Delaware County

[Jason4525]

First off just want to say hello to everyone 1st post

I am in Delco looking to purchase my first scanner.My interest a handheld Uniden. Kind of confused with the digita and trunking term it seems like PA has a mix of it and then the open sky with psp so confusing but learning alot of stuff on the wiki part. Main question what portable would work the best for me like picking up most of the stuff in Delaware County PA would the BC346XT work for me I see that it is a trunking one but thinking I may need a digital one. Then the digital BCD396XT is kind of out of my price range then I see the GRE PSR-500 which may be the one but don't know which one to get for my area.

[CommJunkie]

If you are only going to scan Delaware County, all you need is an analog scanner. You can't get PSP on a scanner anyway with their OpenSky radios, no scanner can decode it. Delaware County frequencies are all conventional analog, which means no special trunking or digital equipment is needed to hear them.

[Septa3371CSX1]

Originally Posted by CommJunkie

If you are only going to scan Delaware County, all you need is an analog scanner. You can't get PSP on a scanner anyway with their OpenSky radios, no scanner can decode it. Delaware County frequencies are all conventional analog, which means no special trunking or digital equipment is needed to hear them.

As Jay said, if you only want to scan Delco stuff, you really only need a basic analog scanner which will run you about $100. If you want to be able to store PL/DPL codes and monitor analog trunked systems like SEPTA that are in the county, then you'll want to go with an analog trunk tracking scanner. While a new analog trunk tracker from Radio Shack will run you about $200, you can easily find a decent used one on eBay for around $100 (beware though as some of the units for sale on eBay may not be in good working condition). If you want to be able to listen to the digital channels in the county and monitor surrounding digital trunked systems (Philly, Montco, Delaware State, etc), then you will need a digital scanner, which will run you $400-$600 new.

[cast4]

A random question, does anyone know why police stations in Delaware County are referred to as "90"'s?

[saber2k5]

The county PD numbering system starts at 01 (chief) and goes up from there. In general, each increment of 10 represents a different type of unit--eg 20-30 is patrol; 30-40 is traffic... The highest number is 90 and that was assigned to be the HQ. For all you 79xx listeners, yes Upper Darby does have IDs above 90, but they are an exception--yeah an exception (:

[CommJunkie]

Chester PD also uses a slightly altered numbering system, but the basic premise is there.

01-09 = Supervising officers
11-19 = not used
21-39 (excluding 30) = Patrol cars
41-49 = Sergeants
51-59 = Detectives
61-89 (excluding 70&80) = Patrol cars (most departments use 61-89 as part time officers.
90 = Headquarters
91-99 = Bike Patrol/Motorcycle Patrol units

There are no numbers ending in 0 except for 90 in the police numbering system, and I never could come up with a valid reason why.

[Septa3371CSX1]

Originally Posted by CommJunkie

Chester PD also uses a slightly altered numbering system, but the basic premise is there.

01-09 = Supervising officers
11-19 = not used
21-39 (excluding 30) = Patrol cars
41-49 = Sergeants
51-59 = Detectives
61-89 (excluding 70&80) = Patrol cars (most departments use 61-89 as part time officers.
90 = Headquarters
91-99 = Bike Patrol/Motorcycle Patrol units

There are no numbers ending in 0 except for 90 in the police numbering system, and I never could come up with a valid reason why.

Several departments do have units / officers with numbers ending in 0 (48-30, 63-30, 79-10, 79-20, 79-30, 79-40 to name a few). 79 also uses a slightly different numbering system.

01 - Superintendent Chitwood
02-05: Captains
06-07: Patrol Lieutenants (when a lieutenant is not on the schedule a sergeant may work as 06 or 07. 06 = daywork, 07 = nightwork)
08-09: Detective Lieutenants
10-16: Marked Patrol Cars
17: Unmarked Patrol Car
18-19: Marked Patrol Cars
20 and 30: Wagons
21: Daytime Sector 1 Patrol Car
22: Daytime Sector 2 Patrol Car
23: Daytime Sector 3 Patrol Car
24: Daytime Sector 4 Patrol Car
25: Daytime Sector 5 Patrol Car
26: Tactical Narcotics Marked Patrol Car
27-28: Marked Patrol Cars
29A-E: K-9 cars (each officer is assigned a K #).
31: Nighttime Sector 1 Patrol Car
32: Nighttime Sector 2 Patrol Car
33: Nighttime Sector 3 Patrol Car
34: Nighttime Sector 4 Patrol Car
35: Nighttime Sector 5 Patrol Car
36-40: Marked Patrol Cars
41-42: Patrol Sergeants (41 is day, 42 is night)
43: Plain Clothes Sergeant
46: Unmarked Patrol Car
51-59: Detectives, Plain Clothes Patrols
61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69: Motorcycle Officers
70: Abandoned Vehicle Officer
77: Health Department
78-79: Animal Wardens
83: Marked Patrol Car
90: Headquarters
91: Bicycle Patrol Sergeant
92-96: Bicycle Patrol Officers

I should note that xx-79 is often used to designate a county Animal Control Unit on police radio (i.e. 41-79).

[cast4]

Apparently 61-69 are Highway Units if this is correct:

01 Police Chief
02 to 05 Captains
06 to 09 Lieutenants
21 to 39 Sector/Patrol Units or Officer’s Badge Numbers
41 to 49 Sergeants
51 to 59 Detectives
61 to 69 Highway Units
71 to 79 Special Units
81 to 89 Special Units
90 Police Station
91 to 99 Bike Units

http://www.myfirecompanies.com/filel...m-pa-delco.pdf

[CommJunkie]

Originally Posted by cast4

Apparently 61-69 are Highway Units if this is correct:

01 Police Chief
02 to 05 Captains
06 to 09 Lieutenants
21 to 39 Sector/Patrol Units or Officer’s Badge Numbers
41 to 49 Sergeants
51 to 59 Detectives
61 to 69 Highway Units
71 to 79 Special Units
81 to 89 Special Units
90 Police Station
91 to 99 Bike Units

http://www.myfirecompanies.com/filel...m-pa-delco.pdf

That was the original numbering plan when the county created the numbering system, but as numbers 21 to 39 got used up, they needed more numbers to assign. 61-89 are generally not used as the county intended.

Also, the numbers are mostly a guide, as it has been shown that larger department requiring more numbers (such as Upper Darby) use all the numbers they can.

[cast4]

Originally Posted by CommJunkie

That was the original numbering plan when the county created the numbering system, but as numbers 21 to 39 got used up, they needed more numbers to assign. 61-89 are generally not used as the county intended.

Also, the numbers are mostly a guide, as it has been shown that larger department requiring more numbers (such as Upper Darby) use all the numbers they can.

Yeah, for example 76 uses 76-28 as the shift supervisor when there is not a Sargent on duty.

[fourthhorseman]

On the OPs question,,

ive got a gre310,,great radio,,

you may be interested in getting maybe a used pro96,,or 106.
im in SW philly,,i tune delco from time to time,,usually when i catch some cross border
action over jband,west,or sw..

i find delco to be a little slow,maybe thats just a relative opinion being in philly where there are
all types of crimes being committed at all hours day n night...delco,,well,,i hear alot of noise calls and domestics..

,depending on your listening,and location,if you can hear the philly TRS..maybe go with digital,,so you
can hear both systems..montgom. county too..

a used digi will run you between 2-300 bucks,,patience n looking..a week,,or 2 tops and youll have a nice radio..

good luck in the decision making!

[jjimenez01]

From Stevie G,
All police radios will be switched back to wideband during the month of April. While doing that programming a new frequency will be added to sector 7 radios. Fire and EMS serving those areas will also get this new channel. The channel will be for the UHF trailer mobile repeater Delco owns. This trailer will be the primary repeater for all ops at the tennis event coming up in May.

JJ

[CommJunkie]

Question - why would Havertown Police have a PW license in the 70cm ham band?

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQQP836 - HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP POLICE

[benrussellpa]

Originally Posted by CommJunkie

Question - why would Havertown Police have a PW license in the 70cm ham band?

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQQP836 - HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP POLICE

License info indicates this is for use with a "Recon Scout" system. Google tells me that is most likely this:

Welcome to ReconRobotics, Inc., world leader in tactical micro-robot systems for military and law enforcement personnel.

A tool for tactical ops.

[captaincab]

im betting it is for the ert robot