Scanners in PA

[Misfire]

Not really sure where to put this.

I recently put a cb in my truck (I know, I know. I should go HAM) after remembering how much fun I had with it in the '90's as a kid (I'm still a kid, you could say) traveling from NC to Maine to visit family. Anyway, I also remember having a scanner and also recall listening to it for hours.

So, here I am in (Lancaster, if that helps anyone) Pennsylvania and wondering if I should get a scanner since I've read that everyone is going digital and all that crap.

Honestly, I don't know. I was thinking the BC335C would be good but would just like some direction from locals (which is why I put it here instead of general scanner discussion or whatever) or anyone really.

 

[brianamato]

I love my little Scanner... for road trips.. its the Uniden BC72XLT - the best part of the scanner is the Close Call RF capture feature - lets you scan the area you are in..

100 Channel Scanner - Scanners at Uniden

 

[Tommahawk]

Yeap buy a scanner. The test phase for the new Lancaster County system should start in the summer I do believe. Best option is to buy one of the Digital Trunking ones. I believe Radio Shack has one on sale (or at least it was) for $350.00.

There is quite a bit of non trunk traffic in Lancaster County. Lebanon/Dauphin/Chester, and York Counties all use trunked systems so a Digital Trunking scanner is the way to go depending on your needs.

As far as ham radio, Lancaster Radio Transmitting Society W3AD Lancaster, Pennsylvania has a list of frequencies for the Lancaster County area...

 

[Misfire]

Alright, I'll look into one of those scanners. Thanks for the link too, I don't have my licence yet but that site seems to have good information on where to get it and stuff.

I assume the Radioshack pro-197 is the one you're talking about, is that ready to use from the box without anything extra aside form programming?

 

[TomJH]

Go for it! I have a Radio Shack PRO 2055 that works great. After doing some research, I believe the Radio Shack digital scanner or the GRE equivalant are great units. I live here in Lancaster county, and there are lots of trunked systems, mostly businesses, but as digital expands, you will need one. Have fun with it!

 

[Misfire]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going to get a RadioShack pro167 since I found it for $300 because it was a floor model. Now, hopefully I can figure out how to operate it when it gets here.

Off topic- I didn't realize how many people near me use old radio stuff (for lack of better wording) until I put one on my truck and now it's all I see. Pretty neat how it works like that.

 

[SlipNutz15]

Buy a GRE PSR-600. GRE America, Inc. - grecom scanner receiver, lcd modules, spread spectrum radio, wireless bridge, scanner antenna, scanner pre-amps.

You should be able to listen to every monitorable system out there with that scanner and it is upgradable. I suggest searching online for a better price - ebay, etc. I plan to purchase one in the near future because the county I dispatch in is going to be switching to P25 Digital Trunked and my RadioShack Pro-2051 won't hack it anymore. I've had personal experience with the PSR-600 and it's lightening fast with PL Tone decoding as well as Trunked System scanning and the squelch threshold is amazing and doesn't fry on every little piece of interference.