Monitoring Police in Kona

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Jags

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First post here! I just dug out my Bearcat 210 that I bought back in the late 1970's. Yes it still works!! Found a list of police and fire frequencies and programmed them in. It seems the Fire and EMS are being received but after a few days I still haven't heard anything on the Police bands.

Are the Police using some sort of different system than they did 30 years ago that doesn't allow the scanner to pick them up? Anything I should know regarding the frequencies that would allow my old Bearcat to pick up the Police bands?

Any info would be appreciated as I have been out of the loop for a very long time!

Mahalo
 

Ishmole

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Although I have not been to the Islands in over 20 years, I always brought my scanner with me when visiting. . It was all on high band then, some still simplex! I believe Oahu has since upgraded to 800 Mhz EDACS which is not capable of being received by your 210 which tops out at about 512 Mhz. Plus the EDACS is trunked. Looking at the database here Hawaii County, Hawaii (HI) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference, it seems that the Big Island is still high band and you should be able to receive them on the 210. If you are getting back into scanning seriously, it will be time to get a new radio capable of digital reception because it is only a matter of time before it all goes digital.
 

pepsima1

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First post here! I just dug out my Bearcat 210 that I bought back in the late 1970's. Yes it still works!! Found a list of police and fire frequencies and programmed them in. It seems the Fire and EMS are being received but after a few days I still haven't heard anything on the Police bands.

Are the Police using some sort of different system than they did 30 years ago that doesn't allow the scanner to pick them up? Anything I should know regarding the frequencies that would allow my old Bearcat to pick up the Police bands?

Any info would be appreciated as I have been out of the loop for a very long time!

Mahalo

Since you are way out on an island in the middle of the pacific ocean I would try and connect up with the person is is feeding the Hilo feeds on broadcastify. He would be-able to help you out since his feed is broadcasting Hilo police and fire. Good Luck

Hawaii County Hawaii Live Audio Feeds
 

Jags

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I would try and connect up with the person is is feeding the Hilo feeds on broadcastify. He would be-able to help you out since his feed is broadcasting Hilo police and fire.

Good Idea and I will try to contact him. I did just spent the last hour listening to his broadcastify feed and also only heard EMS broadcasts only. No police traffic. Also his EMS broadcasts were different than the EMS I was picking up on my scanner here in Kona. I think that they somehow divide the island up into sections and only the local traffic will be transmitted in the area that you are in. Not sure how that works though.

Hopefully someone will know what sort of system the Police are using here in Hawaii County and if they recently changed to some sort of new system. I remember having this scanner out about a year ago and still picked up the Police. But now only silence!

Thanks!!
 

HiloScanners

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Good Idea and I will try to contact him. I did just spent the last hour listening to his broadcastify feed and also only heard EMS broadcasts only. No police traffic. Also his EMS broadcasts were different than the EMS I was picking up on my scanner here in Kona. I think that they somehow divide the island up into sections and only the local traffic will be transmitted in the area that you are in. Not sure how that works though.

Hopefully someone will know what sort of system the Police are using here in Hawaii County and if they recently changed to some sort of new system. I remember having this scanner out about a year ago and still picked up the Police. But now only silence!

Thanks!!

Hi,
I am the feeder on the Hilo (East) side. Welcome to RR.

Your thinking about the Fire/EMS is correct. You are only going to receive communication from the units in your "area" based on normal reception factors. The exception to that is you will hear ALL the Fire/EMS tone outs for calls for the entire island. That is broadcast via a microwave link from the main dispatch (Fire Control) in Hilo and re transmitted via normal analog FM transmission that you can pick up with your scanner. So if you listen to my feed and your scanner at the same time, you will hear the tone outs on both (with online delay of course), you will hear the "Hilo side" traffic on my feed, and your scanner will pick up whatever traffic it can receive from the "Kona side".

For the Police, I know they are planning to move to a digital system but as far as I know, they are still analog FM. They certainly still are on my side of the island. But they have shifted the frequencies they use on this side of the island so maybe they did the same thing on your side. So take ALL of the police frequencies listed for the entire island and program them into your scanner. Or use the search function if you have one.

Are you not hearing any traffic on my Hilo Police feed?

Aloha,
-HS
 

pepsima1

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Since you people live out on an island there is probably not a lot of people out there with newer scanner equipment. Sound like the PD department for Hilo and Kona are probably on a 800mhz (EDACS) system like Maui County is. The database says that they are on a P25 Phase I system but that is not true. I listen to them at least for a week at a time once a year and from my findings is that they are on a 800 MHz system of sort but can not find the 800 MHz data control channel. I honestly believe they are on a EDACS system 800 band for sure.

Somebody would need to have a scanner that is capable of decoding 800 MHz EDACS and trunking and scan the 800 MHz public safety band and do some testing for sure to know. I know the database for Hawaii is not too accurate at this time. I know that Kauai has been making some changes.

In the future all of the Hawaiian Islands will connected via microwave links to one statewide 800 MHz trunked system for sure.
 

Jags

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Kona, Hawaii
Hi,
I am the feeder on the Hilo (East) side. Welcome to RR.

For the Police, I know they are planning to move to a digital system but as far as I know, they are still analog FM. They certainly still are on my side of the island. But they have shifted the frequencies they use on this side of the island so maybe they did the same thing on your side. So take ALL of the police frequencies listed for the entire island and program them into your scanner. Or use the search function if you have one.

Are you not hearing any traffic on my Hilo Police feed?

Aloha,
-HS

Thanks for the welcome HiloScanners.

I see that you have 2 broadcastify channels. I may not have heard any police traffic as I think I was only listening to your Fire/EMS broadcastify channel. I'm listening to your Police broadcastify channel now and have heard some police traffic.

All that I'm getting out here in Kona is Fire/EMS on 154.310 and the ambulance on 453.400. I will try putting in the other Police frequencies to see if any of them will work. I'll report back after I get a chance to monitor the new frequencies.

Thanks!
 

Jags

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Kona, Hawaii
Here is a follow up:

Reprogramed the scanner with all the Police frequencies on the list. This scanner can only hold 10 channels but that was enough. Here is what I have:

1. 154.310 Fire/EMS (working)
2. 453.400 Medicom (working)
3. 155.310
4. 154.695
5. 155.640
6. 155.250
7. 155.535
8. 155.610
9. 155.730
10. 155.700

Channels 3-10 in the above list are all supposed to be Police frequencies. So far, over a couple of hours of listening, I've heard nothing on those 8 channels. I did have 154.830 and 155.415 which supposed to be the Kona Police frequencies programed in before but nothing ever came up on those channels either. Am I missing any frequencies that the Police may be using?

I'll monitor everything for a few more days but I still don't understand why I'm not getting anything on any of those Police frequencies. After that I'll try running a search to see what I can find.

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks again!
 

Sybex7254

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Kona District Police would be on 155.41500, Ch 10. As stated you may not hear a lot. I've normally catch them in the early morning hours or evenings. Middle of the day is sort of quiet.

I would also add 155.6400 District 4 Waikoloa/Waimea area) for wider police coverage.

This website should help identify which frequencies match the Districts: Radio AH7E Hawaii

A note about reception...I have nothing by 5x5 reception from my house up in Waikoloa with a back of set antenna on my BCD996XT, and can even pick up a lot of activity on Maui (The Multi-Net system entered as conventional frequencies) but I am almost 1,000ft ASL there. YMMV.

@pepsima1 - Neither Maui or Hawaii County are on EDACS. Maui is on a LTR Multi-Net system and will at some point move to a new P25 TRS. Hawaii County as stated in the earlier threads are still VHF and planning a move to a P25 TRS yet to be built. Both those systems are supposed to interface with the exiting Hawaii Islands Regional Interoperability Network (HIRIN) for interop capabilities.

As with everything in Hawaii, this will happen in Hawaiian time, but once it's completed should allow for good digital monitoring.
 

Jags

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Kona, Hawaii
Kona District Police would be on 155.41500, Ch 10. As stated you may not hear a lot. I've normally catch them in the early morning hours or evenings. Middle of the day is sort of quiet.

I monitored 155.415 for days and never heard anything. I'm less that a mile away from the Captain Cook Station so I should be in a good reception area. Also you would think there should be constant police chatter going on. Not just early mornings or evenings.


This website should help identify which frequencies match the Districts: Radio AH7E Hawaii

Yes I've been to that site and it's been very informative and helpful. Thanks!


As with everything in Hawaii, this will happen in Hawaiian time, but once it's completed should allow for good digital monitoring.

Yes everything is done quite slowly here. I remember when I first got my first scanner back in 1974 as a teenager, I visited the police station to ask them which frequencies they used. They told me back then that they were going to change to a scrambled system "very soon" and I wouldn't be able to monitor them. Well that was 40 years ago and they still are using the same system!!

I did run a search on all the 154 and 155 bands for a couple of days. Nothing came up at all. I guess I'll just have to be content with monitoring Fire/EMS on 154.310 and Medicom on 454.400. Any ideas on anything else that may be interesting to monitor?

Thanks!
 

Sybex7254

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Believe it or not in my experience the Airband isn't all that exciting to listen to from the Big Island. Probably better on Oahu near Honolulu Int'l. Not a lot of Military comms heard either.
 

Sybex7254

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I monitored 155.415 for days and never heard anything. I'm less that a mile away from the Captain Cook Station so I should be in a good reception area. Also you would think there should be constant police chatter going on. Not just early mornings or evenings.
QUOTE]

Just been my experience that I hear the Police more in the mornings and evenings from my location at those times, also I'm usually at the beach in the middle of the day too!. "constant police chatter" isn't happening on the Big Island...which I guess is a good thing!

You'd need a newer digital scanner to hear anything going on up at Pohakulia on the PACMERS TRS system and even then its mostly Military convoys and Range Control chatter. I've submitted updates to the DB for PACMERS based upon my listening. Also will be needed once the newer County TRS is finally stood up.

I've been trying to find out the frequencies for the NPS Rangers down at Honaunau as well as Honokohau but something tells me there wouldn't be much chatter there either.
 

pepsima1

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Kona District Police would be on 155.41500, Ch 10. As stated you may not hear a lot. I've normally catch them in the early morning hours or evenings. Middle of the day is sort of quiet.

I would also add 155.6400 District 4 Waikoloa/Waimea area) for wider police coverage.

This website should help identify which frequencies match the Districts: Radio AH7E Hawaii

A note about reception...I have nothing by 5x5 reception from my house up in Waikoloa with a back of set antenna on my BCD996XT, and can even pick up a lot of activity on Maui (The Multi-Net system entered as conventional frequencies) but I am almost 1,000ft ASL there. YMMV.

@pepsima1 - Neither Maui or Hawaii County are on EDACS. Maui is on a LTR Multi-Net system and will at some point move to a new P25 TRS. Hawaii County as stated in the earlier threads are still VHF and planning a move to a P25 TRS yet to be built. Both those systems are supposed to interface with the exiting Hawaii Islands Regional Interoperability Network (HIRIN) for interop capabilities.

As with everything in Hawaii, this will happen in Hawaiian time, but once it's completed should allow for good digital monitoring.

Yes I do go to Maui every year and never figured out why I could never follow transmissions on Maui County Public Safety and I know why now. All the newer scanners can follow EDACS and LTR but not LTR Multi-Net nor EDACS Digital when in Honolulu. I can enter in all of the 800mhz frequencies in a conventional way but have a hard time following the channels. Will be nice one day when all of the Islands get connected via Microwave links to a really nice APCO P25 System, but you are right on Hawaiian Time. Going to Kaui around Christmas time so I will be-able to monitor good stuff over there.
 

Sybex7254

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Guess it would make too much sense to have all Public Safety agencies from all Islands just move to the Hawaii Islands Regional Interoperability Network (HIRIN) as is done in many locations on the mainland.

I mean what's the actual point of that system anyway? I've read the documents out there but still don't see the need for it. How would Maui I/O with Kaui? Since it's basically up and running now, just add talkgroups for each island's departments and install the radios...done! Seems like a waste of money to have individual systems and then link them together to HIRIN.
 

HiloScanners

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Hi Jags,
Sorry took so long to respond. Not for sure what is going on but there are a number of frequencies you can try (see list below). I'm guessing the 154.445 will be the one. You are practically sitting on top of it. Not sure why your search of 154 to 155 did not turn up much.

We also should consider that maybe the Bearcat 210 has lost some of its reception sensitivity or there is some reason why the reception is reduced (e.g. antenna issue). The Fire/EMS signals island wide are very very strong so even a weaker scanner can pick up the signal but may not receive the weaker HPD signals. And now that I think about it maybe your scanner has a squelch issue so that the Fire/EMS/Medicom is easily breaking squelch but the weaker HPD signal is not. Try open up your squelch as much as possible or go to fully open on 154.445. That would kinda explain why the search did not receive much. Kinda...

Are you only hearing the Fire tone outs or are you hearing all the local fire traffic (fire engine to Fire Control, fire engine to station, etc.)?

You also might want to try as a test eliminating the 154.31 (Fire/EMS) and 453.400 (Medicom) for now as on "busy" days these channels may be taking up reception time so you may actually be missing calls even if you have the right frequencies programmed.

We can also try to enlist the help of some Ham Radio operators on that side of the island. Or I could send you another scanner to try that out. Or I could take a trip to Kona!!! :)

Let me know how it goes.
Aloha,
HiloScanners


Capt. Cook/(& Fire/EMS?) 154.445
Kona 2 155.970
HCC/Other 155.085
Naalehu 154.905
Honokaa 154.830
Waimea 154.640
(All Districts 2) 154.775
not sure? 154.415
APB 156.210
Repeater 152.210
Car to Car 156.150
Car to Car 2 (155.715) 155.7200
(Link to Hilo 155.550
Detective 155.705
?? (155.9925) 155.9950
6in 153.6275
5 & 6In 156.030
?? 158.790
Keaau 2 156.1575
P2P 155.370

fyi the car to car and Vice/Detective frequencies are rarely used, at least on the Hilo side. BUT when they are used they tend to be really interesting.... if you know what I mean.
 

HiloScanners

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And pinballwiz86 has a good idea. Try these air frequencies and see what happens. You are pretty far from airport so we may not learn much. But if you have some line of sight towards the north towards the airport you should pick up some traffic from aircraft approaching KOA. Remember this is AM. All other HPD/HFD are FM.

Honolulu Center Approach 126.000 AM
Kona Tower 120.300 AM

Let me know how it goes! Good luck!! Have fun doing this!! :)
HS
 
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HiloScanners

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Kona 2 155.970 is my second guess.

I suggested trying the air frequencies because I am way more familiar with air traffic reception patterns than I am with police. Whenever I am in kona I monitor HFD tone outs and air traffic mostly.
 

HiloScanners

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Also try these four frequencies for Fire and tell me what you hear and on which frequencies.

154.310 153.890 (Freq 2 I think)
154.445 154.010 (Freq 3 I think)

Note the 154.445 appears again cause fire and police use the same frequency in Capt Cook. Are they in the same building or very close?

freq from Radio AH7E Hawaii
 

avascan522

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Hawaii Radio Frequencies - Maui

Hello there!
I visited Maui last December for a relative's wedding and had plenty of time to figure out what I could do to listen to Maui Fire and Police.
I can confirm they are using a LTR Multinet II system and using EF Johnson radios.(I got that from visiting a few fire stations)
What I ended up doing is programming my RS Pro-106 with the frequencies listed for the Maui County Public Safety P25 system (not in operation). I entered them in conventional mode and had to listen to sporadic transmissions, but every once and a while I would catch a fire tone out. It all really depends on your location, and looking at the system site maps on the dB to determine which site is closest to your area. Seeing as I was in the Lahaina district, that was tough because all the towers servicing those areas were on Moloka'I or Lanai islands and were scratchy.

To sum up: Maui PS is(was) using the frequencies listed in the RR database for their P25 system in LTR Multinet II mode.

Hope this can help someone. I was looking for this kind of info before I left, then had to figure it out myself.
 
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