How to best monitor air units assisting police operations in Torrance/Redondo

Major_Infidel · Sep 27, 2015

I've had my first ever scanner (Uniden BCD436) for about two days now and am loving it. With the generous help of some members here - and a few highly educational YouTube videos (no doubt created by members here) - I've had some very good initial success manually creating a favorites list to monitor the police and fire frequencies in my local area around Torrance, Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, etc. I've been doing it manually thus far only because I'm a Mac user so the Sentinel software is largely useless to me.

Like many folks, I'm always curious to know what's going on when I hear a police helicopter hovering around assisting ground units in the immediate vicinity. My question is do these air assets typically communicate with the units below on the local PD's standard tactical frequencies, or are there separate frequencies used by the helicopters to communicate with the on scene commanders on the ground? I've identified a handful of frequencies from the RadioReference database like the LA Sheriff's Aero Bureau Dispatch, LASD Air to Air, LAPD Air Support Div Tac and LAPD Astro channels, but I don't know if monitoring these would actually shed any light on the real time particulars of an incident occurring in my specific area.

Radio_Lady · Sep 27, 2015

Major_Infidel said:
My question is do these air assets typically communicate with the units below on the local PD's standard tactical frequencies, or are there separate frequencies used by the helicopters to communicate with the on scene commanders on the ground? I've identified a handful of frequencies from the RadioReference database like the LA Sheriff's Aero Bureau Dispatch, LASD Air to Air, LAPD Air Support Div Tac and LAPD Astro channels, but I don't know if monitoring these would actually shed any light on the real time particulars of an incident occurring in my specific area.

I will leave Torrance/Redondo to someone who knows their current situation, but for quite a while Hawthorne PD's helicopter would work with them when available, but it was grounded a couple years ago due to the expense, and I don't know if they ever got it back flying.

As far as LAPD goes, their air units will almost always be using the regular tactical Fallback (AKA"simplex") frequency for the division of occurrence to talk with the ofcrs on the ground. If the incident involves a large area or two divisions they may all get assigned to one of the bureau or citywide tac frequencies, but that will be broadcast by the RTO (dispatcher) or the incident commander. LAPD air units always monitor 484.7125, the citywide Air/K9 "hailing" frequency (which is normally patched to 484.350). Communications Div multicasts all urgent and emergency calls on that frequency, as well as any pursuits, officer-initiated requests for backup, assistance or help, and a number of other messages. That frequency was set aside for the helicops and K9 units so they don't need to change from channel to channel as they move around the city. Once they receive the call they'll go to the correct frequency for the incident on a separate radio. There is also a fair amount of air-to-air talk between the LAPD copters on there as well as with other agency and media helicopters on 123.025, which is designated for helicopters in the L.A. area to keep track of where each other are and where they're going. Occasionally you'll hear some details about a police incident on there, mainly when they're arranging the altitude and area where each will be flying. The RadioReference database info, which you mention, is quite good and kept current.

Major_Infidel · Sep 27, 2015

Radio_Lady said:
I will leave Torrance/Redondo to someone who knows their current situation, but for quite a while Hawthorne PD's helicopter would work with them when available, but it was grounded a couple years ago due to the expense, and I don't know if they ever got it back flying.

As far as LAPD goes, their air units will almost always be using the regular tactical Fallback (AKA"simplex") frequency for the division of occurrence to talk with the ofcrs on the ground. If the incident involves a large area or two divisions they may all get assigned to one of the bureau or citywide tac frequencies, but that will be broadcast by the RTO (dispatcher) or the incident commander. LAPD air units always monitor 484.7125, the citywide Air/K9 "hailing" frequency (which is normally patched to 484.350). Communications Div multicasts all urgent and emergency calls on that frequency, as well as any pursuits, officer-initiated requests for backup, assistance or help, and a number of other messages. That frequency was set aside for the helicops and K9 units so they don't need to change from channel to channel as they move around the city. Once they receive the call they'll go to the correct frequency for the incident on a separate radio. There is also a fair amount of air-to-air talk between the LAPD copters on there as well as with other agency and media helicopters on 123.025, which is designated for helicopters in the L.A. area to keep track of where each other are and where they're going. Occasionally you'll hear some details about a police incident on there, mainly when they're arranging the altitude and area where each will be flying. The RadioReference database info, which you mention, is quite good and kept current.

Great stuff, Radio Lady. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

In regards to this bit:

"As far as LAPD goes, their air units will almost always be using the regular tactical Fallback (AKA"simplex") frequency for the division of occurrence to talk with the ofcrs on the ground."

As far as I know, neither Torrance, Redondo Beach nor any of the other beach cities have any organic air assets. I believe they get the vast majority of their assistance from the LAPD and/or LASD air units. (Although if this is incorrect, I'd welcome anyone correcting me.) But if my assumption is correct and let's say that an LAPD helo was providing assistance to Torrance, is it the case that Torrance would be considered outside an LAPD "division of occurrence" and that the air unit would then communicate on one of Torrance's established tactical frequencies? I'm just trying to understand how things might work when an LAPD or LASD helo is providing assistance to an outside agency.

For this particular favorites list that I'm currently working on, I'm trying to limit as much traffic outside the Torrance, Redondo, Hermosa area as possible. So if I can reliably hear responding air units operating on their standard tactical ground frequencies, I'll be happy with that.

HopperD · Sep 27, 2015

Major_Infidel you're correct, Torrance, Redondo (South Bay) Beach get assistance from LAPD, LASD and sometimes CHP. To communicate they can either use the local PD frequency or mutual aid which all departments have.

GrandpaFrank · Sep 28, 2015

Your best bet is to program the Air/K9 channel like Radio Lady said. I have been monitoring the waves for 15 years and never miss a beat or have trouble finding the air unit's channel. They will always hit the local PD's base frequency when acknowledging a call from Dispatch, from there, they always announce what channel they will be going to next to free up Base and begin with the assistance.It's usually a fallback/simplex channel of the division, or a Division tactical channel, and if those are full, they go to citywide Tac. Just mae sure you program all agency Tacticals as well as all the Citywide Tacs. Those are good to have when you see a Police chase on tv. I usually turn the volume down on the TV and let the scanner entertain me.

f40ph · Sep 28, 2015

Uniden's "Close Call" feature is your friend. Keep it enabled on the "do not disturb" mode. It will catch the strong RF from the overhead helo.

HopperD · Sep 29, 2015

GrandpaFrank I do the same thing and turn the volume down on the TV when there's a chase. Isn't it great to know what's going on before it's even on TV.

Major_Infidel · Sep 29, 2015

GrandpaFrank said:
Your best bet is to program the Air/K9 channel like Radio Lady said. I have been monitoring the waves for 15 years and never miss a beat or have trouble finding the air unit's channel. They will always hit the local PD's base frequency when acknowledging a call from Dispatch, from there, they always announce what channel they will be going to next to free up Base and begin with the assistance.It's usually a fallback/simplex channel of the division, or a Division tactical channel, and if those are full, they go to citywide Tac. Just mae sure you program all agency Tacticals as well as all the Citywide Tacs. Those are good to have when you see a Police chase on tv. I usually turn the volume down on the TV and let the scanner entertain me.

Thank you for the kind assistance, GrandpaFrank.

For whatever reason, that Air/K9 frequency has been giving me problems. I manually programmed it to a favorites list with other police air related frequencies, but whereas most of them are AM channels, the Air/K9 frequency is listed in the RadioReference database as a P25 system. At first when the BCD436 asked me for a "system type" during the programming sequence, I selected "P25 Single Frequency". But if you select that option, the next thing it asks you for is a "TGID" which the RadioReference database doesn't include. I then went back and re-input the channel as a "conventional" frequency. The scanner then allowed me to input the frequency (as it's done with all the other AM,FM and FMN stations I've manually programmed) but now when my scanner does lock onto a transmission from this Air/K9 channel, I just get static. Is it possible that this is simply just a reception issue (as I'm using the BCD436's stock antenna) or is it more likely that this frequency should be easily receivable in the Torrance area and I've made some sort of programming error? This is one of only two P25 channels I've attempted to manually program to a favorites list (the LAPD Air Support Division Tactical being the other) and they are both pretty much just static.

Code20Photog · Sep 29, 2015

LAPD will talk to the corresponding agency on their frequency.

Because Torrance borders areas that are LASD, often times you'll get the LASD Aero unit, and they may actually be on the LASD frequency, if LASD is handling a call that may have crossed over into Torrance.

Air/K9 should be loud and clear from Torrance.

LAflyer · Sep 29, 2015

Yes the Hawthorne helicopter is back in business. Seems to be up only nights/weekends however.

When Torrance needs and airship they usually call and pay LASD.

Also remember Torrance has several LASD coverage areas adjacent to it, so its not uncommon to have LASD aero bureau working those incidents in the area.

tkenny53 · Sep 29, 2015

Major, what I do is my 436 is setup as each dept/system or group as a FL. So I have 76 fav's all accessible very fast and able to turn on and off. Since I have had programmable scanners since the first radio shank one in the 80's, I have a set list of where each city or group goes. so like Torrance fire is 61, and Torrance pd is 62, lacofd is 1, lafd is 2, and the list goes on. I break it down to say lapd, being 99,90,91, 92, 93. I should send you my profile file so you could import it into the scanner to see if it fits well. I can also send you just the list so you can see what I got.

jrholm · Oct 3, 2015

Code20Photog said:
LAPD will talk to the corresponding agency on their frequency.

Because Torrance borders areas that are LASD, often times you'll get the LASD Aero unit, and they may actually be on the LASD frequency, if LASD is handling a call that may have crossed over into Torrance.

Air/K9 should be loud and clear from Torrance.

Once the LASD airship is asked for and available the airship would switch over to Torrance's main frequency then take it from there.

How to best monitor air units assisting police operations in Torrance/Redondo

Major_Infidel

Member

Radio_Lady

Member

Major_Infidel

Member

HopperD

Member

GrandpaFrank

Member

f40ph

Member

HopperD

Member

Major_Infidel

Member

Code20Photog

Member

LAflyer

Global DB Admin

tkenny53

Member

jrholm

Member

Similar threads