wanting to get back into scanning

[Fishfreak]

Hi everyone , I've been away from the hobby for a LONG time and wanting to get back into the it, I'm sure this has been beat with a dead horse, I'm planning on picking up a Uniden sds-100, I suppose with that scanner I can't still listen to Portland police? I know that scanner has several upgrades for the unit it self ( sentinel, dmr upgrade, nxdn upgrade , provioce upgrade, waterfall upgrade ) , not sure what all those do as of yet , , will none of them work? I'm mainly wanting to listen to fire and law enforcement in and around Multnomah county and possibly the surrounding counties and pdx airport . What antenna y'all recommend for the local stuff and for planes taking off and coming in from pdx for the sds-100 radio ? Thanks for the help

 

[ScottPDX]

Hello FishFreak,
Possibly another fellow local Oregon fisherman?

Anyway, here’s what I know about the what’s in PDX for listening in the scanning hobby.

Law Enforcement:
You can get OSP on analog 154.9350
You can get Clackamas Co. CCOM via Broadcastify only
No Portland Police or MCSO anymore

All Fire should be available.

As for Aviation, you should be able to receive it all.

I have an SDS-200, but ever since PPB and MCSO went encrypted, I have been listening with a used Uniden BCT15 analog scanner. Not much use for Digital in PDX now.

Hope this helps.
ScottPDX (Mt. Tabor)

 

[Fishfreak]

Hello FishFreak,
Possibly another fellow local Oregon fisherman?

Anyway, here’s what I know about the what’s in PDX for listening in the scanning hobby.

Law Enforcement:
You can get OSP on analog 154.9350
You can get Clackamas Co. CCOM via Broadcastify only
No Portland Police or MCSO anymore

All Fire should be available.

As for Aviation, you should be able to receive it all.

I have an SDS-200, but ever since PPB and MCSO went encrypted, I have been listening with a used Uniden BCT15 analog scanner. Not much use for Digital in PDX now.

Hope this helps.
ScottPDX (Mt. Tabor)

Thank you for the insight !! I am a fisherman ! mostly trout ,lol

 

[ScottPDX]

Mostly Trout with me too.

 

[Bowlieweekender]

If you're getting a digital scanner capable of P25 II, like the SDS 100 or 200 then there's still plenty you can pick up. Since Lifeflight consolidated their Oregon dispatch you can pick up Lifeflight Helicopter medical traffic from Portland down to LaPine all on one TG (9161) and that talkgroup is relayed on a great many radio towers. They just advised one inbound helo that Emanuel already had one on the pad.

On occasion when one medical helo is aware of another in the region they'll call them on Helicopter Air To Air 123.025 AM. You might catch one pilot hail another as "Anybody on 2302". Because their Technisonic radios are programmed with just about everything not encrypted, on occasion you'll hear dispatch tell the pilot which page/section the correct channel to contact the ground for an emergency 'scene' landing in a field or an OTOD depot would be located. Would love a copy of that book!

 

[PDXh0b0]

Mostly Trout with me too.

allot of monsters been getting pulled at hagg..I miss living close to it

 

[radiotweester]

allot of monsters been getting pulled at hagg..I miss living close to it

The bodies and cars do them good

Fishfreak - you're also not going to be able to hear any Washington Co Law Enforcement either through their own system or OR radio system.
Regarding antenna, anything outside connected with high quality RG-8 size coax and type N connector (or TNC if you find a really good deal).. A cheap 3db surplus omni-direction should give good results. The lower the loss of the coax at 700/800MHz the better. The shorter the length and the higher the elevation the better. It's really what you can afford.
1" hardline and stacked collinear antenna array is probably overkill.