Southern Utah in two weeks

[brcoz]

I’ll be in Washington and Kane counties in two weeks. Are there any UCAN systems in these areas? I will be taking both of my scanners, pro97 and pro106. I try to keep my files up to date. I will listen to the NPS, UHP and police. I also want to add fire, forest service and rescue/EMS groups. Thanks for any info.

Bruce

 

[Mick]

I spent some time in these counties in the last two months and heard no UCAN TRS's.

Site 046 is listed for Washington County here:
Scanner Frequencies: Utah Communications Agency Network (UCAN) Trunking System, Various, Utah

But I did not notice activity on it, or maybe did not listen long enough. Maybe some RR folks in Utah can add info.

I’ll be in Washington and Kane counties in two weeks. Are there any UCAN systems in these areas? I will be taking both of my scanners, pro97 and pro106. I try to keep my files up to date. I will listen to the NPS, UHP and police. I also want to add fire, forest service and rescue/EMS groups. Thanks for any info.

Bruce

 

[brandon]

I was just in those 2 counties and activity still on VHF
Frequencies for Washington County
Washington County, Utah (UT) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
St George PD uses 167.9 PL, so keep in mind if using RR import since it pulls 031 DPL
Kane County
Kane County, Utah (UT) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
If you go up to Bryce they are P25 digital on 172.500 NAC 532. Might check Bryce NP 2 172.550 to see if it also has switched to digital and if so what NAC code they use.

 

[kf7yn]

Site 46 does have activity, AP&P Dispatch is linked full time and occasionally UHP has been heard. SG PD was testing last year but nothing from them lately.

 

[N7YUO]

Your Best Option for S Utah

Like other travelers before you who inquired about scanning in Utah, we try to give advice. After downloading or programming various scanner data for Utah, we later get a post here complete with the (Mad Face). "I hardly got any reception in Utah" or something to that extent. So here is some expert advice from a Utahn:
1. If you are scanning in Southern Utah, forget about UCAN unless you like to listen to Adult Probation & Parole (AP&P) doing home checks on parolees.
2. You need to scan conventional, BUT if you download freqs for each county, you might end up with lots of freqs duplicated and that wastes a lot of your scanner memory.
Copy the DB listings and paste them into MS Excel. Sort by Frequency. Now you can see how many freqs have multiple uses.

Program each desired freq only once and forget the PL tones. Use the Alpha Tag for whatever agency is within your listening area.
Don't forget the Common Use freqs such as 154.28, 155.28, 155.34, 155.16, 155.505, 155.745, 155.775 and all of the State Repeater System (SRS) freqs in that area.

Send me a PM with your email and I will provide a list of conventional freqs. Example:
155.61000 Hurricn PD
155.62500 UHP Virgin
155.62500 UHP UtahCo S
155.62500 UHP SpanFkCn
155.67000 StGeorge PD1
155.68500 Millard SO N
155.68500 Millard SO W
155.72250 WashCo Leeds
155.74500 UHP Car 3
155.76000 St.Clara PD
155.77500 UDNR Car
155.80500 StGeorge Srv
155.80500 Cedar Roads
155.85000 WashCo Serv
155.85000 StGeorge PD2
155.86500 Hurricn Serv
155.86500 Beaver SO

 

[N7YUO]

More hints for conventional scanning

It should be the goal of every "Scanner" to receive more of the good stuff.
If we want to receive more "Good Stuff", then we have to avoid the "Junk Stuff"
Look at this partial listing of what one newbie programmed in:
SL Services 155.100000 FM CTCSS 192.8
SL SO Car 154.340000 FM Search
Canyons Car 163.237500 FM CTCSS 203.5
SL FD EMS Ds 460.625000 FM CTCSS 156.7
SL Housing 453.375000 FM CTCSS 91.5
SL FD EMS Pg 453.800000 FM CTCSS 127.3
SLC SchBuses 155.205000 FM CTCSS 82.5
SLC CityHall 155.715000 FM Search
SLC WestHigh 451.387500 FM CTCSS 100.0
SLC Library 154.085000 FM CTCSS 103.5
SLC Engineer 453.650000 FM CTCSS 167.9
SLC FD Disp 453.200000 FM DCS 431
Murray Schol 453.050000 FM CTCSS 131.8
Murray Pol 1 856.437500 FM Search
Murray Pol 2 857.437500 FM Search
Murray Pol 3 858.437500 FM Search
Alta Lodge 151.835000 FM CTCSS 179.9
Alta City 2 154.995000 FM Search
Alta City 1 158.775000 FM DCS 074
GoldCrosAmb1 460.550000 FM CTCSS 114.8

Great Caesar's Ghost! He plucked every freq in the DB and programmed it.
Services, City Hall, High School, Library, Engineer, Trash, Streets, Water, Animal Control, you name it, he had it. Every time your scanner is tied up on these junk channels, it is missing the real action on Police, Fire, EMS channels. The worst is the Service channels.
If this newbie did his homework, he would know that many of these freqs were no longer active because the users had moved to UCAN on 800 MHz! So, while the scanner was wasting time scanning dead channels, he was missing most of the action.
Don't program in Junk channels (Services, Animal, Streets)
Don't program in channels that are known to be dead.
Repeaters: The cop transmits, The repeater picks up the call and retransmits it on another frequency. You want to tune into the Repeater freq. Now if the repeater stays transmitting for several seconds after a call is complete, that is called 'hang time'. Do not program DELAY for a repeater freq with a long hang time. The hang time is already enough delay.

 

[brcoz]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I have been able to get much action from my scanners. I was not sure if the new system made its way down south.

Bruce

 

[N7YUO]

Combined Dispatch

Another thing you need to know about rural Utah is combined dispatch. The Sheriff, UHP, Wildlife Resources, and some cities & towns all share a common frequency and dispatcher. This is particularly true along the I-70 corridor. When someone steals gas at Thompson Springs, every cop in three counties gets the call at the same time. In the desert, there is nowhere to hide. A cop will be patiently waiting at the next interchange! UHP units use their badge numbers as their callsign, so they are usually easy to identify on the air.

 

[gldavis]

It should be the goal of every "Scanner" to receive more of the good stuff.
If we want to receive more "Good Stuff", then we have to avoid the "Junk Stuff"

Great Caesar's Ghost! He plucked every freq in the DB and programmed it.
Services, City Hall, High School, Library, Engineer, Trash, Streets, Water, Animal Control, you name it, he had it. Every time your scanner is tied up on these junk channels, it is missing the real action on Police, Fire, EMS channels. The worst is the Service channels.
If this newbie did his homework, he would know that many of these freqs were no longer active because the users had moved to UCAN on 800 MHz! So, while the scanner was wasting time scanning dead channels, he was missing most of the action.
Don't program in Junk channels (Services, Animal, Streets)
Don't program in channels that are known to be dead.
Repeaters: The cop transmits, The repeater picks up the call and retransmits it on another frequency. You want to tune into the Repeater freq. Now if the repeater stays transmitting for several seconds after a call is complete, that is called 'hang time'. Do not program DELAY for a repeater freq with a long hang time. The hang time is already enough delay.

While I do not think I can be classified as a "Newbie" in this hobby, I'll still add my 2 bits in. I do listen to these "Service" channels more than I do UCAN. The traffic you hear as Animal Control go chasing one of their suspects is enough to give you chuckles for several days. And there have been times when the "real action" started on one of them Service chanels. True, most of the Public Service (PD/FD/EMS) comms have gone to UCAN, but there is still A LOT of traffic on the conventional channels. And I still I hear UHP daily on the conventional freqs, in spite of UCAN. That is one of the reasons why I program in those "dead" channels. Someone may/will be using them, and I'd like to know about it. There is alot more activity going on in the valley that UCAN does not cover. I do not spend much time listening to the PD, FD or EMS. I do spend time listening to bus's, taxi's, hotels, assorted business, Drive-Thru's, Aircraft, trains, construction Companies, Crane Companies, Covert/Surveilance ops (public& Private), Security Co's, Hot Air Balloons, Zoos, Amusment Parks, DNR, Forest Service, FBI, TSA, Secret Service, Postal Service, Federal Reserve, National Guard, Army, Air Force, (nope, no Navy (yet)) and many others (Amateur Radio).
Some folks just want to listen to the PD, some Fire and Medics, some airplanes or trains. Me,, I like to listen to it all once in a while. I do not believe there are any "dead" channels, jsut ones we haven't heard yet. I have never felt comfortable telling someone what they should or should not listen to. I let them know what is out there, and let them decide. Given time, each of us find what we are interested in.

This is a big hobby, covering DC to Daylight (Monitoring Times motto). There is enough for everyone to be happy.
P.S. Sorry for the length, I just felt this needed to be said.

 

[N7YUO]

Maximum Enjoyment

GL Davis makes a good point. Everyone has different interests. There have been posts here where a member stated that while everyone else was tuned into some action like a chase or standoff, they were hearing very little.

W7SAR once asked the timeless question:
"How do you program a scanner for maximum enjoyment?"
Other members in the past have asked a similar question:
"How do you hear more of the 'Good Stuff'?"

How you hear more of the "Good Stuff" is to program for the good stuff, avoid duplication, and avoid stuff that is boring or ties your scanner on one channel too long. There are plenty of VHF freqs that still have action on them where most of the radio traffic is on UCAN. Service channels are those, conventional or trunked, where police run license checks, registration checks, and wanted/stolen checks. They have long transmit times. If the scanner is locked on one, you won't hear a fire, rescue, search, chase, robbery, etc.
Animal control is usually occupied with dog problems and sometimes livestock. There are rare occasions when it gets interesting with a cougar or moose in town.

When someone seeks advice on programming, I offer ways to hear more of the action.
Think back to when scanners only had ten or twenty channels. We were very selective about what we programmed. Now with 1000 channels or more available, some people forget how to be selective in what they program.

 

[bchris]

I think that gldavis and N7YUO both make very good points, and I especially enjoy seeing a variety of perspectives while everyone remains respectful of each other. I also thought that N7YUO provided some very good information regarding the original post.

Nice Job!

--bc

 

[N7YUO]

I too want to thank Mick, Brandon, Jon KF7YN, GL Davis & BChris for the professional way this thread was handled. I realize that with my many posts it may seem like I want it My Way or No Way! (LOL)
Well, that is not the case. It's only professional advice that you are free to use if you want.
BCoz "Bruce" did send me a PM and I gave him my conventional list. It's all available in the RR DB, but I consolidated the conventional freqs from many counties, state, USFS, Nat Parks, and some others (AZ HP in Virgin River Gorge) into a single spreadsheet. I sorted it by frequency. The PSR500 only uses one list of conventionals. Avoid duplications that use up memory assets.
BTW, who puts the stars on this anad any other threads?

 

[bchris]

Busted

BTW, who puts the stars on this and any other threads?
.

OK, YUO caught me (get it?). I added the stars to this and a couple other threads in the past. I try to use them very sparingly.

-bc