Personally, And I might be wrong but personally I don’t see a new radio scanner hitting the market ever again. They are getting too expensive and more and more governments as well as private companies are using encryption. New radio systems that are propriety can not be incorporated into scanners and sold publicly. The most recent Radio Scanner, Uniden’s SDS Series can handle everything out on the airwaves just fine and the cost of a new one of those is $650 to $700. The next in line is the Whistler TRX product line at roughly $600 and sales for both have declined rapidly over the years due to a lack of interest caused by expense, technology and a lack of being to actually hear anything anymore.
What has blossomed over the last few years is SDR Scanner technology which uses a $35 RTL-SDR receiver combined with free or really cheap readily available software loaded on a laptop or raspberry pie device which operates as good if not better than a $700 dollar Police scanner. This is the future of Police scanner technology.
There is probably one single hurdle that needs to be overcome for SDR scanner to become the new kid on the block and that is over coming the simulcast distortion problem most scanners experience with large trunking systems and something only Uniden has overcome with its SDS product line. I’m sure this cat will be unleashed eventually and when it is, we can probably say farewell to a great communications device altogether.
Current Police Scanners have limitation in what can be monitored and what can’t. Though the limitations are small, they exist. LTR Passport, LTR Multinet, EDACS OpenSky and TDMA Control channels are a few. The LTR systems are very monitorable using an SDR as is TDMA Control channels however, very few agencies and corporations are using the technology due to cost. EDACS OpenSky has been rendered End of Life and its users are migrating to other radio systems.
A company called bluetail technologies has built a SDR scanner which is fully capable of scanning just about everything used in modern communications and that isn’t encrypted. Bluetail’s device connects to a monitor using Bluetooth technology and the price is easy to justify at under $500. The device can be accessed by a small computer and the system information can be edited to the users specifications.
In THIS VIDEO you can see how to build a simple radio scanner using two apps, an SDR Dongle and a cheap adapter and antenna. This uses your ANDROID cellphone so if you don’t include the price of your phone the package price is what $50 bucks?
SDR Software is tricky to set up however, if you compare it to the average person trying to program an SDS-100 then while the differences are vastly different they are also similar. Personally, If I can install easier on my Android Tablet than my computer, then that is solid gold in my book as my tablet is mobile, my computer isn’t.
is SDR the Next Generation in Scanners. Shortwave, Ham and Commercial radio? There isa really good chance the answer is yes. Here is a great example, Uniden comes along and Sells a software pre configured with the Radio Reference Database already loaded on a SDR dongle and says they are just selling the software not the dongle. Put’s a $350 price tag on it and they are now back to being the King of the scanner industry. But, what is stopping the hobby programmer from doing the same and then making the software much cheaper? Nothing, absolutely nothing. They are already doing this with shortwave software. This is why I believe SDR is the Next Generation in Police Scanner technology!
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