what scanner to buy?

[sloppy joe]

i want a hand held scanner. not looking to spend a lot of money. i just want to know what happened when i hear sirens pass by the house and if its legal, i want to have it on in my truck to know whats going on around me.

i see some at amazon for around $70. is that a good idea?

 

[JBP55]

It is not in your price range but a Motorola XTS 2500 is a great choice. You can purchase a cheap Chinese Radio that works. The hard part is getting the right frequencies programmed.

 

[BOSS351]

Don't buy anything till you find out what systems are used in your area. I'm in Ascension and everything here except maybe the volunteer FD is encrypted. If its encrypted you will not get anything. APCO 25 is popular but you have to have a trunking scanner to listen. Go to RadioReference.com and find out what systems are in your location. Then armed with that information you can decide which scanner will work for you. My last two scanners were around 400 bucks and when they went encrypted I sold what I had and have not owned one since--this was 3 years ago at least.

 

[P7M8]

Aren't there apps for that?

 

[charlie12]

Good ole scanning is dead. Have to know what you're doing and have to spend money now. Got to have a scanner that will do P25 and would be smart to get on that will do phase II when the switch. Programming software and cable. Then you have to find the Freqs and control channels and the talkgroup numbers. It's not that easy now days

 

[charlie12]

Aren't there apps for that?

Yes and no. Those are put on by individuals with scanners. A friend of mine has one online for East Feliciana LE. But if the weather is bad he takes it down so his equip doesn't get hit with lightning.

 

[charlie12]

To give you an example of what I can hear from where I live in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Livingston Parish is the only LE I can hear on my old scanners. All LE in EBR, St. Helena, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, West Baton Rouge, LSP and so on are all on the 700 mhz P25 system.

 

[JBP55]

To give you an example of what I can hear from where I live in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Livingston Parish is the only LE I can hear on my old scanners. All LE in EBR, St. Helena, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, West Baton Rouge, LSP and so on are all on the 700 mhz P25 system.

You can add Walker PD Day Shift to that list. They are on LSPO 1 at night.

 

[general mills]

Ah yes, gone are the days of buying a police scanner at Radio Shack and listening to all the cordless phone conversations in the trailer park.

 

[charlie12]

You can add Walker PD Day Shift to that list. They are on LSPO 1 at night.

I know I listen to them on 700 during the day and on LPSO Tac 1 after hours

 

[Doctor481]

I use a Uniden BCD436HP. Most of the frequencies (not all) for the entire US are programmed into the unit. You can be up and listening just by entering your zip code. That's not the best way, it scans too many frequencies and you end up missing stuff. You can hook up a GPS module and it will automically listen for frequencies in whatever area you travel. There is a free Uniden program downloadable from Uniden that lets you manage/program what you want to listen to.
I live out of the city limits and the small rubber antenna limits what I can hear; from our shop in town reception is much better. I am in the Ponchatoula area and can hear most everything in south Tangipahoa. I receive some stuff from St. Tammany but have them blocked for faster scan cycles.
Occasionally (late nights), I get a BRPD narcotics unit. That makes for good listening.
We have a local guy who has been in the fire department forever and handles all their radio stuff, he has been a huge help in getting mine up and running smoothly.
I agree the good old days of buying a crystal or getting the frequency are over. The communication systems are getting more advanced and the scanners are having trouble keeping up. Usually the initial call and the first portion of reporting is receivable. If there are any "juicy" details that's handled with a cell phone.

 

[BOSS351]

Yes, those days of cheap entertainment are gone. You will end up spending probably close to 700.00 or more for a good scanner with software programming and cables and subscriptions to RadioReference and others to download the frequencies into your scanner. Oh and the antenna that comes with them you can toss because you will want a better one. Even better is to have an outside one to hook up to it. I had a GRE PSR-500 and loved it till everything went encrypted. It was a PITA to figure it out for programming with all of the crazy filing systems it had. Had a Bearcat too and it was a little easier but still a complex radio.

 

[tallwalker]

If you want to play with some interesting (and very cheap) technology for radio frequencies in general, do a Google search on "rtl.sdr" (SDR = software defined radio). Free software that can run on just about any platform, including android for portability, and the hardware will cost you about $30. Broad spectrum from almost DC through 35ghz. Very cool.

The technology comes from an HDTV tuner that is used in most all tv sets. Turns out some smart tinkerers discovered it could also be used as a spectrum A/D analyzer to listen to just about anything transmitted. You can read ACARS data from aircraft, UHF, VHF, HAM... even scope spurious signals (ET phoning home?).

 

[Doctor481]

Uniden has a couple that are portable, some look like the old school type and some are the base looking types.
Nothing extra to buy as far as programs or cables; unless you want an outside type antenna.
Uniden updates their frequency data base weekly, all you do is open the program and download. Transfer the files with a mini USB cable to the scanner. Radio Reference site has some good info, especially if you are looking for something specific or having a tech issue.

 

[charlie12]

I think I have over 10 scanners

 

[charlie12]

.

 

[charlie12]

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This is my buddy's truck. He has about that many by his chair in his living room and a few handheld scanners

 

[Doctor481]

And how is that supposed to help the OP?

 

[charlie12]

Uniden has a couple that are portable, some look like the old school type and some are the base looking types.
Nothing extra to buy as far as programs or cables; unless you want an outside type antenna.
Uniden updates their frequency data base weekly, all you do is open the program and download. Transfer the files with a mini USB cable to the scanner. Radio Reference site has some good info, especially if you are looking for something specific or having a tech issue.

Well then give us the model #'s

 

[Doctor481]

If you were paying attention, I stated my units model in my first post.
The Uniden website has decent descriptions of these units and there are multiple scanner discussion forums.