Sacramento air ops

[NWtoSFO]

Hey, Everyone. Fairly new to scanning, but I've learned a LOT from these forums. There are a couple of things that need answered, though.

What frequencies would I find the Sac PD helicopter and the Sac FD helo on? About once a week there's a helicopter running cicuits around Greenback Ln with CHPD spotlighting our condo complex or the houses across the street. I'd like to listen in to know what's going on rather than step outside, listen to a garbled microphone and still be assaulted by whoever they're looking for.

Also, the Sac County Sheriff Talkgroup lists ID 61872/61904 as CMMET, ID 61936 as CNET, 61968 as CRIPS, 62000 as HIDA, 62032 as NID and 62512/62544 as SIIB. What do each of those stand for?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[selgaran]

Search is your friend...

There was a discussion about those abbreviations a couple months back, you can read the thread at:
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48935&highlight=sac+sheriff+abbreviations

There's also been discussion about Sac area Air Ops, try searching for "Sacramento Helicopter" or similar terms...

 

[RolnCode3]

You will hear the helicopters operating on the normal dispatch channels for their respective agencies. For example, Air1 (Sac PD) will operate on their Ch.1,3,4,and 6 (all of their normal dispatch channels). The LE helicopters roam the dispatch channels for all of the agencies in order to help out.

You will also hear them on 132.125 (AM). It's a chit-chat frequency.

 

[NWtoSFO]

Thank you.

 

[556fmj]

CHPD does not have a helicopter of their own. When they need air support, an allied agency will help out if they are available. Depending on the time of day it can be either Sac Sheriff (STAR), Sac PD (Air1) or CHP.

 

[Sac916]

CHPD does not have a helicopter of their own. When they need air support, an allied agency will help out if they are available. Depending on the time of day it can be either Sac Sheriff (STAR), Sac PD (Air1) or CHP.

Placer County too! The provided unprecidented support after STAR6 went down. They haven't been on SSD channels much since STAR8 went into service.

 

[servo_fan]

Placer County too!

That would be Falcon 30, right? The Falcon part is right, I'm not 100% sure on the number.

Speaking of Star, I've been hearing Star 8 a lot. Is Star 7 still around as well? Also, why are they up to Star 7/8? Have there been 6 previous versions of Star? Thanks!

 

[556fmj]

Placer County too! The provided unprecidented support after STAR6 went down. They haven't been on SSD channels much since STAR8 went into service.

Ah..yes. That's right

 

[mkewman]

a great way to recognize what agency the air unit is from is how they sound on the air,

for example, the star guys are usually perky and enthusiastic on the air, in the background you'll hear the usual chopper noise.

chp guys are very super serious and their transmission quality ALMOST ALWAYS sounds like crap on the Sac TRS.

SacPD's air unit is also perky and enthusiastic, they have a little less background noise than the star units.

Placer County has more than one Falcon unit, but their F30 unit is their patrol chopper, the other one is fixed wing i believe. PCSO's falcon unit is also heard on the Roseville City TRS.

also, don't forget ssd mode 16 and such. the air units will pop on over to that during a bigger incident. SSD's STAR units and their K9 units have a very close bond as well, at least 1 of the STAR guys used to be a K9 guy.

 

[NWtoSFO]

I knew that CHPD does not have a helecopter, but I've now recognized Air1 helping out Folsom PD, CHPD and SSD the last two nights quite a bit. Now that I know what I'm listening for, I won't feel so out of the loop.

 

[califzeph]

132.125 (if you can pick up the aviation band) is great to listen to as well. On this freq, the different LE helos talk to each other, often times giving out additional info not being transmitted on the LE channels.

 

[Scanman6]

Hi All,

Exec, Mather and McClellan freqs are also good to have in your scanner. Mather at 120.650 is open round the clock, Exec at 119.500 closes diring the night and McClellan at 122.975 has no tower so traffic advisories are always in effect. The local traffic (Helos) call and state thier posit. If you like aviation traffic, chek out my feed at www.scansacramento.com. I just put up a double discone antenna in my attic. I live on the second floor anyway, but now I have some real pulling power. I'm into air ops and pepper my feed with it. Things might get crazy and I'm still tuning my radios to filter out interference (Evil Menacing Pager) and the like. I can get all the towers including Capital (Sac Intl.) Enjoy.

 

[scannerboy02]

Good info on Placer Sheriff air ops
http://www.placer.ca.gov/Sheriff/UnitsandDivisions/AirOperations.aspx

Also Yolo Sheriff has an all volunteer air ops unit
http://www.yolosheriffsaerosquadron.com

Good pics and info on Sac Sheriff K-9 unit and air ops
[URL="http://www.ssdk9.com/"]http://www.ssdk9.com[/URL]

Stockton air ops
http://www.metroair1.org/

Airborne Law Enforcement Association
http://www.alea.org

 

[Sac916]

Speaking of Star, I've been hearing Star 8 a lot. Is Star 7 still around as well? Also, why are they up to Star 7/8? Have there been 6 previous versions of Star? Thanks!

Yes. There have been 8 official patrol helicopters. STAR2 crashed in 95 or 96. STAR6 crashed last year. SSD also has a couple "extra" non-patrol, non-eurocopters choppers. Aero detail also has a fixed wing.
STAR8 is brand new. Both STAR7 and 8 fly. The name actually refers to the physical helicopter.

 

[selgaran]

Also Yolo Sheriff has an all volunteer air ops unit
http://www.yolosheriffsaerosquadron.com

Identifies as 1-Victor-1, usually operates on Yolo SO Primary, 154.800

 

[556fmj]

SSD also has a UH-1 Huey painted up similar to the current STAR helicopters as well.

 

[RolnCode3]

SSD also has a UH-1 Huey painted up similar to the current STAR helicopters as well.

STAR 10? or is it 11? Sweet looking rig...I think it was up on the 4th of July...maybe not. Only seen it flying a few times.

 

[mkewman]

any pics of the huey?

 

[pfish]

No pics here..but this is from sacsheriff.com:

In addition to the (3) patrol helicopters, we maintain two Huey UH-1H helicopters which we acquired through the Army Surplus Program.


The helicopters are referred to as STAR units (Sheriff’s Tactical Air Resource). The EC-120 helicopters are used for routine Patrol Functions, Homeland Defense Patrol Missions, and Locating Missing Children etc. The Bell UH-1H (Huey) helicopters are used for emergency operations, flood rescue, personnel transport, marijuana eradication etc.

 

[556fmj]

Not too long ago, I was in the Rancho Cordova area and heard a lot of rotors in the air. I looked up to see SSD STAR 5, 7, 8 and one of the UH-1 Huey flying in formation. What a sight. It was pretty rare to see that many of our helicopters flying at the same time.