arizona border patrol freq

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mike309d

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Jun 10, 2008
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I live in Parker, Arizona. I have a Uniden BC92XLT scanner, $100.00. I have about 5 banks
full of border patrol freqs, but I haven't picked up anything. I inputted every border patrol
freq I could find on this website, mt fed files, and any other website I could find. It could be
the border patrol hasn't been around this area lately, or do I need to buy a better scanner?
Does anyone have the main freq for dispatch? Thanks for the help!!!
 

ChrisP

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Portland, OR
I live in Parker, Arizona. I have a Uniden BC92XLT scanner, $100.00. I have about 5 banks
full of border patrol freqs, but I haven't picked up anything. I inputted every border patrol
freq I could find on this website, mt fed files, and any other website I could find. It could be
the border patrol hasn't been around this area lately, or do I need to buy a better scanner?
Does anyone have the main freq for dispatch? Thanks for the help!!!

The Border Patrol has been using P-25 digital radios for a while now. I don't recall any analog transmissions from them last time I was in southern Arizona. You will need to get a P-25 digital capable scanner, such as the Radio Shack PRO-96, PRO-2096 or Uniden 250D, 296D,785D, 796D, 396D or 996D to listen to them now. And many of the transmission will be encrypted, but not all of them...

- Chris
 

Wayne

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Dec 19, 2002
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Cbp

Not sure what their setup is in Arizona, but along portions of the Texas border (high intensity enforcement areas) CBP is P25 (VHF frequencies) and nearly 100% encrypted. You simply are not going to be able to monitor most of these comms even with a digital scanner.

There was a very good article in MT a couple months back that focused on the CBP.
 

mike309d

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Last year the border patrol was out here everyday parked in town. I haven't seen them anymore. The last time I personally saw them. The van said they were from Blythe, California which is closer than Yuma. I looked up the scanners that are able to scan p25, and those are around 500.00 +. I'm also concerned if I do purchase that type of scanner, and it's just encrypted. Has anyone had any success listening to the border patrol using a p25 scanner? Thanks
 

SAR923

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Dec 19, 2002
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When I was in Arizona last year, I spent about three weeks camping and traveling in areas close to the Mexican border area. All the traffic was on P25 digital but it was only encrypted about 25% of the time. I talked to a border patrol agent at a very quiet checkpoint one night. He saw my scanner and wanted to know if I was monitoring them. I showed him my retired ID and told him it was so habitual to have a radio going in the background I just had to have a scanner now. He just laughed. We talked about their use of encryption and he said they mostly use it when they are chasing organized, coyote led bands of aliens because a lot of the coyotes now have digital scanners (mostly RS PRO-96's, BTW, if that's any recommendation). Other times, they were unencrypted because they depend on local agencies for backup and they want the local agencies to be able to monitor what's happening on their scanners. This was in the Douglas area so I don't know if this is common in the rest of Arizona. If you're passing through an inland checkpoint at about 0300, you might be surprised at how much information you can get from a bored agent. :)
 
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cratliff

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May 30, 2008
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Phoenix, AZ
I live in the Phoenix area and I have been picking up quite a bit of border patrol conversations. Nothing too crazy or exciting to date, but there has been plenty of listening! Using a P25 capable BCD996t...
 
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