Scanner/CA newbie

[SpectrumBender]

Hi ,
I just moved to the Torrance area from out of state. I also have never owned or operated a scanner. I know I would like a hand held. I have been reading on RR for a few days now and I can't seem to find a thread about what hand helds are doing the best job with trunked systems.
Anyone in the Torrance area on here? And what would you recommend ?

Thanks
T

 

[Clark]

I live in the Venice/Culver City area. I use and prefer Uniden scanners BCD396XT (Handheld)and BCD996XT
(base or desk). They both work equallly well on trunk and conventional, analog and digital systems. As with all the latest scanners, there will be a difficult learning curve for any one new to the scanner hobby.

Clark

 

[Tahoe1970]

South Bay

Welcome to the South Bay and to RadioReference! LA is a great place for scanning but as you can see in the database listings there are a whole lot of things to hear.

Some of the first things you should decide is how much you can spend. At this point Torrance and the surrounding cities are still analog with the exception of LAPD which is all digital. Scanners which are capable of receiving digital signals are more expensive. Over time, more cities (including some of those in your area) are probably going to go to digital systems, so for the long term (and if you can afford it) that is probably the way to go.

You also should start thinking about the types of things you want to listen to. Since there are so many radio systems here it would be very difficult if not impossible to listen to them all. One idea is to buy different radios to monitor different things. For instance, to listen to aircraft and airport frequencies you can usually go with an older scanner which you can buy used or something like that.

You also mention trunked systems. In your area there aren't many cities using trunked systems for public safety. You can find the list at the bottom of this page:
Los Angeles County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

I personally have a pro-96 and a pro-95 which are older radios which can cover digital (pro-96) and some trunking systems. I also have older scanners which can monitor marine, airband, milair, and most South Bay cities.

Let us know some specific interests and a price range and maybe we can have some other suggestions.

 

[Code20Photog]

I live in Torrance, tucked in nicely between FS3 and the SouthBay Galleria mall. I have a BC396XT and I have no idea how I ever lived without it.

I think really what you have to ask yourself is what you're interested in listening to. There's a TON of different things that can be monitored from the South Bay, dozens of local law enforcement agencies, a number of different fire departments, CHP, two major airports, rail and bus lines, etc. LAPD is digital, which means you're going to need to shell out a few $$ more to get a scanner capable of scanning digital. LAPD though, is fun to listen to.

I work in news, so I need the capacity and flexibility of the 396XT. I have just about 4,000 channels in my scanner, a lot of it simply contingency stuff. Last week we were sent to Kern County for a breaking news story, and I have *all* of Kern County in there already. That's also the beauty of a scanner like the 396XT. I have hundreds of channels programmed that I rarely need, but they're there when I do. (Heading to Nellis AFB next week for a story, and I already have all of Nellis' frequencies and the surrounding Vegas valley stored in the scanner)

And with the ARC-XT software and the Radio Reference database, I can program things I may need in literally a matter of minutes.

But it's EXPENSIVE. I got mine at Burbank Ham Radio Outlet a couple of years ago for $650. I looked at it like this: My last scanner lasted 20 years. It's actually still working, but since a lot of what I listen to for work is digital, it forced my hand to go with the 396XT. I'm hoping I get a pretty good run out of the 396XT, so the cost over the long run, won't be a problem.

And as some people have said, the learning curve for this type of scanner is STEEP. We have gotten a few more at work, both the handheld and the desktop versions. I've been tasked with not only setting them up, but teaching people how to use them. I get a lot of calls from our guys asking "OK, how do I do this again?" You may actually have an advantage coming in with no scanner experience.