Good starter scanner?
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abuasa
Good starter scanner?
whats a good starter scanner? I don't need anything fancy just want to hear the fire dept. If this town catches fire only two ways down the hill not involving a long drop.
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BigBopper
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theonlysilentbob
Pick the most expensive you can afford... seriously!
Case example...
"I want to hear fire"
- So you buy a $100 analog conventional scanner, but all the fire action in your area is trunked, except for the paging-dispatch channel which is conventional.
So you can hear where the fires are but not much else...
"I want to know what's going on with the fire"
- You go out and buy a $200 trunked analog scanner, so now you can hear fire in action. It is cool for a while then you hear about a stabbing or shooting or theft on the news. You discover it happened while you were listening but the local police are 800 MHz digital.
"I want to hear police"
- You go out and buy a $500 dollar scanner which can do digital, it is awesome you hear everything but all of a sudden you find your scanner uses banks and lists. It claims to have 1000 channels, with 10 banks. You can mix conventional and trunked systems but you can't mix trunked systems and you are only allowed one trunked system per bank. That means you can only have 10 trunked systems, but you take your scanner with you everywhere and want to listen to 15 trunked systems and another 1000 conventional channels, plus you need all the conventional digital and analog backup channels in case the trunked system goes down.
"I need more memory!!!"
- You go out and buy the latest scanner for $700 or $800, now you have 16,000 channels with unlimited banks meaning unlimited trunked systems and conventional systems. NOW you are happy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See my point? =)
Don't short sell yourself, it is not worth it, you will not be happy LOL. Trust me; you always want more and more AND more. You will always say "I should have got that one instead for $50 more!"
Don't go over the edge, like don't pay more than you can afford or anything, but don't go cheap cheap either.
:D
Case example...
"I want to hear fire"
- So you buy a $100 analog conventional scanner, but all the fire action in your area is trunked, except for the paging-dispatch channel which is conventional.
So you can hear where the fires are but not much else...
"I want to know what's going on with the fire"
- You go out and buy a $200 trunked analog scanner, so now you can hear fire in action. It is cool for a while then you hear about a stabbing or shooting or theft on the news. You discover it happened while you were listening but the local police are 800 MHz digital.
"I want to hear police"
- You go out and buy a $500 dollar scanner which can do digital, it is awesome you hear everything but all of a sudden you find your scanner uses banks and lists. It claims to have 1000 channels, with 10 banks. You can mix conventional and trunked systems but you can't mix trunked systems and you are only allowed one trunked system per bank. That means you can only have 10 trunked systems, but you take your scanner with you everywhere and want to listen to 15 trunked systems and another 1000 conventional channels, plus you need all the conventional digital and analog backup channels in case the trunked system goes down.
"I need more memory!!!"
- You go out and buy the latest scanner for $700 or $800, now you have 16,000 channels with unlimited banks meaning unlimited trunked systems and conventional systems. NOW you are happy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See my point? =)
Don't short sell yourself, it is not worth it, you will not be happy LOL. Trust me; you always want more and more AND more. You will always say "I should have got that one instead for $50 more!"
Don't go over the edge, like don't pay more than you can afford or anything, but don't go cheap cheap either.
:D
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Rex_foxhound
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theonlysilentbob
Definately the BCD 996T Mobile/Base scanner from Uniden, it does everything you can possibly scan, 500 systems with 6000 channels.
Currently the top of line for police scanners, you are looking at a base price of $550, only goes up from there. It was originally like $800 LOL.
The BCD 396T is basically the portable version of the 996T (5500 channels instead of 6000).
Again, $550 and up.
Currently the top of line for police scanners, you are looking at a base price of $550, only goes up from there. It was originally like $800 LOL.
The BCD 396T is basically the portable version of the 996T (5500 channels instead of 6000).
Again, $550 and up.
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theonlysilentbob
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Mr RadioActive
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theonlysilentbob
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Maverick
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