further understanding scanner

[heffer]

am still figuring out my 396xt scanner. I live in acton (halton hills), and one of the items i want to listen to the fire. I don't know if I am getting everything, and I saw a post which shows all these tones...?? I am not sure much about this. I only have loaded on my scanner what the site has to offer. I think there were around 3 or 4 frequencies. I saw a post a while ago which states:

554/767 Stations 1/2/3
554/810 Stations 1/2/4
554/856 Stations 1/3/4
554/903 Stations 2/3/4

585/617 Station 1 & 2
585/652 Station 1 & 3
585/688 Station 1 & 4
585/767 Pager 516 District Chief Station 1
585/810 Pager 517 Safety Officer Station 1

617/652 Station 2 & 3
617/688 Station 2 & 4
617/767 Pager 526 District Chief Station 2
617/810 Pager 527 Safety Officer Station 2

652/688 Station 3 & 4
652/767 Pager 536 District Chief Station 3
652/810 Pager 537 Safety Officer Station 3

688/652 Pump 31 / Pump 41
688/767 Pager 546 District Chief Station 4

856/652 Pumper 31
856/688 Pumper 41
856/903 All Stations

585 Station 1
617 Station 2
652 Station 3
688 Station 4


I don't really know much of anything that is stated above in this above. I wonder if someone would be nice to send me a file of what they have on a 396 in the area so I could further understand this perhaps...

 

[Forts]

Well, for starters you want to be working from this page:

Halton Region Trunking System, Halton Region, Ontario - Scanner Frequencies

For Halton Hills fire you will need to have talkgroups 600, 604 & 605. The tones you have listed would appear to be Quick-Call II pager tones and don't really apply to what you are trying to do here.

Make sure you make a P25 system using the primary and alternate control channel from either the North or South site (whichever one you can receive the best) and enter the talkgroups for HHFD. I find it odd that there isn't groups 601, 602 & 603 as well... but it's possible those are in use and maybe haven't been submitted to the database. Might not hurt to put them in just in case.

What software are you using? If you have FreeScan I might be able to whip something up to get you started.

 

[heffer]

yes I am using freescan, if you can help with something that would be great

 

[Forts]

OK.... I'll throw something together in the morning for you.

 

[heffer]

that's great I appreciate it. I never had much help getting this going, I am just wondering what I am missing by not properly loading things in correct etc...

 

[ATCTech]

Although some are rarely used according to Unitrunker here, HHFD should have T/Gs 600 through 606 programmed into the radio. 600 is the busy one,

Milton 900-905 plus 914 (training channel), 900 being regular operations and 901 being the secondary (TAC-2 as they call it.)

It would be a great idea to have both Halton Hills and Milton Fire services programmed and active as there are a fair number of cross-boundry responses due to travel distances involved in the Region.

And for the OP, once you're up and running you'll hear Halton Hills District 1, 2 and 3 mentioned. District 1 is the Acton crews, while 2 & 3 are the two Georgetown stations.

Milton has 4 stations. 1,3 & 4 are in town, 2 is the Campbellville station. Pumpers 31 and 41 are the full time crews down here, the rest are volunteers.

You can also add 154.160 as a conventional channel if you want to hear the paging for the calls. Both HHFD and Milton use this frequency. That's what the tones you mentioned originally are related to.

Not sure how many here know this, but HHFD paging can also be heard on 419.0375 without having to hear the Milton calls.

 

[Forts]

Here is a quick and dirty file for Halton with HHFD and Milton FD programmed in, using the North site. Should hopefully give you an idea where to go...

 

[heffer]

I see both halton hills and Milton only have 3 talk groups each on this website. Where and what is 606 for halton hills? So with 600, 604 and 605 will I hear all acton/Georgetown? I am only going off what I see listed on this website, so if there is additional areas such as between 900-905 to Milton that are not listed, I do not have them......... actually then I struggle with trying to load manually as well.

 

[heffer]

Hey forts, I got it. I see you have all the things listed that ATC was referring to. Man, I need to figure this stuff out. I am behind the times now in this stuff. Is there any other links that show these other things.... Now I wonder what I am really missing.

 

[Forts]

No there aren't any other links. You have to remember that this is a community driven database... so if it doesn't get submitted, it doesn't get posted. The only way to learn what talkgroups are in use (and what they are) for any given system is to (a) listen listen listen or (b) have inside information. Many users will keep their radios in ID Search mode so they can catch any new or unlisted talkgroups that might pop up.

If anyone has any other talkgroup info for this system feel free to submit it and I'll get it added to the database asap.

 

[ATCTech]

The "missing" talk groups for HHFD and MFD are from my Unitrunker files. Some of them have only ever seen 1 or 2 hits in 18 months of random checking on my part, so whether they're used very often or simply in the radios is up for debate. I haven't submitted them to the database here as I have no factual data to say what they are, although I'd bet they're labelled TAC2, 3, 4 etc. for use when multiple calls are active. Again, needing more than 2 or 3 tactical channels per department is unlikely out here.

It takes no real estate in the scanner to add them so there's no reason not to.

For Heffer, did your radio come with the USB cable to connect it to your computer? If so your best bet is the file Forts sent you which you would use with the program Freescan, or buy a premium subscription to this web site and download the Halton system to the radio via the computer, Manual radio programming is an excellent talent to learn but it will certainly slow you down on getting the radio usable, and you're likely to miss something in the process.

 

[EJB]

I am able to hear all of the regions fire services off the south tower here in Burlington.

Once you see how the file that Forts gave you looks you can add in yourself the Burlington Fire Services and Oakville.

The talkgroups that are in the data base are pretty accurate.

 

[heffer]

yes, I have the usb loader for my scanner and I am using freescan software. I looked into manual loading, but I still have issues trying to figure the computer loading system out yet; trying not to overload myself. I will attach what I have been using as a setup for some time .