InterceptRadio.com Forums

I just bought this scanner and am thinking about returning it. Thought I would check a forum for any advice first. I have ran it using zip code and I have used sentinel to program just my county. Either way I never hear any police, just ambulance and fire. I live in Thomaston Georgia zip is 30286. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Steve

What are you using for an antenna ? Does the scanner have good elevation above ground level and (if using the attached antenna) is it near a window ?

Just the antenna that comes with it. I can hear police from another county but not here.

It appears that county may be using NXDN for law enforcement

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

Steve, you'd have to purchase the NXDN upgrade from Uniden to be able to receive/hear any LE traffic from local PD or sheriff **IF** the RR database is correct.

Go here and create an account. Then register your scanner... once you do that then you can see the available upgrades for the scanner. And no, the NXDN upgrade is NOT free. ;o)

https://my.uniden.com/

Thank for the help, do other brands come with everything needed like (NXDN)? I'm trying to decide if I should return this or just buy the upgrade. It's $50 for the upgrade. thanks again for the info.

Well it's $50 for the NXDN upgrade. There's also DMR that you may want to consider as well.

The only scanner that comes with all modes are the Whistler TRX-1 or TRX-2 scanner. There are some technical differences but bottom line is that you should be able to hear NXDN without issue.

Now if the local PD is using encryption then neither scanner will help.

If you can find a TRX-1 scanner then it's definitely a worthy choice.

Thank you, I did the upgrade and it is so much better now. What would DMR add?

Glad it working for you!

DMR is the standard that MotoTRBO uses for mostly commercial biz -- but even some local governments are using it. USPS uses it in most of their distribution centers now and even federal LE have been known to tinker with it too. DMR can be used simplex or in trunk mode. NXDN is a competing digital standard developed by Kenwood.

In larger cities, if you scan 450-470 then you'll likely hear a lot of digital noise -- which is most likely DMR. There's even VHF DMR now. HAMs use DMR in some areas -- mostly on UHF. In rural areas, it may not be used nearly as much but since the MotoTRBO radios can do analog or digital then it can be a simple upgrade path for a business. Basic encryption is included with TRBO (but not enabled by default.)

Your scanner does come with P25 already enabled -- probably the most important digital mode. Search the federal bands (138-144, 148-150, 162-174 and 406-420) for P25 in your area and report back to us.

Please post any loggings in the SE USA forum. Be sure to include the FREQUENCY, NAC, RID (Radio ID) and location -- if possible.

Note: you'll have to pay attention a bit to the display as Uniden will not audibly alert you if it detects P25 encrypted traffic -- you'll see data on the screen and the "ENC" icon but no audio output. If there's audio output then the signal probably isn't encrypted.

Good luck!