Radio Scanner

[Phil Myers]

I am wanting to get a scanner ...

What type of scanner, brand, ect is everyone using?

Thanks,
Phil

[Midnight Mover]

Uniden Bearcat twin turbo sportcat SC 150B

[CHILIBEAN]

Uniden Bearcat twin turbo sportcat

Robert,
now would this be the Uniden Bearcat Sportcat Scanner Radio Twin Turbo SC 150??

[Realbigtaco]

Me personal, i didn't want to spend loads of money on a scanner, so i bought an older version, the Radio Shack Pro-60.  Works perfectly, and i got it for $40, and it pick up military. 

There is one on EBay right now going for $30

http://cgi.ebay.com/Radio-Shack-Pro-60-Scanner-200-Channel-AM-FM-w-Antenna_W0QQitemZ220543429638QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item335969ac06

[Midnight Mover]

Robert,
now would this be the Uniden Bearcat Sportcat Scanner Radio Twin Turbo SC 150??

yep, SC 150B

I forgot to put the model # above, it's fixed

also 1 on E-bay : http://cgi.ebay.com/UNIDEN-BEARCAT-SPORTCAT-SC-150-b-HANDHELD-SCANNER-_W0QQitemZ180460061261QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20100124?IMSfp=TL100124002007r31351

[Ralph]

PRO-2052, works like a charm

[Phil Myers]

Thanks for the info guys...Confirm the Uniden Bearcat Sportcat Scanner Radio Twin Turbo SC 150 will be at least 200-3-- mhz? I was told that was what I should shoot for??

Thanks Phil

[phantomphan1974]

Radio Shack Pro-60 as well, but I am lame and just punch in the freq......

[Code20photog]

I have a Pro-60 which is mainly used for military scanning, and a Pro-90 which is for all the fire and police stuff I listen to.

However, I'm looking to get either the Uniden BCD396T, or the Grecom PSR-500 digital scanners something soon. Those are quite expensive, but they have the capability of monitoring digital systems like LAPD. Leaning towards the 396T, as the PSR-500 requires a Ph.D in engineering to program from what I understand.

[NikonGuy]

What would be a good scanner to pick up air, pd, fd, etc freq's... Thnx.

[phantomphan1974]

What would be a good scanner to pick up air, pd, fd, etc freq's... Thnx.

Like Ken said the Radio Shack one for $169.99 sale or a dig one if you want the agencies that have gone digital.  Those ones jump in price.

[Code20photog]

You first need to find out what you want to scan before you jump into purchasing a scanner. I need to listen to LAPD, Simi PD, and Glendale PD for work for instance, and they're digital, so I needed a scanner capable of picking up digital transmissions. And, well, those are expensive. I bought a Uniden BCD396XT. The radio itself, $581. Add in the software to program it, $40 (I got the cheaper option without the livescan feature.) and a adapter for the stupid serial cable, another $15, and it costs a pretty penny.

One other thing to keep in mind, the FCC says everyone is supposed to go digital at some point. The date keeps getting pushed further back, but eventually, like digital TV, it will happen. Ventura County Fire for instance has already secured the licensing for digital, but they're not expected to go digital for quite awhile. I had my last scanner (That still works perfectly fine mind you.) for 12 years. 12 years from now, 2022, everyone's going to be digital. If you're somewhere where the local PD is already digital, or want to listen to LAPD for instance (You can hear them for miles outside Los Angeles) then think about spending the extra $$ for a digital scanner. If you're not interested in listen to digital transmissions, then you can go ahead and get a standard scanner, they're amazingly cheap these days.

But here's another factor that I personally think makes the BCD396XT so appealing. With the programming software, it's a breeze to program. Most of what you need you can be instantly imported from RadioReference.com (Another $15 for a account) If you've always  had scanners, it's going to take a bit to wrap your head around the dynamic memory, no more "channels" like a tradional scanner, but I've found it's 100 times better to use.

And, the best part, it's capable of holding 32,000 frequenices and 25,000 channels (Talk IDs for trunking are "channels" that aren't frequencies) If you're somewhere like San Bernardino and their massive trunk system, you're going to need space to put that system in.

But regardless of what you buy, the biggest piece of advice I can give anyone is to get a scanner with a alpha-numeric display. It helps so much knowing what the heck you're listening to, and makes things easier to find.

[NikonGuy]

Cool, thnx for the info Ken!

Well I live in the santa monica area and would like to pick up the local pd, specially beverly hills pd since I work in bh. I don't know what freq's they use, any suggestions will help.

Thanx! 

[Code20photog]

Santa Monica PD is digital encrypted. No scanner in the world can pick them up.

Here's FD:
482.01250     WIJ878     RM    100.0 PL    SM Fire Tac1    Santa Monica Dispatch/Tactical
482.32500     WIL344     RM    100.0 PL    SM Fire Tac2    Santa Monica Tactical/Fire Prevention
482.52500     WIL344     RM    100.0 PL    SM Fire Tac3    Santa Monica Data (MDT)/Command
487.23750     WIJ645     M    91.5 PL    SM Fire Tac4    Santa Monica Fireground

Beverly Hills PD is part of the ICIS Trunked system, but their primary channels supposedly still work on standard freqs.

453.52500     WNFT622     RM    131.8 PL    BLUE 1    Dispatch/Primary
453.22500     WNFT622     RM    114.8 PL    BLUE 11    Traffic Units

Beverly Hills FD

460.62500     KUX244     RM    156.7 PL    BevHillsFD 1    Dispatch
460.62500     KUX244     M    156.7 PL    BevHillsFD 2    Fireground
460.57500     KUX244     RM    173.8 PL    BevHillsFD3    Command
453.68750     WPLG718     M    79.7 PL    BevHillsFD5    Fireground

[NikonGuy]

Sweet!! That sure is helpful, thanks Ken!