Which scanner?

[PirateJoe]

i'm pretty new to this whole radio scanning thing, but it looks like a great hobby. i've been researching which scanner to get, and the radio shack pro-2051 caught my eye. although, while reading the pro-2051 discussion thread, it said it was analog only. i live in the San Francisco metro region, and was just wondering if i could get by with an analog scanner. if (i'm assuming not) that i couldn't, could you recommend a decent digital scanner thats within my pricerange (~$200)?

the Uniden BCT-8 also caught my eye, but nowhere have i seen whether it is digital or not.

 

[flyingwolf]

There are only a few didgital scanenrs out right now.

The two most popular are the BC 396t and the RadioShack Pro-96/2096.

Both in the 500 price range.

I have yet to find a digital scanner in the 200 dollar range.

If you find more then one you let me know.

 

[PirateJoe]

thanks for your reply

since it looks like analog for me, do you think i could get good mileage out of an analog scanner in San Francisco?

 

[DPD1]

I'm not an expert, because I don't live there... But I believe the PD/FD system in SF City proper, is combo Analog/Digital. Check out the reference on the site for SF. Even though you might be able to hear stuff analog now, they will probably go full digital eventually, once most of the leftover analog stuff is gone. So if you're into PD/FD, a digital radio is probably the way to go.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Custom Scanner, MURS, & Ham Antennas-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

 

[mciupa]

How about monitoring Alameda County and Oakland stuff .. or BART ... those are a couple of analog
systems ?
Just buy what you can comfortably afford , you will soon see if you are satisfied or not.
Until you have a scanner with digital capabilities , you may be able to listen to someones on-line
scanner site that has the San Francisco Public Safety system.

 

[BaLa]

that digital stuff is a *^($

But I'm sure everybody said the same thing about the trunking systems when they first came out.

 

[sungab]

i have a 200 channel pro-20-21 giving to me by my nince but I can't get it to peick up on any thing need help to program? i'ts a uhf uhv am-fm direct entry programmable scanner thankyou for your help.

 

[Al42]

i have a 200 channel pro-20-21 giving to me by my nince but I can't get it to peick up on any thing need help to program? i'ts a uhf uhv am-fm direct entry programmable scanner thankyou for your help.

Try this page for instructions.

 

[nexus]

mciupa,

If you go to the RR Database (link at the top) and select california, and then select the county you want to view, in there you can see all of the trunked radio systems known to the database. From there you can get a description of each system. If the system is digital it'll clearly say DIGITAL in the "type" column. I pulled up Alamenda Co and not a single system was digital. It's all analog EDACS, Motorola, or LTR. So you're in luck there. Any trunktracking scanner will work perfectly there. I'll leave you to look up Oakland on your own. Just use the resources here... That database is very accurate and kept up to date.

It'll also provide you with all of the freqs used on a system as well as talkgroup ID's for each agency/user. The DATABASE IS YOUR FRIEND...

 

[SAR923]

There is currently only one full digital system in the San Franscisco Bay Area and that is Marin County. San Mateo is part digtal and part analog. San Francisco City/County is analog with some encrypted talk groups for EMS. Otherwise, everything else in public safety is either conventional, analog Motorola, or analog ECACS. Of all the large metro areas in the country, I suupect the Bay area has the least amount of digital and encryption so the Pro-97 will work fine, at least until more agencies finally switch over to digital trunk systems. I think that will be several years away and by that time, there will be a snazzier new scanner you want anyway. :lol: