What Scanner is best for this location.....need upgrade!

[chesterwarez]

I live in Orangeburg SC, and I am still using an old BC860XLT. I am in need of suggestions for a new scanner that will pick up just about everything. I am mainly interested in listening to the Orangeburg Department of public safety, which is the city police. I also would like to listen to Orangeburg County Sheriff Department. The Highway Patrol in Orangeburg County and surrounding areas. I will mainly listen to police, fire and ems and air traffice if possible. If I am asking too much please let me know....I have looked all over for frequencies, call signals and codes, but to no avail. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

 

[hoser147]

Here is a link to the Database http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=2350 and the Wiki will be a great resource for info on scanners............Hoser

 

[chesterwarez]

If you lived in this area and you were a novice scanner....basically for personal use....aka being nosey, which handheld scanner would you choose? I am so far out of the loop on this subject. I am reading on a daily basis trying to figure it all out.

 

[AB4BF]

Orangeburg, SC Scanner

Handhelds would be the three that immediately come to mind, the Bearcat BCD396, the GRE PSR 500, and the Radio Shack Pro-96. These are expensive radios but they all are digital capable (and take some expertise to program) Subscribe to this website and the database here is wonderful (unpaid plug!, but true). Also, there are programs for loading the frequencies, tags and talk groups available for free up to $70 bucks, and all are instantly downloadable (or not depending on download speeds). Orangeburg County is on the Palmetto 800 trunking system and so is the State of SC, ie. HP, Sled, and a boatload of others. You also have military (Air Force) in the county. Brain may also help with other radios that may have digital capabilities that I'm not aware of. (Sorry Brian, I couldn't resist!) Some not so expensive radios are available that just handle the trunking aspects, if the above are cost prohibitive.

Barry

 

[brian]

Orangeburg PSD currently operates on an LTR radio system. It is believed to be a Passport LTR system, which I don't believe can be monitored by any consumer-grade scanners at this time. That's why there's not much information in the database concerning this system. There is a second LTR system in Orangeburg set up for other local govt agencies like public works and code enforcement.

Can't speak much for the current crop of uniden radios. The PRO-97/PSR-300/PRO-164 (I think) line-up of GRE radios all have LTR scanning ability and *might* work of OPSD. There are a few digital talkgroups in use on Palmetto 800 on the Orangeburg area, but not a lot. Community Ambulance (or whatever that local ambulance service is called), OCEMS, OCSO, HP, etc are all analog.

Certainly get a top-of-the-line radio like a PSR-500 if you can afford it. But I'm not sure there's enough digital comms in the Orangeburg area *yet* to justify it.

EDIT* This system could also be an LTR Multinet system, it has multiple tower sites. It would be nice for someone to research this system further. Also, you can scan an LTR system channels as conventional channels if you can stand the constant "key-ups." I think there's some software out now that will analyze and maybe even follow an LTR system, but I'm not well schooled in all of that (obviously).

 

[chesterwarez]

Well I purchased a PRO-2055, and I am hoping that it has the ability to pick up Orangeburg County Sheriffs Dept. and ODPS. If any of you know wether this particular scanner has the capabilities to handle Orangeburg please let me know. I actually checked the site on my Voyager just prior to purchase this afternoon, was hoping for a response from yesterday, but to no avail. Can this do the job for listening to police fire and ems....thats all i want or should i take it back and dig deeper into my pocket?

 

[firefighter89]

Yes the Pro 2055 will work for Orangeburg County.

Program in 868.92500 and set it to MOT mode.
Then press trunk and then mode to set it to Motorola mode and then enter the talkgroup IDs you want to monitor.

Go here to find the talkgroups. You will need to enter the numbers in the DEC column.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=429


No scanner is capable of monitoring a LTR Passport system which is what Orangeburg PSD uses.

 

[brian]

The good news is that the PRO-2055 is the mobile version of the PRO-97, which does support traditional LTR. So, you *may* be in some luck with OPSD. Someone else who knows more about LTR monitoring might help us understand if more current radios (like a PSR-500 or 300) would work better.

For your local agencies using conventional (county fire agencies) and analog talkgroups on Palmetto 800 (SO, EMS, HP), you're in good shape. And the radio supports tones, so that's a benefit for the conventional frequencies you will be listening to.

Do yourself a favor and purchase a USB programming cable and Win97 from starrsoft.com. It makes programming much easier, some would say "possible", because programming it by hand will be tedious at best, maddening at worst.

Sorry we didn't post sooner, but I think you made a good decision with your purchase.

 

[N8IAA]

No scanner is capable of monitoring a LTR Passport system which is what Orangeburg PSD uses.

You can enter the frequencies into the radio in FM mode. Lockout the data channel(CC). You will probably only hear one side of the conversation doing this, but, it might make for some listening. I used to do that before owning a trunking scanner in the 90's.
HTH,
Larry

 

[kg4ekc]

You will not be able to trunk Orangeburg DPS I believe it is a multinet LTR system. I live here and the PRO-2055 should be a good choice (I have one too). You should be able to pick up Lexington at times via the Sandy Run tower, and Calhoun County. You can try the Holly Hill too depending on where you are in Orangeburg you should be able to hear it too.

 

[brian]

You can enter the frequencies into the radio in FM mode. Lockout the data channel(CC). You will probably only hear one side of the conversation doing this, but, it might make for some listening. I used to do that before owning a trunking scanner in the 90's.
HTH,
Larry

There is no single data channel with an LTR system. Data is carried on the voice frequencies, that's what the "key-ups" every few seconds are for. Still works, but is very annoying after a short time.

 

[kg4ekc]

You are exactly right the City LTR system, You can listen some but it makes me crazy. It is like a squelch break that causes the scanner to stop and listen. I have locked out all the frequencies. They do not use Pal 800 due to coverage in multiple areas including the Mall. DPU (Water and Power) is the bank roll for this new radio system.

 

[chesterwarez]

Thanks guys for all of your information.....I also went out a purchase the PRO-162 today....the portable!

Was also informed today by DPS officer that they are on the new 700mhz and they are having major problems with it. (Orangeburg). They are having constant freezing, what ever that means

As far as reception....I can pick up better chatter on my old BC860XLT than I can on the 2 scanners i recently purchased....Go figure!

 

[firefighter89]

If you want to listen to the Palmetto 800 system you should get the Radioshack 800mhz antenna for it. I can tell a big difference between the stock antenna that came with the scanner and the RS 800mhz antenna. Here is the link to the Radioshack 800mhz antenna.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102525

 

[chesterwarez]

thnx for the heads up on the antenna! I will get that tomorrow and report back