out later). The only real negative compared to the 325, aside from the price, is the size. It's twice as big.

 

[GraniteScanner]

436HP all the way. They aren't that crazy price wise on eBay for a used unit, they preform better on VHF compared to an SDS (so I've heard), plus you get all the bells and whistles mentioned before like zip codes. My favorite features is the replay option where you can heard stuff over again if you missed something.