What is the process you guys use in order to find new frequencies,do you use software to help you? I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to listen to and would love to add some stuff to the Fayette county database(especially any businesses). Sometimes I wonder how you guys find stuff lol
ODO,
I'm not in WV, but my techniques still apply.
I use the search function of my scanner, and once in a while I'll simply search 30-50, 148-174, 450-475, 851-869 (and sometimes other places). When I note frequencies, I look them up in the RR database to see where they might be (using a combination of the RR DB data, PL or DPL tones that are heard on the transmission, paying attention to whether or not it sounds like a repeater (can hear bases and mobiles) or whether it sounds like simplex, making note of signal strenght.
If I am looking for things particularly close in proximity, I run my searches with my ATT (attenuator) on to avoid from having to pick up distant signals. If I hear transmissions with my ATT on and they are still relatively strong, I know that they are likely within my county or an adjacent county, but not likely any further than that.
I also go and look up all the frequencies licensed in my area. For instance, for Fayette co WV, check this:
FCC Licenses and Scanner Frequencies for Fayette County, West Virginia (WV)
The above link will allow you to view all the FCC-licenses issued in the Fayette Co area. You can toggle business and public safety trunking on and off, mobiles on and off, broadcasts (TV/Radio) on and off, etc.
Then i would scour through that list of frequencies and plug any that seem of interest into a bank in your scanner. Then just scan that bank once in a while for activity.
Keep in mind that for any given county,l very few are documented completely in the RRDB. If you scan the licensed frequencies in your area and do random searches of ranges of frequencies, you most certainly will eventually come up with some Fayette Co frequencies that are in use that nobody knows about.
Once you feel you have positively identified the agency using a certain frequency, if it isn't already in the RRDB you can submit the frequency, the PL / DPL tone, the agency using it, and any other information you can provide that would help to confirm to us that the frequency is in use by that agency.
The above procedure is what i use, and I feel I've been extremely successsful at it for my county and the few counties around it.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if you found agencies active in your county that aren't listed in the RRDB but would be of interest to you and other readers here.
Give it a try when ya have some free time and are bored. It can be fun
Mike