Scanner Trouble Suffolk County

[Seanm214]

Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a RadioShack pro-18 to scan Suffolk county police department in my area. I programmed my scanner successfully and it’s working however there are three downfalls to the radio: the battery, the volume, and the reception. I replaced the rubber ducky antenna that it came with and put a 800mhz antenna to try and improve the signal. It did a little bit however it’s still doesn’t work great when I’m driving and is staticky in certain areas and never really comes in full quieting. I put a mag mount on my car to try and improve the reception while driving and it didn’t help so I’m returning that. I have read about various other good quality scanners having low audio and bad reception problems and they aren’t cheap. I know this is a controversial subject but I was thinking of getting a Motorola xts5000 to scan non affiliated and I was curious to see if there is anyone on Long Island who has done that successfully with their Motorola radio for the Suffolk County system. I’m not saying that I’m going to do it because I’ll probably get a lot of heat for doing that was just curious to see if anyone has already successfully done it and knows that it works. People say just save your money and time and buy a scanner. But really Motorola radios are a lot cheaper than scanners because of Ebay so I don’t see how it’s cheaper to buy a scanner because most of them are over $500. I found an XTS5000 model III on Ebay for only $225 and it includes the radio, charger, antenna, belt clip, and even a speaker mic. I was hesitant to buy this because it looks too good to be true for such a low price and in the description he even says he will send a link for the programming software which is normally $300. There were over 200 of them sold on Ebay and mostly great reviews about the radio. Is this sketchy? I’m not sure because over 200 of them were sold and unexpected great reviews. I’m just looking to see if anyone has done this successfully without any problems for Suffolk county to see if it could be a safe move. Obviously the Motorola is loud would have good reception and battery life and if I could get it for a good price and cheaper than a scanner and it has been done successfully why not try it?
Thanks,
Sean

 

[nyscan00]

Just invest in a p25 phase II scanner. The legacy trunking system you are trying to listen to is being replaced by P25 so its not worth the expense or time to set up a Motorola radio for a system that is being replaced.

 

[Seanm214]

Just invest in a p25 phase II scanner. The legacy trunking system you are trying to listen to is being replaced by P25 so its not worth the expense or time to set up a Motorola radio for a system that is being replaced.

Yes but it is going to be a long time before they switch over to that system.

 

[GTR8000]

Yes but it is going to be a long time before they switch over to that system.

You sure about that? They just moved another two frequencies over from the SmartZone system to the ASTRO 25 system. The writing is on the wall.

 

[Seanm214]

You sure about that? They just moved another two frequencies over from the SmartZone system to the ASTRO 25 system. The writing is on the wall.

I'm not 100% sure about anything but if that were to happen soon I would think they would at least start to upgrade their radios which I have not seem them do yet. I think its something that will happen later on. I just want to know if anyone has used a Motorola radio so monitor the TRS successfully and safely.

 

[innokuous1]

Listening to the system unaffiliated would be very frustrating when trying to follow a transmission from a specific talk group.

When the old 800 analog system first came alive it only simulcast the VHF Detective channel. Easy peasy to listen too as I was using a scanner to scan the voice channels.

As they added talk groups it became obvious I needed a trunk tracking scanner. I think this is what you will experience as they put more users on the P25 system.

Invest your $ in something that will enhance your listening experience into the future.

 

[Bob1955]

Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a RadioShack pro-18 to scan Suffolk county police department in my area. I programmed my scanner successfully and it’s working however there are three downfalls to the radio: the battery, the volume, and the reception. I replaced the rubber ducky antenna that it came with and put a 800mhz antenna to try and improve the signal. It did a little bit however it’s still doesn’t work great when I’m driving and is staticky in certain areas and never really comes in full quieting. I put a mag mount on my car to try and improve the reception while driving and it didn’t help so I’m returning that. I have read about various other good quality scanners having low audio and bad reception problems and they aren’t cheap. I know this is a controversial subject but I was thinking of getting a Motorola xts5000 to scan non affiliated and I was curious to see if there is anyone on Long Island who has done that successfully with their Motorola radio for the Suffolk County system. I’m not saying that I’m going to do it because I’ll probably get a lot of heat for doing that was just curious to see if anyone has already successfully done it and knows that it works. People say just save your money and time and buy a scanner. But really Motorola radios are a lot cheaper than scanners because of Ebay so I don’t see how it’s cheaper to buy a scanner because most of them are over $500. I found an XTS5000 model III on Ebay for only $225 and it includes the radio, charger, antenna, belt clip, and even a speaker mic. I was hesitant to buy this because it looks too good to be true for such a low price and in the description he even says he will send a link for the programming software which is normally $300. There were over 200 of them sold on Ebay and mostly great reviews about the radio. Is this sketchy? I’m not sure because over 200 of them were sold and unexpected great reviews. I’m just looking to see if anyone has done this successfully without any problems for Suffolk county to see if it could be a safe move. Obviously the Motorola is loud would have good reception and battery life and if I could get it for a good price and cheaper than a scanner and it has been done successfully why not try it?
Thanks,
Sean

Stay away from Radio Shack/Whistler/GRE and go with Uniden America Corporation(Bearcat) as they are the #1 Global leader in scanners as it's 80/20 between them and Whislter Group from what I've have read.
Also, MOST handhelds have poor audio and NOTHING will compare to a Motorola two way walkie talkie. You can also look into Unification pagers from "Northeast Pagers"and Phil L. from Long Island is a dealer too and also a member here.
Have a GOOD weekend.

 

[Machria]

Stay away from Radio Shack/Whistler/GRE and go with Uniden America Corporation(Bearcat) as they are the #1 Global leader in scanners as it's 80/20 between them and Whislter Group from what I've have read.
Also, MOST handhelds have poor audio and NOTHING will compare to a Motorola two way walkie talkie. You can also look into Unification pagers from "Northeast Pagers"and Phil L. from Long Island is a dealer too and also a member here.
Have a GOOD weekend.

And I would say the exact opposite. Stay away from the Uniden junk, and buy a Whistler which are a 100 times easier to use. More ergonomic, which to me is one of the most important things to consider when buying a scanner.

 

[emscapt9816]

Sean, try the global attenuator. I've had both Uniden and Radio Shack/GRE scanners, and the Suffolk system always overloaded the RS/GRE radios. Attenuation helped greatly.