Newbie from central alberta

[Spoonergood]

Hello, I'm new to scanning and looking forward to learning lots about this hobby. I am located in lacombe county Alberta. I'm hoping to find the frequencies for the fire departments in my area. I found one for blackfalds fd (154.025). So far just heard cn rail on it. Not sure if I'm doing it wrong? I also put in two channels for red deer county and for red deer but haven't heard anything on those yet. (454.037) and (149.590).

Anyone know if that's the right ones or can steer me in the right direction?

 

[maplebear]

Here is the link for Data base for Lacombe county Lacombe County, Alberta (AB) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
This one is for Red Deer Red Deer County, Alberta (AB) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[harryshute]

Welcome to scanning in Alberta. We may need you to search out the control channels and site numbers for the new AFRRCS system. I see a number of towers licensed in the Lacombe and Red deer areas.

Try 169.125 Tone 151.4 for Lacombe County Fire, 413.950 Tone 162.4 for Lacombe Police but most of the dispatch is now on the RCMP channel. Try 413.750 for Lacombe area fire but I have misplaced the tone.

Put in 427.625 and 427.550 in for STARS. Those are the input frequencies. You will not hear the repeaters in Edmonton or Calgary but when there is a mission in Central Alberta you will hear the helicopter.

For Blackfalds the frequency looks good but once you hear anything try to find the tone and that should filter out the railroad interference.

You should also be able to receive the 800 MHz trunked system for Red Deer City which is in the database but might need some tweaking.

What scanner are you using as I might be suggesting things it might not be capable of.

 

[Spoonergood]

Thanks, that's a lot of info and not to sure if I understand all of it but I'll give it a whirl. I just have a portable bc75xlt. I'm new to the hobby. So I'm not sure of all terms and that. I'll do some research with the info you have me.

 

[harryshute]

Sorry I may have thrown a little to much at you. I had a look at the specs of your scanner and have a better idea of what it can do.

At this point don't worry worry about the 800 MHz system in Red Deer or entering tones. Not using the tones will not prevent you from hearing what's on the frequencies you have. A tone feature would most likely eliminate the railroad interference for you.

It's a good starter scanner for your area to see if you want to continue with the hobby. As you learn you can decide if you want a trunking scanner or one that has the PL tones in the future. Also don't worry about the AFRRCS system as it 's just being set up and is digital 700 MHz.

If you do have some basic questions put them on this forum and many will try to help you with the answers.

 

[Spoonergood]

I've looked up tone and it's not really clear what that's good. Sorry I'm new haha. So I'm asking what is the tone channel and how is it different from the second channel you've given me with the tone?

Sorry I'm a pain in the butt most of the time

 

[harryshute]

No worries a good question.

As I've said using the tone won't prevent you from hearing what's on a frequency but it can clean up interference for you. For example with Blackfalds Fire. It most likely transmits a subaudible CTCSS Or DCS tone.Using the tone allows you to filter out unwanted interference like the railroad chatter.

It used to be called PL or Private Line but was far from Private. It does allow multiple users on one frequency to hear only transmissions directed to their department. For example security in a mall sharing the frequency with Maintenance. If the tone is activated security would not have to put up with all the maintenance calls. Before they talked they would have to check to see if a busy light was on indicating that maintenance was using the frequency.

The RCMP use it to be able to use the same frequency closer to each other with out interference. So if they wanted to use one VHF frequency in both Edmonton and Red deer they could but they would use a different CTCSS in both areas.

 

[Spoonergood]

Ah yes, I get it now. That's why the police rtt before talking and sometimes you hear the beeps if two talk at the same time kinda deal. Anyways I'm sure i get it.

Thanks sooooo much for your time and effort. Much appreciated!!!

Happy new year