Effective alternative to DMR scanner !

[timberwolf]

And cheap too (approx £55) ! It's the Baofeng 1701 with GD77 software. I've had this transceiver for over a year and bemoaned it's poor 'promiscuous mode' where I'd switch off the TS and switch on the CC scan on a specific frequency. I'd be waiting up to 20 mins for it to finally decide a nearby TX. However... the promiscuous settings were actually designed to be used with the vfo scan function.

Ensure that you're on DMR promiscuous settings ;
Long press the up arrow key ;
Type in the lower & upper frequency limits ;
(You can only scan no more than 1 MHz but it's fast !)
Long press the up arrow again and you're running !

Any DMR signal within this 1 MHz range is instantly decoded with voice, TS, CC, TG and ID. In central Edinburgh, I thought I'd picked up all the DMR users in the 453 MHz band. Within minutes of using this function, I received seven different users from Shopwatch to Student Residence to Traffic Management. All the users that we want to eavesdrop on - all unencrypted (so no CCs & TGs from me !)

If you've got a 1701, load it with GD77 (or buy one programmed with GD77). It turns a great handset into a fantastic DMR scanner.