[GCARC] P25

[Courtney Smith]

Randy,

The pricey P25 phase II scanners is what pushed me to get ham radio licensed.  The new Uiden SDS150 is going for $950 right now.  I can get a nice HF rig for that.

Years ago, I was exploring how I could listen to NJ's NJICS system.  While there are apps that let you play online feeds, you are the mercy of the feed providers.  The apps are just an interface to services like Broadcastify.com.  I discovered I could use SDR dongles.  That research is what eventually led me to ham radio.  Prior to that I thought ham was just another version of CB.

I realize your post is about a mobile option but I wanted to point out the lower‑cost alternative of using SDR dongles for home use.    

I’ve been providing the Cumberland County Fire/EMS feed on Broadcastify.com for 12 years.  Originally I used an old scanner and a $0.02 USB sound card plugged into a Raspberry Pi. When the county moved to their 700 MHz P25 system, I switched to an SDR dongle and a Raspberry Pi.  I run TrunkRecorder (https://github.com/TrunkRecorder/trunk-recorder), Liquidsoap, and Rdio Scanner (https://github.com/chuot/rdio-scanner) in Docker containers.  TruckRecorder decodes the system and makes the recordings of talkgroups I'm interested in. LiquidSoap feeds Broadcastify.  The Rdio Scanner app allows me to stream direct from my Pi independent of the stream sent to Broadcastify.

One advantage of my current system is it misses less traffic than a traditional scanner.  If there simultaneous transmissions on fireground 1 and fireground 2 , you only hear one with a scanner.  Trunk recorder is set to simultaneous record multiple talkgroups and a Python script queues them for playback.  I get to hear both transmissions with a slight delay.

If you’re comfortable tinkering a bit, you can set up a similar system at home. The number of SDR dongles will be based on the bandwith of the P25 system you plan to monitor.  Assuming you are interested in Delaware County PA's system, you need to capture signals in range 770.10625-773.63125 Mhz (https://www.radioreference.com/db/sid/13264).  Cheap dongles only cover about 2 Mhz(Jon WB2MNF will correct me if I'm wrong. LOL). But in practice I would only assign ~1 Mhz for each dongle to capture.

This solution won’t solve your mobile listening issue, but it’s a great option for monitoring from home without investing in a full‑blown P25 scanner.  The overall cost is much lower than buying a new scanner.  You just have to have some basic comfort navigating Linux and Python.

73,
Court KD2SPJ

p.s. There are some Windows based apps.  They just didn't fit my 24/7/365 use case.

________________________________________
From: gcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net <gcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Randy T via GCARC <gcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2025 11:23 AM
To: GCARC Mail List
Subject: [GCARC] P25

Is there a mobile and/or portable dual band ham radio, that also has the ability to scan P25 frequencies?
I have an FTM300DR in my car and I used to be able to listen to my local Police and Fire.
They have since upgraded their radio system to P25 and I lost the ability to listen.
I know there are portable and handheld scanners that can monitor P25, but they are quite costly.
Thanks
Randy
KC3VCC
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