I'm looking at getting a BCT8 to sit on my desk at home. How do I know it's going to work with my towns frequencies? I live in Colonie NY and it's the biggest town in the country so there is a lot of updated technology that goes into the communication systems. I don't know if I need one that is digital. I know I do need trunking though. Can anybody help?
Trunking Help
- Thread starter Ken_Allen
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captclint
Mentor
At least one public service trunking system is digital: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=5758. This trunking sys appears to be analog: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2095.
Albany county has some conventional freq's, so you should ask this question on the New York Radio Discussion Forum
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Ken before we go too far, anything in blue and/or underlined is a link...
If we examine your county's entry on the database...
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1825
and go to the bottom, past the cities listing, we see that Colonie has a Project 25 system. The Open Sky system listed there is unmonitorable, so forget that one. If you want to hear the Colonie P25 system you will need a digital scanner. This wiki article outlines them nicely...
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Digital_Scanner_Comparison_Chart
The BCT8 is very old technology - if all you are interested in is those conventional freqs then a BCT15 or one of the GRE scanners would serve you well. However, as more and more communities move to trunked systems, it's common for the conventional stuff to be shut down, except for things like fire dispatch. I don't know if that's going to happen in your case, but it could.
You might try asking some questions about Albany County and Colonie's system in the NY forum. There's no better place to ask about regional questions like this than in an area devoted to them.
73 Mike
If we examine your county's entry on the database...
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1825
and go to the bottom, past the cities listing, we see that Colonie has a Project 25 system. The Open Sky system listed there is unmonitorable, so forget that one. If you want to hear the Colonie P25 system you will need a digital scanner. This wiki article outlines them nicely...
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Digital_Scanner_Comparison_Chart
The BCT8 is very old technology - if all you are interested in is those conventional freqs then a BCT15 or one of the GRE scanners would serve you well. However, as more and more communities move to trunked systems, it's common for the conventional stuff to be shut down, except for things like fire dispatch. I don't know if that's going to happen in your case, but it could.
You might try asking some questions about Albany County and Colonie's system in the NY forum. There's no better place to ask about regional questions like this than in an area devoted to them.
73 Mike
N8IAA
Member
Looking further, your city is on a P-25 system. Your county is still analog. All the Colonie PD and FD are digital. If you wish to monitor just your county and not the city, any analog trunktracking scanner will work on the county system. Radio Shack has 3 TT'ers on sale for $180. Make sure that you buy the programming cable (part# 20-047) to use the pc to program your choice. The 163/164 are my choice. Win97 will program either radio. You can get a free trial of it at http://www.starrsoft.com
As far as what will change in your area can better be asked in the state forum where you live.
HTH,
Larry
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
If you mean the Colonie system, there's one primary (shown in red) and 3 alternates (blue). You have a power company that is evidently also using P25.
I'd suggest saving up if you're going to listen to the digital stuff. They are fairly expensive, as you have seen on the comparison chart. However, RS tends to hold price reductions around Thanksgiving and the other holidays. I'd watch for those, if you decide either the PRO96 or 2096 would fit your needs.
Again, posting on the NY forum might bring some answers about what others are using in your area.
73 Mike
I'd suggest saving up if you're going to listen to the digital stuff. They are fairly expensive, as you have seen on the comparison chart. However, RS tends to hold price reductions around Thanksgiving and the other holidays. I'd watch for those, if you decide either the PRO96 or 2096 would fit your needs.
Again, posting on the NY forum might bring some answers about what others are using in your area.
73 Mike
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