Columbia, MD

[llwade]

next week I am coming to Columbia, MD in Howard Co. I will have a Uniden SDS 100 scanner with DMR/NXDN added. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to listen to? ( not interested in EMS) Think I would like to listen to Police (city/county/state) . Will I be close enough to hear the airport (BWI). Also, does Maryland have any laws about scanners in the automobile ?

Thank You so much for your time. If you are every near Peoria , IL, I will be glad to return the favor

 

[maus92]

There are no laws in Maryland that restrict scanner use in vehicles.

Columbia is in Howard County which operates an 800 MHz P25P1 simulcast TRS. EMS is integrated with the fire service in the county. Medical consults are conducted on the UHF MED channels and on MED channel crosslinks on the local trunked radio system, thus can easily be locked out or not included in scanner programming. Both the county police and the local state police barracks dispatch talk groups are not encrypted, and both are available on the county system. The state's P25P2 simulcast TRS carries some additional traffic including several out-of-the-area state police barracks, Natural Resources Police, and highways traffic management units.

This is the Howard County system:

Howard County Trunking System, Various, Maryland

Howard County Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Talk groups to get you started:

10961 - County Police District 1
10961 - County Police District 2

10901 - Fire Dispatch
10902 - Fire Ops 1
10903 - Fire Ops 2

11016 - State Police - Waterloo Barrack



The state system (lock out all sites except Howard Simulcast):

First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team (FIRST) Trunking System, Various, Multi-State

First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team (FIRST) Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

BWI has its own system which *may* be receivable in Columbia:

Maryland Aviation Administration Trunking System, BWI Airport, Maryland

Maryland Aviation Administration Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[fourwd1]

Howard has a P25 Phase 1 system you can listen to, as does BWI Airport PD/FD/Ops.
You might be able to receive BWI air traffic from Columbia. No laws on mobile scanning.

Most all of MD state is on the FiRST P25 Phase 2 system which has a lot of traffic.

You can also get some Federal stuff on the Joint National Capitol Region P25 system.

Check the MD database for more info here: MD

 

[llwade]

maus92 & fourwd1 thank you very much for your input. It will help a lot. Now I am really looking forward to my trip

thank you again

 

[tvengr]

Here is a hpe favorites list file for Howard County. Custom 1 service type must be enabled.

 

[jkahn]

And don't forget to try the crab bomb (best crab cake) in Maryland at G&M near BWI Airport in Linthicum, less than 30 minutes from Columbia!

 

[llwade]

I am enjoying my week in Columbia. The rain has stopped, and the weather is just beautiful here. The scanner is very busy. Thank you to everyone, for all your information. I programmed the scanner back in Illinois and turned it on with gobs of chatter, right away.

 

[maus92]

No prob - glad we could help. Public Service radio is very busy around the DC / Baltimore metro area.

 

[fourwd1]

I am enjoying my week in Columbia. The rain has stopped, and the weather is just beautiful here. The scanner is very busy. Thank you to everyone, for all your information. I programmed the scanner back in Illinois and turned it on with gobs of chatter, right away.

At least you got a few days of decent weather, especially today

 

[PCPA]

I am enjoying my week in Columbia. The rain has stopped, and the weather is just beautiful here. The scanner is very busy. Thank you to everyone, for all your information. I programmed the scanner back in Illinois and turned it on with gobs of chatter, right away.

Hope you had a "crab bomb" or at least one hardshell crab.

Visiting Maryland without sampling crabs would be like visiting Chicagoland and foregoing pizza.