Gilbert(Chandler) Arizona USA : encrypted?

[Brandoaz]

Coming from having used a BC200XLT handheld (which i actually still have)in the mid eighties in the Midwest listening to police and cordless phone conversations( we clipped a resistor on a board that allowed that as i recall)
I'm not sure if it is good for anything at all but i digress.

I now live in Gilbert Arizona , Maricopa county USA
I began to get curious about listening to local police fire and rescue and started doing a bit of looking around for equipment that would allow me to do so.
I suspect that they are encrypted: When i navigate through the Databases/Frequency database Gilbert i see this listed:

TOPAZ Regional Wireless Cooperative (TRWC)
Project 25 Phase I
and for our neighboring city of Chandler:

Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)
Project 25 Phase II
After clicking and navigating to those subsequent pages i dont really see anything that clarifies anything it references "talkgroups"
So ultimately is there a way to listen to my local police fire and EMS and at what cost for equipment?

Thank you for your time today:

 

[mule1075]

Coming from having used a BC200XLT handheld (which i actually still have)in the mid eighties in the Midwest listening to police and cordless phone conversations( we clipped a resistor on a board that allowed that as i recall)
I'm not sure if it is good for anything at all but i digress.

I now live in Gilbert Arizona , Maricopa county USA
I began to get curious about listening to local police fire and rescue and started doing a bit of looking around for equipment that would allow me to do so.
I suspect that they are encrypted: When i navigate through the Databases/Frequency database Gilbert i see this listed:

TOPAZ Regional Wireless Cooperative (TRWC)
Project 25 Phase I
and for our neighboring city of Chandler:

Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)
Project 25 Phase II
After clicking and navigating to those subsequent pages i dont really see anything that clarifies anything it references "talkgroups"
So ultimately is there a way to listen to my local police fire and EMS and at what cost for equipment?

Thank you for your time today:

Anything Talkgroups marked D are not encrypted. Any marked De are partially encrypted. Any marked DE are encrypted full-time.

 

[Enjoi19]

Looks like police and fire are on the TOPAZ system. You can listen to dispatch for the police, but the tac channels are encrypted (except one that uses some encryption). See the post above mine about what the "Mode" column denotes in terms of understanding what is encrypted and what is not. But if you see a large E on a group, you won't be listening to anything.

Fire is listed as in the clear. So there's definitely something to listen to overall here.

To understand the "Talkgroups", you'll want to understand how Trunked Radio Systems work. That link works as well as this relatively helpful document: https://wiki.radioreference.com/images/c/c7/Trunking_description.pdf. Give that a read - it should get you on the right track to making sense of "Why can't I just plug in a frequency and listen".

The area you're in contains a site on the trunked system that utilizes what's known as a simulcast site. You may want to read a little bit about simulcast and the ever growing issue for many people of simulcast distortion. There's also solutions to getting around this issue - namely, buying a Uniden SDS100 or 200 scanner. However, local users and listeners may have less issues with simulcast and chime in, and let you know if you can spend a bit less on a scanner.

Tl;dr version: Fire is not encrypted, police is partially encrypted but dispatch is open, you'll need a digital scanner, and you'll want to do some reading on programming trunked radio systems.

 

[GlobalNorth]

You are facing two issues here:

One - much of government public safety in Maricopa County is P25 based. Some if Phase 1 and some is Phase 2. Eventually, it will all be Phase 2.

Two - Simulcasting is the standard here for Regional Wireless and TOPAZ. Include MCSO and AZWins as well.

For these systems, you need a simulcast capable receiver and that means Uniden SDS-100/SDS-200 scanner or a Unication pager. Aside from dispatch, many other channels are encrypted and nothing short of state-level COMSEC computers will crack it.

 

[marlin39a]

Wow, a bc200xlt! I live up in Yavapai County, and mine still does the job. It won’t run off the battery pack, but still receives all my analog.

 

[Brandoaz]

Thank you all very much for the substantive responses, Ive got some reading to do , but i have a direction, sounds like fairly significant investment for what at this point would be just casual listening.
Ill take a look around this regional forum and see what i can learn as well.
Safe days

 

[Brandoaz]

Wow, a bc200xlt! I live up in Yavapai County, and mine still does the job. It won’t run off the battery pack, but still receives all my analog.

LOL. i just plugged mine in to charge we shall see if it still holds a charge and for how long !( i wonder if the battery pack can be rebuilt)

 

[AzTac]

So ultimately is there a way to listen to my local police fire and EMS and at what cost for equipment?

Yes. Most Phoenix metro agencies, including Chandler and Gilbert, main dispatch frequencies are not encrypted - yet. Given the sophistication and vagaries of the various simulcast systems you will need either the Uniden SDS100 or SDS200 or the Unication G series to effectively monitor these agencies. The cost: SDS100=$649, SD200=$699, and Unication G4=$541.

You may hear of other people using less expensive scanners, but they are notoriously susceptible to reception problems in the Phoenix metro area and dependent upon your location, precise antenna placement, proximity to interfering cell towers, etc., etc., etc. Uniden SDS and Unication are the only receivers you will hear people talk of receiving consistent, reliable reception.

 

[Geekmedic]

Gilbert Fire is dispatched by Mesa Fire and is using Topaz. Gilbert PD has it's own dispatch center. Chandler Fire is dispatched by Phoenix Fire and uses Trunked 800Mhz for emergency medical calls but is still utilizing 148Mhz bands for 'Hazard' calls that are fires, hazardous materials, etc.

 

[KB7MIB]

Here's some analog channels of interest.

460.2750 DPS Metro South (covers the San Tan 202, the SR 24 spur, and I-10 and the 101 freeway South of the US 60.)
460.2000 DPS Metro East (covers the US 60, the Red Mountain 202, and the Pima 101 freeway North of the US 60, as well as the SR-51 and I-10.)
(Metro East and Metro South are frequently multi-selected. Pick the one that gives you both sides of a conversation.)
460.1750 DPS Metro East Tac

460.3250 DPS Metro Central
460.1875 DPS Metro Central Tac
460.3000 DPS Metro West
460.15000 DPS Metro West Tac
460.2250 DPS Statewide and State Tac (Two different CTCSS tones differentiate them.)
460.5000 DPS Criminal Investigations 2 (Valleywide.)
460. 0250 DPS District 6 (Casa Grande)
460.5250 DPS Criminal Investigations Pinal County
460.4750 DPS District 11 Payson/Globe (covers SR 87 north of the Red Mountain 202 through the Salt River Indian Community and past the Fountain Hills and Ft. McDowell Indian Community areas enroute to Payson.)

Below is a link to a zooomable DPS district map. It has not yet been updated with the 202 South Mountain freeway, but that is split between Metro Central and Metro South. It'll help you with the district boundaries and what highways are in what district.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=e7c587df2ae54cf7a5e0583cb3548e32

~~~~

Mesa Regional Fire Dispatch Center. Only larger fires will be heard here. Small fires and EMS incidents will be on the TOPAZ RWC trunked system. Apparatus numbers in the 200's, 210's, and 220's are Mesa, 250's are Gilbert, 260's are the Superstition district in and around Apache Junction, 410's are Queen Creek, and the 440's are Rio Verde.

156.2400 B1 Dispatch
151.1675 B2 Rio Verde area
154.8000 B3 Primary Fireground
154.2800 B4 Mutual-Aid and Landing Zone Coordination
156.6175 B5 Secondary Fireground
154.3400? Unknown
155.8350? Unknown
158.8050? Unknown

~~~

Rural-Metro FD, Inc. They cover unincorporated county islands in the East Valley (857 and 859), and the San Tan Valley area (840's), as well as Fountain Hills (822 & 823), Carefree and Cave Creek (821 & 825), and the Waddell area in the West Valley (833 & 837).

That should get you started.

John
Peoria

 

[JDE100]

Here's some analog channels of interest.

460.2750 DPS Metro South (covers the San Tan 202, the SR 24 spur, and I-10 and the 101 freeway South of the US 60.)
460.2000 DPS Metro East (covers the US 60, the Red Mountain 202, and the Pima 101 freeway North of the US 60, as well as the SR-51 and I-10.)
(Metro East and Metro South are frequently multi-selected. Pick the one that gives you both sides of a conversation.)
460.1750 DPS Metro East Tac

460.3250 DPS Metro Central
460.1875 DPS Metro Central Tac
460.3000 DPS Metro West
460.15000 DPS Metro West Tac
460.2250 DPS Statewide and State Tac (Two different CTCSS tones differentiate them.)
460.5000 DPS Criminal Investigations 2 (Valleywide.)
460. 0250 DPS District 6 (Casa Grande)
460.5250 DPS Criminal Investigations Pinal County
460.4750 DPS District 11 Payson/Globe (covers SR 87 north of the Red Mountain 202 through the Salt River Indian Community and past the Fountain Hills and Ft. McDowell Indian Community areas enroute to Payson.)

Below is a link to a zooomable DPS district map. It has not yet been updated with the 202 South Mountain freeway, but that is split between Metro Central and Metro South. It'll help you with the district boundaries and what highways are in what district.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=e7c587df2ae54cf7a5e0583cb3548e32

~~~~

Mesa Regional Fire Dispatch Center. Only larger fires will be heard here. Small fires and EMS incidents will be on the TOPAZ RWC trunked system. Apparatus numbers in the 200's, 210's, and 220's are Mesa, 250's are Gilbert, 260's are the Superstition district in and around Apache Junction, 410's are Queen Creek, and the 440's are Rio Verde.

156.2400 B1 Dispatch
151.1675 B2 Rio Verde area
154.8000 B3 Primary Fireground
154.2800 B4 Mutual-Aid and Landing Zone Coordination
156.6175 B5 Secondary Fireground
154.3400? Unknown
155.8350? Unknown
158.8050? Unknown

~~~

Rural-Metro FD, Inc. They cover unincorporated county islands in the East Valley (857 and 859), and the San Tan Valley area (840's), as well as Fountain Hills (822 & 823), Carefree and Cave Creek (821 & 825), and the Waddell area in the West Valley (833 & 837).

That should get you started.

John
Peoria

Thank you John. Below I listed the Rural Metro Frequencies.

 

[KB7MIB]

Thank you John. Below I listed the Rural Metro Frequencies.

View attachment 95895

Yea, it probably would have helped if I had listed Rural Metro's channels lol

I also have:

153.8600 Ch. 6
158.8050 Ch. 7
154.1600 Ch. 8 East

I don't know how accurate/current they are, however.

John
Peoria