InterceptRadio.com Forums

Been out of the scanner game since moving into an apt and generally focusing on other hobbies.
Now with winter coming on and trying to get into a house this next year I'm getting interested in scanning again.
I've tried catching up and am wondering where my equipment stands and/or what you all might recommend for scanners.

:Uniden BC785D (no apco card)
:Yaesu ft60r
:Yaesu ft7900r (vehicle based)

I enjoy listening to aircraft and that's one of the reasons I picked up the yaesu ft60r.
I'd like to listen to more common agencies in Pierce County, specifically those around Puyallup & surrounding communities.
Living between the 2 sets of train tracks I wonder if there's much chatter going on with the railroad?

Reading articles related to a google search they make it sound like the end of scanning (public service) as a hobby is right on the horizon. Is it?

No it's not ending. But it is changing.

Depending upon what you want to hear its changing a little - or a lot.

Lots of movement towards digital carriers. Much of it (that is unencrypted) can be heard with a "P25 compatible" digital scanner.

Another direction to go, and gives you more flexibility, is to use PC software like DSD. It would be worth reading up on that.

Air is still analog AM, most railroad (around here) is analog FM.

From there it is the never ending journey of discovery that is what makes this hobby exciting for me.

For railroad stuff, we have a sub-forum specifically devoted to that. There's also at least 2 resident railroad comms gurus on the board.

Aircraft- We used to have one expert hanging around, but he's gone walkabout or something. I believe there's another one lurking around.

Public safety- Puyallup/Sumner/Bonney Lake areas use the Puyallup cell of the Tacoma/Pierce County 800mhz trunked system. Tacoma is on another cell that's primarily theirs...The info *should* be in the database. All the agencies have clear dispatch talkgroups, and fully encrypted tac channels. You should be able to listen to Puyallup PD no problem.

The 900-pound gorilla: Tacoma/Pierce County's trunked system is changing to a P25 Phase 2 system, mixed 700 and 800mhz. I talked to a person deeply involved with it's deployment last night, and he indicates systemwide encryption for law enforcement and a good deal of it for fire. I tried to get an independent confirmation out of one of the radio techs that hangs out here, all he would say was "They're going to be using radios". :roll:

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President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Railroad scanning will be changing (and already has in some places) since the AAR is moving their channels to Kenwood's NXDN digital modulation. You won't be able to monitor this from a scanner.

There is a way to monitor from the computer but you'll need some extra hardware to do this...

I believ ICOM sells their newer black box receiver to be compatible with an NXDN module

I don't think the digital modulation for the RR's is going to change soon enough to worry, they will roll out Positive Train Separation first. I know of a few shortlines that still haven't NB' yet.

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

I was wrong. The PCR 2500 can accept either a P25 or a D Star digital receiver module. There does not appear to be an NXDN module available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii2h0Y1w-x8 . Lots of fun . Good info online .

The 785 should bring you lots of aircraft action, you live next to 2 very large military bases with some interesting aircarft based there. Do you want to listen to civil or military?

About the only thing not going to digital any time soon... aviation...

Well, that and the NOAA Weather Radio! :lol:

Thanks for the info everyone.

I'd have to say I'm more interested in PD and some FD around me.

Most all my air listening is done with my ft60r, I specifically bought it over the cheap chinese knock off to get AM airband and it's been working fine for my needs. Mainly I like to tune into local CTAF freq while out driving by airports or grabbing a bite at Thun Field or eating an ice cream while lined up at the end of Auburn.
A few years ago I tuned into a couple of air demonstration teams and while it was interesting it wasn't something I'm too interested in bothering with again.

With the change to digital, is it worthwhile for me to look into getting the additional apco25 card for my scanner (BC785D).
I have an ultrabook w/ usb I could use but I wonder about mobile interference with those usb stick looking computer based radio's.

Rail: I'm living between the 2 lines running through Puyallup/Sumner and just wonder is there much happening in railcomms?

No it wouldn't be... the 785 is a totally different scanner than the 396xt/996xt scanner line. Even if you could find that optional card, it'd likely cost a small fortune. You'd be better off just buying one of those. You can sometimes find a good deal on EBay.



IMHO, they're nothing more than a fad. Their performance isn't all that great and if you value your time, it's probably cheaper to just buy a newer [digital] scanner.

I think I've read enough to understand why the 785 isn't worth updating though it'll still work fine for some things.

So typing that, what are your recommendations for Good, Better, Best to move up to digital scanning? Uniden?, GRE?, WinRadio- seems awful expensive, worth the $$$?
I'd prefer either a desktop/mobile but a computer req'd style would be ok though I'm not wild about handhelds.

Just spent some time reading about those Software Defined Radio (SDR) setups and I have to say while it's not an elegant solution for around $100 it certainly looks interesting and fits my budget much better!

Here: https://sites.google.com/site/policescannerhowto/

I do see what you mean about valuing your time vs turn key setup but I'm a bit of a computer geek and wouldn't mind the challenge.

Thanks for the help.

Uniden BCD996XT

I would probably go in order: PSR-800, 996XT and 396XT since the 800 supports X2-TDMA and Phase 2 P25. The Uniden models don't.

The Unidens are easiest to operate manually and via software. The PSR-800 can be somewhat confusing at first but once you understand it, it's pretty nifty. The downside is that you need to program it ahead of time...

You can do limit searches on the PSR-800 of course.