What Can I Hear?

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KI5IRE

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Hey Colorado scanner listeners!
I will be traveling to Colorado in a few weeks, particularly the areas of Fort Collins, Denver and Colorado Springs for a trip with a couple of my friends, and am curious to see what I can hear while I am there.

I am planning to build a favorites list for each area I am in, as well as a statewide favorites list as well for while I am traveling the interstates and just to scan in general.

I enjoy listening to fire/EMS and police the most, but am absolutely not opposed to scanning other things that may be found interesting, or things I may not hear back home in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX.

I am currently working on building a list for the cities of the counties near these areas, but am extremely curious to see what all can be heard from these areas and not just scan the county I am in if I can hear 5 counties over from my location.

I understand that it appears most of the cities in Colorado are on the Colorado State DTS, but also would like to know what sites can be heard in each of these areas too and I guess for my traveling list I want all the sites that can be heard along the I25/I70/I70 corridors.

Hopefully my post makes since,
Thank you!

Chase
 

GrayJeep

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Fort Collins- program the Horsetooth repeater. You can hear Poudre Fire dispatch and Larimer County Sheriffs. FCPD is encrypted so don't bother programming that.
 

KI5IRE

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Fort Collins- program the Horsetooth repeater. You can hear Poudre Fire dispatch and Larimer County Sheriffs. FCPD is encrypted so don't bother programming that.

Not sure if you're from this area or not, but I was already planning to program Poudre Fire, but thank you for clarifying where they are located on the system! If you're from this area or have scanned this area before, what else is there to scan in the Fort Collins area on this system?

What are the systems/sites I need to program for Fort Collins (and surrounding areas), Denver (and surrounding areas, also Breckenridge and Aspen) and Colorado Springs (and surrounding areas) for the best listening experience? Also is Colorado State Patrol on every site on this system?

Also, do you know if the WyoLink system or Nebraska State Radio System be heard from this area as well?
 

ShyFlyer

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For a visual representation of CO-DTRS sites, have a look at the link below. You'll be better able to visualize where sites are and be able to select those sites that are closest to your planned locations.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?action=siteMap&sid=329&type=rr

Generally speaking, talkgroups can only be heard on sites near the areas they are intended to serve. For example, you won't be able to monitor Aprapahoe County Sheriff from Trinidad. CSP is the same way. From my location in the DEN metro, I hear traffic from Troops 1 and 3 and occasionally 2 (A&B) if I venture a bit south where I can receive the Douglas South Simulcast site. Generally speaking, you have to be in or near a Troop's jurisdiction in order to hear their talkgroups.

Back before I had GPS for my scanner, I programmed FLs by county. I split the CO-DTRS into mini systems, one for each county, only including the sites the RR database indicated were in those counties. It worked well, though I so much enjoy having GPS now.

For the DEN metro, you'll also want to consider programming the Denver City EDACS (for Denver PD & FD), the FRCC system for Weld, Broomfield, and Adams counties in addition to CO-DTRS.

As for WyoLink and Nebraska, I wouldn't try monitoring them unless your 60 miles or less from the border.
 

GrayJeep

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I've used my scanners as elint gathering tools for my commute to/from Boulder for work so I mostly am familiar with Ft. Collins, Larimer County, Longmont and a little bit of Boulder. PVH tower is very local as is the Loveland tower - so don't bother with them.

In Ft. Collins you can hear PFD dispatch (other channels are encrypted), Larimer County Sheriff (not encrypted) and I think Loveland PD dispatch is in the clear. Colo. State patrol is there as well. I suppose you could program businesses if you're interested in them (I'm not). Greeley is mostly not heard over here and they now have their own flavor of trunked system so the DTRS sites don't apply.

Wyolink is not heard this far south though I once heard a test of Wyolink cross-connected to Colo State Patrol. When driving I've only heard Wyolink within about 15 miles of the border using a mobile magnetic mount antenna on the top of my GrayJeep.

I've programmed my scanners for other travel adventures using this site. It takes some research.
The links others will provide will help with your research.
 

KI5IRE

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I've used my scanners as elint gathering tools for my commute to/from Boulder for work so I mostly am familiar with Ft. Collins, Larimer County, Longmont and a little bit of Boulder. PVH tower is very local as is the Loveland tower - so don't bother with them.

In Ft. Collins you can hear PFD dispatch (other channels are encrypted), Larimer County Sheriff (not encrypted) and I think Loveland PD dispatch is in the clear. Colo. State patrol is there as well. I suppose you could program businesses if you're interested in them (I'm not). Greeley is mostly not heard over here and they now have their own flavor of trunked system so the DTRS sites don't apply.

Wyolink is not heard this far south though I once heard a test of Wyolink cross-connected to Colo State Patrol. When driving I've only heard Wyolink within about 15 miles of the border using a mobile magnetic mount antenna on the top of my GrayJeep.

I've programmed my scanners for other travel adventures using this site. It takes some research.
The links others will provide will help with your research.

Sweet, thanks for the info GrayJeep! Are PFD's tac channels encrypted? Is Larimer CO FD on the DTS system as well and unencrypted? If I have any other questions I'll be sure to post them.
 

GrayJeep

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Sweet, thanks for the info GrayJeep! Are PFD's tac channels encrypted? Is Larimer CO FD on the DTS system as well and unencrypted? If I have any other questions I'll be sure to post them.

I'm pretty sure PFD tac is encrypted.

County FD isn't well known to me because I haven't paid much attention to it. I think some of the mountain areas are still on VHF as I hear them on VHF sometimes.

Now that I'm retired and not commuting I'm not listening to my scanners nearly as much as I used to.
 
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