What type of scanner would I want?

[radiolalaland]

I'm looking to save a few $$$ to run out an buy the latest an greatest cheap scanner.

Not wanting to buy a digital scanner, because they're still too much.

What type of radio would I need to able to follow these trunking systems? I'll look around to see if I could find a better radio.

Looking for a radio that would do the trunking as well as half the weather alert feature (maybe) and possibly CTCSS/DCS tone capabilities.

VHF/UHF LTR
EDACS Networked
Motorola Type I
Motorola Type IIi Hybrid
Motorola Type II Smartnet
Motorola Type II Smartzone

Even the newer models coming out. Which radio's might cover this stuff?

Thanks in advance.

You guy's are wonderful.

 

[transam76]

I believe that i seen in one of the posts in here that someone was selling a digital scanner (pro96) to be exact, they where even throwing in a leather carring case and the whole nine yards. They where selling it for $350+shipping, this person i think lives in the states, but it would be a very good investment even if you picked it up for about $450 after everything was done. About half the price what i paid for mine, and it would cover everything except for the LTR. Well worth the investment, one of the best scanners ive ever bought.

 

[transam76]

P.S i seen this in equipment for sale if you want to check it out, by someone out in California. Theres also a few others in there if your interested, i think i seen a 250d for sale which does LTR and everthing your looking for. And theres another pro96 in there, just depends on how much you want to spend. I spent more than enough but im not disappointed in it. I think ive got my moneys worth out of it and more. And i only had it for about 3 or 4 months now.

 

[mciupa]

I don't know your location, but if Whitby,Ontario is within commuting
distance, check out this scanner

http://www.durhamradio.com/s/customer/product.php?productid=45241&cat=1837&page=1

Does it have what you are looking for ?

Buy Canadian !

 

[radiolalaland]

Now that's what I'm talking about. That looks like a dandy radio. Time to save some $$$ now.

And besides the known digital's out there. Any other suggestion's?

I don't know your location, but if Whitby,Ontario is within commuting
distance, check out this scanner

http://www.durhamradio.com/s/customer/product.php?productid=45241&cat=1837&page=1

Does it have what you are looking for ?

Buy Canadian !

 

[DaveH]

The BC898 is an upgrade of the BC895 I believe. If it
is the same RF "front-end" (not upgraded) it would best be
descibed as poor...very susceptable to overload. I have
a BC895 and cannot use it with an external antenna in the
downtown area. I even have problems with lower-gain inside
antennas. There is a built-in attenuator of sorts (I'm not sure if it's
programmable on a per-channel basis), which would help.

I'm not saying don't buy this radio, just be aware of some
of its limitations. It is very feature-rich.

If you're looking for a compact handheld, analog only but
with trunking, have you seen the BC246T? It is just coming out.
The US price is around $230 so probably in the same $CDN range as
the 898T.

Dave

 

[EJB]

I agree with Dave, the new 246 rig looks cool.

It is compact, being a mobile radio u can take it with u anywhere and....

it gives you the ability to enter in a heck of a lot of channels, you can really use a bank of channels, mix conventional and trunked in a bank.

I wonder how many t/g's per bank it allows.


If you are content 2 go w/o digital go with the 246.

 

[scnnr]

If you're looking for a compact handheld, analog only but
with trunking, have you seen the BC246T? It is just coming out.
The US price is around $230 so probably in the same $CDN range as
the 898T.

Dave

http://www.scannermaster.com/store/01-500881?mv_pc=t25268665

Take a look at it here. If you go by todays echange rates it comes out to

Live mid-market rates as of 2004.11.05 02:11:55 GMT.
229.95 USD
United States Dollars = 277.491 CAD
Canada Dollars
1 USD = 1.20675 CAD 1 CAD = 0.828675 USD

 

[DaveH]

Going by the old addage about Death and Taxes, add another 15% which would bring it up to ~$320CDN (plus shipping etc. if that applies). Looks very decent for this kind of radio.

BTW that site indicates "pre-ordering". How available are they? (I think "Forts" has one). Personally I'm not rushing to buy one, but if any of my existing HH scanners were to expire or get lost, I'd consider it.

Dave

 

[mciupa]

You never mentioned base/mobile or handheld . I suggested
the base (unaware that there may be issues with it)
Which one suits your monitoring habits ?

 

[radiolalaland]

Well, I don't know. Never really bothered much before with a portable. I'd be afraid of the overload in them. I've seen nice little portables before, but the overload on some frequencies was too much.

I prefer the base/mobile types better. They really don't seem that bad to have to move around.

So far the suggestions here have been pretty decent too. It'll take awhile to save some dough, but atleast I'll know what to look for.

Thanks.

You never mentioned base/mobile or handheld . I suggested
the base (unaware that there may be issues with it)
Which one suits your monitoring habits ?