Hey RR people..I'm looking to purchase a scanner.....

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mnawabi

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Oct 21, 2007
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Alright guys I read a couple of threads, and I was wondering if you guys can hopefully lead my towards the right direction.

for starters...I live in the city of Irvine, in California.
I'm mainly interested in scanning for my local police department (Irvine PD), and possibly my neighboring towns (Santa Ana, or Tustin). Now at my job there is someone that told me that IPD uses digital radios...and if they are digital that means there is no possible way of scanning..is this true?

Also I'm looking to most likely get a digital scanner, but I'm still somewhat flexible on which direction I would like to take on scanning.

I know you guys have probably seen millions of posts like this, and that is why I wanted to thank you guys for your time.
 

nexus

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Irvine, CA in Orange County is using Orange County's Motorola Type II Mixed (Analog and Digital) trunked radio system. Unfortunately you're never going to get to listen to Irvine PD. They're listed as ENCRYPTED.

You'll have to have one of their radios in order to hear them. You're not going to be able to buy a scanner that can decode encryption. This link here is the database list with everything for Orange County public safety. It looks like pretty much all of the law enforcement is encrypted. You may be able to listen to the fire depts. and the city public works, provided you bought a digital capable scanner like the uniden BCD396T or the PRO-96 or GRE PSR-500. When you go to the database link I provided, you'll scroll down the page until you find all of the talkgroup information, it'll be in blue boxes with several columns. One of the columns is titled MODE. You'll see a letter in each box A, D, E. Anything with an A means analog, D means digital and anything with an E is ENCRYPTED. You can see in the city law enforcement where it lists Irvine, their talkgroups are E.

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=201
 
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mnawabi

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Thanks for your reply nexus, do you think in the future people who live in my area would have abilities of scanning this encrypted mode.

Once again thanks nexus.
 

PJaxx

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mnawabi said:
do you think in the future people who live in my area would have abilities of scanning this encrypted mode.
No.

Almost all law enforcement in Orange County is encrypted, and as long as they stay that way there won't be any legal or practical way to listen to them. A few talkgroups are in the clear. Read through the link that "Nexus" gave you for the details. Most fire and public works departments in OC are trunked, either analog or digital, but not encrypted. Yet. And CHP is VHF low-band, analog.

So you'll probably have to take your pick of the digital scanners and content yourself with hearing everyone except the police.

You can follow the "public" CAD information for OC Sheriff at http://ocsd.org/blotter/Media.asp and the participating PDs at http://www.ocsd.org/occrimecalls/default.asp It seems to be delayed about 10 minutes, and I'm sure they filter the content much like CHP does with their public "CADWEB" at http://cad.chp.ca.gov CHP's CAD, though, is specifically for incidents that may impact on traffic flow, so they don't include any of the other incidents their officers are working.
 

nexus

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mnawabi said:
Thanks for your reply nexus, do you think in the future people who live in my area would have abilities of scanning this encrypted mode.

Once again thanks nexus.

Absolutely NOT. First off it is illegal to monitor a radio communication which is encrypted. Second no scanner manufacture will ever be able to produce, market or sell a scanner that can decode encrypted communications (FCC RULES). And even if it were available, you'd still have to get the agency's radio technician to load the key for their encryption, and that sure as hell ain't happening.

It's bad enough when they start using digital like APCO25 and force people to go spend hundreds of dollars for a digital scanner, but the encryption thing is never going to be monitorable. That's why I said the only way you're going to do it is to steal or aquire one of their radios. I guess your only option is to move to some place that doesn't have encryption.
 

glide

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When I was thinking about buying a scanner I had no idea what would suit my needs.I contacted www.scannermaster.com,told them my zip code and what I was interested in listening to and they advised me what to buy (and it was not the most expensive). I am not affiliated with scannermaster in any way.
 

lobobmw

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what about scanner units that are made for export only? Can these pick up the encrypted channels? Or do these only pick up the cell signals that are blocked by the U.S. domestic sold units?

I live in northern VA. I'm thinking to get a scanner but unsure if I want to go handheld or mobile installed in my car. I like the handhelds, you can hop from car to car if need be or if you want to scope out a place for an hour, you can use the batteries rather than running your car in order to use the scanner. However I don't know how well a handheld can pick up signals by just using the antenna on the unit rather than hooking the unit up to a co-ax cable and running that to an outside mounted antenna. I'm looking at the uniden 396t and 996t units.
 

n2mdk

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No scanner made can decode encrypted channels, doesn't matter export or domestic. The only thing an export might have are the blocked cellular frequencies.
Nothing is preventing you from hooking a handheld unit from the same antenna as a mobile rig, the coax can be attached to either.
 

lobobmw

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n2mdk said:
No scanner made can decode encrypted channels, doesn't matter export or domestic. The only thing an export might have are the blocked cellular frequencies.
Nothing is preventing you from hooking a handheld unit from the same antenna as a mobile rig, the coax can be attached to either.

well one of the things I want to inquire more closely is about external antenna on my car. I don't want a big long whip mounted on the roof or the trunk. Those window antennas seem a bit more discreet and better looking. If I couldnt find an antenna that would be astheticly pleasing to the eye, I may just go with a handheld.
 
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