Do I need P25 phase 2 scanner in Orange County?

Hello, clearly a newb.... Looking to get my first scanner and curious how much I'm impacted by P25 phase 2 in Orange county? Do I need to worry about getting a scanner that picks this up to listen to local PD, John Wayne traffic, etc?

Basically trying to decide if I should get the homepatrol 1 or upgrade to the BCD436??

Thanks for your help.

Hello. My recommendation would be to purchase a Phase II capable scanner. I'm saving up to purchase one myself. For me it'll be peace of mind. As for monitoring OC, I hate to break it to you, the only L/E talkgroup in the clear is the RED channel, everything else L/E related is encrypted. Public Works are a mix of P25 and analog, and Fire is analog. Happy scanning.

I agree too. Since Phase II scanners are on the market I would buy one. The only issue living in OC with their P25 CAI (Common Air Interface) is that Uniden digital Phase I or II have a tough time decoding the digital talkgroups. The only radio manufacturer that works the best on that system is the Whistler Radios. I have a WS-1065 model and it decodes the P25 transmissions perfect with no error rates.

Best bet would be to buy the Whistler WS-1080 or the WS-1065. Uniden would either be the BCD536 or the 436 models. And to the point about LE yes they are all encrypted except for RED and Silver 1 JWA. But you will have everything for all of the Orange County Fire Agencies at your finger tip. Depending on where you live in the county you will be-able to hear stuff in LA too and surrounding cities.

Thank you for the replies. I mostly want to listen to activity at or around John Wayne airport (tower, incoming and departing aircraft, etc). Leaning towards the BCD436 but it may be overkill.

OC_Gunner said:

Thank you for the replies. I mostly want to listen to activity at or around John Wayne airport (tower, incoming and departing aircraft, etc). Leaning towards the BCD436 but it may be overkill.

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If listening to KSNA airport is your goal. Save yourself the money and listen to the online feed from LiveATC.
Airport Detail: KSNA | LiveATC.net

OCCCS

No, any Motorola P25 scanner will receive the unencrypted Orange County TG's. However, all the poIice TG's are encrypted so you will not be able to receive them. I use several Uniden BCD996XT scanners to monitor the OCCCS. Good listening, RWP

I agree with the posts above. A phase 2 scanner is not necessary to receive unencrypted traffic in Orange County. Nor is it required to listen in on conventional SNA tower and ground operations. It would be a great investment however. Whenever purchasing electronics, I tend to spend the extra buck to get the top of the line equipment. Generally this equipment is able to stay with me longer, as opposed to other systems that now sit in a box. You never know when a new system will move in or if you will be traveling somewhere that requires a phase 2 system.

If you are interested in LEO traffic, LA County and LAPD come in loud and clear in Northern Orange County to around Irvine (depending on your antenna and location).

Good luck getting as system together and programming it. Whatever system you buy (if it is not the HomePatrol), take the time to buy programming software that will import from Radio Reference's databases automatically. That, and read the manual. These newfangled scanners have amazing features that you will not know exist unless you read the manual.

PS: My personal favorites are the Pro-197 (I think they renumbered it again) which picks up CCCS crystal clear and provides for instantaneous decoding. My second is the BCD396XT as it has a very practical memory configuration that allows me to program in various different jurisdictions. The BCD is, however, quite slow in comparison to my Pro-197 and it does not decode the RED talkgroup with much proficiency. As observed above, the BCD seems to have a slower decode time when picking up RED. I do not have the same trouble with other talkgroups, which I find weird.

Anyways, if it was me I would take the BCD436. The HomePatrol's touchscreen just doesn't sound like it would last as long as a regular LCD. Just my opinion.

For LA/Orange County you really need a digital trunking scanner. You may only want to listen to John Wayne now, but stay in this hobby more than a few days (literally), and you'll find so much stuff in the area, it is unbelievable. Would definitely go with one of the newer scanners: 436HP/536HP/HomePatrol 2/WS-1080.
I have them all. My preference, if it could be one scanner, would be the 436HP. I live in Cerritos, and with the right antennas, can monitor LA County, OC, much of San Bernadino, Riverside, Ventura, and even some stuff in San Diego County
I have had my 436HP in my backpack many times when fly out of John Wayne. Works great for the air frequencies and the P25 JWA sites on OC CCCS trunking system.
Steve AA6IO

RED Channel

rananthony04 said:

Hello. My recommendation would be to purchase a Phase II capable scanner. I'm saving up to purchase one myself. For me it'll be peace of mind. As for monitoring OC, I hate to break it to you, the only L/E talkgroup in the clear is the RED channel, everything else L/E related is encrypted. Public Works are a mix of P25 and analog, and Fire is analog. Happy scanning.

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Just bought a BCD536. Having lived in Huntington Beach back in the “good old days” when we COULD hear the various PDs, I miss that. However, I’d be happy if all I could hear is RED Channel. I thought that was encrypted, also.

That’s good. At least there is something.

RWPowell2 said:

I use several Uniden BCD996XT scanners to monitor the OCCCS. Good listening, RWP

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Is there a trick to programming the OC Fire frequencies into a BCD536? Do I have to do this manually, one Talkgroup ID at a time, or can they be loaded same as with everything else?

AuToGrApHzZz said:

The BCD is, however, quite slow in comparison to my Pro-197 and it does not decode the RED talkgroup with much proficiency. As observed above, the BCD seems to have a slower decode time when picking up RED. I do not have the same trouble with other talkgroups, which I find weird.

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I just bought the 536 and so far find it will suit my needs perfectly. The best of both worlds. Ease of programming of the HP, plus the ability to configure to my liking of a “regular” scanner.

Question: I used to listen to “Red” channel all the time when I lived in Huntington Beach, and left about the time that OC LE went encrypted. I read somewhere here that “Red” is NOT encrypted. You’re talking about a “Red Talkgroup”. I’m not seeing that in the RR database. Maybe I’m not looking in the right place?

Red can be found in the CCCS law interop talkgroups - 50720

Also, not sure in Huntington Beach if you can pickup any of the CHP low band frequencies with the standard issued antenna. You might need an outdoor ST-2 antenna-craft antenna to pickup CHP. There is a lot of good pursuits that happen on RED and CHP -- PURPLE -- GREY and the GREEN in OC>

Good Luck with the BCD536HP radio. Sometimes I feel like I want to buy another one since the price is more reasonable now and dropping as we speak on EBAY and Amazon.

KB6KGX said:

Is there a trick to programming the OC Fire frequencies into a BCD536? Do I have to do this manually, one Talkgroup ID at a time, or can they be loaded same as with everything else?

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Should be able to program them as usual however there is one caveat. All of the TG's are on the Countywide system except those for Division 6/Battalion 9 (Santa Ana). Those TG's are on the South system so you need to program that in as well in order to get all of OCFA.

pepsima1 said:

Depending on where you live in the county you will be-able to hear stuff in LA too and surrounding cities.

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I used to live in Huntington Beach and could never listen to OC Fire as I never had a trunking scanner. Now that I have the BCD536HP, I’m listening to the whole county (and I live up in Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley) and it comes in great, even up here in the SFV. Better IN Orange County of course, but I can hear them just fine up here. When i’m in OC, I can hear all of LAPD perfectly as if I was there.

Fireboat03 said:

Also, not sure in Huntington Beach if you can pickup any of the CHP low band frequencies with the standard issued antenna. You might need an outdoor ST-2 antenna-craft antenna to pickup CHP. There is a lot of good pursuits that happen on RED and CHP -- PURPLE -- GREY and the GREEN in OC>

Good Luck with the BCD536HP radio. Sometimes I feel like I want to buy another one since the price is more reasonable now and dropping as we speak on EBAY and Amazon.

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I’m using the Larsen “150/450/800” scanner antenna and it works great. Even for CHP, for which this antenna is not designed for. The manager at HRO-Burbank said this was the antenna he’d recommend (and which I already had). Did not recommend the Austen Spectra, which is four times the cost of the Larsen. I’m having great results with the Larsen.

CommLt said:

Should be able to program them as usual however there is one caveat. All of the TG's are on the Countywide system except those for Division 6/Battalion 9 (Santa Ana). Those TG's are on the South system so you need to program that in as well in order to get all of OCFA.

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I’ve got the entire system in the scanner. And it’s great to be able to hear all of that. However, I don’t really want to listen to the entire county. I know that the individual fire departments are in “groups”, such as Fountain Valley/Huntington Beach/Costa Mesa/Newport Beach, I believe, are all in one group. I’m not sure, but I think that Anaheim is in the same group with Brea and Fullerton? I don’t know. But what I would like to know is, is it possible to ONLY listen to, for example, Huntington Beach Fire and not the other departments in its same talk group? Or, at least the “North Counties” and not have to hear the “South Counties”?

Thanks, in advance, for any advice and suggestions.

Depends on how you define the North/South line

Easiest way is to avoid all the sites other than the Countywide and North cells, then avoid any TG's you don't want to hear. You could also avoid OCFA, as they tend to dominate the South County.