Tow Truck Operators - Suggestion

[Nighthawk101]

I noticed, as well as I know of alot of Tow Operators use this site. Have you thought about making a section aimming to help to operators. Now for this section, you should make it for Paid Subscribers. I mention that because I feel if you are using something to benifit yourself, you might as well pay a low fee to use it.

There are certain channels that tow operators scan that the normal everyday person wouldn't. Also certain discussions that may interest a tow operators and not others.

Just a suggestion!!!!!!!!

[DaveNF2G]

Why not just contribute those "special" channels to the database? If somebody doesn't care to monitor them, they don't have to put them in their scanner.

[Nighthawk101]

Originally Posted by DaveNF2G

Why not just contribute those "special" channels to the database? If somebody doesn't care to monitor them, they don't have to put them in their scanner.

They are on list, but I am just saying a suggestion, as I have noticed alot of operators use this site.

[loumaag]

Originally Posted by Nighthawk101

They are on list, but I am just saying a suggestion, as I have noticed alot of operators use this site.

Your suggestion would violate the policy of the site; the data is free to all who come and use it. You don't even have to be a member to access the frequency data.

[kadetklapp]

I drive a wrecker and our company has it's own /\/\ repeater and UHF radios. We use business band stuff. There are no special "tow truck" frequencies I'm aware of, in Indiana at least.

[PFCCooper]

And Lawton's wrecker companies around here use Nextel, and just there regular cell phones most of the time.

[CVPI4Ever]

I would have thought alot of wreckers, cabbies, and people of that nature use Nextel so prevent "call jumping".

[MikeOxlong]

I think he's talking about Lindsay branching out and offering a paid forum for Tow Truck Operators.

Somewhere special the operators can come and receive help on scanning.

Kind of a special forum that they can post in and members can jump in and help them.

I guess the idea of paying is so they can post in their own forum without having to use the rest of the site like us common folk.

[Gilligan]

Not sure what "special" tow freqs you could be referring to...

[DaveH]

Not to mention, typical use of scanners by tow-truck operators
violates Canada's Radiocommunication Act, with respect to use
of intercepted information for financial gain. That police universally
turn a blind eye to that doesn't alter the fact. Perhaps RR would
also like to sponsor a special group for people in the U.S. who
like to monitor cellular calls (what analog ones still can be...).

My suggestion is to start a Yahoo group; you can make access
as exclusive as you want.

Dave

[JnglMassiv]

How many people are we really talking about? I have to wonder if there's enough of an audience to even begin to justify any effort at all.

[loumaag]

Remember, tow trucks operate differently depending where you are. For example, having a scanner in a tow truck in New Orleans will earn you a citation. Not having one in your truck in Houston will mean you will starve; the police open broadcast for wreckers to show up for incidents, first on the scene gets the tow, they usually match (coin toss) to settle ties. Every jurisdiction or region operates differently, what happens where you are located may have no bearing on somewhere else.

As to the usefulness of this site to tow truck operators; in New Orleans, hardly any (unless you want to count stealth techniques), in Houston it is very useful. In any case, back to my earlier comment, there does not need to be a separate site or forum for tow truck operators, what they need in scanning is just about the same as any other scanner user.

[Unitrunker]

Originally Posted by loumaag

Not having one in your truck in Houston will mean you will starve; the police open broadcast for wreckers to show up for incidents, first on the scene gets the tow, they usually match (coin toss) to settle ties.

I'll second Lou's comments on Houston. HPD dispatch will request wrecker service over the radio; "We need a wrecker @ ..." or "We need someone with a slimjim @ ...". The Houston tow operators run multiple single channel receivers. You'll see a row of 6 to 8 antennas along the lightbar. They'll place speakers in different areas of the cab. If you hear someone talking from behind the seat - it's channel 3. If you hear someone talking from the headliner - it's channel 1, and so on. Some of these guys can hear and decipher multiple simultaneous conversations. These guys are so hardcore; they don't like scanners because they're afraid they'll miss something.

[loumaag]

Originally Posted by Unitrunker

...These guys are so hardcore; they don't like scanners because they're afraid they'll miss something.

Except of course for Harris County SO (or any of the other surrounding counties' SO's and constables) since they are on STARNet they need a scanner (or several) locked on the one (or more) dispatch channel(s).

[bpckty1]

Many of the "scanners" in Houston tow trucks are not scanners. Several years ago, Houston PD sold old Motorola crystal radios, speakers and other "obsolete" equipment by the boxload at auction. Some enterprising folk spent about $20 or so for a few of the boxes, removed the radios' transmitting crystals, modified the power supply (so the truck's electrical system wouldn't fry the radios) and sold them to the wrecker operators.

If a wrecker service worked primarily in the Northeast part of town, they installed the 3 or 4 radios needed (NE patrol, Citywide, Special Ops, and Direct, for example). These were superior radios than scanners of that time, since they were Motorola receivers and did not have intermod problems (needed near downtown because of the intermod soup that continues even today). Later, when Starnet came on-line, a few radio companies sold modified STX and Kenwood handhelds that had their transmitters disabled. Alas, one company no longer does this since Motrorla found out about this and slapped the company's wallet hard. As for the Kenwoods????????

Besides, many have since migrated to using scanners, since they are made better than years ago when their electronics were not as well protected, and were fragile. Today, their "boxes" are stronger and will survive a fall (still not recommended) better and have alpha numeric displays.