Two-way radio/scanning

[chickman1313]

The emergency channels in my area are all encrypted, so I'm not really concerned with that, but we have a lot of hurricanes and things and am looking for two things:

1) a scanner to monitor channels that would be used on regular two-way radios or whatever else people would use for communication during these types of events
2) a good two-way radio for myself and family to use to communicate, typically about 3 miles (maybe 5), flat land, good amount of trees though, no buildings

For the scanner, it would be a bonus if I could monitor other frequencies, such as marine, weather, air, HAM

 

[tvengr]

The emergency channels in my area are all encrypted,

The database shows that St Tammany Parish fire is all open to receive. D in the Mode column is clear to receive. DE is fully encrypted and cannot be received by any scanner. De is encrypted only part of the time. Law enforcement in the parish is all fully encrypted. Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN) State police, national guard, Red Cross, and coast guard are also open. You also have the VHF marine band. There is plenty to monitor. St Tammany Parish uses an 8 site simulcast system. The only scanners specifically designed to receive simulcast systems are the Uniden SDS100 handheld and SDS200 base/mobile. Any other P25 digital and 700 MHz capable trunking scanner may or may not work depending upon your location. Simulcast distortion results in missed transmissions, dropouts, and garbled audio.

 

[chickman1313]

The database shows that St Tammany Parish fire is all open to receive. D in the Mode column is clear to receive. DE is fully encrypted and cannot be received by any scanner. De is encrypted only part of the time. Law enforcement in the parish is all fully encrypted. Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN) State police, national guard, and coast guard are also open. You also have the VHF marine band. There is plenty to monitor. St Tammany Parish uses an 8 site simulcast system. The only scanners specifically designed to receive simulcast systems are the Uniden SDS100 handheld and SDS200 base/mobile. Any other P25 digital and 700 MHz capable scanner may or may not work depending upon your location. Simulcast distortion results in missed transmissions, dropouts, and garbled audio.

Good deal, what about the two way radio monitoring? Assuming the SDS models would pick that up as well?

Also for these SDS models, other than the obvious, of one being handheld and one not, which would work better? All based on the antenna I assume?

 

[tvengr]

Both scanners will work equally well with the same antenna. An outdoor antenna will increase the range. Another option is an attic antenna if the roof and attic do not have any materials which block RF such as foil lined insulation or a metal roof or shingles. That would be a good choice in hurricane prone areas. The SDS100 and SDS200 will receive most 2-way radio systems. You can purchase paid upgrades to receive DMR and NXDN. They are used by a lot of businesses and some public safety. The SDS scanners will receive P25 Phase 1 & 2 out of the box. The LWIN state trunked system is P25 Phase 1.

 

[tvengr]

It is less expensive if you order the DMR and NXDN upgrades directly from Uniden and install them yourself rather than have a dealer do it. The upgrades already reside in the firmware of the scanner. You just need to purchase the keys to enable them. You can login to my.uniden.com to purchase the keys. You will immediately receive the keys by email. Once you enter the keys into the scanner, the upgrades will be enabled. I suggest that you look over Sentinel, free programming software provided by Uniden. Here is the link: BCDx36HPSentinel < UnidenMan4 < TWiki You do not need the scanner to download and install Sentinel.