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| Trunking Scanner Comparison Chart |
| Trunking Scanner Features |
| Model Year |
| Shows the year the model was introduced for retail sales. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Make |
| Shows the company that made the model. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Dynamic Memory |
| Instead of being organized into separate banks and channels, the scanner's memory is contained in a pool. You build the systems and then groups to store the frequencies and IDs and use as much memory as you need in the pool. With all previous scanners, you selected banks to scan that had channels stored in them. With this type of memory, you select 'System Quick Keys' to scan that have 'Systems' assigned to them. You can also select 'Group Quick Keys' within the systems to scan specific groups in each system. No memory space is wasted. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Object Oriented Memory |
| Instead of just programming channels, IDs, searches, etc., the scanner's memory is made up of separate "objects" that can be programmed and assigned to scan lists. They are programmed just once and can be used in any or all scan lists. An object can be a conventional frequency, talkgroup ID, limit search, service search, or Signal Stalker/Spectrum Sweeper search. Some objects will use more 'blocks' of memory than others. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Virtual Memories |
| Also called V-Scanner Folders, a Radio Shack/GRE feature that allows complete scanner configurations to be stored in the scanner then loaded as needed. The Pro-96/2096 has 11; like having 11 radios in one, up to 5500 (11x500) channels. V-Scanner II automatically updates the folders as you use them so there is no need to re-store them. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Scan List Sets |
| Scan 'sets' allow you to group your scan lists into a set to scan instead of enabling a bunch of scan lists. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Frequency Coverage |
| All ranges are rounded to the nearest megahertz (26.995 to 27) to conserve space. All USA scanners made after 1997 will not receive cell frequencies (824-849 and 870-894). (right-click/Back to return) |
| Startup Configuration |
| A feature in the newer Uniden models that lets you quickly and automatically lock and unlock systems based on a desired configuration. By holding down a number button while powering on the scanner, systems assigned to that number are automatically unlocked and systems assigned to other numbers are automatically locked. Systems that are not assigned to any startup configuration are left unchanged. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Search with Scan |
| A feature in the newer Uniden models that allows you to search (service and custom) the same usual way except you are able to unlock (enable for search with scan) a band and set a 'hold' time that dictates how long the search runs before returning to scanning (or moving to the next search). The scanner will scan all the programmed (conventional and trunked) systems first then run all unlocked searches last. The scanner picks up the search the next time around where it left off. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Flexstep |
| Feature in the Pro 106/197/PSR500/600 that, when enabled, allows you to enter a frequency in any 1.250 MHz step. (right-click/Back to return) |
| GPS Compatibility |
| Includes: Location-Based Scanning: The scanner can automatically lock and unlock systems, sites, or channel groups based on your current location as provided by an external GPS unit. Location Alert System: The scanner alerts you when you approached a stored location. Navigation Modes: Indicates the direction/distance/time to 'goal' for locations you set. Compatible GPS units output location data that conforms to NMEA-0183 v3.01. Note that this standard specifies an RS232 serial connection. GPS units that have USB connectivity are not compatible with this scanner. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Alpha-tagging |
| Allows you to put text to a search bank, channel, channel bank, ID, etc. so you can more easily identify what you're hearing. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Weather Alert |
| Allows you to set the scanner to receive SAME/FIP weather alerts/tones when they are broadcast. Most scanners will not scan other frequencies while in alert mode. They will just sit (muted) and wait for a tone or alert. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Weather Priority |
| Allows the scanner to check the weather channels every 5 seconds for a 1050 Hz weather alert signal and still scan or search. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Auto Store |
| A feature that lets you set up the scanner to search and store active frequencies from a search band into channels or banks, or search and store active IDs into channels or banks. There is a 'dumb' auto-store on the older scanners which stores duplicate freqs (when the search repeats) or a 'smart' auto-store which only stores a frequency once with the newer models. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Discovery Mode |
| A Uniden feature that lets you set up the scanner to search a range of conventional frequencies or a trunked system for IDs to review later at your leisure. Auto store, modulation, step size, delay, audio recording, logging, and compare to the RR database are also options. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Auto Sort |
| A feature that will sort the frequencies in banks in ascending order. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Network Access Code (NAC) |
| P25 Network Access Code (NAC) is used to provide selective squelch operation on channels. The scanner can also search for the NAC code that is being used on a P25 digital channel. (right-click/Back to return) |
| CTCSS/DCS |
| Some radios offer the ability to receive CTCSS (continuous tone coded squelch system) or PL (private line) tones and DCS (digital code squelch) or DPL (digital private line) tones. PL (sub-audible) tones are used to differentiate different users on the same channel. DPL (sub-audible) tones are used the same way but might be transmitted as tones or digital codes. Some frequencies are shared by many users. If you know the tone for a specific transmission such as a police dispatch, it can then be programmed into the scanner to receive transmissions from just that tone or agency. (right-click/Back to return) |
| IF (intermediate frequency) Exchange |
| Switches the current frequency to use a different IF (intermediate frequency) for receiving radio signals to avoid interference. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Computer Interface |
| A computer interface allows you to communicate with the radio for uploading/downloading data to/from the radio. Beware there are one-way cables (for just uploading) and two-way cables (for uploading and downloading). Good idea to make sure you check with some place that knows about the radio like a newsgroup (and not Radio Shack) to obtain the right cable. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Channel/ID Alert |
| Allows you to set the scanner to alert you if certain channels or IDs are received. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Alert Plus |
| Allows you to listen to only alerts from BearTracker systems or groups, Close Call, Weather (WX), and GPS. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Repeater Reverse |
| Allows you to switch between input and output frequencies of a repeated frequency. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Channel Hit Counter |
| Counts the number of times a channel has been received. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Bandscope |
| Band Scope Mode searches a frequency range and displays a graphic of the signal level in real time. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Police Alert |
| Alerts you to transmissions from 'mobile extender' radios within about 3 miles from the scanner. Included with the BearTracker Warning System on some Uniden models. (right-click/Back to return) |
| BearTracker Warning System |
| Preprogrammed to scan the Highway Patrol, Police, Fire, and DOT frequencies of the individual states. The scanner checks for activity on BearTracker Warning System frequencies every 2 seconds when enabled. The frequencies includes frequencies used by ‘mobile extender’ radios as well as by car-to-car, aircraft-to-car, and other special-purpose frequencies. You can receive an audible (beep tone) and visual (flashing Alert light) alert whenever you are within an approximate three-mile radius of Highway Patrol/State Police units using a mobile extender unit. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Signal Stalker I/II-Spectrum Sweeper |
| Alerts you and
detects information about nearby radio transmissions. Signal Stalker I - works “in the background” while scanning or by itself. You can set 1 frequency band where you want the scanner to look for transmissions and turn on a pager screening feature so the scanner ignores common pager frequencies. Signal Stalker II - allows you to watch for activity on all band frequencies or Police/Fire frequencies only. Signal Stalker II will not work in the background like Signal Stalker I or Close Call. Once an active frequency is found, the transmission is played through your scanner’s speaker, and you can quickly store it in any memory location. You can change the normal Signal Stalker II operation to the Special Signal Stalker II operation. If you lock out 5 frequencies within a 1 MHz segment, the scanner will skip that segment in subsequent sweeps. Spectrum Sweeper - works the same as Signal Stalker II but in GRE brand radios. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Close Call/CC-DND |
| Alerts you and detects information about nearby radio transmissions. Close Call allows you select bands to look for transmissions, turn on a pager screening feature so the scanner ignores common pager frequencies, and has the ability to beep or flash the display. Newer models have Close Call Do-not-Disturb that will only look for signals when not receiving other scanning transmissions. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Close Call Temporary Store |
| Scans the last 10 frequencies captured by Close Call so that you can continue to receive the signal even after the signal is not strong enough to trigger a Close Call hit. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Fire Toneout |
| A feature that allows your scanner can be set up to monitor fire tone-outs that use standard two-tone sequential paging. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Fire Toneout Search |
| If you do not know the tones being used, the scanner can display the tones when it receives a page. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Automatic Gain Control (AGC) |
| 'Automatically compensates for audio level variances in digital transmissions' with RS models. 'Helps automatically balance the volume level between different radio systems' with Uniden models. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Broadcast/Custom Screen |
| Broadcast screen automatically ignores transmissions that are on common broadcasts, paging systems, and other annoyance radio sources during Custom Search, Quick Search, or Close Call Search for typical bands. Custom screen allows you to program your own bands. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Rebanding Compliant |
| Allows the scanner to trunktrack Motorola 800 MHz trunking systems after rebanding of the 800Mhz spectrum is complete. EDACS and LTR systems won't affected by rebanding. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Trunking Type |
| The earlier models
just scanned conventional or trunking systems.
Next (with RS) there was Multi-track that monitored the
trunking system then scanned the conventional
channels in a bank with a crazy 5 second delay between
banks (in addition to any transmissions-on a busy system;
the scanner would never leave the bank if there were a
transmission within 5 seconds). Then came Multi-track
with a 1 second delay (that allowed the scanner to get to
another bank easier). And finally, trunk and scan with no
delay between banks on the newest models. Conventional and trunking systems are programmed separately with the new dynamic memory and even with the hold time set to '0', there is a 2 second delay with trunked systems. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Control-Channel Data Output |
| Basically a built-in discriminator tap that allows programs like PRO96COM etc. to read control-channel/trunking information. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Multi-Site Trunking |
| Some systems covering a very large geographic area use multiple antenna sites that each operate on different frequencies but use the same talk group IDs. Since all sites share all the channels within the system, multi-site trunking is much more efficient than programming each site as a separate system. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Adaptive Digital Tracking/Threshold |
| 'Ensures optimal reception of digital signals from a variety of digital conventional and trunked radio system types' with the RS models. 'Automatically sets the digital decode threshold for APCO 25 systems' with the Uniden Models. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Digital Signal Processing (DSP) |
| 'Automatic detection of digital signals. No special scanner programming is required to receive conventional or trunked digital traffic' with RS models. (right-click/Back to return) |
| ID Capacity |
| The number of IDs the scanner can hold. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Temporary Lockout |
Objects, Sites, Systems, Channels, or Frequencies temporarily locked out are automatically unlocked when power is cycled. (right-click/Back to return) |
| L/O ID in Open Mode |
| The Pro 92/2067, 93/2053/95, 96/2096, and 97/2055 all have an open or closed mode for scanning IDs. Closed mode only monitors programmed IDs while Open mode monitors all IDs within a system. Only the Pro 96/2096 and 97/2055 allow you to lock out an ID in Open mode. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Active IDs Monitoring |
| A feature that lets you see which ID's are active (without hearing them) by showing them in the display. (right-click/Back to return) |
| I-Call ID Monitoring |
| Direct unit-to-unit transmissions (IDs) that are not heard by other users of the system. Usually a 6 digit number. (right-click/Back to return) |
| ID Delay |
| Works like regular delay except it sets the delay on a talk group ID's (or IDs in a entire system) instead of channels. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Preemptive Priority ID Scanning |
| For analog Motorola systems that have channel priority active on the system, if you flag a channel as priority and the system also has that TGID identified as a priority channel, the scanner will preempt any current transmission if the TGID becomes active. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Priority ID Scanning |
| Works like regular priority except you can set a talk group ID's instead of channels. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Priority Plus Scanning |
| Allows you to scan just the priority (conventional) channels. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Priority Plus ID Scanning |
| Allows you to scan just the priority IDs. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Manual ID Select |
| Allows you to punch in a specific ID and monitor it without having to wait for the scanner find it then 'hold' on it. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Alternate Frequency/ID Display |
| A feature that allows you to toggle between the frequency of the ID and the ID#. Mostly on the earlier models that didn't make room for both in the display. Tells you which frequency the ID is using. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Motorola Control Channel Only |
| A feature which will allow you to program just the control channels for a Motorola system. The scanner will then automatically calculate (and find new) Motorola voice channel frequencies when it decodes the (active) control channel. This eliminates the need to enter all the Motorola system frequencies. However, the control channels are subject to change depending on the day so it's best to program all system frequencies in case the control channel changes. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Motorola Offset Select |
| Certain 800 MHz Motorola trunked radio systems operate using splinter channels that are in between the channels in the normal 800 MHz band plan. These systems are known as 'splinter systems'. There are 'normal' and 'offset' settings to receive normal systems and splinter systems. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Motorola Disconnect Tone |
| Some scanners automatically tune to the data channel when it detects a disconnect tone (a code that tells the trunking system that the transmitter has finished sending) on the voice channel. One might turn off this function so the scanner does not tune to the data channel under those conditions. You might use this feature to listen to weak transmissions when conversations are generally disconnected. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Motorola Status Bits |
| The last four bits of a Motorola Type II talkgroup ID (a binary 16-bit code) are the status bits. In some systems, status bits identify special situations (such as an emergency status). The scanner is preset to assume that the status bits in a talkgroup ID are set to 0 and ignores them. Status bit ignore set to off lets you read the actual ID. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Trunk/Program EDACS Partial Talkgroup ID |
| A feature which allows you to select only certain agencies or fleets (per system) to listen to. For example 06-*** or 06-06*. Some radios will only do this while trunktracking while others will allow you to program partial IDs into the scan lists as IDs and let you lock-out agencies or fleets this way too. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Emergency ID Call Alert |
| When an emergency status is sent on a radio ID in a trunking system, you can have your scanner alert you to the transmission. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Radio IDs |
| Displays individual radio IDs. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Patch Tracking |
| Systems sometimes bring several talkgroups together in a ‘Patch’. A patch might be used to provide a single channel with a single dispatcher for a wide area. (right-click/Back to return) |
| EDACS ESK Support |
| A feature that provides additional protection to restrict programming, eavesdropping and unauthorized transmissions. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Repeater Finder Tool |
| To determine the correct Home Repeater programming, enter the system channels of an LTR system in any order. Be sure to program the mode for each LTR channel to LT. Listen to each channel one at a time in manual mode and watch for the decoded LTR data at the bottom of the scanner's display. When an LTR transmission occurs, you should see the LTR talkgroup information on the bottom line of the display, and a number preceded by 'R' in the bottom right hand corner (i.e., R12). The 'R' number is the Home Repeater number that the current transmission is occurring on. To correctly program this Home Repeater number into your scanner, be sure that the channel number in the bank is equal to the number that is displayed after the 'R'. For example, if you see R12 displayed on a particular LTR frequency, that frequency needs to be programmed into Channel 12 of the current bank in order to track the LTR system activity properly. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Auto LTR LCN Programming |
| With most Uniden models (and newer RS models) that are capable of receiving LTR trunking you have to program the frequencies in certain channel slots (LCN) in able to follow the system and receive correct IDs. With the Pro 92/2067, you can program the frequencies in any order and the scanner automatically finds the 'home' frequency and trunks the system correctly. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Speed Function |
| The Uniden models have switchable 'Turbo' and 'Normal' search speeds. The RS models have 'Hypersearch' for searching faster and 'Hyperscan' for scanning faster (usually in the bands with 5 KHz steps only). The newer models will do this automatically. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Scan/Search Resume |
| An adjustable delay that sets the scanner to resume scanning/search automatically (before transmission ends) after a period of time. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Search Seek |
| Some of the newer RS models have a 'Search Seek' feature that (when enabled) will automatically resume searching after 5 seconds. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Search Limits |
| A search that allows you to search between a programmed upper and lower frequency such as between 150.000 and 155.000. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Service Search |
| Pre-programmed frequencies or search ranges for searching common bands like police, fire, weather, itinerant, etc. Usually not re-programmable. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Direct/Tune Search |
| Allows you to start searching at a specific frequency, up or down. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Step Search |
| Allows you pause the search and step through the frequencies up or down from where you paused. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Zeromatic Tuning |
| 'When zeromatic is on, the scanner will automatically tune to the correct center frequency (or the step increment closest to the correct center frequency). With Zeromatic off the scanner will unmute faster on a detected signal but the frequency may not be the correct center frequency'. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Monitor Memories |
| Extra channels to allow you to temporarily store frequencies to move into channels later. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Search Quick Keys |
| Allow you to quickly start a search without going in to the menus. |
| Power-On Resume |
| A feature that returns the scanner to the last function the scanner was doing when the radio was turned off such as scanning, trunking, or searching. Some newer models have the "welcome" screen you have to wait for to clear before they will resume. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Memory Lock |
| A feature that will lock out any programming changes. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Memory |
| Volatile memory means the scanner will lose its programming if the batteries or power is removed. (right-click/Back to return) |
| Scanner Reset |
| Allows you to reset or wipe out the scanner's memory (to the factory default?). (right-click/Back to return) |
| Race Track Operation |
| A Uniden feature that allows you to scan cars in Race systems preprogrammed into the scanner (probably outdated by now). Also included are preprogrammed Conventional systems (Officials, Scoring, Media, etc.) for the race systems. You can also program your own race systems. As of this writing, only the SC230 and BR330T have this feature. Race systems allow you to program cars (by car number), program drivers for the cars (by name), program multiple frequencies (and PL/DPL, attenuation, receive mode, priority, and alert/tone settings) for each car and driver, and assign the car a quick key (0-9, just like a group quick key for a regular system). You can program as many 'Race' systems as you please but the scanner will only let you scan 1 race system at a time (along with any other conventional and/or trunking systems). (right-click/Back to return) |
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| Last updated March 26, 2016 |
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