POLICE SCANNERS
Any scanner people have answers? I'd love to hear them too before I plop down some money.
IIRC, Chief Sparks said last month in his AFP interview that they were NOT switching radios...?
Back in the "old days",, 
"Hey you kids get outa my yard!" Back then,, scanners had crystals for each dept. Police,, Fire,, State Police, County Police. As time went by all departments started going to different radio band wave lengths, doing away with the old crystal system. (i.e Bearcat scanners found themselfs in yard sales.) Back in the late 8o's the big push was the 800 mag system, now "they" are finding drawbacks with the 800 system. Now they are leaning towards a 400 mag system. Sooooo if all agencies change to a new system,, all you have to do is reprogram your scanner. Shouldn't be a problem.
Honest the expert in all of this is "Medic",,,, p.m. him for the lastest info.
Guglielmo Marconi Sparrow
All the city departments went to the 800 megahertz frequencies a few years ago. This was a real nightmare for the emergency people as sometimes the towers were busy with chatter from the street dept and others that all used the same systems. Eventually someone regained some sense and guess what they did? They went back to the old frequencies after spending milions of dollars on a system that was very flawed. I dont believe they will change again anytime soon.
Radiorefrence.com is an awesome place to go for answers. Sorry to promote another site, but they have quite a few very knowlegeable people there.
Madison county has 4 diffrent radio systems. First, all of the fire departments are on a VHF system they fall under frequencies from 150-160Mhz. Second, Anderson PD and FD are on a UHF system. Those frequencies are in the 400Mhz range. Third Madison county, and small town PD are on an 800mhz system. Note, all of the previous systems are analog, and able to be monitored with out a "trunk tracker" scanner. Now finally, ISP and other state agencies, as well as some surrounding counties, are on the SAFE-T system. Go to in.gov and search for SAFE-T to find out more... To recive those frequencies, you would need a digital trunk tracking scanner. Expect, even on e-bay to put down >$400. Also make note, a digital scanner, doesn't make analog frequencies sound any better.
Giggity
Dawg & andersonbrent,,, Please go to the head of the class.
Two outstanding posts. (made me feel like I was home, with my old crew again )
Uniden BC350C
This scanner can be purchased at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, and many other locations, as well as E-Bay. Has 50 user programmable memories, which is more than enough for Madison County. Little tricky to program at first, but once you catch on it is a breeze. This is the scanner I own, and would reccomend it to anyone. I would reccomend an external antenna for the best reception, espically the farther away from Anderson you are. If you have questions on that, get with me and we can talk about your situation and the best option for you. There are many to choose from, indoor/outdoor, directional/omni-directional, band choices, lots of things to consider.
Giggity
Guglielmo Marconi Sparrow
"What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon -- that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize." – Barack Obama, June 3, 2008
I NAMED THIS ENTERTAINMENT SINCE I FIGURE , THATS WHAT A SCANNER IS, AND I DIDNT HAVE A NIBBY TRAP COLUMN.
ANYWAY, I AM HEARING A LOT OF TALK ABOUT ALL THE POLICE AND FIRE DEPTS GOING TO A DIFFERENT SYSTEM THEN THEY HAVE NOW. SUPPOSEDLY THATS WHY THE TV IS CHANGING? (THIS IS WHAT I HEAR) CAN ANYONE OUT THERE TELL ME, IF I WHERE TO BUY A SCANNER NOW WOULD IT STILL WORK WHEN THE DEPARTMENTS SWITCH? I HAVE HEARD BOTH YES AND NO ON THIS.. DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ANSWER>
I DO KNOW ABOUT THE ONLY STORE YOU CAN PURCHASE A SCANNER IS RADIO SHACK.
ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.