Anyone have a Scanner?
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Rex_foxhound
Anyone have a Scanner?
I have a Radio Shack Pro 96 scanner. It is amazing. I got the RS guys to program there at the shop. It is kinda complicated at first but it is purdy cool what you can hear.
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Phaze91460
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Rex_foxhound
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theonlysilentbob
Don't bother trying to figure it out totally.. you never will, the only guy who probably knows everything about the scanner is the guy who made it.
You literally need a university degee and a team of technicians to figure it out. All I know is that the computer puts in the frequencies people tell me and it works! LOL
You literally need a university degee and a team of technicians to figure it out. All I know is that the computer puts in the frequencies people tell me and it works! LOL
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Rex_foxhound
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oknaz
Scanners
I have a base/mobile unit that's been turned off now for 6 month's . Almost every agency went to that dumb 800 trunked crap . now i'm just listening to air band / game dept / highway patrol / wx . But mostly i'll listen to air band since we have those C-130's doing drop's to fight fires and they have to land at williams gateway for more fuel .
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BigBubbaBD
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Rex_foxhound
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stickman
I KNOW THIS ISN'T THE PROPER PLACE TO TRY AND SEE IF ANYONE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN A RADIO SHACK PRO-89 200 CHANNEL VHF/AIR/UHF800 MHz HANDHELD RACE SCANNER! IT HAS BEEN HARDLY USED. I HAVE TAKEN IT TO A COUPLE OF RACES ALSO HAVE THE HEADSETS WELL. I'LL TRY TO POST A PIC THIS EVENING.
THANKS
STICKMAN
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theonlysilentbob
Awww come on guys, Trunking and Digital are not all that bad or hard to follow 
Actually, that's the main reason many services left, plus Motorola convinced most agencies that trunking is superior to conventional when in fact that is not the case. Sure, with a trunking system you can pretend to have 40 channels using only 6 frequencies, minus the control channels of course but truth be told what happens if things really get busy and 5 or 6 people try and talk at once? They think they are on a real channel using a talkgroup of course when in fact they are all sharing those 5 frequencies. The computer will go bonkers and someone will step all over someone else, probably coming up on the wrong system too.
While trunking does help to alleviate the big crunch with not enough frequencies the reality is that most systems even when switched to 800 MHz have plenty of room for conventional systems with just as many channels as you have fake talkgroups with a trunked system.
Motorola just convinced everyone trunking was better.
Now with OpenSky which uses a TDMA digital system Florida is going bonkers with troopers ending up all over the place on the wrong channels and not being able to communicate, that’s exactly why you don’t put touch screens on walkie-talkies, the emergency services are not radio tech’s, they just want a knob with 5 channels, easy, quick and the radio wont go all over the place. What’s make OpenSky even worse is a lack of inter agency compatibility!!!
I really do wonder sometimes, what has happened to the old conventional systems which were reliable and efficient. They are still there, but just serving as a backup system, effectively still occupying the space they originally did when they were the primary system.
There are even less advantages to digital over FM. Any Apco-25 compliant radio system will have exceptional sound quality, modern vocoders do a fine job with the codecs available and the error correction rates of digital system are exceptional, but the problems start when you cross the 70% threshold. If your radio gets less than 70% of a signal even the error correction on the digital systems can’t save your signal which is where FM wins out. It is true that with a digital systems noise and picket fencing are really not common issues such as with FM systems but at least with good old FM you can still hear very weak signals, unlike digital, although in some cases the digital threshold is lower and things can be heard which would otherwise be sub audible but in the VHF high bands and above FM is more audible than digital normally. In fact the main reason why groups go digital is not for improved voice reception but the ability to use a mobile computer system which is completely compliant. That’s the main advantage, having the ability to use a computer system directly through the radio and allowing a true internet type interface rather than the traditional “bucks of info down, very little back” approach where the dispatcher sends out tons of data. CAD systems are a good example of this poor relationship which also explains why systems tend to go wonky and act up.
So in the end, good old conventional is still the best but it seems everyone has been convinced otherwise!
Actually, that's the main reason many services left, plus Motorola convinced most agencies that trunking is superior to conventional when in fact that is not the case. Sure, with a trunking system you can pretend to have 40 channels using only 6 frequencies, minus the control channels of course but truth be told what happens if things really get busy and 5 or 6 people try and talk at once? They think they are on a real channel using a talkgroup of course when in fact they are all sharing those 5 frequencies. The computer will go bonkers and someone will step all over someone else, probably coming up on the wrong system too.
While trunking does help to alleviate the big crunch with not enough frequencies the reality is that most systems even when switched to 800 MHz have plenty of room for conventional systems with just as many channels as you have fake talkgroups with a trunked system.
Motorola just convinced everyone trunking was better.
Now with OpenSky which uses a TDMA digital system Florida is going bonkers with troopers ending up all over the place on the wrong channels and not being able to communicate, that’s exactly why you don’t put touch screens on walkie-talkies, the emergency services are not radio tech’s, they just want a knob with 5 channels, easy, quick and the radio wont go all over the place. What’s make OpenSky even worse is a lack of inter agency compatibility!!!
I really do wonder sometimes, what has happened to the old conventional systems which were reliable and efficient. They are still there, but just serving as a backup system, effectively still occupying the space they originally did when they were the primary system.
There are even less advantages to digital over FM. Any Apco-25 compliant radio system will have exceptional sound quality, modern vocoders do a fine job with the codecs available and the error correction rates of digital system are exceptional, but the problems start when you cross the 70% threshold. If your radio gets less than 70% of a signal even the error correction on the digital systems can’t save your signal which is where FM wins out. It is true that with a digital systems noise and picket fencing are really not common issues such as with FM systems but at least with good old FM you can still hear very weak signals, unlike digital, although in some cases the digital threshold is lower and things can be heard which would otherwise be sub audible but in the VHF high bands and above FM is more audible than digital normally. In fact the main reason why groups go digital is not for improved voice reception but the ability to use a mobile computer system which is completely compliant. That’s the main advantage, having the ability to use a computer system directly through the radio and allowing a true internet type interface rather than the traditional “bucks of info down, very little back” approach where the dispatcher sends out tons of data. CAD systems are a good example of this poor relationship which also explains why systems tend to go wonky and act up.
So in the end, good old conventional is still the best but it seems everyone has been convinced otherwise!
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oknaz
Here is the REAL problem with the trunking in today's radio's . The freq's are fine but what most dept's don't understand is the signal get's cut or no signal at all . (EX : you take an officer that goes in a large building that's mostly concrete and lot's of steel that officer tries making radio contact to a officer outside . Who do you think will hear the officer in the building NOT 1 person Signal is cut down by struture and not enough power in the hand held to request anything . radio's are only 3.5 to 4 watt's but time the signal hit's the tower OMG time is half lost for any back up
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theonlysilentbob
That's a really good point!
They put voting receivers everywhere to fix that problem or to make portables more reliable but usually there are only a handful of towers which TX and most of those will only carry one of the trunked channels which means the control channel is only on one tower.
Once the portable radio can't hear the control channel it just won’t want to work, even if the voting receiver gets a full 9 - 9 signal.
About a year ago Motorola convinced a small rural farming town to my north with a population of only about 1500 people that their 2 analog VHF channels, 1 for police & one for fire, were not good. They then bought a million dollar trunked 800 MHz system from Motorola, can you imagine trying to replace a VHF system with an 800 MHz system in the country? They are now in the process of suing Motorola for false advertising since the system is pretty much unusable.
They put voting receivers everywhere to fix that problem or to make portables more reliable but usually there are only a handful of towers which TX and most of those will only carry one of the trunked channels which means the control channel is only on one tower.
Once the portable radio can't hear the control channel it just won’t want to work, even if the voting receiver gets a full 9 - 9 signal.
About a year ago Motorola convinced a small rural farming town to my north with a population of only about 1500 people that their 2 analog VHF channels, 1 for police & one for fire, were not good. They then bought a million dollar trunked 800 MHz system from Motorola, can you imagine trying to replace a VHF system with an 800 MHz system in the country? They are now in the process of suing Motorola for false advertising since the system is pretty much unusable.
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Mr RadioActive
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theonlysilentbob
Fail Soft
The trunked system out here (Motorola 800 Type 2) just failed horribly.
One of the control channels got wiped out good and the whole system crashed down to fail soft. It is pretty funny when 5 police divisions can hear each other and don't know why.
Either way, that aweful beeping has been driving me nuts, why the hell do they do that? Can't they beep like once a minute instead of every 2 seconds.
One of the control channels got wiped out good and the whole system crashed down to fail soft. It is pretty funny when 5 police divisions can hear each other and don't know why.
Either way, that aweful beeping has been driving me nuts, why the hell do they do that? Can't they beep like once a minute instead of every 2 seconds.
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Maverick
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bosshog
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Maverick
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I'm sorry Bosshog, it is illegal to have a scanner in a car capable of receiving police transmissions in Michigan. Now it's up to you if you wanna take the risk or not. Yes, there are quite a few scanners out there the same size as a radio chassis that you could mount just fine. The best Analog Trunking Mobile(CB size chassis) scanner in my opinion is the Radio Shack Pro-2055. It is the base model of the excellent pro-97 handheld. These radios are on sale right now at Radio Shack for $159.99 off $199.99; but you could probably get it cheaper on eBay. Hope this helps!bosshog wrote:is there a scanner out there that could be mounted in a car in place of a radio. i don't know if it even legal to do so, but i thought about mounting a scanner where my radio used to me in my pickup since i have relocated it to the center of the dash.
I will post the whole list here for reference for other CBRT members with similar questions
LEGAL LEGAL LEGAL-HAM LEGAL-HAM-NOVICE
RADAR MOBILE MOBILE MOBILE
UNITED STATES DETECTORS SCANNERS SCANNERS SCANNERS
--------------------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
ALABAMA.............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
ALASKA............... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
ARIZONA.............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
ARKANSAS............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
CALIFORNIA........... YES...... YES**.... YES**.... .........
COLORADO............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
CONNECTICUT.......... YES...... YES...... YES...... ......... 12/02/97
DELAWARE............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
DIST. OF COLUMBIA.... NO ...... NO ...... .......... .........
FLORIDA.............. YES...... NO ...... YES...... .........
GEORGIA.............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
HAWAII............... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
IDAHO................ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
ILLINOIS............. YES...... YES...... YES...... YES......
INDIANA.............. YES...... NO ...... YES...... .........
IOWA................. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
KANSAS............... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
KENTUCKY............. YES...... NO........ YES...... YES...... 05/16/96
LOUISIANA............ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MAINE................ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MARYLAND............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MASSACHUSETTS........ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MICHIGAN............. YES...... NO ...... YES...... NO.......
MINNESOTA............ YES...... NO ...... YES...... .........
MISSISSIPPI.......... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MISSOURI............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
MONTANA.............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NEBRASKA............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NEVADA............... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NEW HAMPSHIRE........ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NEW JERSEY........... YES...... YES...... YES...... YES......
NEW MEXICO........... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NEW YORK............. NO....... *NO....... YES...... .........
NORTH CAROLINA....... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
NORTH DAKOTA......... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
OHIO................. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
OKLAHOMA............. YES...... *YES...... ......... .........
OREGON............... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
PENNSYLVANIA......... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
RHODE ISLAND......... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
SOUTH CAROLINA....... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
SOUTH DAKOTA......... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
TENNESSEE............ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
TEXAS................ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
UTAH................. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
VERMONT.............. YES...... *YES...... ......... .........
VIRGINIA............. NO ...... YES...... YES...... .........
WASHINGTON........... YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
WEST VIRGINIA........ YES...... *YES...... YES...... .........
WISCONSIN............ YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
WYOMING.............. YES...... YES...... YES...... .........
Catch ya' Later Modulator!
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bosshog
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busman
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- Joined: Dec 27 2006, 12:04
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