total newb here, please help

hey guys, looking forward to be part of the community here, seems like a bunch of nice and knowledgeable people from what I've seen so far. anyway lets get to the issues I am having. so I am in the fire department in my town (washington) but i grew up in the next town over (new milford) and would just like to be aware of whats happening over there. our dispatch center has a text service so i can revive texts with details about all the calls, I've signed up for numerous departments around me that i am interested in however new milford has its own dispatch center and you need to be involved in that town to sign up for the text messages. the new milford fire marshal is in my department, and is dating the head of dispatch in new milford and i still cant get signed up lol. anyway i went out and bought a cheap scanner, a radioshack pro-649, i didnt know anything when i bought it and i did a little bit of resarch but i am very impaitent and instead of ordering one online i went and got the first one i could get my hands on. i have hardly been able to get much more then static to come over the thing, if i have the squelch on min i get basically constant static, and on max i dont hear anything, ive set up ten saved frequencys, tried the signal stalker and the local fd/pd button with basically the same results. the only real traffic ive heard was a barley audible transmission today while heading to a fire call in my truck, in my town, on my towns frequency. ive read up on it and decided to order a mobile antenna to hook up to it to get around my trucks metal roof and hopefully actually be able to hear something, also i know its not a digital scanner, and the rr page for litchfield county list most of the frequencys im interested in as dpl so my questions to you folks are, will my scanner not be able to pick up the dpl frequencys? doesnt make sense because i did get a little today on washingtons dpl frequency, is it the rubber ducky antenna, combined with the hilly terrain of my area? maybe, and like i said i was in my pickup so obviously the metal roof is a factor. how come my fire dept pager (motorla minitor v) works so well even though its tiny with no antenna, and my brand new pro-649 cant pick up anything? should i have just gone with a more expensive moblie scanner? also can the pro-649 get a NAC tone frequency?

sorry for my long windedness hope you dont mind, thanks

link to rr page for litchfield county: Litchfield County, Connecticut (CT) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
i am interested in most of litchfield county dispatch, most of new milford, and the washington frequencys

Welcome to RR. DPL relates to the type of tone(PL and DPL), and only applies to analog frequencies. I don't see any digital frequenciesv for the FD, so you should be able to receive all of the Litchfield FD frequencies.You do not have to program the DPL in order to receive the frequency, It is optional..The New Milford PD is digital(P25), Connecticut Statewide Emergency Radio Network (CSERN) is also digital. Connecticut State Police
is a digital trunking system, which you scanner will not receive.

An Mobile Antenna will improve your signal a lot better than an rubber duck,and welcome to Radio Reference this is the best place for radio help and info good luck on you project......

Adamreal-

The DPL codes are optional to prevent hearing other 'traffic' on the scanned channels.

Not sure of the distance involved but to start I would simply put in the fire dispatch frequencies for the area you are in. I suggest you put in your 'local' town(s) as well as the one for New Milford. Once you have a few channels programed, press the scan button. Now set the squelch-it should be set at the point where the static stops and the unit starts to scan. the display should indicate it is scanning by going through the channels. You should hear units dispatched either just before or soon after you get text messages which will allow you to 'verify' things are working. A portable unit especially inside a vehicle will have limited range (maybe 10-15 miles less in hilly terrain). If you get your local department and not New Milford you can try a mobile antenna for better range.

you may also check the audio feeds for your area -either by themselves or as a 'check' to what you are getting.

Scanning does take a few new skills but patience will pay off.

Welcome to the hobby

thanks for the help guys im learning more everyday.

so i cant get p25 on my scanner?
also how come my tiny little fire pager picks this stuff up but my scanner cant?

adamreale88 said:

thanks for the help guys im learning more everyday.

so i cant get p25 on my scanner?
also how come my tiny little fire pager picks this stuff up but my scanner cant?

Click to expand...

No, you can not get P25. However, you should be able to get anything your pager gets. Do you have 163.2500 programmed in a bank? Is that bank scanning? If not, it is very easy to accidentally lock out a bank, so hit the bank number while it is scanning to see if it turns on or off. You should also try sitting on 163.25 to see if it will receive when you pager receives.