Volunteer firefighter wanting to learn more.

[motherlessgoat]

Hello,
I am a new (11 months) volunteer firefighter in the Boring area and would love some info regarding portable scanners and codes. The goal is to be able the monitor the CCOM dispatch and frequencies. The bare minimum would be to monitor CCOM dispatch ops 24 and ops 25. I have found a radio shack pro 95 for $20, will this unit work for this purpose? Willing to spend a couple of hundred for ease of use. Any thoughts appreciated. Oh yes, this will be my first scanner (AKA begginer) Thanks folks.

 

[oregontreehugger]

I would stay away from the Pro-95; "re-banding" (adjusting of 800MHz trunked frequencies) might render it useless for listening to a trunked system.

The GRE PSR-300, -400, PSR-500, PSR-600, some Radio Shack models, Uniden BC246T, -330T, -D396T, BCT-15, Uniden BCD-996T, and upcoming new Uniden model handhelds (two of them early 2009) are all going to be re-banding capable. I'm sure there are a few I am missing, be sure to look at the Radio Reference Wiki for more info on which models will support re-banding: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Main_Page

In the $200 price range you have quite a few choices. The GRE PSR-300, PSR-400, Uniden BC-246T, BCT-15, and BR330T (through Uniden Direct) are all close to $200. Plus, Radio Shack has the Pro-528 and Pro-162 (made for Radio Shack by Uniden) on sale I believe.

Anyway, at a minimum you're going to want something that is re-banding capable and can handle analog trunked systems, and has alpha tags.

 

[Baker845]

Oregon treehugeer is right stay away from pro-95 . I would go with the uniden BC-246T. It ready for rebanding, (a new firmware is coming out for BC-246t at end of this month early next month). Its easy to programm and use, it let you hear all tgs or systems you would want to hear. I owned one and loved it, but sold it because p25, its small in size and can carry around with no problems.. If you like more info ect, about bc-246t feel free to sent PM.

 

[Grog]

I'd buy the pro95 for $20 if I knew it worked and was not stolen. After rebanding it will still work find on conventional systems so you could always get your money back by selling it to someone else.

That being said, I have no idea where Damascus OR is, so I can't really help more with what system you use.

 

[ScanRite]

motherlessgoat,

I sent you a private message. Not sure if you saw it or not.