Still too early to buy a digital receiver for an SF listener?

[MattSF]

Hey all--

well I am a sporadic scannist at best and I turned on my BC780XLT the other day only to realize SF was re-banded and I'm missing out on (at least) 3 frequencies my radio just can't track. It's been a while since I bought that thing so I figure it's time to upgrade.

I gotta say, I'm disappointed by reading people's descriptions of annoyances of these modern units like the BCT15X or the PSR-410. (like how Uniden has replaced a manual with a barely-functioning wiki, or PSRs having a linear taper for the volume control (!) ) So I figure maybe it's time to make the jump to digital (like the BCD996XT) and 'future-proof' my purchase a bit. Then I read about you folks trying to pick up Oakland and having issues with P25 simulcast and the LSM decoding issues.

I mainly like to listen to SFPD, SFFD, SF public works and city operations (cmon, yknow the reports on the bookmobile are compelling listening). I also like to pick up aircraft now and then, as well as CHP.

So should I go for it, get a digital receiver today? Or should I wait it out in the hopes of SF taking a few more years to go digital and then hope that there will be scanner out there that can properly decode transmissions that would otherwise be subject to the P25 LSM and multipath issues? Or should I not even worry about that since I don't really do mobile scanning much, and I live in the SSE part of the city and in theory wouldn't be sitting in the middle of multiple repeaters?

Any and all input appreciated, thanks!

 

[MattSF]

...well, to answer my own question (for better or worse) I decided to hold off and get a BCT15X. I've done a fair amount of reading up on this unit online and have seen the stories of the steep learning curve. I figured it would be challenging, but wow, they weren't kidding! :-D

Thankfully, RR and ProScan have made the initial foray into this radio much less painful than it would have been. I think I'm finally getting the gist of how scanning talkgroups works.

I'll eventually be upgrading from the center-loaded (Radio Shack unit I think) antenna I have on the back to a Diamond C130J I have yet to mount on the roof. But all in good time.

My many thanks to everyone who's been working on the SF City/County db data!

 

[gewecke]

...well, to answer my own question (for better or worse) I decided to hold off and get a BCT15X. I've done a fair amount of reading up on this unit online and have seen the stories of the steep learning curve. I figured it would be challenging, but wow, they weren't kidding! :-D

Thankfully, RR and ProScan have made the initial foray into this radio much less painful than it would have been. I think I'm finally getting the gist of how scanning talkgroups works.

I'll eventually be upgrading from the center-loaded (Radio Shack unit I think) antenna I have on the back to a Diamond C130J I have yet to mount on the roof. But all in good time.

My many thanks to everyone who's been working on the SF City/County db data!

I'm not sure if you're aware or not, the the bct15x is NOT a digital trunktracking scanner?
The 996xt is a digital unit, as well as the GRE PSR600 which I recommend.
Keep your 780xlt for aircraft, as it's a excellent performer in 118-136mhz. as well as 216-400mhz. ranges! :wink:

73,
n9zas

 

[MattSF]

I'm not sure if you're aware or not, the the bct15x is NOT a digital trunktracking scanner?
The 996xt is a digital unit, as well as the GRE PSR600 which I recommend.

heh yeah, my original question I was pondering was: should I bite the bullet and go digital on my next scanner purchase? But with SF still a ways off for digital and with there being a major problem in the consumer digital scanner market (in my opinion) with the multipath/codec decoding compatibility issues.... I decided to stay analog for now.

thanks for the tips on the 780XLT..yeah I'm going to miss using that radio. Probably the last 'complex' radio my old brain could handle I'm hoping to use my roof-mounted antenna with the 780XLT and pull in stuff I couldn't get before. e.g. better coverage of SFO etc

 

[gewecke]

heh yeah, my original question I was pondering was: should I bite the bullet and go digital on my next scanner purchase? But with SF still a ways off for digital and with there being a major problem in the consumer digital scanner market (in my opinion) with the multipath/codec decoding compatibility issues.... I decided to stay analog for now.

thanks for the tips on the 780XLT..yeah I'm going to miss using that radio. Probably the last 'complex' radio my old brain could handle I'm hoping to use my roof-mounted antenna with the 780XLT and pull in stuff I couldn't get before. e.g. better coverage of SFO etc

If you think the 780 is a complex radio, wait til you start grappling with a digital beast! :lol:
It could be that any decoding or multipath issues might result from a number of things such as antenna placement, nearby obstructions, LTR on a nearby tower, feedline problems. I get crystal clear 98% copyable traffic form the P25 system in my area on my pro-197 but then again, any of the above problems can jam me up too.
When you decide to pull the trigger on digital, I hope you enjoy like I do!

73,
n9zas