BYU Motorola Type II Smartnet

[harrv]

Years ago I was interested in scanning and had a conventional scanner. When most of the agencies moved to trunked systems, I put the hobby aside. Recently, my interest has been renewed and I bought a trunking scanner (Uniden BC346XT) and have enjoyed rediscovering what is available.

The signals I pick up the most clearly from home are from the Motorola Type II Smartnet site at BYU (system ID 062B), so it seems an obvious place to focus some of my attention. I understand from the RR database, as well as from listening, that this system has talkgroups for several agencies in Utah County as well as BYU, although from my listening so far it seems that by far the greatest amount of traffic on the system is from BYU and most of the other agencies that have a presence on the system also use (and probably primarily use) UCAN.

I have been using ProScan to monitor the traffic at the BYU site and have found several talkgroups that are not in the RR database. The last update to the RR database for this system was about a year and a half ago, so I think I could assist with some updates.

Being new to this, I'm not sure the best way to go about it. I thought I'd monitor the communication on the unknown talkgroups for two or three weeks, making sure to note the primary use of the talkgroup, whether the use changes from day to night or on the weekend, and making sure that the volume of traffic on the talkgroup is high enough and consistent enough over those two or three weeks to warrant an entry in the database. Does that sound like a good approach? After that, maybe I could spend some time monitoring the talkgroups that are already in the database to make sure they are still active and their primary use has not changed.

When I have collected my findings, I assume that best practice would be to present my findings to this forum for review before making a submission to RR. I've read the sticky called Posting Unknown Talkgroups which suggests posting each talkgroup in its own thread for discussion and review. I wasn't sure whether that would apply to any trunked system in Utah, or just to UCAN, but I'd be happy to either do it that way, or consolidate my findings into a single thread--whichever the group thinks would be more manageable.

Please let me know if it would be useful or not to pursue this, and give me feedback about my suggested approach. Thanks in advance.

harrv

 

[kd7rto]

I would consider it worthwhile for you to compile a list that would help others determine the few talkgroups would be interesting to monitor, as opposed to the vast majority of traffic on that system, which is not very interesting.

Since I do not live in range of it, and only travel in range of it on occasion, compiling such a list for myself would, of course, not be possible.

 

[harrv]

I would consider it worthwhile for you to compile a list that would help others determine the few talkgroups would be interesting to monitor, as opposed to the vast majority of traffic on that system, which is not very interesting.

Ha...that's true enough. The most heavily used talkgroup that's not already in the database is a catering crew. Probably not thrilling.

Point taken. I'm new to this and a lot of chit chat is interesting at first, but eventually I suppose you want to filter it down. OK, if I hear anything especially noteworthy on an unsubmitted talkgroup, I'll revisit.

 

[wbloss]

Ha...that's true enough. The most heavily used talkgroup that's not already in the database is a catering crew. Probably not thrilling.

Point taken. I'm new to this and a lot of chit chat is interesting at first, but eventually I suppose you want to filter it down. OK, if I hear anything especially noteworthy on an unsubmitted talkgroup, I'll revisit.

Actually getting info on ALL unlisted TG's would be preferable. Even tho Catering is the use now, uses can change. Also it also allows ALL TG's to be identified. Yes it's a lot of boring work, but the community will thank you. When Cache Valley went UCAN 2 - 3 year ago we ferreted our every TG down to the tiny rural FD's own Car to Car channel and now have a comprehensive list. Doing he same in Provo would be a great service.
Thanks!
Wally

 

[harrv]

Thanks Wally. I do have enough interest and energy to monitor and update, so I'll continue gathering info and let you guys know what I find.

 

[bbrasmussen]

I'd be interested in your findings. Unfortunately I live out of range of this system, but whenever I'm in the area I like listening in. Some TGs like the catering aren't very interesting, but others can be quite entertaining.

 

[harrv]

I've been listening mostly to the Utah County UCAN talkgroups lately, but I'll see if I can make a good map of the BYU talkgroups in the next couple months. Speaking of which, does anyone know of either a trunked system or conventional frequencies for UVU? I know UVU security has a talk group on UCAN, but there has to be more radio traffic at that school.

 

[theaton]

We can put the interesting and uninteresting TGs in separate groups. It would also help to learn which non-BYU TGs are still in use. I spend a few weeks with my parents in Provo every year and have some logs of that system that I can check also.

I've been listening mostly to the Utah County UCAN talkgroups lately, but I'll see if I can make a good map of the BYU talkgroups in the next couple months. Speaking of which, does anyone know of either a trunked system or conventional frequencies for UVU? I know UVU security has a talk group on UCAN, but there has to be more radio traffic at that school.

 

[cinsu]

You could run a program like Trunk88 or Unitrunker to log traffic when you are not personally able to. May give you a good idea on peak times of day and track seldom used talkgroups.