What scanner is best for King County?

[AuntBee09]

i want to get a new scanner. i live in King county. should i spend big and get a digital scanner (just in case king county goes to digital in the next few years)? or should i just get a normal one? any helpful advise/recommendations?

i don't know a ton about scanners, but i want to learn. i'm having a hard time tho figuring out what scanner is best for me.

this is what i want for my scanner:
> capability of being mobile (i want to listen to it on the way to work then take it inside when i get home.)
> REALLY good reception (do base/desktop scanners get better reception than hand-held?)
> capability of being programmed from my PC (and i would like to program it so that i can label trunk# (and frequencies). for example: "21424" would be called "bellevue police")
> i would prefer the ability to control it from my computer, but that's not essential
> obviously, i want the scanner to be able to pick up public safety communications (i don't mind too much about listening to air, marine, CB, ect. radio traffic)
> easy to recharge and power.
> less than $500, but i would really like it to be around $300

and while i'm in the questioning mood lol, one more thing: are magnetic antennas permanent, or can you transfer them from car to car (because i share two cars).

THANX!!!! i look forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[Stavro35]

Hi there
I've only been in northwest Washington for a year. I arrived with the following radios

Pro-97
Pro-95
Pro2006
Pro2052

I later purchased a Pro96..

If you don't care about digital communications from some federal agencies. And the Puget sound naval shipyard. I would get a Radio shack Pro97...

You say you don't care to listen to the aviation bands or marine band radio. But this radio will allow for that should you later change your mind. Also I would like to point out that should a catastrophic event occur agencies like the coast guard and navy etc would likely be involved. So excluding coast guard and aviation from your monitoring is something you might want to re consider.

 

[AuntBee09]

You say you don't care to listen to the aviation bands or marine band radio. But this radio will allow for that should you later change your mind. Also I would like to point out that should a catastrophic event occur agencies like the coast guard and navy etc would likely be involved. So excluding coast guard and aviation from your monitoring is something you might want to re consider.

that's a good point. that would be interesting to hear. i didn't think of that. thanx for the info!

 

[midnightcaller]

Dont forget the Uniden 898 and the BCT-15 they are both very good scanners

 

[Stavro35]

that's a good point. that would be interesting to hear. i didn't think of that. thanx for the info!

You're most welcome. Consider this,when an aircraft declares an emergency en route to, or departing from Seattle,what happens? They are in constant communications with Seattle air traffic control. When they get close to SEATAC the fire/crash crew talkgroups come to life on the Seattle port authority trunked system.

This is my scanner radio audio feed link

http://66.209.70.155:8010/seattle.m3u

 

[icom1020]

Has anyone heard any USCG TG's ? I know on the Portland System they are active.

 

[cowboymike1971]

RE: Scanner for King Co

Aunt Bee, I agree with steve, the Radio Shack Pro-97 is an awesome scanner for the area.
As long as the area agencies do not go digital in the next little while. I believe its inevitable someday but as to when who knows. from all thats been read and said it seems in my honest opinion a ways off. I myself have a Uniden Bearcat BC 9000XLT(non-trunked) and a Radio Shack pro-97 I just recently got rid of a BC 780XLT(to make room for a new BC 996T,Awesome scanner as well)
Sounds like for the majority of your scanning you want a portable handheld type scanner. it can alwasy be connected to an outdoor type antenna from home. But a RS pro-97 with a RS 800 MHZ antenna is a Kick ass choice for scanning this area as of now. You can always set up an outdoor antenna from home if you wish to recieve signals further away. or to connect the Pro-97 to it while at home. It has all the features you mentioned you wanted in a scanner. and i don't believe it was mentioned this scanner can easily be found at Radio Shacks for $149.00(Pro-97) But i would suggest the 800 MHZ antenna as it does an awesone job on the area systems....Good Luck let us know what you get...

 

[lowboy654]

I agree, I have a pro-97 and a 96 and with a radio shack 800mhz antenna you can get Seattle trunking stuff in Everett, the 97 cost a lot less and can be programed with win 97 and you can download stuff from RadioReference.com if you are a premium member you will have it programed in no time at all, the stuff that comes pre-installed on it is of little use in this area.

 

[AuntBee09]

ok, so i hear that the pro-97 would be a good fit for me.

what do u guys think about the PRO-2055 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...oductId=2123168&support=support&tab=summary)?
is the pro-2055 better or worse than the PRO-433 (http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...roductId=2463120&support=support&tab=summary), because they seem almost the same.
the down fall with those scanners would be that they aren't hand held . . . hmmmmmm

but i'm going to check into the pro 97 for sure. thanx guys!

 

[AuntBee09]

o yah, and i just got a "VHF-Hi/UHF Outdoor Scanner Antenna" last night. it helps my reception quite a bit (but i've always got good reception from my house from the trunked system near by; i got it to hear WSP better).

and i have a little glass mount antenna in my car that i hook up to my pro-91, but it doesn't seem to work to well. i was thinking that i would get better reception if i got a new scanner . . . idk.

man, it's hard to get into this hobby (for me). i really like it, but i don't know anyone in person that actually does it. and it's hard to find good references. the radio shack people i talk to really don't know anything about scanners.

so thanx everyone for putting up with my questions, you're a lot of help!

 

[Stavro35]

CG talkgroups?

Has anyone heard any USCG TG's ? I know on the Portland System they are active.

I don't think the USCG has talkgroups tied into any local TRS? I think it would make sense for the coast and area military to have a few talkjgroups tied into the Seattle/king county TRS just in case

 

[Stavro35]

Pro-2055

The Pro2055 is the base station version of the Pro97.. I thought I was getting that when I purchased a Pro2052. I didn't bother returning the radio once i found out it wasn't the base station version. I simply used it for specific frequencies in my old hometown,and do that now here.

 

[lowboy654]

Glass mount antennas do not work that well and if your car window is tinted then just forget it think about it if the worked well then every cop car would have them. here is a link to a great antenna a lot of people here use them i do to you get a lot of bang for the buck I even take it inside the house and use there sometimes It works great on 800mhz and pretty good on vhf to.
http://www.rffun.com/catalog/scanants/1190.html

now as far as the pro-433 goes it will survive rebanding but the down side to it is that you will have to remember all 1000 freqs that you put into it the 97 or 2055 will display the names of who you are reciveing like Seattle pd, or what ever you want it to display it has ten banks that you can name to like Seattle, Snohomish, WSP so when you push the button for a bank it will display what you have in the bank with the 433 it just displays freqs you have to remember everything.

 

[icom1020]

The Pro2055 is the base station version of the Pro97.. I thought I was getting that when I purchased a Pro2052. I didn't bother returning the radio once i found out it wasn't the base station version. I simply used it for specific frequencies in my old hometown,and do that now here.

I picked up the 2055 yesterday, for the low low price. Heard about the display issues but it looks like an easy fix. I think it is a bit more sensitive than my 97 especially on the Tacoma trunk. BTW, Puyallup TRS control channel 868.5 is active but haven't heard any traffic on the other freqs.