Help With Freqs. In The Rainy River Area

[Gymbag]

What I used to do here in Oxford was I had an old portable scanner I would put I think it was tower 7A and 7B base freqs in the scanner. I would put both channels in about 20 channels. It would go 7A,7B,7A,7B so when I heard the squawking sound I would just have to hit the manual button and I would hear London Comm Centre. In my main base and mobile scanner I would enter the mobile freqs. Hopefully you are on a two channel tower up in your neck of the woods.

I must say it was "nice" to hear that squawking noise once again

 

[MetalCarnage]

I dont know about the Rainy River area but 6A and 6B are very active in Thunder Bay, i hear lots of traffic all the time, however i get a lot of cases where i only hear dispatch and not the cars, unless the cars are close then i pick up their vehicle repeaters....

When i first started getting into scanning i couldnt figure out how to get rid of the ctcss pulsing, until i figured out you could set the scanner to Tone Squelch, then it was all good...

 

[slicerwizard]

Your description leads me to believe that you are hearing a digital transmission.

I'd say he's found a control channel. It's time for FighterPilot to get a discriminator tap happening...

It's easy on a 246T: http://home.ica.net/~phoenix/wap/BC246T/

 

[mikewazowski]

I had heard a rumour that Zone 4 was starting to be built out.

 

[MetalCarnage]

I had heard a rumour that Zone 4 was starting to be built out.

What is Zone 4 supposed to cover?

 

[FighterPilot]

I had heard a rumour that Zone 4 was starting to be built out.

I wouldn't surprise me if our OPP was already digital, with the old NOR still up and running for backup while they are currently working out the bugs on the Fleetnet system. I wish I would have known this, as I probably would have invested in a digital scanner instead. Being a small town I can aways ask one of the cops I kind of know what system they are running and see if they'll give me an answer. Well that's too bad that it is most likely digital and my scanner can't decrypt APCO 25. It least I'll have a scanner for the summer while I'm out at the airbase where I work. I'll beat having to sit in the hot office to listen when the planes are coming in, and let me sit outside. One more question. If the OPP are digital, does that mean that EMS, MNR, etc. will also be?

Thanks
Cal

 

[mikewazowski]

The rumour I heard was it is just starting to be built out. I doubt that anybody has switched over to it yet.

 

[mbstone99]

OPP and all

I wouldn't surprise me if our OPP was already digital, with the old NOR still up and running for backup while they are currently working out the bugs on the Fleetnet system. I wish I would have known this, as I probably would have invested in a digital scanner instead. Being a small town I can aways ask one of the cops I kind of know what system they are running and see if they'll give me an answer. Well that's too bad that it is most likely digital and my scanner can't decrypt APCO 25. It least I'll have a scanner for the summer while I'm out at the airbase where I work. I'll beat having to sit in the hot office to listen when the planes are coming in, and let me sit outside. One more question. If the OPP are digital, does that mean that EMS, MNR, etc. will also be?

Thanks
Cal

It should be the same as how it is in Zone 1 & 2 which means Min Of Health will be analog, Min Of Natural Resources will be digital, Min of Transportation is will both analog for normal ops and digital for enforcement.

Matt

 

[FighterPilot]

Well I still haven't gotten the OPP Freqs. I've been monitoring it for a little bit every day. When CTCSS is on I can't get anything. I have, however gotten the ambulance paging system, CN, ATC, Some truckers , and something crazy on 414.6650 it sounded like one of those crazy transmissions in the "mystery" section on the page of sounds. Any more ideas to suggest, or just continue to monitor the OPP freqs. and see what happens?

Thanks Cal

 

[MetalCarnage]

I wouldn't surprise me if our OPP was already digital, with the old NOR still up and running for backup while they are currently working out the bugs on the Fleetnet system. I wish I would have known this, as I probably would have invested in a digital scanner instead. Being a small town I can aways ask one of the cops I kind of know what system they are running and see if they'll give me an answer. Well that's too bad that it is most likely digital and my scanner can't decrypt APCO 25. It least I'll have a scanner for the summer while I'm out at the airbase where I work. I'll beat having to sit in the hot office to listen when the planes are coming in, and let me sit outside. One more question. If the OPP are digital, does that mean that EMS, MNR, etc. will also be?

Thanks
Cal

I'll repeat myself since you apparently didnt read the post above.....OPP up in your end (which is almost the same as my end, thunder bay) is still on NOR, since i am listening to them right this second, without my digital card installed

 

[IdleMonitor]

If you're using ARC246, when you have a file already made up, you can go and edit each ch. so it's configured properly for the band.

As mentioned, most stuff will be set to 5.0 khz while most UHF stuff like in the 400 mhz range will be 12.5

I know I've got all my channels properly alligned to the correct bandwidth. It may take a bit to figure out, but I'm sure you'll get it.

My apologies, I have the 246T. So I do have CTCSS. I guess my biggest problem right now is figuring out why it's rounding the freqs. I thought I read somewheres where I can connect my scanner to my comp and edit stuff manually?

Thanks
Cal

 

[mikewazowski]

Well I still haven't gotten the OPP Freqs. I've been monitoring it for a little bit every day. When CTCSS is on I can't get anything.

That's the whole idea of ctcss. You don't hear anything until a voice call comes across with 107.2hz.

Park it on 141.4500Mhz with your ctcss tone set to 107.2hz and leave it there.

If there's a call, you'll hear it.

 

[FighterPilot]

I'll repeat myself since you apparently didnt read the post above.....OPP up in your end (which is almost the same as my end, thunder bay) is still on NOR, since i am listening to them right this second, without my digital card installed

Yes I realized that they are not digital. I was just speculating that they were digital. I just can't get anything on the NOR system. When CTCSS is turned off I can hear the "squawk" of 141.45 and can hear the "machine gun" sound on 142.5125. It's constant on both freqs. I haven't heard either freq. stop or teh tone dropping, like some have described. When CTCSS is on I can't get anything even when the squelch is turned way down.

If you're using ARC246, when you have a file already made up, you can go and edit each ch. so it's configured properly for the band.

As mentioned, most stuff will be set to 5.0 khz while most UHF stuff like in the 400 mhz range will be 12.5

I know I've got all my channels properly alligned to the correct bandwidth. It may take a bit to figure out, but I'm sure you'll get it.

Thanks for the info, I've already got all that figured out and changed the default step.

Thanks Cal

 

[mikewazowski]

When CTCSS is on I can't get anything even when the squelch is turned way down.

You're not supposed to hear anything with ctcss is on unless there's a voice call. You can turn your squelch knob all you want but until the ctcss tone of 107.2hz comes on, you ain't gonna hear nothing.

If you go back to one of my earlier posts, you can reread it to see how the system works.

Once again, stick it on 141.4500Mhz with a ctcss tone of 107.2hz enabled. Leave your squelch alone!! Crank your volume up and leave your scanner sitting there. At some point you should be blasted out of your chair but a voice call.

 

[FighterPilot]

Alright I'm going to leave it there for a day and move it around to see if maybe I can get a better reception and see what happens. Sorry if I seem like I'm not listening I'm just confused trying to get this to work.

Thanks yet again
Cal

 

[DaveH]

When CTCSS is turned off I can hear the "squawk" of 141.45 and can hear the "machine gun" sound on 142.5125. It's constant on both freqs. Thanks for the info, I've already got all that figured out and changed the default step.

Thanks Cal

That should be 142.515, so looks like the default step is still 12.5kHz. That
may be a Fleetnet control channel. They usually appear well before the onset
of any real activity.

Dave

 

[FighterPilot]

Well I finally got it to work today!!! I was sitting there listening to 141.4500 with the CTCSS on and WHAMM! I heard a transmission! As you can see I'm fairly excited, I didn't think it was going to work, but it finally did. One other question, when I'm listening to the NOR channel who am I listening to? dispatch to the units? transmissions between vehicles?

Thanks
Cal

 

[DaveH]

I would think you're in a better position to know what you're hearing,
but based on operation in other areas, it will be dispatcher to car mostly.
You may not hear the car repeated much of time (if you do it's a bonus)
unless they set up a "TAC" (tactical channel); in that case look for a
continuous carrier.

To hear mobiles close to you directly, scan the input frequencies
(138.xxx 139.xxx) corresponding to the outputs (look them up in the
database) on another scanner if you have one, or on the 246 itself,
with NO CTCSS.

Dave

 

[FighterPilot]

I would think you're in a better position to know what you're hearing,
but based on operation in other areas, it will be dispatcher to car mostly.
You may not hear the car repeated much of time (if you do it's a bonus)
unless they set up a "TAC" (tactical channel); in that case look for a
continuous carrier.

To hear mobiles close to you directly, scan the input frequencies
(138.xxx 139.xxx) corresponding to the outputs (look them up in the
database) on another scanner if you have one, or on the 246 itself,
with NO CTCSS.

Dave

Thanks Dave
The transmission I heard wasn't very long. I still have to find a sweet spot for my scanner to pick them up. I'll put in 139.200 and see what I can get. How often do you think dispatch and the cars talk to each given that I live in a small town and not much happens?

Thanks again
Cal

 

[FighterPilot]

One last update.

Well I finally found a good spot to sit my scanner in my house and have finally been able to listen to the cops on a more frequent basis. However lately whenever I leave my scanner on 141.45 and with the CTCSS on 107.2 it won't stop the constant squawking. Before I could leave it all dialed in with .45 and CTCSS on 107.2 and it would be quiet unless there was a transmission? Am I missing some fundamentals?

Once again I thank everyone for helping me get my scanner "working"
Cal