Etowah County

Anyone here listen in on Etowah County? I live in Rockledge up on the mountain and just got a Home Patrol and was looking for external antenna ideas that work good in the area. Would love to be able to pick up the SO for Etowah and Marshall Counties.

Forgot to add, right now all I pick up is Wayne Farms, Etowah County fire dispatch and the occasional GA state trooper dispatch. Which is the same I was picking up on my PRO-97 that I was upgrading from. I really hope that I can pick up more traffic and did not waste the money going with a digital scanner for my area.

Etawah county is P25 trunking you will need to upgrade to a digital scsnner

puzzleriddle said:

Etawah county is P25 trunking you will need to upgrade to a digital scsnner

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To make sure, this is what I got (Police Radio, Uniden HomePatrol Police Scanner, Policescanner Radios | scannermaster.com) and it is digital and P25 compatible from what I read before I purchased. Can you confirm?

It claims to pull its frequency list from this site's database when you input your zip code.

My mistake you do hsave P25 scanner.. I musta been still asleep

The Etowah County Sheriff's Office and all other municipal police and fire departments in Etowah County are on the Gadsden/Etowah P25 system. ALL radio traffic from these agencies is encrypted. All you will really here in Etowah County are the volunteer fire departments on 453.850. You may also be able to monitor the Alabama State Troopers. You should be able to receive most agencies in Marshall County including Albertville's digital system. All of those frequencies are in the database. You should be able to receive some agencies from DeKalb and Blount Counties.

You can also listen to Sardis City, they are are the only department in Etowah County not on the Etowah County 911 radio system. They are dispatched by Boaz in Marshall County.

DARRELL said:

The Etowah County Sheriff's Office and all other municipal police and fire departments in Etowah County are on the Gadsden/Etowah P25 system. ALL radio traffic from these agencies is encrypted. All you will really here in Etowah County are the volunteer fire departments on 453.850. You may also be able to monitor the Alabama State Troopers. You should be able to receive most agencies in Marshall County including Albertville's digital system. All of those frequencies are in the database. You should be able to receive some agencies from DeKalb and Blount Counties.

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So have I basically upgraded to digital for nothing as far as being able to hear more of the Etowah County action? I mean most of what I hear now I guess is analog. I was under the impression I would pick up the P25 unless they were 'phase 2' or whatnot. Or is that the deal, Etowah County is already Phase2?

etowah co

Sure sounds like it! You didn't check whether they were encrypted or not before upgrading??
I haven't heard them in a couple of years. Nowadays you have to be sure the agencies you want to monitor are still in-the-clear, more and more of them don't want us listening. I would tune in some of the other stuff, other counties/cities. Play around with the aircraft frequencies, since you're up on the mountain there, some interesting stuff at times. You haven't wasted your money, those are supposed to be nice scanners.

Plus you would have needed one anyway at some point and you can always use it if you travel anywhere!

doublescan said:

Sure sounds like it! You didn't check whether they were encrypted or not before upgrading??.

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I was not aware of the encryption. I thought as long as they were Phase 1, they were in the clear. Scanner semi-scanner newbie here.

SBellew said:

I was not aware of the encryption. I thought as long as they were Phase 1, they were in the clear. Scanner semi-scanner newbie here.

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In this case, P25 (both Phase I & II) refers to the Common Air Interface, the digital modulation used to carry information over the air. Phase I is a ~20 year old format, and except for a few technicalities, all digital scanners can demodulate it. Phase II is a more recent format, currently supported only by the Uniden x36HP series and Whistler WS-1080. Etowah County's system is P25 Phase I, which is supported by your HomePatrol.

Both of these formats support encryption, which prevents anyone without the correct key from monitoring voice and data traffic. Unfortunately, it appears that most all talkgroups except for county VFD dispatch and a patch to the HEAR system are encrypted on Etowah's system.

Ok if your in Rockledge go ahead and use Aville or Boaz or even Oneata zip code. Then extend your range on the Hp1 to 30 miles. Make sure you are set to receive, in your menu, all the different types of things you want to receive, ie. police state fire, air whatever. If you are using the stock antenna, see how it goes. If you really want to listen to a lot of things go get ya a decent outside antenna like Base Scanner Antenna 15 Elements 50 FT of Coax Complete with 300-75 Ohm Transformer AntennaCraft ST2 Outdoor Radio Signal Rooftop Local Off-Air Digital Police Band Reception Aerial, Part # ST-2, and then from there pick ya up a little rca black box antenna amp there like 10 dB I think. the anteena come with like 50 ft coax,and you will need bnc adapter and a 4 or 6 ft piece of cable (sewells radio shack in Aville has all of it). get that going and you will hear stuff all from bham to Huntsville and Decatur to Georgia. digital and analog. There is a few things in Etowah you can hear but not much they are mostly encrypted. But Marshall, DeKalb, Blount, St. Clair, Lots of Georgia and other.. You will be surprised. I'm not to far from ya and i'm overloaded with stuff to hear. For about another say 50 bucks you can scan what ya like around here. Hope it helps.