Mount Airy Trip

[tglendye]

Hello... I have been a big "Andy Griffith" show fan, so my wife and I are spending a couple of days in Mt. Airy next week to check things out. Just looking for advice on what to program my scanner with.

It looks like Surry County law enforcement is on the VIPER system. Are any of the conventional channels active? What is the best tower(s) on VIPER for Mt. Airy? I do not see a lot of talk groups for fire & rescue on VIPER. Are they mostly conventional?

I am mainly just wondering if I should plan on programming and monitoring both VIPER and the conventional channels as well as the best tower to listen from.

Also, while my interest are mainly in public safety does anyone else have any other recommendations to add to the scanner?

Thanks!

 

[NCFireman11]

First off, enjoy your time in Mayberry! All Surry County public safety agencies use VIPER to varying degrees. Mount Airy PD (I think) & Surry SO uses VIPER exclusively while EMS & the Rescue Squads are about 90% on VIPER. Surry Co EMS/Rescue, Surry Co Fire & Mount Airy FD VHF dispatch frequencies are patched to VIPER but scene operations are mostly VHF. In my monitoring experience, Elkin FD and CC Camp VFD are the only ones using the VIPER Surry TAC TG's for fireground ops.

VIPER towers that cover the majority of Surry are Sauratown Mtn, Turner Mtn and Fishers Peak. If you leave your scanner in ID search mode on VIPER you'll typically hear NCSHP, some IMAP traffic from Forsyth County, Baptist Aircare helicopters and ground transport units (Aircare 2 is based in Elkin), Pilot Mtn State Park, Northern Hospital VMN, as well as Stokes County LE & Fire. The statewide events TGs, some federal agencies, ALE, Wildlife, License and Theft, etc are occasionally active on VIPER off Sauratown Mtn.

 

[Cepheid]

Enjoy your trip-
you can go to Floyd's Barber Shop and visit the Snappy Lunch Cafe. There is also the Andy Griffith Playhouse (Surry Arts Council) if you want to check out their summer show schedule. Have fun!

 

[tglendye]

Thank you both. I have a bcd436hp and an Anytone at-d868uv vhf walkie (receive only channels, of course) that I think I have a pretty good scanlist programmed now.

We are looking forward to the trip!