Ada County

[caseywees]

Hello all,

I am new to majority of this, I have a uniden bct15 that i have been playing around with recently.

what i am looking for is some advise or recommendations on what i can do with my current unit ( if anything ) or what i need to achieve my goal.

I would like to be able to monitor the Ada County Fire and EMS dispatch calls including receiving that station tones. I am not interested in any of the PD or scanning majority of other channels that are out there.

Can someone please point me in the right direction.

Thank you !!

 

[safetypro79]

Almost everything has moved to 700 MHz digital

All Ada And Boise LE are encrypted except 5 channels and 2 of them: interop, valley all call, and Boise bench have little traffic. EMS has one dispatch channel, FD does not alert station over the air with two tone anymore. Adjacent counties Elmore, Gem Payette still use VHF/UHF but dependent on antenna reception may be difficult Scanning today is no where near it was during the past 40 years or so. Just changing technology and politics......

 

[safetypro79]

To further complicate monitoring

Some agancies even here in the Treasure Valley have converted to newer digital formats such as: DRM or NXDN which at present cannot be monitored by certain digital scanners unless upgraded or different manufacturer. So an ever changing technology in radio.

Uniden and Whistler are current manufactures , however they constantly try to keep up with changes.

 

[safetypro79]

A bit more

You may have gotten confused by the somewhat outdated RR Database for Ada county as shows lots of UHF/VHF freqs in conjunction with 700 MHz data.
Public safety has transitioned to 700 MHz P25 no more simulcast on UHF/VHF freqs.

In my previous post I mentioned new digital formats "agencies" i.e. meaning business.

 

[Fielder3]

USFS and State Forestry/DNR

What's the status with USFS and State DNR Fire? They still use VHF right?

 

[thewenk]

VHF, some UHF.
Idaho Federal Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Idaho Department of Lands Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[Lt51506]

Is there are particular brand / model scanner than can listen to Ada County 700? I know most is encrypted, but I thought I heard that dispatch wasn't encrypted and was about the only thing that could be monitored. Primarily interested in Boise FD & PD. Cost is not an issue.

 

[safetypro79]

As posted

In my inital response; 1 ACSO dispatch 3 BPD, Valley all call (PD) are currently unencrypted.

Any Phase I scanner would work (for now but might as well consider Phase II (just in case for future) but dependant on your knowledge/patience for scanner programming, a Uniden HP-2 might work fine. I would strongly consider ordering from Amazon as they have more often the best prices and free shipping if you have Prime. Also, their sellers scanner products are covered by the manufacturers warranty but ALWAYS CHECK THAT FIRST before you order with the manufacturer. As some dealers might say they are covered and they may not be.

But bottom line ease of programming or lack of the Uniden HP-2 but get a better antenna if you are considering using the very poor OEM antenna. ** Diamond SRH-789 telescopicing is a good one, pricey but good.

John

 

[Lt51506]

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

[devicelab]

Is there are particular brand / model scanner than can listen to Ada County 700? I know most is encrypted, but I thought I heard that dispatch wasn't encrypted and was about the only thing that could be monitored. Primarily interested in Boise FD & PD. Cost is not an issue.

Buy yourself the TRX-1 and be done with it. This will cover you for all current digital radio modes and thensome. It's very easy to program using the software or by hand and should work well with the ICAWIN system. The TRX-1 can record anything it hears so that can come in handy.

Sadly, just about everything is encrypted so you'll only hear the dispatch channels and perhaps a few random channels.

With DMR however, you'll have access to a whole new world as well. I know that Boise Transit is using DMR.