I'm new to this forum. I have a HomePatrol II, but can't hear my local PD or Fire or Gregg County Sheriff's Office or DPS. They have all gone digital, that is why I bought the new scanner.
How do I program my new scanner to hear these groups? Radio Reference shows them as still on analog. What can I do?
Thank you for in advance for any suggestions.
JIM
Hi Jim
Welcome to RadioReference.
Looking at the FCC database, I see that the PD is
licensed for digital usage on their dispatch channel, 155.2500. While the RadioReference database shows them as still analog (and that's what would be in the Home Patrol's data as well), the database is driven & updated via user submissions. So, if they have made a change to digital, then someone in the area needs to verify that & submit the information, so that it can be updated. The city also has another frequency, 155.925, that is not listed in the database on RadioReference. No idea what they are using it for.
WPTF845 (GLADEWATER, CITY OF) FCC Callsign Details That license does include digital usage authorization.
For Gregg County, none of the licenses currently listed for them in the database include digital emissions codes. However, they possibly could be using digital without updating their license. I found that same thing being done in both Erath County & Stephenville. No digital emissions codes were authorized, but both were using their frequencies as digital anyway.
The county does have one license whose frequency is not listed on the database here.
WQLC274 (GREGG, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details
Frequency 151.445 is licensed for a repeater, but also shows the codes for MOTOTRBO. If they are using TRBO, there is no scanner that will decode that, although it can be done with a pc, an SDR dongle, and software. To verify if there is any usage on there, try this:
From the Main Menu, press Advanced
Press 'Quick Frequency Entry' on the Advanced Menu page.
Enter the frequency, then press Accept.
You're now monitoring that single frequency.
If you hear voice traffic, see what it sounds like the usage might be. Law Enforcement? Fire? Public Works or Utilities (like the water department. If you can confirm usage and what type, submit that to the database on the Gregg County page so that it can be added, and thus will show online, as well as be present in the HP-1's data once the update takes place. If you hear what sounds lie a buzzing or rumbling sound, that might be MOTOTRBO.
You can do the same for the unlisted frequency.
155.925, for the Gladewater. For that channel, you can add it to your favorites list using Sentinel. Then, once you write the updated list to the HP-1, it'll be scanned. This can be done as well for the PD's 155.250. If you hear voice traffic, it's in use. If you were not hearing anything on 155.250 during scanning, but do via using Quick Entry, then they may be using the existing frequency as P25 (digital). For the other frequencies, both Gladewater & the county, in Sentinel, add a new line for each frequency, and set it as Digital, NAC Search (that's under the Audio Option). I would also suggest adding an alert tone so that the scanner will beep or chirp at you, letting you know it found something, which is handy if you are not looking at the display when something comes across. The tone is basically an attention getter, so that you can take a look at the screen, and if it finds a NAC code in use, you can note it both for entering in your Favorites list, as well as submitting updated information. You cannot directly add a frequency to the scanner itself, unless you have the Extreme Upgrade, but you can do this via Sentinel.
Lastly, for the County, take a look at one of the deputies vehicles if you can. If it has a very short antenna on it, in addition to longer ones, the county might have started using TxWARN P25, as Longview does. You can change that system to ID Search, instead of ID Scan, using Sentinel, and see if anything new comes up.
