Due to my changing interests and current occupation, I no longer want to listen to police, fire and ems on my scanner in my truck. I have a BC 796D and don't need all 1000 channels. I need about a 10th of that. I want to get a portable scanner to use in my truck AND out of my truck for railroads. I tried to do some research but my head was spinning. What I am looking for is a scanner that is PC prgrammable, 150-200 channels, and has a dispaly that can due alpha tags like the 769D. To that end, do I need to only be looking for a digital model or can I find that in an analog. I will probably be selling the 769D to pay for the new one so if digital is the way I need to go then thats ok. There have been discusion on weather or not the Railroads will even go digital so if I don't need it then I will save some money. Thanks for your help. Kevin
If you've read anything on the railroad forum, it is obvious that the move to digital will be NEXEDGE, and not in the near future. So, unless there is a digital scanner that comes out in the very near future that decodes that digital format, you won't need to get a digital scanner. In my immediate area, the railroads, CSX and NS, are still analog. These are the road channels and dispatch. If, and when, they move to the new channel plans that are at 7.5KHz spacing between frequencies, any new analog scanner will be able to monitor the trains. I am going to suggest a ham radio handheld that just came out on the market. It is the Kenwood TH-K20. It does do the narrow band receive in 7.5KHz steps. It has 200 channels, but only allows for 100 to have alphatags. It is pc programmable. I will be picking up this ht or its mobile brother in the very near future for monitoring the railroads. 
