HappilyRetired
Member
Please don't get angry with me for asking this. When I first joined I tried to ask if CHP was going digital and the encounter was not very friendly. I was reading information off the internet and annoyed people that I was trying to learn.
This happened five minutes ago on the Copper - San Bernardino. I have an analog only scanner connected to a low band antenna outside. CHP Air 8 came up and the dispatcher told him he was unreadable. That's because he was digital! He sounded as if he was going through a repeater. I couldn't punch it into my digital scanner quick enough and he didn't reply again. I'm also familiar with it on our Rovers. He was clearly digital. I've heard it enough at this point to know because he sounded like the garbled digital when they're not quite making it into the system. I hope I described that well enough.
I'm afraid to ask this question because of the first time. Is CHP going digital? Or is there perhaps a frequency that ties in to the Copper that would have caused Air 8 to be in P25 mode? I thought maybe the dispatcher had punched up a frequency and accidentally had it tied in. I don't know about that one because she was surprised and said he was unreadable.
I have seen a UHF frequency of 460.375 or 460.450 that has the capability of analog or P25. I didn't know then at LAPD what the frequency was but if we were out of Los Angeles and noticed a DUI driver or something on the freeway we would come up with our unit number and talk directly to LACC or Inland or in some cases Ventura. Sometimes we'd even run a plate. Down here where I'm at I don't always hear the helicopter when they're over a pursuit up in San Bernardino. As a pilot I know that they use low-powered radios because at that altitude they would cover a great deal of area.
I don't want to add too much to this because then you'll just get mad at me for guessing.
This happened five minutes ago on the Copper - San Bernardino. I have an analog only scanner connected to a low band antenna outside. CHP Air 8 came up and the dispatcher told him he was unreadable. That's because he was digital! He sounded as if he was going through a repeater. I couldn't punch it into my digital scanner quick enough and he didn't reply again. I'm also familiar with it on our Rovers. He was clearly digital. I've heard it enough at this point to know because he sounded like the garbled digital when they're not quite making it into the system. I hope I described that well enough.
I'm afraid to ask this question because of the first time. Is CHP going digital? Or is there perhaps a frequency that ties in to the Copper that would have caused Air 8 to be in P25 mode? I thought maybe the dispatcher had punched up a frequency and accidentally had it tied in. I don't know about that one because she was surprised and said he was unreadable.
I have seen a UHF frequency of 460.375 or 460.450 that has the capability of analog or P25. I didn't know then at LAPD what the frequency was but if we were out of Los Angeles and noticed a DUI driver or something on the freeway we would come up with our unit number and talk directly to LACC or Inland or in some cases Ventura. Sometimes we'd even run a plate. Down here where I'm at I don't always hear the helicopter when they're over a pursuit up in San Bernardino. As a pilot I know that they use low-powered radios because at that altitude they would cover a great deal of area.
I don't want to add too much to this because then you'll just get mad at me for guessing.