Hello, I'm new here. First of all, I have very little knowledge of radios. I realize that a digital 800 radio programmed for eastern Colorado will still transmit in western Colorado (for a law enforcement programmed radio) by using other towers. Will this work for scanners too? Will I be able to pick up, lets say Sedgwick County (northeast corner of the state) while I'm in Denver? (Assuming Sedgwick uses digital). Thanks. Just want to be sure before I buy a digital scanner.
Digital scanning
- Thread starter mycro
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soundchaser
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Not likely. You will only hear Sedgwick in Denver if there is someone with a radio actively monitoring a Sedgwick talk group in Denver. This is discouraged since it burdens the system with having to repeat traffic on more towers. And in the metro area, many DTRS sites actively reject selected talk groups from outside the area.
Spitfire8520
Might be slightly less clueless! =)
I had this same misconception when I started learning about DTRS. While it is possible, what Soundchaser said above is absolutely correct. A tower only gets assigned so many frequencies that can be used simultaneously, and some towers for DTRS only have 3 voice channels. Once all the frequencies are occupied, no more traffic can air on that tower and can seriously hinder the local area public safety with an event happening a hundred miles away.
EDIT: Here's a link that describes trunking, and a networked trunked system like DTRS:
Trunking Basics - The RadioReference Wiki
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