Are the older radio scanners pretty much useless?

Question

Been looking at some of the older scanners on ebay...Realistic Pro-34 and others like it. My question is are these pretty much useless nowadays now that a lot of the radio chatter has gone to trunking and digital? Would these still be able to be programmed to pick up stuff on the various frequencies?

Answer 1

It depends on where you live. A smaller community may not have made many if any changes to their communications systems yet. Where I live, the police have gone digital but fire hasn't. Fire is a particular problem because of each department being willing to help others. One department can't go digital and still expect the others to be able to communicate. In many smaller and volunteer departments the firefighters have to buy their own radios. They simply can't afford digital equipment.

Still, the digital switch is happening. An older scanner that can't receive digital or trunked signals is limited and may become useless at any time.

Answer 2

It depends on what you want to listen too. Fire, Police, Local Business, POCSAG/FLEX, FRS, GMRS, ACARS, AIS, do you plan on decoding? You can make you use for pretty much any receiver.



You're correct that systems have shifted to trunking and at times from analog to digital, but as mentioned by another gent/gal this is area and system dependent. Now be careful that rebanding is happening soon, so older trunking scanners may not be able to do the trunk "tracking".



So no older scanners are not "pretty much useless" (at lease in my case), but then again as in everything it will depend on its user.



UPDATE

Yikes... Radio Shack is not what it once was you may get blank eyes.

Answer 3

Andy - Your best bet is to stop by your local Radio Shack and ask them what type of scanner you need for your area. Many cities and towns in the US will not go digital anytime soon so a pro 34 may work just fine for years to come.