im looking for a scanner to pick up police, fire and emt in the Greenwich, ct. 06830 area.........I can pick it up on my computer with no problem, but would rather have a scanner.......which one works, I hear there are all kinds like trunk scanners......I have no idea which one to get.......maybe radio shack or a midland........if anyone know which one will work in my area, please let me know with the model number........id rather have a better one than a cheap one..........thanks...........rob
Welcome to RadioReference, Rob.
While the audio feeds are great for listening to what's happening in other parts of the state, or country (out of range from your location), you have no control over the content. The feed provider sets what agencies will be streamed, and you have no way to hold on something of interest in your area. With your own scanner, you can choose what you want to monitor, and hold on, or lockout, a given frequency or talkgroup, if you so desire.
Uniden BC296D is a cheaper option. Or go with the Uniden BCD396xt.
The 296D (and it's sibling the 796D) might not be good alternatives, Neither would the Pro-96 or Pro-2096. See below.
I would say it depends on what you're looking to listen to. I do not live near your area, so please take time to research on what you need for your area as I'm getting my information from the database. It looks like your own in particular is on the
Town of Greenwich Trunking System. It looks like your system has both analog ("Mode: A") and digital talkgroups ("Mode: D"), so it would be advisable to get a digital scanner to be able to receive everything, but it may be possible to still monitor with an analog trunking scanner if you would like to go that route. I have included a list of all the digital scanners on the market below with links to their respective wiki page to allow you to read up on some of their features as well as be able to shop around for them. For
Fairfield County, it looks like there is plenty of analog radio traffic still around, which only requires an analog scanner.
You may want to check out
Mark's Scanners and his
Easier to Read Manuals while you research the scanner you want to get. All of them have a terrific overview of the scanner and its features and can give you an idea if the scanner is right for you. If you have additional area specific questions, you may want to check out the
Connecticut Radio Discussion Forum as they probably know more about your local area than I would from across the country.
Besides the local agencies, if you have an interest in listening to the state police, I'd steer away from the BC296D, BC796D, Pro-96, and Pro-2096.
Currently, the Connecticut State Police are using this Motorola system:
Connecticut State Police Trunking System, Statewide, Connecticut - Scanner Frequencies
All of the talkgroups are digital; a few are encrypted (that's designated by the "E" in the mode column). All of the scanners Spitfire has listed would work on that system.
However, looking at the notes for this
system, which is still under construction; eventually this will be a statewide system for both state and local agencies. If you look at it's database page, you'll see that all of the sites built so far, including the simulcast site in your county (Fairfield), use 700MHz frequencies. None of the four scanners (BC296D, BC796D, Pro-96, and Pro-2096) can trunk-track systems in that frequency range.
I would second Spitfire's suggestion to check out the Connecticut
forum. There, you'd get better information, from people local to your state, as to what might be planned for the foreseeable future.
