Denver Metro Area Prog tips and tricks

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ShyFlyer

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I'll be moving to the Denver Metro Area soon and I'm trying to get a head start on my 436HP programming. It's quite a monumental task, even considering I'm only interested in Police/Sheriff comms!

I'm looking for your tips, tricks, suggestions, etc on how to organize my programming to minimize the amount of button pushing (don't have a GPS for the 436). My current method is to organize each county as a separate Favorite List. This works well in most of NM and rural CO. Denver....I'm thinking not so much.


Thanks!
 

ShyFlyer

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It does, but I don't use that feature.

I guess by button pushing I should clarify: since the 436HP is in my vehicle, I like to activate/deactivate via quick keys. Currently I just use quick keys for the FLs since the counties here aren't as densely populated.
 

Spitfire8520

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I have never used any of the Uniden products before, so my assistance in that regard is somewhat limited. Steve2003 created a pretty useful document regarding how he programs his favorite list and quick keys in BCDx36HP Programming Layout. It is broken down by system followed by quick keys for county level. What makes it effective is that he has taken database and has actually broken it down into individual departments so that he can focus on specific departments as desired.

Colorado is a very trunking happy state. Here are the major systems in the Denver Metro area:
State of Colorado DTRS - Most of Colorado
Denver Public Safety
Aurora P25
Metro Area Radio Cooperative (MARC) - West Denver Metro
Westminster
Front Range Communications Consortium (FRCC) - North Denver Metro

Since you are only interested in law enforcement communications, you can basically ignore Aurora P25 & Westminster as they are both encrypted.

You might find this map of municipality boundaries to be useful in figuring out where everything is situated. It might even help with figuring out how out how you want to setup your quick keys if you want to break down things from the county level

Here is a rough list of the law enforcement agencies in the immediate Denver area and where you can expect to find them:
  • Denver: Denver Public Safety
  • Adams County (North of Denver): FRCC
    • Westminster: Westminster (Encrypted)
    • Federal Heights: FRCC
    • Northglenn: FRCC
    • Thornton: FRCC
    • Brighton: FRCC
    • Commerce City: FRCC
  • Arapahoe County (South of Denver): Colorado DTRS
    • Aurora (East of Denver): Aurora P25 (Encrypted)
    • Cherry Hills Village: Dispatched on Arapahoe County on Colorado DTRS
    • Columbine Valley (and Bow Mar): Dispatched on Arapahoe County on Colorado DTRS
    • Englewood: Colorado DTRS
    • Glendale: Colorado DTRS
    • Greenwood Village: Colorado DTRS
    • Sheridan: Dispatched on Arapahoe County on Colorado DTRS
  • Broomfield (NW of Adams County): FRCC
  • Jefferson County (West of Denver): Colorado DTRS
    • Arvada: MARC (Encrypted)
    • Edgewater: Dispatched on Jefferson County on Colorado DTRS
    • Golden: Colorado DTRS
    • Lakeside: Dispatched on Jefferson County on Colorado DTRS
    • Lakewood: MARC (Encrypted)
    • Morrison: Dispatched on Jefferson County on Colorado DTRS
    • Mountain View: Dispatched on Jefferson County on Colorado DTRS
    • Wheat Ridge: MARC

There is also have the Colorado State Patrol whose map can be found at the wiki link. Special attention as you are using a Uniden scanner, Denver Dispatch likes to patch a lot. Uniden scanners are unable to handle patches and therefore can often fall silent when you try to listen to a specific troop since they are sent to a different talkgroup to communicate. You will need to program all of the troops that Denver Dispatch handles in order to ensure that you will not lose them.

As for a tip, Sites 1-002 through 1-008 on Colorado DTRS have a wide coverage pattern and have a lot of variety in terms of traffic. You should be able to get many of them from most places in the Denver Metro area, and you might be surprised on what you can hear. One can tell if it is a busy site by the number of frequencies that are listed for some of them. You can also reference the Colorado DTRS Site Map for locations of some of sites around the state in order to plan out how you want to program your scanner. The key to listening to what you want is finding the right site.
 
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