GasCity/Jonesboro PD dissapperaed!!

[skoobyj]

Hi, I have been monitoring 154.8450 Gas City and Jonesboro PD's for several years and this week the cars disappeared and all I can hear on the normal freq is dispatch. I can hear her calling cars and answering cars but I can hear no cars at all. I have tried several different radio's and scanners.
Lately before the cars disappeared I heard the officers telling each other to go to 800 all the time for private conversations but I couldn't find anything about them having 800mhz radios on here.
What seems to have happened is the dispatcher and officers are using 2 radios! Dispatchers are Listening for officers on 800 and responding on the normal VHF freq. The officers talk on 800 and she responds on VHF That is what I think they are all using 2 different radios.
Any info would be great.

 

[rdale]

Per the TG listing for SafeT, looks like they are on the 800 side. Many times dispatch will still simulcast calls on VHF during a transition period, but my guess is that if you tune in to the 800 you'll hear it all.

 

[skoobyj]

Per the TG listing for SafeT, looks like they are on the 800 side. Many times dispatch will still simulcast calls on VHF during a transition period, but my guess is that if you tune in to the 800 you'll hear it all.

Where do I find this info? I have a pro 2051 will that let me hear them? What does tg listing stand for? Thanks

 

[W9NES]

skoobyj,Found the following infomation out for you for Grant County.They have gone to Safe-t so in order to hear the new talkgroups and the new system you will need a scanner that will be able to receive Digital. like Radio Shack or Uniden---Here are the new talkgroups you need to hear Gas City PD--Gas City PD old frequency 154.845--New Talkgroup on Safe-t 38304, Gas City FD-old Frequency 155.940--New Talkgroup on Safe-t--38336.this infomation was found under the RadioReference.com database. click on the picture of the State of Indiana and then below find the counties.Click on Grant County and the talkgroups you need will be there for your use Radio Shack Pro-2051 will not work.Best Requards,Tim DeLong W9NES Ham Radio Operator Indianapolis,In

 

[skoobyj]

Thank you very much for the info. That stinks that I will need a digital scanner now. Heck i have only had the 2051 for about 6 months...
What are some scanner models I should start searching for?
Thanks a million!!

 

[SCPD]

Thank you very much for the info. That stinks that I will need a digital scanner now. Heck i have only had the 2051 for about 6 months...
What are some scanner models I should start searching for?
Thanks a million!!

Radio shack 2096 Uniden 396 996 GRE 500 or 600 Price any where from $300 to $600 for a Digital Scanner

 

[skoobyj]

Why do the digital scanners cost so much? Surely they don't cost much more to produce than the other scanners?

Are there any cheaper Chinese knock off's or anything? I hate to think my only choice is to spend $300+

The old scanners are now worthless? or should I hang on to it for some future use?

Thanks

 

[SCPD]

There are no knock offs they cost more because they do more and can be hooked to a pc unlike old scanners

 

[skoobyj]

My Pro-2051 connects to the computer for programming...
Anyway what is this going to do to our VHF fire pagers? Are we going to be keeping them in service or will there be something new coming for them too?

 

[rdale]

Pagers likely won't change.

 

[SCPD]

My Pro-2051 connects to the computer for programming...
Anyway what is this going to do to our VHF fire pagers? Are we going to be keeping them in service or will there be something new coming for them too?

Not sure on that a lot of depts have kept the old VHF Pagers and use them some of the bigger citys have gone to 800meg or 900 meg pagers on there own data systems and my 2053 connects to pc but you cant to a lot with it. The new ones you can controll remotely and link to the internet also program them and have a virtual scanner on the pc that looks just like the scanner. They do cost a lot but if you want to hear all the stuff in digital thats what you have to pay it sucks but not much we can do about it. In a few years they may come down in price even used is a lot. Oh also the memeory is a lot bigger in my 2053 it had 300 ch now you can get thousands of ch and more talk groups as well

 

[rdale]

800/900 pagers are VERY expensive... I know of no cities that have done that, so unless your county is VERY rich then you don't need to worry.

 

[jerk]

800/900 pagers are VERY expensive... I know of no cities that have done that, so unless your county is VERY rich then you don't need to worry.

Um... there are no 800 MHz pagers.
There are what amount to SCADA system for Fire Dept paging, but they connect to the local fire houses only. Like this: Zetron’s M6/26 system or the IP FSA system and Motorola makes one as well. http://www.motorola.com/business/US-EN/Fire+Station+Alerting_US-EN.do?vgnextoid=c23cd8daf7756110VgnVCM1000008406b00aRCRD
But neither one works for Volunteer alerting.

There are option for Motorola trunked systems which can duplicate the "paging" function. But most places don't use it, Or you can use a day/night talkgroup option for each station. Safe-T doesn't have enough talk groups available to support it.
And on P25 didigtal systems, really not an option.

So the VHF/UHF pagers remain.

 

[SCPD]

The pagers I am speaking of are ones tha use to be on Pagenet and USA Moble a long time ago but now IMPD "MECA " have there own paging system that they use and send text to pager as well as Hamilton County in the 800 meg also hamilton County fire and outline still have some voice pagers on VHF simocast off of the 800 so there are pagers being used by MECA in the 800 and some in VHF that they send to a lot all you have to do is listen as they say send it to my pager a lot on MECA and there license's have this marked as well for paging

 

[rdale]

Um... there are no 800 MHz pagers.

I've never seen one for dispatch, but I didn't want to say none exist since w8fcc says they are used.

Well, I think he says that. Kinda hard to read.

 

[jerk]

I've never seen one for dispatch, but I didn't want to say none exist since w8fcc says they are used.

Well, I think he says that. Kinda hard to read.

Yep, I think I can't quite read it either.
Anyhow, USA Mobile and Pagenet were on 900 MHZ and still are, though some fire departments did and do have alphanumeric paging on conventional frequencies.

 

[SCPD]

nice to see the thread get hijack as normal good luck scoobyj

 

[skoobyj]

nice to see the thread get hijack as normal good luck scoobyj

Thanks, I hope they don't change them.

 

[rdale]

skoobyj - as we said before, there are no pagers for dispatch on 800/900 systems. So you'll be fine.

w8fcc was talking about something completely different.

 

[jerk]

Sure there has been some drift...

The simulcast on VHF will end soo as it ties up resources Safe-t does not have.
I would start watching eBay for digital scanners, even the Uniden 250d will track safe-t, but will not follow MECA, so you need something more recent.

The Uniden 296/796, the Pro-96/2096 scanners are decent, and you may have to keep watching on eBay but you can get a deal. Pawnshops also have scanner some times. But watching and waiting on eBay has always yielded results for me.