Scanner recommendations for newbie

[Ilikeradiostuff]

Hello, I’m very new to the radio and scanning situation, my dad is police so I could try to get some information from dispatch but I have a analog uniden bearcat sr30c, I love listening I know one is digital but not sure about encryption, is there a scanner I can use to hear as much as possible? I’d like to hear digital and analog? Also what is trunking and how can I hear that, I don’t have a huge amount of money but can afford a few hundred, sorry for the length and my probably dumb questions thanks for any help

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
First could you tell us where you're from so we can pull up info in the RR database to get a picture of where your agency(ies) of interest are operating, confirm or negate encryption and make a scanner recommendation for you?

 

[K4EET]

Hi @Ilikeradiostuff and Welcome to Radio Reference!

Like @Whiskey3JMC said above, knowing your general area (zip code, County and State) will allow us to pull up the radio systems in your area and see what technologies are being used. Also, we know that you want to listen to Public Safety but do you have any other interests like Aircraft, Military, Railroads, etc.? That will dictate what type of scanner we recommend for you.

Looking forward to seeing your response so we can help you out.

Cheers and say hi to your dad for me! Dave

 

[Ilikeradiostuff]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
First could you tell us where you're from so we can pull up info in the RR database to get a picture of where your agency(ies) of interest are operating, confirm or negate encryption and make a scanner recommendation for you?

I’m in Shelby county Alabama 35007

Hi @Ilikeradiostuff and Welcome to Radio Reference!

Like @Whiskey3JMC said above, knowing your general area (zip code, County and State) will allow us to pull up the radio systems in your area and see what technologies are being used. Also, we know that you want to listen to Public Safety but do you have any other interests like Aircraft, Military, Railroads, etc.? That will dictate what type of scanner we recommend for you.

Looking forward to seeing your response so we can help you out.

Cheers and say hi to your dad for me! Dave

I already have a analog and I am listening to aircraft and railroad, I’m not aware of any military frequencies, thanks for any help

I already have a analog and I am listening to aircraft and railroad, I’m not aware of any military frequencies, thanks for any help

Also I’m case you don’t see the other reply I’m in Shelby county Alabama 35007

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I’m in Shelby county Alabama 35007

Looks like a majority of the agencies in your county operate on the Alabama Interoperable Radio System (AIRS) but I'm also seeing some analog conventional frequencies listed in the DB as well here. The folks on the Alabama Discussion Forum may be able to tell you if any of the conventional frequencies are still in use. With that said, you'll need a scanner that tracks P25 Phase-II to monitor the AIRS system. There are numerous sites on the system located in Shelby County and the ones I've checked so far contain simulcast cells. Have a read about simulcast distortion here, it's one of the most discussed topics/issues on these forums and can really wreck havoc on a non-Uniden SDS scanner. There are a number of workarounds mentioned in the wiki to mitigate the issue but they work for very few people.

Regarding encryption, if you take a look at the talkgroup tables & focus on the "Mode" column, any talkgroup identified as mode "DE" or "TE" is encrypted full time and therefore cannot be monitored. Those with a lowercase trailing "e" (as in De or Te) are encrypted partially, or on-demand. Those ID'ed as mode "D" or "T" with no trailing "E" or "e" are 'in the clear" and should be able to be monitored full time. Hope this makes sense.

I'd highly recommend either the Uniden SDS100 (handheld) or SDS200 (base) to ensure you don't experience the aforementioned issue while trying to track the system. Best wishes!

 

[Ilikeradiostuff]

Thanks I am looking at scanners now sadly I can’t afford one of those but might be able to get the trunktracker handheld one

 

[K4EET]

Thanks I am looking at scanners now sadly I can’t afford one of those but might be able to get the trunktracker handheld one

Which one are you referring to? The Uniden BCD325P2 Handheld TrunkTracker V scanner?

 

[Ilikeradiostuff]

Which one are you referring to? The Uniden BCD325P2 Handheld TrunkTracker V scanner?

Yes, I’m looking for a portable handheld one

 

[medic9351301]

shelby county al does not run a simulcast network . so any phase 1 scanner will work.

such as the following
unidens
bcd 325 p2
bcd 436 hp
bcd396xt highly suggest this
bcd396t

whistler
trx 1
ws 1088
ws 1040

and since your a newbie to p 25 i would say the max to spend on a used scanner if you go used is 200.00

 

[Ilikeradiostuff]

shelby county al does not run a simulcast network . so any phase 1 scanner will work.

such as the following
unidens
bcd 325 p2
bcd 436 hp
bcd396xt highly suggest this
bcd396t

whistler
trx 1
ws 1088
ws 1040

and since your a newbie to p 25 i would say the max to spend on a used scanner if you go used is 200.00

Thank you so much, I have read some about simulcast and I understand the basics, where is it used and what can listen to it, and do you know the difference between phase two and phase one? Thanks for any help

 

[medic9351301]

The biggest difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 is that Phase 1 uses Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), where the channel efficiency comes from dividing the frequencies. Phase 2 uses Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) which divides the channel into two timeslots. Phase 1 bandwidth is 12.5kHz. But if you choose P25 Phase 2 and TDMA, then there will be two voice channels for every 12.5 kHz of spectrum – effectively giving you 6.25kHz equivalence.

Time Division provides two virtual channels for each 12.5 kHz logical channel. While this adds some complexity, it delivers some real benefits.

• Effective double channel capacity from P25 Phase 1 future-proofs you against loss of spectrum
• Because the control channel is a 12.5kHz FDMA channel, Phase 2 is backwards compatible with P25 Phase 1
• You can stop radios from transmitting to free up channels during an emergency

so here is the bottom line.
PHASE 1 and PHASE 2 (more accurately referred to as Phase I and Phase II) systems are totally different than Type 1 or Type 2 systems. Phase 1 and 2 systems are forms of APCO P-25 digital systems that use 9600 baud control data channels and all digital modulation. Phase I systems have a single voice path per frequency while Phase II allows 2 voice paths per frequency, effectively doubling the amount of traffic a set number of channels can handle. It can seen P1 or p 2 .

 

[Ilikeradiostuff]

What would be best for listening to it, I understand the sds100 but that’s a pretty expensive scanner and I out of my price range, are there any good recommendations? What about the bcd436hp

 

[K4EET]

What would be best for listening to it, I understand the sds100 but that’s a pretty expensive scanner and I out of my price range, are there any good recommendations? What about the bcd436hp

I can speak as one having a Uniden BCD536HP within a Simulcast System that works amazingly well. In my case, it is all about Location, Location, Location. First, I want to say before the days of the Uniden SDSx00 scanners, everyone was forced to consider Uniden's BCDx36HP scanners. That is why I bought a Uniden BCD536HP in the first place and have been very pleased with its performance.

Take a careful read of the following Wiki article:

Simulcast Distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

That Wiki article discusses various ways that you can try in order to mitigate Simulcast Distortion issues. But before you purchase a Uniden BCDx36HP scanner or any non-Uniden SDSx00 scanner, keep in mind that Simulcast Distortion may ruin your listening experience if you cannot mitigate it if you in-fact have Simulcast Distortion issues. Not everyone will, like me, but I am in the minority. If you were to purchase a new Uniden BCDx36HP scanner and have Simulcast Distortion issues, you might ask beforehand if they would permit you to exchange it for a Uniden SDSx00 scanner. But get that in writing before you order anything.

If you have any questions about the referenced Simulcast Distortion Wiki article, don't hesitate to post your question(s) in this thread. A lot of folks here can pitch in to answer any question that you might have about that Wiki article.

Cheers! Dave

 

[hiegtx]

What would be best for listening to it, I understand the sds100 but that’s a pretty expensive scanner and I out of my price range, are there any good recommendations? What about the bcd436hp

Your specific county, Shelby, has multiple sites on the statewide system, AIRS. However, none of those are simulcast. But two of your neighboring counties are using simulcast sites on the system.
Jefferson County (Birmingham PD shows everything is encrypted)
Talladega County (many of the law enforcement TGIDs are encrypted)
It's possible that you may be far enough away from the simulcasts in one or both of these counties such that simulcast might not be an issue.

In nearby Tuscaloosa County, some of the talkgroups are using P25 Phase II, with the Phase II law enforcement talkgroups mostly encrypted. There's also separate listings for Phase I talkgroups for some of the same agencies, with some encryption.

In Shelby County, the talkgroups are P25 Phase I, so for now you would not need a Phase II capable scanner. Whether your county intends to move to using Phase II talkgroups in the near future is best answered by someone in your immediate area.

 

[morganAL]

The "System" in Alabama is a System of Systems. The State did not go out and buy and build a system. Individual counties and cities did and then tied them all together in an effort to provide better communications throughout the state.

Medic's example below is accurate. All TGs are not allowed to roam anywhere in the State. There are Interop TGs that do and there are a few others that can roam onto sites outside of their normal area and those usually have some sort of agreement between system owners and have been discussed face to face or at a minimum, phone or email. Madison, Morgan, Etowah, and soon, Marshall counties are all in the same zone and are all neighbors. There are a number of TGs that roam between sites in these counties, but not all. There is simply no need for it and in many places there isn't enough channel capacity to permit it. There is really no reason for, say Hsv PD North, to roam onto the Morgan Co Trinity tower site. There also isn't really enough channel capacity there to support it. Likewise, there is no reason for Decatur PD to roam onto the Keel Mtn site in Madison County. No point in tying up channel resources. Even in Morgan County, we limit some TGs to certain sites. There is really no need for Trinity VFD's private TG to work on the Brindlee Mtn site on the other side of the county. We do have some agreements with system owners in other zones to allow a select few TGs to work there. For instance, the Morgan Co and Decatur City EMS TGs work on the JeffCo/B'ham systems. Why? Morgan Co/Decatur EMS units transport someone from the local hospitals there almost every day. Those units aren't there very long and the TGs are usually only affiliated for maybe an hour or so. And those TGs aren't busy enough to tie up a lot of resources. Do the Morgan Co SO TGs work there? No. They aren't there enough to justify it. If you want to know more, ask. I can't speak for Jefferson/B'ham/Shelby/Talladega, Baldwin, or Tuscaloosa areas and what agreements they have or specific details on their systems but being one of the system admins, I do have some knowledge and am happy to help as much as I can.

Maybe for some systems but not this system. This is not per say a statewide system. There are a select few talk groups that are set for statewide communications.

The systems admins designed it that way not to tie up sites.

Here is a perfect example Morgan county al about give or take 80 miles comes to downtown Birmingham to pick up a inmate.
you would think since its a statewide system the Morgan county Traffic would affiliate to the jeffco simulcast sites and rebroadcast Morgan so traffic but it does not. I have had a scanner on Jeffco system and Morgan county on Broadcastify. Not one time did i hear Morgan county traffic on the jeffco system .

Sitting about 100 yards form the entrance to the jail . While Brodcastify was sending Morgan Co traffic.
Shelby county does affiliate to the jeffco system but they have it set up that way since the counties are so close. And vice versa you will hear jeffco traffic on a few Shelby county sites like signal Mountain .

The question that was asked by a per say newbie (no offense to the poster) was what scanner can they use to pick up Shelby county. So lets keep the replies to that question. I think it would be best for people local to answer what type of system it is. Only not to confuse them. just my 2 cents. If I tick people off that was not my goal. What works in some areas might not work in others.

 

[medic9351301]

Thank you Morgan for clearing this up .

 

[medic9351301]

ok how about this the sds 200 and both a 996p2 and 996xt all three side by side . all 3 are insync . meaning they are hearing the signal at the same time with no drops or singal drops.

 

[HWG]

ok how about this the sds 200 and both a 996p2 and 996xt all three side by side . all 3 are insync . meaning they are hearing the signal at the same time with no drops or singal drops.

I'm just curious are you in Shelby county using all of those?

 

[medic9351301]

i am in jefferson county . from my location i can only get one shelby county site. i have set up numerous scanners for a several news media vehicles using 996 xt and 996 p2 . and have never noticed any signal drops on fringe areas or the metro area using them . we upgraded to sds 200 and kept a 996xt and again no signal issues on either radios. from my location i am in range of multiple jeffco towers and using the 996xt and 996 p 2 i have no simulcast issues. i like the 996's over the sds 200 only because the scan rate is much slower on the sds 200.

 

[medic9351301]

last comment here i did i had a sds 200 right beside a 996 p2 and . both radios locked into a signal at the same time with no issues . i know i missed traffic only because they sites are busy with other traffic