ID Tracker II operation--Another Question

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keithmj

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Hi All..I know that TrackerII is suppose to help identify IDs but my question is..The Counties and States should have records of who is using what IDs and this should be public info. So where would you find this information at? Instead of logging and spending all day listening there should be someplace to look this up at. I found IDs as example, 4512, 4864, 4928, 4960 and lots more with alot of hits but are not in the database of RadioReference. What website of government would this be found on? I am doing Pinellas County, Florida. Any info to start me in the right direction or is this something they don't publish anywhere? Thanks..Keithmj
 

Saint

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keithmj said:
Hi All..I know that TrackerII is suppose to help identify IDs but my question is..The Counties and States should have records of who is using what IDs and this should be public info. So where would you find this information at? Instead of logging and spending all day listening there should be someplace to look this up at. I found IDs as example, 4512, 4864, 4928, 4960 and lots more with alot of hits but are not in the database of RadioReference. What website of government would this be found on? I am doing Pinellas County, Florida. Any info to start me in the right direction or is this something they don't publish anywhere? Thanks..Keithmj

There are no sites that the government has that you can look up ID'S only frequencies, I have never come across a site like that in over 35 years in this hobby, this is part of the hobby trying to figure out the ID'S and this is why the scanners have search functions and other bells and whistles in the scanner to do this but it all comes down to taking the time to listen and find the information.
Steve
 
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DaveNF2G

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There is no requirement for talkgroup assignments to be made public. Only the frequencies are licensed by the FCC, whose records are public by law.
 

loumaag

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Indeed; in general TG assignments are generally considered private information. Here in the Houston area there was (many years ago) an attempt made to judicially preclude the publishing of such data once it was figured out. The end result of that (at least here) was although the data may be private in nature, once you broadcast it and people figure it out, you cannot prevent the publication of the information; but since it is private, the owner of the system does not need to make it public, even if tax dollars are spent on the system.

I think you will hardly ever find the system administration of any system publishing the TG assignments.
 

Forts

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Listening, taking notes and using programs like Trunker/UniTrunker are pretty much the only way to nail down new (and unknown) talkgroups. It's also part of the fun of the hobby in my opinion. You get a little bit of satisfaction on nailing an elusive talkgroup and being able to share that info. There are a few trunked systems near me with a handful of unidentified talkgroups and I was able to pick one off just a few weeks ago. After listening to idle chatter here and there, on and off, for a few weeks I finally heard someone call out for another user. Someone else came back and said "You should be on Roads channel... You are on the Water channel".
 

keithmj

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Forts said:
Listening, taking notes and using programs like Trunker/UniTrunker are pretty much the only way to nail down new (and unknown) talkgroups. It's also part of the fun of the hobby in my opinion. You get a little bit of satisfaction on nailing an elusive talkgroup and being able to share that info. There are a few trunked systems near me with a handful of unidentified talkgroups and I was able to pick one off just a few weeks ago. After listening to idle chatter here and there, on and off, for a few weeks I finally heard someone call out for another user. Someone else came back and said "You should be on Roads channel... You are on the Water channel".

Hi All..What everyone has said I have been able to understand but in the database section when they show the IDs how do they know, for example: Public Works(2)-E and Public Works(1)-E and Public Works(1)-C , which ones are which? I can figure out if it is the water company or the gas company by what they say, but the don't say whether they are North, South, or unit 1, 2, or A, B. I can tell if they are police but they don't say what city or area they are from or if they are the Sheriff dept or State Police. Do you have to use some other software to get this info? How do some of you figure out if it is Bravo 1 or Bravo 2 if they never say who they are?

Using the TrackerII I have picked up alot of new talkgroups that don't show on RadioReference and the ones that I can't identify I am putting in another system and scanning but as I said, I can listen to them all day and they have never said who they are..

Also if they are using ID 4928 what keeps another company from using the same ID if it isn't public?

Thanks and Cheers..Keithmj
 

loumaag

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I am going to try and answer what I think you are asking. :confused:

As to how the specific ID's are identified by channel (to use your example, various PW channels), if you listen long enough sooner or later someone will identify the channel they are using or you will hear some say "switch to channel xyz" and then you hear them on another ID and know that it is channel xyz. That is one of the reasons IDTracker & IDTrackerII will record & log the TG's (or conventional channels) that you choose to record & log.

As for more than one agency (or entity) using a specific TG ID on a specific system, it is assigned by the system administrator. TG 144 on system "A" has nothing to do with TG 144 on system "B". The two systems will never (or for all practical purposes never) intermingle so ... In the case of backup systems and agreements, then the TG ID's are coordinated among the system administrators so that there is no mixing.
 

Forts

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keithmj said:
Hi All..What everyone has said I have been able to understand but in the database section when they show the IDs how do they know, for example: Public Works(2)-E and Public Works(1)-E and Public Works(1)-C , which ones are which? I can figure out if it is the water company or the gas company by what they say, but the don't say whether they are North, South, or unit 1, 2, or A, B. I can tell if they are police but they don't say what city or area they are from or if they are the Sheriff dept or State Police. Do you have to use some other software to get this info? How do some of you figure out if it is Bravo 1 or Bravo 2 if they never say who they are?

Using the TrackerII I have picked up alot of new talkgroups that don't show on RadioReference and the ones that I can't identify I am putting in another system and scanning but as I said, I can listen to them all day and they have never said who they are..

Also if they are using ID 4928 what keeps another company from using the same ID if it isn't public?

Thanks and Cheers..Keithmj

Don't forget that a fair bit of information also gets submitted by 'people in the know' as well. Perhaps Joe Smith that works for the public works department is also a scanner enthusiast.
 

ICP963

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keithmj said:
Also if they are using ID 4928 what keeps another company from using the same ID if it isn't public?

Thanks and Cheers..Keithmj
Again, part of the fun is figuring out who is where for the scanner listener is not a problem for the system user as each radio on the system is programed for where it can go talkgroup wise. Each radio on the system can only go to the talkgroups it is programed to use, so another company would not be able to go to talkgroup 4928 if their radios were not already programed to go there.
 

brscanning

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keithmj said:
Hi All..I know that TrackerII is suppose to help identify IDs but my question is..The Counties and States should have records of who is using what IDs and this should be public info. So where would you find this information at? Instead of logging and spending all day listening there should be someplace to look this up at. I found IDs as example, 4512, 4864, 4928, 4960 and lots more with alot of hits but are not in the database of RadioReference. What website of government would this be found on? I am doing Pinellas County, Florida. Any info to start me in the right direction or is this something they don't publish anywhere? Thanks..Keithmj

Keith,

The whole reason for me writing ID Tracker and ID Tracker II was to record the audio and help identify the ID's, which you are finding, are not available through other sources. Although the program has grown beyond the original intent, still the primary purpose (at least for me) to identify unknown ID's.

This is especially true for Louisiana's new 700 MHz digital system. All or at least most the ID's for this and other systems on this site were contributed by scanner enthusiasts who spent time listening to identify the talk groups. Sometimes the information comes easy and other times it may take days or weeks.

I was lucky today and was able to identify 4 new ID's and possibly 1 more while going over audio captured of the last few days.
 
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