W. Johansen
Enthusiast
would like some opinions and suggestions on the best in car and best portable or handheld scanner?
Best in car and portable/handheld scanner?
- Thread starter W. Johansen
- Start date
Joey Ketcham
Just get a ham radio license and a radio for your vehicle and you'll be set. Scanners are okay, but why not go for a ham radio license so that you can do more than just listen?
W. Johansen
Enthusiast
Joey Ketcham
I already have my General and am working on my Extra. I would still like some suggestions or opinions. My Icom 7600 and my Kenwood 2000 don't mobile well.
Wayne W5WRJ
I already have my General and am working on my Extra. I would still like some suggestions or opinions. My Icom 7600 and my Kenwood 2000 don't mobile well.
Wayne W5WRJ
Ryan McGinnis
EF5
Best portable non-digital scanner for the money I could find was the Uniden BC346XT. Scanners are often better at scanning than HAM radios, so it can be useful to have one, even if you go the HAM route.
Tyler_Costantini
EF2
I have a BCD996D it’s not handheld but they have an ht version. When you use it with proscanner you can subscribe to the radioreference.com database and D/L all the freq. from the net as you go! It’s amazing. Also you can connect a GPS and have it turn on channels by location!!! Really cool for chasing.
Tyler.
Tyler.
Jason Foster
And regardless of the scanner you get...don't cheap out on an antenna...it can really make a difference on what you get.
rdale
EF5
Best non-analog mobile would be the BCT-15X, best digital is the 996XT. Best handheld is the GRE PSR-500 or the 346/396 (Unidens are smaller and easier to hide, but GRE's are much louder and have a little more flexibility.)
Randall Cooper
EF2
If your buying one to listen to police frequencies and such,dont even waste your money on a non-digital one. Word is Police departments, Fire and Emergency are all within the next 5-10 years are gonna be digital and trunked. My advice....Do what Im doing, and that is saving up for a year or so to buy a good trunking/digital scanner, because in about 5 years non-digital/non-trunking scanners are going to be useless, at least if your only using it to pick up those frequencies. Just my .02 cents.
Joe Dorn
EF2
Be aware the many public service agencies have trunked, digital and encrypted systems now and the setup is somewhat more difficult than just turning the scanner on.
I am not current on stand-alone scanner technology, so this might be easier than I think. The last scanner I set up required that the eleven frequencies for our trunked county network be entered in a specific order. They are now encrypting a lot of the transmissions. Each additional trunked station had to have its set of frequencies determined and entered. You also had to follow different procedures for different manufactures of the trunked systems.
Many of the smaller communities are still on the VHF/UHF un-trunked systems. Texas DPS is also on the older transmitters but they are being encrypted so that all you get is an annoying buzz when they transmit.
As far as a recommendation on a mobile amateur radio, we have a large hospital network and have chosen the Yaesu FT-8800 as the mobile/base radio of choice. It can scan the public service frequencies in the VHF/UHF part of the spectrum.
DO NOT waste your money on ICOM's DSTAR radios unless you just want to play with the latest technology fad. You double the cost of the radios and the infrastructure is not there, especially in the rural areas.
Several of the local hams that jumped on the DSTAR bandwagon have their radios for sale.
If you are heavy into to APRS, as I am, then the Kenwood D710 is a consideration. I prefer to have a separate single band 2-meter radio for my APRS trackers but my Tahoe did not have a place I could locate the second radio and TNC (after I had added my RAM desk, CB, 3 GPS units, video streaming camera, Air Card (with external antenna) and 12V distribution panel, so I went with the D710 with its built in APRS capabilities.
In my older Chevy pickup, I have lots of room and have separate radios for each function.
BTW, I have CB radios with NOAA WX functions in all of my installations. These radios have probably kept us out of trouble more than any of the other stuff. Good ones can be had for less than $70.00. (Check the big truck stops for CB stuff.)
If you care to read a little more about my installations, check the current Converter/Inverter thread going on in this section.
rdale
EF5
Absolutely wrong. They have to upgrade to "narrowband" but they do not have to update to digital, let alone trunked.
Again - incorrect. Only the mid-sized and larger communities are going to digital, but even that isn't widespread. Even the most basic of scanners these days used trunking technology, so only buy digital if you need to.
Check http://radioreference.com and in the database for your county of interest, there's a link to "best scanner for this area" and plenty of computer software packages to help you instantly program your radio.
Randall Cooper
EF2
I just knew I was gonna get called out on by someone. Honestly, why do I even bother trying to offer my opinion on what i've heard or experienced anymore?
Scott Weberpal
EF5
Perhaps you should verify it as fact before posting it. It's not called "getting called out", it's called getting corrected. If I asked a question, I wouldn't want to get something that someone "heard", I would want facts.
rdale
EF5
Because what you heard was wrong. Nothing wrong with that, but when you post it then more people think "that's what is coming" and it's still wrong.
My job right now involves upgrading all the public safety radios in my county to the new FCC regulations. Those regulations involve narrowbanding. Not trunking, and not digital. Narrowbanding does not require any different sort of scanner.
Our county doesn't have enough communications to need trunking. The larger county to our east just spent many many millions of dollars two years ago to leave a digital trunked system and start a brand new analog system. Why would they do it if "as you've heard" they'll need to replace it with digital in 5 years?
VERY very few rural counties have trunked systems. VERY VERY VERY few use digital. So getting a "regular" scanner today will still get PLENTY of radio chatter now, and in 5 years. That's all we're saying.
Benjamin Rock
Just to get back on track, I would save for a year or so and wait for the next generation digital scanner to come out. If you want to keep it in the car, get a mobile one. It's not much bigger than a CB anyway and receives better. If you want to get out of the car with it, get a handheld.Either way, get a decent external antenna for it. The digital ones operate both analog and digital which gives you a versatile useage and the generation II will be available with a decoder for encrypted comms(on some models). They will allow for firmware updates so you can keep it up to date when new systems come online. Granted, they will be expensive, but in the end, I think you will be happy..
Jay Cazel
EF4
I bought the RadioShack PRO-106 DG Handheld, http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3348287
works great and easy to program. But I am going to get the mobile vers, that Tyler has, that is a great scanner with the gps.
The Kansas Hwy Patrol and the KTA has gone to digital, and I know in a few years Wichita, Segwick Co and Butler Co Kansas will be gong to digital.
works great and easy to program. But I am going to get the mobile vers, that Tyler has, that is a great scanner with the gps.
The Kansas Hwy Patrol and the KTA has gone to digital, and I know in a few years Wichita, Segwick Co and Butler Co Kansas will be gong to digital.
