Va. Beach and Hampton Roads area Digital or not????

[PC_Medic]

OK, I have been out of the scanner scene for some time and am getting ready to purchase a new scanner. Things have changed considerably with all the trunked, non-trunked, digital, analog, etc.

Can someone tell me in the Virginia Beach area will a RS Pro-95 be fine, or will I need a Pro-96 digital for this area.

What will I be able to pick up with one over the other in regards to the various Hampton Roads area PD, FD and military signals?

 

[INDY72]

Virginia Beach uses an Motorola 800 MHz Type II Smartnet ANALOG trunked system. All of the trunk tracker type scanners will track this system.

 

[PC_Medic]

Do you know if the other municipalities (Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, etc) are also analog? And if there are any plans to change in the near future?
While I do not want to spend on digital if I dn't need it, I would also hate to buy a new analog scanne to have one or more of the departments in my area go digital a couple months down the road.

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

 

[INDY72]

Check the database here to see what is being used in your areas of interest. Each listing will have whether or not its digital.

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Do you know if the other municipalities (Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, etc) are also analog? And if there are any plans to change in the near future?

Chesapeake IS a digital system, but all of the other municipalities are analog. James City County & York County are in the design stages of a new 800MHz system (shared by both), which is going to be digital if I'm not mistaken.

 

[wx4u]

Langley AFB is also Digital (3600) 400 mhz system. I do not now if Norfolk NAS is planning to upgrade.

 

[PC_Medic]

OK, checked the database and looks like (if I am reading it all right) that Chesapeake and a couple military are 'currently' the only ones in the area that has gone digital.

Anyone in the know have any word if others (Va. Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, etc) are planning a switch in the near future?

 

[INDY72]

Just to be on the safe side,.. I would assume that eventually most of the stuff will be eventually going digital. Bad news if your in an EDACS area... at least for now.

 

[PC_Medic]

EDACS area ??? Not sure I understand

 

[INDY72]

If your in an area that uses an EDACS trunked radio system.

 

[PC_Medic]

I understood that i meant in an area using EDACS, I didn't unerstand the 'bad news' part. Still reading up on all the changes since I last owned a scanner.

 

[INDY72]

If the EDACS goes digital, currently there is only one digital format being used... Provoice, and this is not trackable by any current production scanner.

 

[PC_Medic]

Well if I am reading up on my area right, I don't think this will be a problem (except for Hampton which lists EDACS).

What I see so far for all others is

Cheapeake Motorola ASTRO 3600 baud/APCO-25 Mixed Mode
Norfolk Motorola Type IIi Hybrid Smartnet
Portsmouth Motorola Type IIi Hybrid Smartnet
Suffolk Motorola Type II Smartnet
Va. Beach Motorola Type II Smartnet

Or am I missing something I should be concerned about?

Looks to me like with the exception of Chesapeake a Pro-95 would suffice Though I am trying to justify the cost of a Pro-96 should there be talk of upcoming upgrades in the near future. Wouldn't want to get stuck with a Pro-95 if it will only pick up the McD's Drive up in 6 months

 

[ka3jjz]

Evidently you will need the 96 for the Chesapeake system, as the 95 won't handle Astro. In addition, if you're interested in MilAir, the PRO96's sensitivity in this band is much better than the 95s. One caveat - the 96's milair coverage is incidental; it's not really designed with this freq range in mind - it's opened up by using Win96 - so the sensitivity in this band may or may not be as good as that shown on Don's site. It might be as good, it might not - no QC in this band range.

73s Mike