Need help with frequencies for Rankin County Fire...

[langfordj9]

Hello all,
I am new to the site, and extremely new to radios in general. I'm a Volunteer Firefighter in Rankin County, and would like a cheap solution to my radio-lacking problem. However, I've got to know it can be programmed to the frequencies I will need. I know I will need general EOC Fire Dispatch, along with TAC 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. But what else do I need to function? I found this:
Rankin County, Mississippi (MS) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
from your lovely site, and it is very informative; however, being the total radio newb I am, I need some coaching. It looks like I will need the 154.01000 freq, in addition to others. So, my basic questions are this:
- What would be a wallet-friendly handheld radio for my desired frequencies?
- What are these frequencies I would need?

Any advice or coaching on the subject, even a point in the right direction, would be much appreciated. Thank you all for your time and consideration.

 

[bama9999]

As far as a good radio for what you need, it sounds like a Radio Shack Pro-164 should work fine, since everything you want to listen to is analog and not digital. Rankin county uses a trunked radio system, and the Pro-164 is a trunk-tracking handheld. I would recommend, if you get the scanner, to also get the programming cable and one of the software programs, either Win97 or PSREdit300 to program the radio, and a premium subscription to Radio Reference, and you can download the programming from this site into the program, then upload it into the scanner.

 

[MississippiPI]

Rankin County

My suggestion is if you are a volunteer with Rankin County take your scanner to the radio ship and have them provide you with the TG's and all and program them into your scanner; or why not just scan the frequencies with your 800 MHz radio?



Be safe,

Jimmy

 

[MississippiPI]

Rankin County

Should have been radio shop--not radio ship--lol

 

[langfordj9]

Thank you both very much for the replies.

bama9999, being a complete newb to radios, this may sound like a ridiculous question, but can I also transmit from this scanner? I looked it up, and it looks like just a scanner. I hopefully need something I can also broadcast over. Thank you!

MississipPI, what do you mean by scan the frequencies with my 800 MHz radio? Thank you very much!

 

[MississippiPI]

Rankin County

langford9--If you say you are a volunteer with Rankin then I have no reason to doubt that---just keep your radio on that they gave you and scan Rankin County.


Jimmy

 

[bama9999]

No, the radio I mentioned is only a scanner and not a transceiver. My mistake, as I thought you were asking about something to just monitor those frequencies. I'm not really sure what a good handheld transceiver would be that would cover the frequencies you would need. Perhaps someone in your department could make a suggestion, based on what they have.

 

[langfordj9]

MississippiPI, I would do so but our volunteer department is running on such low funds that we cannot afford to purchase and distribute radios to all of our members, only to key members. All other members use an e-dispatch system via cell phone, and thus we usually receive the call about 5-10 minutes after those with radios.

Ah alrighty bama9999, thank you anywho! Will check into that.

EDIT: Okey more specific question. Those frequencies listed in the link in my first post, such as the one labeled Fire Tone Out @ 154.01000: Is that MHz or what? Not familiar with this much at all, but if I know what range I'm looking for, my search might be easier.

 

[bama9999]

Yes, that is 154.010 megahertz, and would require a conventional VHF-hi capable radio, and the others you listed are in an 800 megahertz trunked radio system, and would require a more expensive radio capable of operating on a trunked system.

The Pro-164 that I mentioned would let you hear the fire pages, as well as the departments radio traffic, but of course you wouldn't be able to talk back to them. Although that still sounds like it might be an improvement, time wise, over getting the pages via the cell phone as you mentioned.

 

[langfordj9]

Ah alrighty thank you much! Sounds good, and yes that is very true. I may just go with that, seeing as how I can get pretty much all the frequencies I need in it. Definite improvement in response time haha. Thank you again.

 

[MississippiPI]

I know they are paged out on high band and then they switch over to a talk group---I pick em up with my GRE600 scanner but I dont know the TG numbers, the dex, ect. Check with your EOC director who can probably direct you to the Rankin Radio man.

Jimmy

 

[langfordj9]

Alrighty, after a slight amount of self education and searching, I was wondering if this might work out:

This 800 mhz trunking radio:
Motorola MTS2000 800 Mhz Smartnet Mint with Mic Chgr - eBay (item 130506069811 end time Apr-11-11 19:20:01 PDT)

With these hex #'s:
Rankin County Trunking System, Rankin County, Mississippi - Scanner Frequencies

Any yays or nays? Many thanks!

 

[MississippiPI]

Ramkin County

Check you private mail..If I may suggest that you print those radio specifications out and provide them to the radio man he can advise you as to if the radio will work--jackson communications also programs them as well and they can tell you--Rankin County has a radio guy that might can assist you.






Be safe,

Jimmy