On Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:19:09 -0800, Elden Fenison
wrote:

On 2007-01-03 14:05:13 -0800, John Kasupski said:
It takes some getting used to, but keep after it and you'll get the
hang of it - and I think that once you do, you'll find that the effort
will have been worth it!

I'm not the OP, but thanks a ton for that excellent explanation.

My pleasure, sir. :-)

I'd kind of like to get a scanner, but I'm afraid that soon after I
shell out the $500 they will come along with yet another newfangled
technology that is incompatible with the scanner I just bought.

What's the real danger of that? And if I were to get a scanner, what is
the latest tech I should look for?

Is "trunking" the only thing I need? Is all trunking equal?

First of all - no, all trunking is not equal. Different trunked radio
systems use different technology to accomplish their tasks. However,
for me to explain them all here, I'd be writing for hours and the
resulting post would be so long as to infuriate people. Instead, I
recommend that you (and anyone else interested in this subject) visit
the Trunked Radio Systems page on The RadioReference Wiki:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking

That page has links to other pages on the Wiki that explain the
various TRS types in much greater detail than is practical for a
Usenet posting.

The answer to whether or not "trunking" is all that you need depends
on where you live and what your listening interests are, and of
course, how much money you have in your wallet.

For example, the average scanner will cover ham, business, commercial
aircraft, government, industrial, public safety, utility companies,
and weather. Your scanner may need additional frequency coverage if
you also want to be able to listen to things like the AM/FM broadcast
bands, HF worldwide ham/broadcast/utility stations, TV audio, and
(especially) military aircraft comms.

One example of the "latest tech" you may want/need, depending on if it
is in use in your area, is the ability to monitor APCO Project 25
(a.k.a. "P25") digital voice systems. There are now radios on the
market that can handle P25 systems. Some require installing an
optional circuit board, which of course costs extra. Only you can
decide if you want or need P25 capability, based on what's in use in
your area and the cost of having it.

As to the real danger of your scanner becoming obsolete as soon as you
buy it - it seems to me that even though they can invent "yet another
newfangled technology that is incompatible with the scanner I just
bought" every day, that doesn't immediately make your scanner obsolete
and unusable. That doesn't happen until your local police and fire
department start using a new radio system that utilizes the new
technology, and radio systems using the latest high-tech bells and
whistles usually cost top dollar for the local government to purchase.
If the scanner you buy has everything you need at the time you
purchase it, that scanner should remain quite usable for a long time.

So my advice would be:

1. Determine what it is you want to listen to.
2. Do some research and find out what kind of radio systems are in use
in your area relative to what you want to listen to.
3. Refer to the RadioReference Wiki and other sources (such as scanner
specifications on manufacturer's websites, and websites that cater to
scanner hobbyists) to find a radio that does what you want it to do.
4. Find one of those at a price that's agreeable to you.
5. Buy it and start enjoying this facet of the radio hobby!

Hope this helps...

John Kasupski, KC2HMZ, Contributing Editor
Popular Communications Magazine