Los Angeles favorites list

[tufa720]

Hey everyone,

Just got a Uniden bcd436hp and was able to set up my first favorites list, but had some questions that I was hoping someone experienced in LA could help with-

What channels should I have? Which ones have the most interesting situations?

I live in West LA area, so have these departments (pic attached). I've removed many of the other Sheriff/LAPD areas LA that aren't Pacific or West LA, but that's about all that I've removed from the defaults for all these departments. Is this a good start? Any recommendations?

I'm mainly interested in Fire and Police, but I guess would like to hear from those of you with more experience because I'm sure there's way more interesting things to add.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tufa720]

I noticed that I wasn't getting much Fire traffic anything other than "Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" and knew that there should be some more than just that, so I added these which are the three battalions nearby.

Is there a guide or something to understand what these channel names represent? There are soo many options within LA County and it would be super helpful if there was a way for a newb to decode what these channels actually are.

Like, for example, what's the functional difference between "County Fire/EMS CMD LA Basin" and "Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" and then "County Fire Dispatch" (I didn't think LA had county fire, I thought it was LAFD/City...)?

Is there anywhere to listen to anything other than the general LAPD dispatch? I'd imagine there's more communication between the LAPD than just between patrol cars and, say, West LA Dispatch (or is that incorrect)?

Also, and I guess this is a hardware question, but is there a way to set "priority" for certain channels? For example, I've noticed I get cut in mid-broadcast on West LA LAPD but would like to hear all of those from start to finish, etc.

 

[tkenny53]

>>> functional difference between "County Fire/EMS CMD LA Basin" ----- this is LA County fire
"Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" this is LA city fire, Mulholand runs across the hills surrounding LA Basin, there is North dispatch which is everything north of Mulholand .
LA county and LA city are two different agencies. Also LACO has yellow copters and LAC has Red.

 

[tufa720]

>>> functional difference between "County Fire/EMS CMD LA Basin" ----- this is LA County fire
"Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" this is LA city fire, Mulholand runs across the hills surrounding LA Basin, there is North dispatch which is everything north of Mulholand .
LA county and LA city are two different agencies. Also LACO has yellow copters and LAC has Red.

Thank you sir. It seems that there is too much traffic (in LA these dispatchers are very busy, wow) to have much more than 10-30 channels in a favorites list.

My question is this- I'd like to pick up/know about special incidents, like big fires or big tactical police situations. However, there's enough traffic just between Hotshot, WLA, Culver and Pacific divisions to keep the scanner occupied at all times. What's the best solution?

The way I'm doing it now is to have the attached file as the channels I scan, with the following set as "Priority" (and scan via Priority DND):

WLA and Pacific Dispatches
Culver City Police Dispatch
Hotshot/K-9/Air-Hailing

Is that a good way to go about it? Am I missing any interesting channels that I should add? I did hear some cool stuff on Citywide Tactical and some of the LAPD Tactical (like the 110 shooting investigation), but am I missing anything?

Thanks in advance

 

[RadioGuy1982]

I noticed that I wasn't getting much Fire traffic anything other than "Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" and knew that there should be some more than just that, so I added these which are the three battalions nearby.

Is there a guide or something to understand what these channel names represent? There are soo many options within LA County and it would be super helpful if there was a way for a newb to decode what these channels actually are.

Like, for example, what's the functional difference between "County Fire/EMS CMD LA Basin" and "Dispatch Fire (South of Mulholland)" and then "County Fire Dispatch" (I didn't think LA had county fire, I thought it was LAFD/City...)?

Is there anywhere to listen to anything other than the general LAPD dispatch? I'd imagine there's more communication between the LAPD than just between patrol cars and, say, West LA Dispatch (or is that incorrect)?

Also, and I guess this is a hardware question, but is there a way to set "priority" for certain channels? For example, I've noticed I get cut in mid-broadcast on West LA LAPD but would like to hear all of those from start to finish, etc.

View attachment 141910

The LAFD does not normally use the STRS for dispatch. They use analog conventional on 800. LAFD uses STRS for pre-planned events.

 

[tkenny53]

to maybe help, every one of my Fav, are specific, so I have about 70 favorites, only for the purpose of turning on and off easily.
I dont use sub systems, such a 12.2. its 12, 13, 14 and such.
So laco dispatch is Fav 1, laco tach chnl's is 11, UHF is 12 and so on/
LA city is 20, 21, 22, 21 depending on each group.
Each AREA OF CalFire IS 50, 52,52....
Forestry is in the 60's
CHP is i n the 30's
Other cities each have their own.
Then i can combine stuff, like local to me, say 20 miles is in the 70's 71.71,73

 

[tufa720]

Thank you everyone.

I noticed that Culver City Fire and Police Dispatch are no longer being scanned (I could always tell since it was the only system that was not "Los Angeles"). Does anyone know if they went encrypted (as I know the scanner won't even bother with encrypted channels)?

The specific path is:
Interagency Communications Interoperability (ICI) -> South Bay Regional Public Communications -> Culver City Fire/Police Dispatch

I've confirmed that the System is in the given favorites list (via "Manage Favorites" - "Edit System"), confirmed there are no "Avoids" for the system, etc. That system doesn't show up during normal scanning, and when I hit the "System" key and then scroll, it doesn't even show up.

It was scanning as of a few days ago... Any help appreciated.

 

[tufa720]

So to make the issue more confusing, for some reason it is showing on my BCD436 but I cannot for the life of me get that system on my SDS200. I've confirmed it's in the two favorites list that I'm scanning, both via Sentinel and the scanner itself (thru Manage Favorites). I've ensured it wasn't on "Avoid", and I've ensured that all "Service Types" are set to on.

I also tried adding another system "LAWA" (for LAX police dispatch) to the same Favorites List in question, and that isn't showing either (when I hit "System" and scroll through the systems).

Any ideas?

I did have an issue earlier today where some of the favorites list got all screwed up. For example, my "Media" list got put under another favorites list as a sub folder, and the "Media" showed all the "Favorites 3" channels/departments/etc, meanwhile the "Media" had all of the "Favorites 3" channels/departments/etc.

I'm wondering if maybe I just need to start over from scratch and rebuild everything after clearing user data. Super frustrating.

 

[AM909]

So to make the issue more confusing, for some reason it is showing on my BCD436 but I cannot for the life of me get that system on my SDS200. ... Any ideas? ...

You might try posting to the Uniden forum.

 

[LB_Scan]

Hi

West Bureau​

Hollywood Area #6 Dispatch​	Ch 6​	507.2125​	P25​	NAC 466​
Hollywood Area Simplex​	Ch 106​	506.6000​	P25​	NAC 466​
Wilshire Area #7 Dispatch​	Ch 7​	506.9625​	P25​	NAC 466​
Wilshire Area Simplex​	Ch 107​	484.5500​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Los Angeles Area #8 Dispatch​	Ch 8​	506.7625​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Los Angeles Area Simplex​	Ch 108​	484.9750​	P25​	NAC 466​
Pacific Area #14 Dispatch​	Ch 14​	484.3875​	P25​	NAC 466​
Pacific Area Simplex​	Ch 114​	484.5000​	P25​	NAC 466​
Olympic Area #20 Dispatch​	Ch 20​	484.6500​	P25​	NAC 466​
Olympic Area Simplex​	Ch 120​	487.7000​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Bureau Traffic #22 Dispatch​	Ch 22​	484.3625​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Bureau Traffic Simplex​	Ch 122​	484.6000​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Bureau Tac 1​	Ch 39​	506.8125​	P25​	NAC 466​
West Bureau Tac 2​	Ch 40​	484.4125​	P25​	NAC 466​

https://socalscanner.com/frequency-information/los-angeles-police-department-lapd/

Add these on your scanner the p25 channels

Air Unit
Citywide Other
Citywide Tactical
Detectives

 

[ladn]

What channels should I have? Which ones have the most interesting situations?

I believe Culver City PD is encrypted, so you won't hear anything.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff is transitioning to the RICS system, so all of the old A-Tac, L-Tac, etc., channels are depreciated. The RICS system is fully encrypted. The station dispatch channels are still in the clear, for now.

I don't actively monitor LA City FD paramedics. There's just too much traffic. I'll monitor channels 7-11, plus the tac channels 12 and up. I have the full complement of channels in a secondary bank if I need them. Same idea goes for LA County FD.

I monitor the LAPD hotshot frequency, METRO and some of the tac channels. I have the full system in multiple banks using their channel number and alphanumeric id.

I actively monitor the LASD, LAPD, City and County FD VHF aeronautical frequencies along with a few milair channels.

You should add the appropriate CHP channels to your lineup, along with interop channels.

Since you live close to the coast, you might find Marine channel 16 (Coast Guard and general calling) to be interesting.

To be prepared for a major emergency, you should have CalFire, USFS and related law and emergency interop frequencies programmed. Usually there's no need to actively scan these until they are needed.

Also add the VHF/UHF IFB frequencies used by some of our news outlets. KNX, KTLA and KFI should have a good signal for your area.

And last, add the NOAA VHF weather radio channels. These broadcast continuously and are useful for checking scanner performance as well as getting weather updates.