Batboard

My parents are big scanner listeners, but really only care about big calls as they're dispatched, not hearing every traffic stop in town... I'm toying with setting up a Minitor for the local FD's tones and a charging cradle, and giving them that to keep in their kitchen/living room. But it looks like it may actually be cheaper to go for a used HT of some kind, maybe an HT1000 or 16-pin Maxtrac.

What I'm wondering is how well scan works with QCII decode... Can I scan a couple area FDs (and NOAA), only listening for tone-outs, and have it catch them with pretty good accuracy? Or is scanning and QCII decode a no-go? (It'd be like 3 channels being scanned, not 500...)

Additionally, any tips for radios? It doesn't really matter whether it's mobile or portable, as it's going to sit in one place. (And be receive-only, so I don't need a heavy-duty power supply to try to drive a 110W PA.) Will all MT1000s work? What about analog Sabers (Saber I), which are pretty cheap? (I used to have a bunch -- you'd think I'd know?) Oh, and what about the GP300 HT? Will they all do QC2, or only some? (Is there a list of radios that do QC2 somewhere, to shut people like me up? )

The answer is sometimes. If it is stopped on another channel, it isn't going to work. If it doesn't get to the A tone until it is half way through, it won't work. If it misses the tones all together, it won't work.

In fact, unless the scan list is limited to 2, possibly 3, channels, it will seldom work. That is why we defeat scan on "Alert" channels.

Analog saber I is out. It doesnt scan and unless its an 6D or higher doesnt do QCII

An inexpensive Ht600-P200 will do the trick. Or a P110\Gp300 (with signalling) can also be had inexpensively. Like mentioned a dedicated channel is the ticket for QCII.

Another consideration with scanning and signalling is priority. If priority is enabled, all the non priority channels will be unable to decode QCII because of the audio drop out. The priority channel will catch it if it gets back in time.