Walton County GA Question

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cdawg030

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Hello All. This is my first post on here. It's nice to see so many current posts in this group on the forum. It's good to know there are others out there who share the same hobby as me.

I used to be a member of Scan America and I used to carry my analog scanner wherever I went and listened to Gwinnett County police and fire daily. After they went digital and then encrypted, I put my scanner to the side and just listened to what I could online.

I recently got my old Radio Shack Pro 97 back out and soon realized I need to go digital if I want to hear anything nowadays. I just ordered a Whistler 1040. Hopefully, it is nice enough to get me back into scanning.

Since it's been so long that I have played around with a scanner, a lot has changed. I have couple of questions that I have been wondering about.

Does anyone else have the 1040 and how hard was it to use the PC software to program it? Is it easier to do it manually?

I am interested in listening to Walton County and the GSP that is in Monroe, but from what I am seeing in the database, it looks to be encrypted. It says DE in the mode column. I assume that means I won't be able to listen to Walton County like I first thought I would. Is that correct? If so, does anyone have any other recommendations of interesting things I can listen to in that general area?

Thanks in advance!
 

SkiBob

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Out Yonder, GA
Welcome to back to the hobby. It's good to see you on the forum. I am not familiar with the Whistler line of products so I will leave that for someone else to answer. I would suggest you get the most current scanner you can as things change quickly here Georgia. My county has used 3 different type of systems in 5 years. (Analog, DMR and now jumping into P25).

According to the database, it does appear that your county is encrypted. Counties to the south and east of you have plenty of action to listen to. DeKalb and Rockdale County have been particularly busy this past month. With a nice base or mobile antenna, you should be able to pick up those counties and many GSP units around the state.

I have a particular interest in aviation. With the world's busiest airport close by, you won't ever have a quiet scanner. Maintenance, sick passengers, lost items, disruptive passengers, stuck mic conversations and bad weather diversions are always fun, and easy to capture.

If you are mobile with your scanner, retail is a fun one to listen in on if you have some of that around. Again, the fun is discovering what frequency they are using. If you ever want to know the traffic or road conditions around town, listen to the school buses. They will talk about things way before you ever hear it on the public safety channels.

Don't give up just because your area is encrypted. There is plenty more to monitor.
 

cdawg030

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Feb 5, 2019
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GA
Thanks for the reply. I’m interested in aviation as well. I’ve just never tried to listen to it. I might look into an antenna after I see how far this new scanner reaches.


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N8IAA

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Dec 19, 2002
Messages
7,240
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Fortunately, GA
Hello All. This is my first post on here. It's nice to see so many current posts in this group on the forum. It's good to know there are others out there who share the same hobby as me.

I used to be a member of Scan America and I used to carry my analog scanner wherever I went and listened to Gwinnett County police and fire daily. After they went digital and then encrypted, I put my scanner to the side and just listened to what I could online.

I recently got my old Radio Shack Pro 97 back out and soon realized I need to go digital if I want to hear anything nowadays. I just ordered a Whistler 1040. Hopefully, it is nice enough to get me back into scanning.

Since it's been so long that I have played around with a scanner, a lot has changed. I have couple of questions that I have been wondering about.

Does anyone else have the 1040 and how hard was it to use the PC software to program it? Is it easier to do it manually?

I am interested in listening to Walton County and the GSP that is in Monroe, but from what I am seeing in the database, it looks to be encrypted. It says DE in the mode column. I assume that means I won't be able to listen to Walton County like I first thought I would. Is that correct? If so, does anyone have any other recommendations of interesting things I can listen to in that general area?

Thanks in advance!


First, welcome to the GA forum.

Second, you should have come here first before making your scanner purchase. The 1040, while a good scanner and can monitor the GSP and DNR, will not be able to hear anything that is DE.

Third, the city of Monroe uses DMR. A digital mode that the 1040 can't decode.

Your Pro-97 should make a great scanner for monitoring civilian and military aircraft.

I have the Pro-106 which is the older version of the 1040. Much easier to program via software. Win500 Starrsoft.com
will give you a 30 day free trial.


Scanning has certainly changed since the Pro-97 days. My main scanner for P-25 Phase I and II, plus DMR is the Whistler 1088. Still use a Pro-197 I bought almost ten years ago.

Have lived in Gwinnett for 20 years, and talked to a SO deputy about them going encrypted on the day it happened. It was a sad day indeed. FD was in the clear and then went back to 'E' a while back.

Hope this helps.
Larry
 

cdawg030

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Feb 5, 2019
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Location
GA
Thanks Larry. I actually didn’t realize this website existed until after I decided to buy a new scanner. I would have come here first. I can always return it and get something else. My issue is that I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a new scanner just yet. I’d rather wait and see if I am going to use it before I buy a nicer one. Is there one that does all that you are describing for under $500?




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N8IAA

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Messages
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Fortunately, GA
Thanks Larry. I actually didn’t realize this website existed until after I decided to buy a new scanner. I would have come here first. I can always return it and get something else. My issue is that I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a new scanner just yet. I’d rather wait and see if I am going to use it before I buy a nicer one. Is there one that does all that you are describing for under $500?




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Let me point you to the For Sale forum further down the forums page. There is a member selling a TRX1 and a TRX2 for $350 each in the Base/Mobile area. For now, they are the latest scanners from Whistler. They include P-25 Phase I/II, DMR, and NXDN. All the digital modes needed to monitor in our area. New, those two scanners go for $500 plus. Quite a good deal.

I have no problem helping you set up the radio. Also, no need to be a premium member here on RR to program those radios. They come with the software on the SD card in the scanner.


Larry
 

U2flyer

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Jan 8, 2018
Messages
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Walton County is completely encrypted. I have very close knowledge of the system. It is a P25 phase 1 system. All all fire departments within the county carry XTS2500s Model 1 with a few Model 3s around. All trucks have XTLs. They do have about 6 trucks in the county that have APX mobiles and a few APX 6000s. The county will be moving to phase 2 very very soon. The APXs for WCSO, WCFR, WCEMS are already on order. The cities are gathering funds for their orders. The county does have more TGs than are listed in the database as well as a simplex channels known as W to W or walkie to walkie. Their are a few DMR systems used throughout the county such as school buses and some of the maintence folks through out the county and in the cities. All county departments have access to the P25 system however on TGs known as county wide. The FM cast from dispatch is in the clear for now as there are some Motorola Minitor Vs still around, but to my knowlege as soon as we go to phase 2 once initial testing is complete VHF will be turned off and only used during emergencies.
 

cdawg030

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Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
32
Location
GA
Let me point you to the For Sale forum further down the forums page. There is a member selling a TRX1 and a TRX2 for $350 each in the Base/Mobile area. For now, they are the latest scanners from Whistler. They include P-25 Phase I/II, DMR, and NXDN. All the digital modes needed to monitor in our area. New, those two scanners go for $500 plus. Quite a good deal.

I have no problem helping you set up the radio. Also, no need to be a premium member here on RR to program those radios. They come with the software on the SD card in the scanner.

Larry

Thanks for the tips Larry. I ended up cancelling the 1040 and after a full day of research, I ended up getting the Uniden BCD436HP. I travel a lot for work and the ability to just put in my zip code wherever I'm at and start scanning is going to be great for me. The new scanner came in this morning and I've already started listening and getting familiar with it. I upgraded and added DMR to it as well. I like it so far. I wanted the SDS100 or the TRX-1 but they were just too much money for me right now.
 

tosh

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Stone Mountain
Walton County is completely encrypted. I have very close knowledge of the system. It is a P25 phase 1 system. All all fire departments within the county carry XTS2500s Model 1 with a few Model 3s around. All trucks have XTLs. They do have about 6 trucks in the county that have APX mobiles and a few APX 6000s. The county will be moving to phase 2 very very soon. The APXs for WCSO, WCFR, WCEMS are already on order. The cities are gathering funds for their orders. The county does have more TGs than are listed in the database as well as a simplex channels known as W to W or walkie to walkie. Their are a few DMR systems used throughout the county such as school buses and some of the maintence folks through out the county and in the cities. All county departments have access to the P25 system however on TGs known as county wide. The FM cast from dispatch is in the clear for now as there are some Motorola Minitor Vs still around, but to my knowlege as soon as we go to phase 2 once initial testing is complete VHF will be turned off and only used during emergencies.

Thanks for posting this info. on Walton. Are there a few things on Walton's system that are not enc. ? I heard a few TG's like road dept. and the EMC that were on the system and I think that was who I heard in the clear. Not that exciting to listen to obviously. Also I found that Oconee County Fire and Greene County Fire dispatch talkgroups can be heard in the clear on the Walton system. Part of the OARS I guess. I agree that all of the Walton public safety traffic is enc.
 

cdawg030

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Feb 5, 2019
Messages
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Location
GA
From what I have found, the schools are not encrypted. There is a lot of traffic from the buses. Roads and Bridges also has traffic on it, but a lot of the time it’s just the 2 guys directing traffic. Like you said, Greene County has a call every once in awhile, and Oconee Fire (I believe) is clear. If you can pick it up, Jackson & Rockdale are clear. Maybe not completely, but I have heard something from both of them. I haven’t tried Newton yet. GSP occasionally has traffic but not much that I have found.

I’ve started learning to listen to airplanes coming into Atlanta when I’m at home since all of the counties around me are encrypted. Occasionally I hear an amateur radio group talking about different setups and if nothing else, I try to learn something from them.




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U2flyer

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Roads and Bridges are not encrypted as well as Walton EMC. There are a few talkgroups that are county wide that are not encrypted as well as OARS talkgroups that are not encrypted. There is a OARS command and 3 or 4 (I can’t remember) OARS regular talkgroups. They are for mutual aid between OARS counties. There is a Newton patch, and a Gwinnett patch for the City of Loganville. There is a patch via the 800 system to the state fire mutual aid as well. There are other random talkgroups such as fire admin, various LEO unit talkgroups and there are even simplex talkgroups called walkie to walkie that are used and avaliable to everyone that are in the clear however you won’t hear much due to not much use and limited range of 800mhz simplex from a portable. I may post a update if talkgroups change when the county goes Phase 2. Be rest assured however encryption is staying. Love it or hate it. Also one more thing, units can not contact the EMC directly it has to come from Central Communications (dispatch).
 
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