Scanner suggestions please

[Kremithefrog]

I'm looking for a good, affordable scanner for use in my automobiles. I'm looking to not spend over $100 total, though I can go a bit higher if need be. New,used, ebay is all fine. I have two cars and it would be great if I could easily switch it between the two. Decent range is ok, I don't need to listen to things from 20+ miles away. I like the idea of a uniden with beartracker warning, but I'm guessing it's not really that useful so it's OK if I don't get it. Thanks.

[Kremithefrog]

I purchased the radio shack pro 2051. I also bought a cigarette power adapter for it and a splitter, so I can use it easily in both cars along with my radar detector, without any hard wiring. I'm going to try it with the standard antenna but if I feel I need more range, I'm going to try this:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/4534.html

or maybe http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/1190.html or

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/0976.html or

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/1820.html

It does use a BNC plug right?

Also, any suggestions on computer software (free preferred)? Is this the cheapest I'll find the cable: http://www.greamerica.com/scanner.html ?

Thanks.

[glock 23]

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/adamwn...e2.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/adamwn...e2.jpg&.src=ph


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/adamwn...e2.jpg&.src=ph

i also have the pro 2051 and it works great with this antenna

$40.00 or so - it has a nmo mount and it brings in everything clear

i bought it off ebay. good luck

[jimbonzzz]

Don't write off the Highway Patrol Alert so quickly. While it might not be of much use in some states, in others it can be almost as good as having Psychic powers. This depends on the radio system.

Jim

[methusaleh]

1) You may have to spend well north of $100 to hear anything in your area after rebanding takes place. If I were you I'd consult all the references I can about rebanding in your area before making a purchase. Very few scanners on the market at this time will be able to be reflashed (CPU reprogramming) once rebanding takes effect.

2) One very easy way to figure out how far you are from a cruiser would be to program the repeater INPUT frequency, in fact my scanners each have a bank dedicated to just this. VHF varies, but UHF 450-465 will be +5 MHz. 470 to 472 will be + 3MHz. 800MHz is -45MHz.

Examples:

Repeater output (what 99.99% of the population puts in their scanners, which will let you hear BOTH SIDES of the transmission clearly):

460.500 MHz

Add 5MHz and you get 465.500 for the input.

Another example:

855.1625MHz output = 810.1625 input (output minus 45MHz)

Monitor the inputs and you'll be able to tell how far you are from the officer. Most departments these days don't seem to use mobile extenders anymore, at least where I travel. But there are common mobile extender frequencies, some moreso than others. One common area for those is 465 to 466MHz. They are usually narrow-band splinter freqs not used by anyone else in the area. The department I worked for had Motorola PAC/RT mobile extenders, which used only one frequency, but separate PL tones for TX and RX. Each cruiser had a different frequency, so each officer could have his own portable and change channels according to what cruiser was that day's assignment. Our primary freq was low band in case you are wondering, that's why we had UHF extenders.