Desktop police scanners

[o0o]

I have a handheld RadioShack Pro-94 police/fire scanner, that I use to find out what is going on everytime the sirens roar by my street.

It does a good job, but because it is top heavy often falls, and I'm not crazy about the microscopic buttons that are hard to see and harder to push.

What are the better desktop scanners (the kind that are build horizontally rather than vertically)?

Preferably with larger buttons and easier to read display (possibly something that lights up in the night?)

I've looked at the Unidens.... they look okay... but is there anything more high end/higher quality?

 

[Burgess]

I certainly understand what you mean about tipping-over.


My father (years ago) made for me,
several wooden "stands", which prop-up a hand-held scanner radio
very nicely, at a comfortable angle.


Does nothing for the tiny buttons, of course.



But i found a desktop/plug-in scanner to be Too Restrictive.


I liked carrying it from room to room, or outdoors, as needed.


Your mileage may vary. YMMV

_

 

[o0o]

^I agree about the lack of mobility with a desktop scanner, but my idea is to keep the desktop scanner in one room-- and carry the handheld around if something big is going on that I want to listen to while I'm in a different room.

Despite being in a fairly safe area, there have been times when police helicopters were circling the neighborhood and being able to instantly know what is going on is addicting!

 

[macforsale]

GRE is another you might look at. Big following for both Uniden and GRE, my current lineup includes two Unidens. You can pay more but I don't know that you get more.

Check out RadioReference.com. Several forums covering many topics.

 

[Lit Up]

whatever it is choose carefully and make sure it has digital trunking. If the departments use encryption even this won't do you any good. I see the DT models in the $500.00 plus range usually, big reason I haven't purchased one.

 

[Probedude]

I've been out of scanners for a while - was heavily into it and still have my Pro-2004, pro-2026 and bearcat 800xlt from when I bought them new.

Recently thought about getting a trunking scanner but don't know where to start.

 

[Burgess]

Me too !


Nowadays, it's become SO confusing ! ! !



_

 

[o0o]

The trunking methods confuse me, luckily my local emergency staff still use the older method.

I have still not figured out how to set up trunking (the CHP uses it).

 

[powernoodle]

I used to listen to the scanner quiet a bit. Not only police, fire, etc., but wacky stuff like mall security and fast food drive-thrus. Used to even take a scanner to minor league baseball games and listen to the employee chatter. Maybe I need to give it another listen. Its been so long ago that I don't even know if my local PD is trunked, which is way beyond my skills set.

 

[karlthev]

I believe the Radio Shack 2004, 2005 and 2006 scanners were built by GRE and these were some of the finest ever made at the time and still classics. They followed (more or less) very similar design to the Radio Shack Pro 43 handheld scanners as I remember.


Karl

 

[Aluminous]

Its been so long ago that I don't even know if my local PD is trunked

You can find out here! http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/

Database of what frequencies and digital stuff is used in cities across the country.

It's a subject I'm somewhat interested in, but haven't actually bought any equipment because of this:

I see the DT models in the $500.00 plus range usually, big reason I haven't purchased one.

 

[Probedude]

I modified a few of my scanners to drive a relay off the squelch output. That would then be used to turn a tape player on and off. The tape player was modified to run very slow so I could get a few hours of recording out of a 90 minute tape (might have been a 120 min tape). I'd would usually have it running on the holidays especially Halloween and New Years Eve scanning the police and emergency frequencies.

Ahh, those were the days, when cordless phones used 47Mhz and were not encrypted! Amazing how far one could hear with a rooftop antenna.

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

A lot of PD, FD, and others are switching to the 800mHz frequencies. Something you might want to take into affect when looking for a new scanner.

 

[o0o]

Does the 800 mHz frequency not work with most scanners?

Which scanners would this frequency work with?

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

Just make sure that the scanner you buy is capable of that frequency.