Hamilton beginner

[chuckoya]

i am new to scanning and i bought a bc350 and am wondering if this is the right type of scannner to pick up thing in the hamilton,Ontario area? also what are some interesting freq's to check out.

 

[MetalCarnage]

i am new to scanning and i bought a bc350 and am wondering if this is the right type of scannner to pick up thing in the hamilton,Ontario area? also what are some interesting freq's to check out.

the bc350 would cut out most interesting bands as it is not a trunking scanner...

Just looking at hamiltons database, u technically cant monitor Fire, Police, EMS or OPP

 

[mciupa]

Hi chuckoya, I suppose you could listen in on 154.25 to hear fire dispatches and then
check this link, from Muncipal Government downwards , there might be something you are
interested in.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=4296

 

[jellotor]

You're going to want to get an 800 MHz trunking capable scanner if you want to listen to local police & fire. 154.250 is excellent for hearing the initial dispatch of fire calls but once the responding units switch to a tac channel you'll be out of luck with your BC350.

For fleetnet, you'll need a trunking scanner capable of monitoring Motorola type 2 VHF systems as a minimum. You'll need a P25 digital scanner to monitor anything on fleetnet other than EMS, MTO crews and the jails...

 

[chuckoya]

so my bc350c is garbage?

so in order to get police and fire in hamilton i am going to need a so called digital or trunking scanner??? and if so what are some ok digital\trunking scanners. Are they hard to like program? what type do i need to get all the good stuff out there on the air?
I am new to this scanning hobby and could use lots of help.

Thanks Chuckoya

 

[EJB]

Here are a few of the ones I know that will scan fleetnet and Hamiltons system.
Bc245, BC246T, are analogue ones and not that expensive.
Some of the digital ones
Pro96, BC296D, 396, 996, BC250, 796. There are more out there, I am sure that someone else here will recommend some.

If you can work with excel type files and know how to plug in a scanner to a port on your 'puter you have already programmed your scanner.
ARC software for Uniden scanners are the best. You can import the information from this site (by joining it and paying some $ now)and plunk it into your 'puter.

I have had both Uniden and R/S scanners. Right now I have a 246 and 296. Both are hard to program by hand but it can be done.
Both are excellant scanners.
If you want to listen to the OPP get a digital one, if not try out a 246 or one of the Radio Shack scanners to do VHF trunking.
Eric

 

[Chrome69]

Is hamilton Police Digital and encrypted? I thought I read that somewhere that they are on a Apoc system and maybe encrypted? Or are they still on the Analog Type II system?

 

[jellotor]

They are not on a P25 system. Regular operations are on the 'Public Safety' system. Surveillance and sensitive ops are on a smaller type 2 system that broadcasts the same system ID as the public safety system. This second system is digital and encrypted but is not P25.

 

[mikewazowski]

This second system is digital and encrypted but is not P25.

Actually it is P25 with encryption tossed in.

 

[jellotor]

Actually it is P25 with encryption tossed in.

Odd. It didn't register as P25 on my 250D when I programmed the system in. I'm going to have to reprogram it and see for myself...

 

[mbstone99]

Hamilton Police

They are not on a P25 system. Regular operations are on the 'Public Safety' system. Surveillance and sensitive ops are on a smaller type 2 system that broadcasts the same system ID as the public safety system. This second system is digital and encrypted but is not P25.

So far on that system I have only seen 1 tg (ID 128) come up and that tg is not utilitizated very often either.

Matt

 

[jellotor]

I'll have to check but I've got 3 or 4 talkgroups logged on that system. I believe 2 of them didn't have any hits recorded so I didn't submit them...yet.

 

[mikewazowski]

They started off with 2 conventional 800Mhz Astro channels (vselp) so traffic would probably be pretty light.

Back when I worked in Hamilton, I recall seeing 3 or 4 talkgroups active. I think there were only two voice channels (plus one control channel).

 

[jellotor]

Sounds about right. There isn't any more than 20 radios affiliated to that system anyway. My guess is that if one could hear the audio, there'd be a talkgroup for each police division (as in 3) with possibly a 4th as a common channel.

It's just a guess, but based on the organizational split of the police service (Central/East/Mountain & Dundas) repeating itself through a number of different departments and talkgroups (CID, HEAT, ERU, main operations) my guess is as good as anything.

My, that sounded arrogant.

 

[mciupa]

My, that sounded arrogant.

Not at all , it comes across as an educated guess