Scanning Morgan County

Hello everyone - I'm new to most of this and the more I learn, the more questions I have lol

It all started when my brother (who has run a scanner for years but it's a for fun thing, he's not really into radios) was talking about MoCo sheriff and the new radio system and the problems scanning it. I'm a computer guy and I like tech, so challenge accepted.

Now a few weeks later I've learned quite a bit but I'm stuck. I have questions that I hope someone here can help with - I have no idea who to talk to locally but maybe some of you can give me some input.

In short, can anyone tell me if I can scan my local PD and what it requires? Reasonably priced - I guess anything is possible if you throw enough money at it but I don't want to spend a thousand bucks, much less multiples. I've looked at the database here on RR and it seems to be outdated - it only has the single VHF frequency. I'm 90% sure the 'new' (1-3 years old) system is TRBO but I don't know if it's UHF or VHF or if it's trunked. Does anyone here know anything about my local system or can tell me who to ask? Is it even ok to ask? Is it encryped? From my (very limited) understanding the encryption would be a show-stopper so I don't want to waste time and treasure chasing a unicorn.

Any and all info/advice appreciated. Scanning has come a looooong way!

Morgan county SO and Madison PD are both on VHF Mototrbo, not analog anymore.

Thank you for the replies, I thought it was TRBO but wasn't positive - the local paper had this:

The goal of the Phase II upgrade is to install better radio coverage for firemen and policemen. Two antennas will be erected on top of water towers, one in Rutledge and one south of Buckhead, to increase radio coverage. Phase I of the 911 System Upgrade took place nearly a year ago with the addition of a Very High Frequency (VHF) digital radio system.

The Morgan County Emergency 911 implemented the upgraded advanced communication system, with a $379,000 budget, on Mar. 19, 2014.The new system is a Tracked Turbo high brand radio system from Motorola Solutions.


Any idea if it's encrypted, or how to find out? Or trunked?

john706 said:

The new system is a Tracked Turbo high brand radio system from Motorola Solutions.

Click to expand...

Gotta love the news media's accurate reporting.....

Right!? So from that I'm guessing trunked VHF. Bought one of the Realtek dongles and found what seems to be a control freq in SDR# (after searching for what a TRBO system sounds like) and programmed that into Unitrunker. Seems to be a continuous broadcast of the buzz sound and occasionally it powers up and then Unitrunker shows it's receiving DMR protocol but nothing else happens. I'm new to all this so I'm not sure if I've really found anything or not. Going to try to pipe that to DSD next to see what I can learn there!

john706 said:

Right!? So from that I'm guessing trunked VHF. Bought one of the Realtek dongles and found what seems to be a control freq in SDR# (after searching for what a TRBO system sounds like) and programmed that into Unitrunker. Seems to be a continuous broadcast of the buzz sound and occasionally it powers up and then Unitrunker shows it's receiving DMR protocol but nothing else happens. I'm new to all this so I'm not sure if I've really found anything or not. Going to try to pipe that to DSD next to see what I can learn there!

Click to expand...

If it's turbo and law enforcement they encrypted it most likely, meaning your not going to hear anything.