WhistlerWS1065 Digital Trunking Desktop Scanner – Programmable Police/Fire Radio with Backlit Display, 1800 Memory Channels, and V-Scanner Technology – Black

This is incredibly hard to program manually, but true fact: Scanning isn't what it used to be. Back in the day, you bought a Regency Scanner, popped in a few crystals, and you could listen to your local EMS no problem.Now, there's P25, Digital Trunking, and on and on and on. Whistler doesn't even try to pretend that you can program this manually: you need to get a program like Win500 and a subscription to Radio Reference, download the freqs and settings for what you want to hear, and load them into the radio. VERY SIMPLE PROCESS - easier than buying a crystal and installing it into the radio!I bought a TRAM discone antenna to use with this scanner and I'm hearing stuff from very far away - Boston is 60 air miles from my house and I can listen to their Fire/EMS if I were so inclined.Good scanner, good value, and if you want more features you'll have to spend a LOT more money.

EDIT** I am legitimately baffled by the number of bad reviews that blame the scanner for lack of understanding by the purchaser. This scanner will arrive at your door unprogrammed and you will have to input the data needed to make it work. The data is freely available. There is no need to pay any kind of monthly fee or subscription in order to program this scanner.You can absolutely program this scanner by hand. But the days of inputting a couple analog frequencies are basically over. Most systems at a minimum will require inputting of control channels and talkgroup information. While possible via the keypad, it will take a LONG time to put in more than a few "channels". Modern trunking systems require a lot of data to function. THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS ANALOG SCANNER. If any of the terms are unfamiliar to you, expect to spend some time reading online forums and fiddling with things. Again...this is no fault of the scanner. It is the nature of scanning in the 21st century. There are softwares available to make programming easier, but you will still need to know the required data and input it correctly.Just because you nor 1200 of your closest IT buddies have the experience/understanding to program this radio, does not mean the scanner is at fault. It would be like saying that heart surgery is pointless because you don't know how to do it. You have to LEARN. And Amazon, Whistler, some guy on the street, or the seller cannot just magically have this programmed when it shows up at your door. Every system is unique. Every scanning interest is unique. Would you buy a vehicle where the seat is adjusted (and locked) for the salesperson and the radio is stuck on their favorite station? No, of course not.This scanner functions just fine for the price. And 90% of the negative reviews are written by people who do not understand modern scanning and don't seem to want to learn. You can purchase pre-programmed scanners...at twice the price. Or you can spend a couple hours and learn the information needed to program your own radio. There is no free lunch when it comes to scanning modern systems. Sorry.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whistler has taken over the design from GRE, but the heart of this radio is still the same. As such, all accessories like programming cables and brackets will work across the board from GRE/Radio Shack/Whistler.The scanner is a Phase 1 capable, digital trunking unit. It does not have the most robust front-end (particularly on VHF) but handles other bands extremely well. It does an okay job on VHF if you fiddle with the programming and understand how it acts around strong signals such as in simulcast systems. This is a minor annoyance when you consider the price. At around half the cost of a scanner which only marginally handles dense RF environments better, I can easily look beyond the shortcomings.Be aware however, if you need TDMA (Phase 2 or DMR) reception, NeXTEL, or a few other newer protocols, this scanner cannot and WILL NOT be able to listen to them. Also be aware that this does not decode encryption. If your local agencies are encrypted, this scanner nor any other will allow you to listen to them.If you are coming from the world of analog scanning, the step up into trunking and digital worlds can be daunting. Expect to spend a little time with this unit to get everything firing on all cylinders. If you are a long-time scanner buff, you can have this thing tracking a local system within a few minutes of opening the box. Everything is just easy and intuitive.For the price, if you only need phase 1, this scanner is hard to beat. It is also probably the most user friendly option for someone who wants to get into modern scanning but still tinker with things. You can get touchscreen scanners which run off a database that requires no previous knowledge. But if you want to finagle with settings and aren't afraid to learn new things, this is a fine scanner to cut your teeth on.

I left the tech support unchecked only because we did not use their tech support. Back in the day we had an older scanner and we were able to just punch the channels in. This is not the case anymore. The directions advised against this. If I had one complaint or suggestion I would have the makers of the scanner include the software to program the scanner. After signing up with radio reference for the frequencies and then signing up with psredit it can get costly. Luckily some offer a 30 day trial.The scanner itself was just we needed. There are way more options that we don't use as of yet but I am sure if I asked tech support they would gladly walk me through all that. But I do not know this for sure. I get all my local channels ( Thanks to the programming software and radio reference) and can hear clear as a bell. An external speaker may be a great addition but not necessary if you are in the same room as the scanner. And if you were to get one they don't seem to be that expensive.So, in a nutshell we love the scanner but not real keen on the additional programming cost. That could be easily fixed with a kickback or a voucher to get access to programming when you purchase the unit.

I'm sure this is a good product. The company has a first rate reputation. I'm sure most of the issues I'm having are due to my low intelligence and unfamiliarity with what I thought I was getting into.However, I can say I did not imagine there being no connecting cord for this device and my computer as promised. I did reach out in regards to this and was surprised at no response. I suspect it fell though cracks created by whatever system Amazon uses. That sucked.I bought such a cord separately after that non-response, and maybe it will work. I hope so. I plan to try again today. The key thing to know is that these things are very complex. You can't just pick one up and make it work. It's not intuitive to the likes of me--although it very well may be to those trained in radio and such. Also--and this is important--an ever increasing number of fire and police departments etc. are encoding their transmissions. This thing is useless when that is the case. It's a 300 dollar box that gives me the weather (so far). I hope I can get that cord to work and the computer will help me program this thing to become more interesting. In all honesty, however, this was not a good use of my money.