Old timer returning to the scanner world

[mabryant867]

Hello All,

I am new to this site and in a lot of way it appears new to the scanner world compared to the old days. I used to be a first responder in my area. The last scanner
I purchased was from radio shack was back in the 1990's and even back then it was a good one and a very $$$ for the time. I was able to pick up the 800mhz and could program that thing in no time at all. I new just about every frequency there was for my area that I wanted and it was in that scanner.

Well these days I am now disabled and no longer able to get out and do whole lot like I used to any more and after having the honor a month ago of doing a ride along with my local PD I got the fever again to get me a new scanner. I could no longer locate the old one and the ones I could get on my phone just didn't do it for me. I must admit I was totally shocked at the prices the scanners are going for these days.

I went online and purchased a Uniden BCD325P2, plus after doing some reading and research I purchased the premium membership @ RadioReference .
I also ended up getting the ProScan program as well. I live in Mobile, Al ( Mobile County) I located all the frequencies I wanted in Mobile County as it seems the local Police department uses the trunked system. I had no issues getting everything downloaded from RadioReference to ProScan and then all the frequencies all seemed to load over to the scanner. However, I have only heard the scanner beep several times and make a little static noise once or twice when it stopped on a channel. Other than that it's been radio silence all day. I even loaded up some frequencies from the local airports since one of the airports I live less than 2 miles from. And not a sound from them either. I plan on upgrading the antenna as soon as I can of course. But, I used an antenna just like this one (stock) on the last one for the longest of time and it worked great especially around the airport , same distance as now.

I am pretty sure this all either something I have done wrong or failed to do. I've watched numerous youtube videos and read the instructions that to me were some what confusing at times. But they did get me this far anyways. And the driver has been updated as well.

Anyone here got any suggestions or ideas I might should check or do ? Thanks in advance

 

[hiegtx]

Welcome to RadioReference

Your county uses this trunked system:

Mobile County Communications District Trunking System, Mobile, Alabama

Mobile County Communications District Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Comments on the Mobile County page indicate that law enforcement talkgroups are encrypted, for the county & city. You would not be able to monitor anything encrypted (their talkgroups apparently have not been identified & added to the database because being encrypted, channel ID & use cannot be determined).

It does appear that the fire & ems talkgroups are not encrypted, so you could monitor those.

Your neighboring county, Baldwin, is on the state's system, AIRS. However, their law enforcement groups are encrypted as well.

The counties to your north, Clarke & Washington, appear to be using conventional channels, not a trunked system.

Your adjacent county in Mississippi, Jackson, uses this trunked system, with some EMS talkgroups on Mississippi's statewide system, MSWIN.

You might want top have your thread moved down to the Alabama state forum. Maybe someone in, or near, your area can offer more suggestions. To do that, do not create a new thread. Instead, click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum. Someone in the area would be more likely to see it there.

 

[mabryant867]

Steve, Thanks for replying to my post. I had thought about what you said. However, the officer I did my ride along with confirmed to me that all the local news stations monitor police scanners and listen to them and meet them at scenes of accidents and crimes. If the frequencies are encrypted then how would the news folks be able to listen to the police ? And from what I have heard they do.

I did do a reset and reinstall frequencies a i can now hear some chatter, very sparse though. I can hear more from the local FD on my cell phone app than I do via the scanner at this point.

Thank you for responding and I'll try to get this post moved.

 

[hiegtx]

Steve, Thanks for replying to my post. I had thought about what you said. However, the officer I did my ride along with confirmed to me that all the local news stations monitor police scanners and listen to them and meet them at scenes of accidents and crimes. If the frequencies are encrypted then how would the news folks be able to listen to the police ? And from what I have heard they do.

I did do a reset and reinstall frequencies a i can now hear some chatter, very sparse though. I can hear more from the local FD on my cell phone app than I do via the scanner at this point.

Thank you for responding and I'll try to get this post moved.

While I can't speak with certainty on your area, I do know that in many localities, where encrypted systems are in use, the local media requests, and is provided, a regular radio such as what the agency uses, with the encryption key installed, although it may be set to receive only, not transmit. If that is the case, they can hear whatever the officers in the field hear. The general public does not have that option.

However, if there is the possibility that one or more talkgroups are used in the clear (but not identified and submitted to the database), then you might want to try and scan the system using ID Search instead of ID Scan. ID Search will stop on any active talkgroup that is not locked out, whether individually or in a group that is locked out. TGIDs that you have programmed would show up with the text tags you entered or imported. Those that are not programmed would display only the talkgroup ID, in place of a text tag. If using ID Scan, you will only hear talkgroups that you have programmed, and that are not locked out. To toggle between ID Scan & ID Search, press the Function key, then Scan. The mode that is in use will scroll across the display when the radio is scanning the trunked system, but not yet stopped on an active talkgroup.