[Scan-DC] Scanner Hobby 2018

[Greg Danes]

Well these observations are all mine so feel free to comment. I have been a
scanner hobbyist since 1976, back in the non-digital days and like many of
you I went through so many scanners and receivers . I think the hobby is
still viable in so many ways even if you cannot afford a 500 dollar digital
all mode scanner radio.

I don't think I need to explain that last comment except to say the
possibilities are endless.

As scanner buffs I see a lot of analog radio going to digital DMR for the
commercial sector. That being schools, private security, businesses, etc.
The digital APCO-25 folks will be around a long time for Public Safety but
some are falling back on either simulcasting on analog as a backup or for
coverage or both. The oddball protocols like Next-Edge NXDN may be down the
road as a adopted FD/PD mode but I sort of doubt it.

Hytera was adopted in the UK and they also use encryption on top of that so
the buffs across the pond are out of luck. X2-TDMA I think is also around
the corner for us so to speak but for the most part the scanner industry
has adapted to the market quite well and has added these modes and
protocols as they come along.

If you want a "basic" radio to monitor basic FD/PD you really only need a
modest phase 1 digital which has dropped in price form 500.00 a 7 years ago
to 250.00. Add another 100 bucks for APCO-25 phase 2 and so on.

We might be best served to have multiple radios at this point. My analogs
still do fine business with aircraft and simulcast FD scanning. I can
digitally monitor events anywhere in the country (single channel), with an
android app, and with a visual alert BTW that shows how many users are
currently listening.

If you are a HAM radio person with a modesty priced DMR radio, aka TYT-380
or such you can listen to the aforementioned business DMR channels and
"scan them" when not on 2 meters. So my point is ( Thank God he finally got
there! :) the hobby is still alive even with encryption being used where it
shouldn't be.

SDR dongles (20.00 on Amazon)  come to mind as well for wide band
monitoring of the VHF/UHF spectrum. SDR is the future of scanning and most
other radio hardware, No?

comments?

Greg/KJ4DGE