Alpha Tagging

[clbarker]

Can someone explain aplha tagging to me? I am looking to get a scanner with that capability.

 

[n4voxgill]

alpha tagging lets you enter letters and numbers. Instead of just seeing a talkgroup number you can put in statements like

WEST DISPATCH
EMERGENCY
FIRE DISPATCH
OAKLAND TAC1

hope that explains it.

 

[Colin9690]

Most of the newer Radioshack models use alpha-tagging, to name a few, the -93, -95, -96, -97, -99.

Hope This Helps,

 

[clbarker]

So it's basically text that you put in to identify it...it dosen't come through the radio. I was confused wether it was somehting you put in, or that came through the transmisson.

 

[crazyboy]

You program it in. So that when your scanner stops on a frequency it will show the alpha tag instead of the frequency or talkgroup.(some show both freq/alpha tag) It's really helpful.

 

[elk2370bruce]

When entering a talk group into your unit in program mode, (for Radio Shack Units), simply hit the text button and over-write the talk group you entered with whatever you wanna call it. Rather than the talk group number being displayed when the radio recognizes a transmission on it, your words will be displayed instead. For larger trunked systems, such as State Police, this makes listening a whole lot easier and enjoyable. If you can get one of these units, your eyes will be a whole lot bleary and you no longer have to memorize who is on what talk group on which trunked system. Definitely worth the upgrade. PS, you can do the same thing with other brands as well.
Bruce

 

[USAPatriot]

It's most definitely worth it. And since whatever reciever you're getting likely will also have serial port data transfer capabilities to and from your computer, for most systems there's software available that will also alpha tag and upload the info to your scanner. It makes life pretty easy. -Rod-

 

[clbarker]

Sweet! That's too cool for school! Thanks guys!

 

[Dubbin]

Can someone explain aplha tagging to me? I am looking to get a scanner with that capability.

What made you want it if you didn't even know what it was??? Really though I would never own another radio without alfa tags. Alfa tags are the best thing since digital displays

 

[John_M]

clbarker Wrote:

So it's basically text that you put in to identify it...it dosen't come through the radio. I was confused wether it was somehting you put in, or that came through the transmisson

It is text that you put in to identify it. It doesn't automatically come through the transmission.

 

[nexus]

Yeah Alphatags ROCK MY SOCKS! I only buy radios now that have that feature in it. Doesn't matter if it's an amateur radio or a scanner. Also it doesn't matter if you are using trunking or not. If the scanner comes with alphatag ability you'll be able to give each channel you program a name, or each talkgroup you program a name.

So instead of seeing 155.5800 on your display you'll see YOUR PD 1 or whatever you program into it. Most scanners will display the frequency, channel, and a line of alphatag text which you assign when ever it stops. Several Uniden scanners do this too. It'd be sweet if it came through the scanner with the signal but they haven't come up with anything like that yet.

 

[USAPatriot]

What made you want it if you didn't even know what it was??? Really though I would never own another radio without alfa tags. Alfa tags are the best thing since digital displays

Actually, I think he said he was looking for an explanation of them...but didn't say he didn't know what they are. I know what a gigli saw is, but not how to use one