Living in OC and scanning?

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AngeloCosma

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Aug 1, 2008
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Ok I just got a Pro 96 and I live in Orange County, in the city of Santa Ana, now judging by the other posts, I don't really care about Fire / EMS / UC School Security, am I pretty much out of luck with scanning the local PD's and CHP Freqs? I am kinda bummed out that i just spent this much cash and now I find out that its not a possibility.

Angelo Cosma
 

JoeyC

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CHP is still analog and you can listen to that, but you are right about the local PDs. LAPD is another option for you and is always good listening.
 

cousinkix1953

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There goes $400.00 down the drain! A scanner isn't much good if the local police are encrypted 24/7/365. I'm glad that our locals got rid of their old "Donals Duck" scramblers that sound like a CB radio SSB transmissionon a regular AM rig. It got to the point where they used "CODE S", in order to excuse themselves for a stop on the john; but conversations about criminals and their illegal activities wre dicussed openly in plain English.

The LAPD is on line if you wanna hear them for FREE too.

You're gonna wish that you had the fire departments and some of those other agencies; when it's time for a deluge of floods, fires or a big earthquake. No power most of the time either. Situations like those are where the battery operated hand held units are worth their weight in gold...
 

Mikek

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Pursuits and countywide crime bulletins (RED channel) are not encrypted. Neither is the countywide law helicopter 'calling' (AIRCALL) channel, which is a great source of 'in-progress' call information.

There's a shared talkgroup for dispatch centers that isn't encrypted. (DSP-DSP). Here you'll find mutual aid requests for dogs, dope experts, translators and the like - often with complete background on the related incident.

The non-trunked mutual aid channels are being used more often now. Corona PD has "OC Access" (151.085) in their units and have utilized that on several occasions when a pursuit is coming into the county from their area.

The Sheriff Search/Rescue Reserve Unit is on the UHF (BLUE - 460.525) and responds to several calls a week. These range from Alzheimers walk-aways to fleeing felons to jail escapees.

I've also had good luck listening to the private enterprises that support public safety in Orange County. In fact, many times I've heard more about an incident from the tow-truck drivers, animal control, park rangers or ambulance companies than the police. Give that a shot.

Enjoy the scanner - there's a lot out there.
 

Mike_G_D

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Vista, CA
OC Blue

Mikek,

I live in Carlsbad in north SD county. I occasionally monitor what I can of Orange County. I have a question concerning the Blue channel you mentioned. Do they use a common CTCSS or DCS tone for the county-wide usage of 460.525 (Blue)? I ask because I get a lot of traffic on it which I think is from the LA airport police and would like to avoid hearing all of that. Also, do they commonly use repeaters on Blue or is it primarily simplex? I can't find a lot of info on this Orange County channel.

Thanks very much for your help here! And I agree that there is a lot to listen to even if the county LE is primarily encrypted. Even so, I really hope that SD County doesn't eventually follow in OC's footsteps!

-Mike
 

FreqOfNature

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Southern California / Arizona
Here are the PL tones I have listed for Los Angeles Airport Police on 460.525.

118.8 = Los Angeles International (LAX)
156.7 = Van Nuys Airport (VNY)

103.5 was used by Orange County law enforcement, but that information is prior to the switch-over to the trunked system.

Tracy
www.freqofnature.com

Mikek,

I live in Carlsbad in north SD county. I occasionally monitor what I can of Orange County. I have a question concerning the Blue channel you mentioned. Do they use a common CTCSS or DCS tone for the county-wide usage of 460.525 (Blue)? I ask because I get a lot of traffic on it which I think is from the LA airport police and would like to avoid hearing all of that. Also, do they commonly use repeaters on Blue or is it primarily simplex? I can't find a lot of info on this Orange County channel.

-Mike
 

Mike_G_D

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Vista, CA
Blue blues

Tracy,

Yes, I know that info. I've used your site frequently, BTW and have found it very useful.

In any case, I read in a thread some while back (a year or so, I think) that the old Orange County Black channel (from pre-trunking days) had been recycled and is now the Blue channel. But I have not been able to find any further info on it since such as tones and repeater usage, etc. As interesting as LA and Van Nuys airports may be they come in rather scratchy here and aren't really what I want to listen to so if OC has a tone for this frequency I would REALLY like to know what it is. So far, I haven't heard any apparent OC traffic on "Blue" so I haven't been able to capture the tone from an OC transmitter. At a guess - OC seems to use 156.7Hz as a common CTCSS tone for many of their conventional frequencies so maybe that is what they use on "Blue" as well?

-Mike
 

Mikek

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The BLUE channel uses 103.5Hz. PL and is simulcast from several sites. There's also a Blue TA in the field radios. That's mainly used for on-scene work.

I forgot to mention MAROON - 460.300/103.5 PL. It's similar to the Blue, but very lightly used. In addition, there's a portable repeater that's been deployed in an aircraft and tested around the county. It's ready to go in the event the UHF systems are inop.
 

Mike_G_D

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Vista, CA
Not so Blue now!

Excellent! Excellent!! Thank you, Mikek!

I will program that in - thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

-Just another Mike
 
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