Scanning NYC public safety UHF in NYC (Manhattan) - recommended handheld and antenna?

[atabak]

Greetings all,

I've been using an old, conventional, non-trunking Radio Shack scanner with rubber rubber ducky and telescoping antennae, mainly to listen to SOD and traffic for newsgathering purposes. In low-RF areas, it works fine, and I like being able to make adjustments on the fly. In higher-RF areas, the setup can become unusable.

Can anyone recommend a scanner/antenna combo that I can carry in my bag that will tune non-trunked analog frequencies reliably all over the city? I'd also like to be able to program the scanner directly, without a computer, and be able to change settings without stopping scanning—I tried the Radio Shack iScan on a lark, returned it the next day because it was so lousy for 'live' use. Trunking capabilities would be fine, but aren't my real concern; I have no use for digital scanning either.

Many thanks upfront,
Alec

 

[ScanXO]

a paper clip - not kiddiing, signals in NYC at times dont require a antenna due to the high the RF saturation & any non-trunking - if you want - should do fine...

 

[atabak]

Thanks! It's funny, I was almost going to mention that disconnecting the antenna seems to help sometimes. Here's a bone fide noob question: is the low frequency buzzing interference with faint talk that I sometimes hear coming from adjacent encrypted frequencies that my Pro-82 can't ignore, or is this a narrowbanding or PL thing?

 

[W2NJS]

Or, better yet, look at the Diamond RH3 (BNC) and SRH805 (SMA) compact antennas. These will stay on your portable scanner with no problems, have absolutely lousy gain, but will work well in areas of high signal strength.

 

[Techy]

Heres what I use at times

 

[SCPD]

Best Handheld Scanner w/Narrow Banding Capability

Hi--saw your posting and I am nearby in So. Westchester County, NY. Seems to me that you are happy without trunking. I would get the new Uniden Bearcat AT-125 which has a great display, great audio for its size. Has CTCSS/DCS(PL) Alpha-Tagging, a triple conversion receiver that will help cut out intermod in high RF area's in the city. What part of New York City are you from? Also, the AT-125 is easy to program since it has channels rather then a dynamic memory, also comes with a computer cable to up-date the software. More features include but not limited to close call caption, temporary lockout, a signal strenght meter. Email back and I can supply this scanner to you. I mainly deal with firefighters and some police departments and don't have a store front so no overhead. You next step up would be a trunking handheld with a better swivel belt-clip, more features but not easy to program for you. The display is amazing on this new model that I mentioned. Go on uTube and you can see several views of it in action.
Best of luck.

Bob

 

[haleve]

Heres what I use at times

Too much!!!

 

[n2ops]

Gre prs 120

This will do nicely and is available in Manhattan. Carries out to 5 decimal places. $99.99.

Search Results for gre 120 | JR.com
GRE America 800MHz Conventional Scanning Receiver PSR-120 in 2-Way Radios | JR.com

 

[W2NJS]

An 800 mHz scanner isn't going to do the OP much good in NYC where almost all of the PS activity is on VHF and UHF.

 

[SCPD]

Ruber Ducks

Hi, Alec--A Diamond rubber antenna with a BNC connector all band or a Condor All Band would do wonders. Radio Shack used to sell a deluxe rubber antenna for $19.99 and it was good from 25-900mhz but they discontinued it. Also check with Grove Electronics and there is also a place in Lodi, NJ off I-80 and I can't think of the name of this store.
Have a nice night, sir.

Bob

 

[atabak]

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. For the past couple days, a paper clip and gaffer type—not the most appropriate kind of tape, buy hey, that's what I carry—have improved reception tons. It's also nice not to have the dilemma of concealing or not concealing a half-foot of antenna: everyone who needs to know that scanning in NYC is legal probably does, but I think it's still best not to alarm people and possibly even get someone dispatched to check out a non-suspicious person. As anyone who monitors NYC know, people call 911 with some pretty spectacular suspicions—a few days ago in the 13th Pct, an officer had to go check out a "suspicious polar bear" (a carnival prize) on the steps of a church. "Nothing suspicious about the bear" was the final.

Bob, I'm from Chicago originally, moved here for school in '99. Most of that time I've lived in the West Village/Greenwich Village, depending on the age of the map. So I wouldn't say I'm from New York, even if people who've been here just a few years are comfortable calling themselves New Yorkers.

I'm a little torn about a prospective new scanner. The stuff I *need* monitor is conventional, and the AT-125 looks like its be great for that, but there've been a few times when tracking FDNY EMS dispatch would have been helpful. My impression is that that system is hard to tune without a lot of interference here. Also, would conventional scanning performance suffer much from scanning one or two trunked systems at the same time?

-Alec

 

[SCPD]

Recommended Handheld & Antenna

Alec--No, trunking will not effect your monitoring. The Uniden Bearcat AT-125 has tripple conversion rather then double conversion so you will eliminate MOST intermod problems. What handheld scanner are you using now? How do I get in touch with you? All the other ones above that model are very hard to set up without software. I just got the BCT-15X and still don't have it programed yet. I will take it to Queens, NY next week and have it done by a store.

Bob

 

[SCPD]

The GRE PSR-120 is poor quality...intermod...Uniden Bearcat AT-125 knocks the crap out of it! Only advantage of GRE is 800Mhz..that is it!

Bob

 

[KC2zZe]

Also check with Grove Electronics and there is also a place in Lodi, NJ off I-80 and I can't think of the name of this store.

That would be NJ Amateur Radio, Scanner Radios & CB Dealer - Advanced Specialties, Lodi NJ - Yaesu.

 

[atabak]

Just to be sure there wasn't much if any trunked radio I'd want to monitor in NYC, I bought and quickly returned a Radio Shack Pro-164. (Wasn't expecting anything special, but man, what a disappointment, even for a free rental.) My hope was that I'd get better FDNY and FDNY EMS reception via DOITT, but that didn't seem to be the case. For whatever reason, those signals are extremely weak where I am—seems like the people using then are frustrated by this, too. Barring some antenna miracle, I think I'd need to be able to attenuate every channel besides these ones to balance everything out. The 125AT doesn't have any attenuation features, does it?

Has anyone ever incorporated a compressor circuit into a scanner, base or handheld?

 

[SCPD]

Good Handheld Scanner For NYPD/FDNY

Alec--Save your money...New York City only uses trunking for Port Authority Police. The AT-125 is perfect for you. Go onto Scanner Masters web-site and they feature it in a streaming video.
NYPD is wide band UHF(correct me if I am wrong, guys and FDNY is now on UHF narrow banding to comply w/the new CC Regulations effective 1/1/13. This handheld is a win win situation but here in Westchester County, NY above the City..it is going more more trunking on 480Mhz in a Motorola Smart Zone ll or else I would of bought that AT-125 for display and taken it around to fire departments.
Bob

 

[haleve]

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