What Scanner Should I Get ???

[k2ns]

Hi All,

New and just registered today. I am interested in buying a base type scanner with trunking and digital capability. I'm thinking about the future. I have a hunch that my county will integrate all the local towns and villages into 1 trunked system. What do you guys recommend ???


RON

 

[lugoffman]

Hi All,

New and just registered today. I am interested in buying a base type scanner with trunking and digital capability. I'm thinking about the future. I have a hunch that my county will integrate all the local towns and villages into 1 trunked system. What do you guys recommend ???


RON

GRE PSR-600 is a good one I heard

 

[Dubbin]

Depends on if you need digital or not.

 

[k2ns]

Depends on if you need digital or not.

Please re-read the original post.

 

[Dubbin]

So you know that they are all moving to a digital trunked system?

 

[k2ns]

So you know that they are all moving to a digital trunked system?

Not sure, but it is the logical thing to do. There are a few digital trunked systems that I should be able to listen to from here besides the county.


RON

 

[Dubbin]

Not sure, but it is the logical thing to do. There are a few digital trunked systems that I should be able to listen to from here besides the county.


RON

I didn't see any digital systems in your area, thats why you got that response from me.

 

[mule1075]

you might be right about being the logical thing to do but that is not how it always happens.you say that their are digital systems in the area that you should be able to listen in on.i say go from their and buy a digital scanner a 396 or 996 from uniden or a psr 500 or 600 from gre.you can try and pickup a uniden 796 or a 296 or a radio shack pro 2096 or a pro 96 used also that are supposed to be capable of rebanding.check out the wiki here for digital scannners and the database for your area to see what fits your needs.

 

[fireant]

According to a recent post cannot find the link to right now the 96 and 2096 are not going to be capable of re-banding. I remember reading that but not quite sure where on this site. Someone may have a link.

I own both the PSR 500 and the BCD 396. Both have their pro and cons and would not be going wrong with either one just depends on what features that you like the best. I lean a little more toward the PSR 500 it actually picks up a hard to hear trunk system from my house that my 396 will not but thats just my opinion. You will have a lot of people who swear by one radio or the other but both are great radios. I would definitely go digital if you can afford to will save you money in the long run if your area is going to upgrade you are not stuck have to scrammble for more money to buy a digital when you could have spent a little more in your intial purchase and not had to worry about any upgrades.

Good Luck

Fireant

 

[ryangassxx]

I wouldn't buy a digital unless you ACTUALLY need a digital.. Because the difference is double the price..

Buy a digital WHEN you need a digital.. Because prices eventually drop over time.. You're not really doing yourself a favor by buying the digital now, because by the time you need the digital scanner that very scanner might be selling for $200 cheaper, OR the $500 you would have spent for the digital scanner way back when can now buy you a much better more modern digital scanner..

 

[lugoffman]

I wouldn't buy a digital unless you ACTUALLY need a digital.. Because the difference is double the price..

Buy a digital WHEN you need a digital.. Because prices eventually drop over time.. You're not really doing yourself a favor by buying the digital now, because by the time you need the digital scanner that very scanner might be selling for $200 cheaper, OR the $500 you would have spent for the digital scanner way back when can now buy you a much better more modern digital scanner..

Well he may not need a digital scanner but in the long run he may go on vacation to some were that has digital and then he would need one so I would do the same thing if I had it to spend

 

[W4KRR]

Hi All,

New and just registered today. I am interested in buying a base type scanner with trunking and digital capability. I'm thinking about the future. I have a hunch that my county will integrate all the local towns and villages into 1 trunked system. What do you guys recommend ??? RON

Get either a GRE PSR-600 or a Uniden BCD996T. Both cost about the same. You could also get the PRO-2096; it costs the same as the other two models, but has less features than either of the other models (less memory capacity, no LTR trunking, only room for 12 vs. 16 alpha tag character spaces, etc.) JMO.

 

[loumaag]

According to a recent post cannot find the link to right now the 96 and 2096 are not going to be capable of re-banding. I remember reading that but not quite sure where on this site. Someone may have a link. ...

This is not an accurate statement. At the moment, the Pro-96/2096 (and the later GRE models) are the only ones handling re-banded Motorola systems (which is the only type of system causing a problem in scanners). What the Pro-96/2096 will not do, is handle 700 MHz trunking systems, but that has nothing to do with rebanding.

 

[PHOENIX_SCANNER]

I don't think the prices on digital scanners are going to come down, ever. From what I hear at least $200 of that price is licensing, and that isn't going away. It then takes over $200 to make a top of the line scanner, so I don't see it ever going much lower.

I would sell all of my toys to buy a really good scanner though ($1500 maybe), that did better with simulcast systems, was more imune to desense, and had the audio level of a public safety radio.

 

[af5rn]

I would sell all of my toys to buy a really good scanner though ($1500 maybe), that did better with simulcast systems, was more imune to desense, and had the audio level of a public safety radio.

LOL! They haven't even managed to do that with conventional scanners yet!

That's why I use Motorola.