St. Ann working or disabled?

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Mpiel21

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Joined
Apr 27, 2015
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14
Location
St. Ann, Missouri
Hi, I'm new to the group. Ive been scanning for about 3 years not using the neat "Scanner Radio" app on my phone. St. Ann was switching to a digital system this month and I recently purchased a Uniden BCD436HP just for that reason but i cant seem to figure out St. Ann's situation. I scanned to their freq. but have not heard anything. I was just wondering if anyone had any info on their scanner situation. Thanks.
 

kruser

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Nov 25, 2007
Messages
4,987
Location
West St Louis County, MO
Yes, do as Nick says and you should hear them. Actually, St Ann is one of the more active users on this new system.

Hook your new 436 to a computer and install Sentinel.
Read the scanner first if you have done any custom favorite lists.
Once read, do the check for HPDB database updates.
Let that finish and then look under Missouri/St Louis (not city) and then county systems and you will see one for SLATER.
Right click that one and add it to your favorites.

It's more complicated then it sounds but once you get the hang of it, it starts becoming easier!

The only problem I have is when the SLATER DB is updated here, I must append the new data to my customized SLATER favorite list and then copy and paste anything new into my customized Slater favorite.
Being a new and growing system, there are usually weekly updates and it will probably be a while before the system is fully functional with everyone on it.

Or... you could just import Slater each time as a new favorite and remove the old one. If you have not customized any names, that would make sure you have the latest updates and talkgroups.

If you tried to program St Ann's old V/UHF frequencies, you will not hear anything as they have now vacated those old channels. All their comms are on the new P25 digital system.
Each town or city also has a car to car or TAC type channel available to them. Those will be encrypted and you will not hear them but for general dispatch, all PD is in the clear so far with the exception of all Law channels in Jefferson County. They started out encrypted and it looks like they have no intent of going to a clear mode for even simple dispatch.
 

Mpiel21

Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2015
Messages
14
Location
St. Ann, Missouri
Yes, do as Nick says and you should hear them. Actually, St Ann is one of the more active users on this new system.

Hook your new 436 to a computer and install Sentinel.
Read the scanner first if you have done any custom favorite lists.
Once read, do the check for HPDB database updates.
Let that finish and then look under Missouri/St Louis (not city) and then county systems and you will see one for SLATER.
Right click that one and add it to your favorites.

It's more complicated then it sounds but once you get the hang of it, it starts becoming easier!

The only problem I have is when the SLATER DB is updated here, I must append the new data to my customized SLATER favorite list and then copy and paste anything new into my customized Slater favorite.
Being a new and growing system, there are usually weekly updates and it will probably be a while before the system is fully functional with everyone on it.

Or... you could just import Slater each time as a new favorite and remove the old one. If you have not customized any names, that would make sure you have the latest updates and talkgroups.

If you tried to program St Ann's old V/UHF frequencies, you will not hear anything as they have now vacated those old channels. All their comms are on the new P25 digital system.
Each town or city also has a car to car or TAC type channel available to them. Those will be encrypted and you will not hear them but for general dispatch, all PD is in the clear so far with the exception of all Law channels in Jefferson County. They started out encrypted and it looks like they have no intent of going to a clear mode for even simple dispatch.

I'm a little confused. Do I need any software before i can connect the scanner to the computer or will it prompt when i connect it? I connected it but I'm at a loss at what needs to happen next, when going by your steps. No software came with the scanner when I bought it.
 

kruser

Active Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
4,987
Location
West St Louis County, MO
Does anyone know the actual frequency for St. Ann?

They no longer use a single frequency like the old days.

Follow the link for the SLATER system that Nick posted above and look through the lists.

St Ann can come up on ANY of the Stl County Urban North or South frequencies which has possible 34 voice channels. The trunking controller determines which frequency they will use each time a user keys up a radio.
In reality, they will be seen mostly on the North site so figure 17 voice channels they can use at random but I see them come up on the south and north sites at the same time very often.

Today, they use a talkgroup and St Ann's is 55400. You will see that listed on the same page that Nick's link takes you. Each Muni or town in the county will have their own unique talkgroup on the same systems that St Ann uses.
 

Mpiel21

Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2015
Messages
14
Location
St. Ann, Missouri
That's what I figured. Alot of people from St. Ann were asking me about the scanner, including some of the officers. I gave them all the talk group but just wanted to make sure there wasn't an actual frequency to use. Thank you.
 

capt0574

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
4
Hi Nick, we ordered BC 436 and BC 536 with bearcat doing programming on the Slater P25 with zip code 63105. Will this solve our monitoring problems to monitor County frequencies?

Fred Crawford
fcrawford@pkwy.k12.mo.us
314-415-8320
 
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