first scanner help geelong

[jord4231]

Hi all.
I was in my local dse store today looking at buying a scanner I was looking at the uniden ubc355xlt I want to moubt it in my car permently as I do a lot of driving.

Just wondering what I can expect to listen to with it in the geelong region I understand police are digital and encrypted and thats fine just lookong at getting in to it on a low budget.

I had an old mariene radio I used to beable to pick up weather warnings with that was good.
Any help or advice would be great cheers

[vkcpolice]

You can expect to hear most country region police mainly the south west considering your in geelong. You will be able to hear cfa and a range of smr transmissions including ses and rural ambulace servises however these transmissions can not be trunked so you will hear a varietry of things still worth the buy i have a digital scanner and i still prefer to carry around my analouge cause there is so much more to hear.

[Comint]

Hi all.
I was in my local dse store today looking at buying a scanner I was looking at the uniden ubc355xlt I want to moubt it in my car permently as I do a lot of driving.

Just wondering what I can expect to listen to with it in the geelong region I understand police are digital and encrypted and thats fine just lookong at getting in to it on a low budget.

I had an old mariene radio I used to beable to pick up weather warnings with that was good.
Any help or advice would be great cheers

The Emergency Services in Victoria are Digital, or are in the process of moving to Digital, and the UBC355XLT will NOT receive Digital.

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Comint

[jord4231]

Im now confused should I buy or not?

[vkcpolice]

No only metro is digital and the cfa rural digital roll out is not due to 2014-2015 all country regions are analouge if you buy that scanner tommorow i gurentee you. You will hear all emergency servises from regional victoria if you want to listen to melbourne serviceses you will need a digital scanner even in melb cbd on a handheld you can hear regional victorian emergency servises so at the end of the day its up to you.

[Pumper_50]

Why get an Analogue scanner that will only be good for 18- 36 months on some services?

Look seriously at getting a Digital capable one then you get the best of both worlds. Analogue & Digital.

You're increasing your listening opportunities and scanners viability and usefulness lifespan.

Listening opportunity checklist for Emergency Services.

Analogue Scanner:
- Victoria Police (Country Rural)
- Country Fire Authority (for 18-36 months)
- Ambulance Victoria (Rural)

Digital Scanner:
- Metropolitan Fire Brigade
- Ambulance Victoria (Metropolitan)
- Ambulance Victoria (Rural)
- Victoria Police (Rural)
- County Fire Authority (Currently building new digital network)

Victoria Police are poking around and asking a few questions in regards to replacing its current Rural VHF Communications Systems for a digital one, admittedly it would probably be encrypted in the long run.

Digital Scanners are a little more expensive, but like I said you get the best of both worlds and are creating listening opportunities for yourself for the future.

You're also looking to have it in your car. When you travel to Melbourne I guarantee you'll want to hear whatever city services you can.

[vkcpolice]

Guess im just too scared to carry around a $400 scanner in my pocket in melb lol

[Pumper_50]

LOL

On the belt clip and a ear piece mate. Although the belt clip the Unidens come with is a little to protruding for my liking.

You can always remove the clip and sit it in an internal jacket pocket in the cooler months.

[vkcpolice]

Lol true still due to my paranoia i just use it at home witch is kinda stupid considering theres no digital here. My uniden 396xt didnt come with a ear piece do you know where i could buy one from in the city?

[jord4231]

Thank you all for your advice can anyone recommend a good first car digital scanner ?

[vkcpolice]

Uniden 996xt your looking at around $500-600 cause there hard to find ill buy the uniden 396xt and get the remote head for it that way you can use it in car and take it out portable ebay is your best place to start searching.

[Comint]

Uniden 996xt your looking at around $500-600 cause there hard to find ill buy the uniden 396xt and get the remote head for it that way you can use it in car and take it out portable ebay is your best place to start searching.

The 396XT comes in two versions:-

the BCD396XT, to meet American conditions, and
the UBCD396XT, to meet Australian conditions.

The American 396XT and 996XT do NOT cover all the Australian Bands.

The American Remote Head does NOT work with the Australian 396XT, or vice versa.

There is NO Australian version of the 996XT.

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Comint

[jord4231]

Well after thinking a lot about it dse will crunch on the price of that uniden to 150, think i might get that as it fits my budget well thanks for every ones help

[Newy1234]

There is also the Uniden UBCD996T which is no longer made by Uniden but do come up second hand on ebay etc and go for about $400.00. This is an Australian version. It looks the same or very similar to the American BCD996XT.

As listed above I would stay away from the American versions.

Just to clarify for Australia digital Uniden scanners:

The handheld which is still available is a UBCD396XT and the incar or home base scanner was the UBCD996T.

It is easy to get the model numbers confused with the American ones.

All the American versions do not cover the VHF low band that is used alot in Aust.