Marion Co, Indiana

[osolo58]

Good Morning!

I am planning a trip down to Indianapolis this weekend and want to know what I need to have programmed on my BCD436HP to be able to hear all of Marion Co and some of the surrounding COs as well. I looked at the scanner programming for the scanner and I see that There are quite a few options but curious as to making sure I place the right one in my scanner.

Thank You!

9/11/2001
NeverForget

 

[west-pac]

This will get you Marion County public safety.

Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency (MESA) (Formerly IDPS) Site: Marion County Public Safety (System 1)

Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency (MESA) (Formerly IDPS) Site: Marion County Public Safety (System 1) Details

www.radioreference.com

This will get you state agencies radio traffic.

Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T Site: Indianapolis IGC North

Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T Site: Indianapolis IGC North Details

www.radioreference.com

 

[INDY72]

Marion, Hamilton, Madison on MESA, all other counties on SAFE-T. Hendricks, and Hamilton, all Law Enforcement is full time Encryted. Hancock has some encryption, as does Shelby. For IMPD there are encrypted tg's but most traffic is in the clear. If you travel over near Madison they also have a good bit of encryption. Ymmv on the 436 with the MESA as it's all simulcast, as is the Hendricks, Shelby, and Boone County SAFE-T sites.

 

[cubn]

Make sure you focus on the correct sites for what you want to hear on MESA.


1 (1)003 (3)Hamilton County Simulcast (System 3)
-Any Hamilton County TG

1 (1)004 (4)Madison County Simulcast (System 4)
-Any Madison County TG

1 (1)010 (A)Marion County Public Safety (System 1)
-Marion County public safety, airport pub sfty, event talkgroups (S1-T#)

1 (1)020 (14)Marion County Government (System 2)
-Marion County public works, schools

 

[INDY72]

School police are on S1, and the individual school systems, a lot of encryption in use on school systems now. Iuh dps is on SAFE-T currently.

 

[INDY72]

And as of last night IUH DPS is back on MESA.

 

[west-pac]

And as of last night IUH DPS is back on MESA.

I don't think that's relevant to this post.

 

[INDY72]

S

I don't think that's relevant to this post.ed last night.

See my previous post. #5 This updates current information that changed last night.

 

[west-pac]

Right, I saw that. Imo I think you and @cubn were getting off track from what the OP asked.

They just want to hear public safety when they visit downtown Indy. They don't need info on Shelby county or Madison county. They likely don't even know what "IUH DPS" is. Again, IMO, that's deeper than what the question was.

ID SEARCH on MESA system 1, and ID SEARCH on SAFE-T IGC will suffice the OP's appetite.

 

[ind224]

155.7150

 

[k9idx]

Marion, Hamilton, Madison on MESA, all other counties on SAFE-T. Hendricks, and Hamilton, all Law Enforcement is full time Encryted. Hancock has some encryption, as does Shelby. For IMPD there are encrypted tg's but most traffic is in the clear. If you travel over near Madison they also have a good bit of encryption. Ymmv on the 436 with the MESA as it's all simulcast, as is the Hendricks, Shelby, and Boone County SAFE-T sites.

I wonder if I might add a question to this string. I will be spending a signficant amount of time in Indy starting at the end of this year and have a 436. Sounds like simulcast might create some challenges, so I was thinking of just buying the SDS100 to solve that issue.
The other issue, of course, is the "longevity of scanning" due to changes in tech. Can't stop thata train, so I won't complain.
I really enjoy law enforcement, but really enjoy the "whole scanning package," from utilities to rail.
I need there to be a return on investment for the SDS100, so if things look dire in the next year or two, I'm going to muscle through with the 436. (I've been scanning since 1984, so that was hard to write!)
Thoughts?

 

[INDY72]

The 436 works great on almost everything, and is pretty good on the MESA, and most of the SAFE-T. But the SDS100 kicks arse on MESA, and the 3 simulcast cells of SAFE-T around us. The 436 is better on VHF as there are well documented issues with the SDS on VHF, but it works pretty good too. I run a 436, SDS100, and TRX-1 and they all have great usefulness for what I use them for. I also run an BCD396XT for data analysis with Unitrunker and Pro96Com. I have both the NXDN, and DMR upgrades on the 436, and just the DMR upgrade on the SDS. The TRX-1 does pretty good on those as well, but not quite as good for fully trunk tracking on NXDN, and DMR also due to the well documented reasons. The way things look currently, longevity is not an issue. The only system that none of the scanners can do is that one Duke Energy system as they run TDMA control channels which no scanner can currently decode. But if you run an cheap SDR and DSD W Fastlane, you can do it if you want. I run an Motorola XPR3500 for work, GMRS, FRS, and to monitor the Lucas Oil Stadium/Indiana Convention Center complex Capacity Plus TRS as it was already in the radio when I inherited it. In fact, the SDS100 is almost as good when set up right on the MESA as the APX I used to have permission to run on it! You just have to play with the filters to make almost flawless for your needs.

 

[k9idx]

The 436 works great on almost everything, and is pretty good on the MESA, and most of the SAFE-T. But the SDS100 kicks arse on MESA, and the 3 simulcast cells of SAFE-T around us. The 436 is better on VHF as there are well documented issues with the SDS on VHF, but it works pretty good too. I run a 436, SDS100, and TRX-1 and they all have great usefulness for what I use them for. I also run an BCD396XT for data analysis with Unitrunker and Pro96Com. I have both the NXDN, and DMR upgrades on the 436, and just the DMR upgrade on the SDS. The TRX-1 does pretty good on those as well, but not quite as good for fully trunk tracking on NXDN, and DMR also due to the well documented reasons. The way things look currently, longevity is not an issue. The only system that none of the scanners can do is that one Duke Energy system as they run TDMA control channels which no scanner can currently decode. But if you run an cheap SDR and DSD W Fastlane, you can do it if you want. I run an Motorola XPR3500 for work, GMRS, FRS, and to monitor the Lucas Oil Stadium/Indiana Convention Center complex Capacity Plus TRS as it was already in the radio when I inherited it. In fact, the SDS100 is almost as good when set up right on the MESA as the APX I used to have permission to run on it! You just have to play with the filters to make almost flawless for your needs.

Well, first off, thanks for such a quick and detailed response. Really appreciate it! I was just listening on broadcastify from here on the East Coast, just to get a feel, and it does look like the PD is wide open. Obviously, that can change, but it sounds like you would know if darker days were nigh! One more question.....We do not have simulcast issues here, so what would I hear if simulcast was an issue? A garbled mess? Nothing? Semi-intelligent conversation as my 436 became unconfused and then later confused again?
Thanks again for letting me pick your brain....does sound like adding an SDS100 for Indy would not be a bad idea.

 

[INDY72]

If simulcast distortion is really bad, you will see a signal and barely get any traffic, or constant motorboating as it's called, missed calls, and replies, it can be a real pita. On non SDS radios it literally can be a matter of a few inches for good signal or crappola. Read up in the wiki to get an idea of some of the issues. Attenuation can help, "bad" antenna are better as less signal can actually be better, etc. But yes, if you can afford an SDS, or even an Unication G series pager, they are just as good as actual system radios. But the Zone/Channel issue is there just like an radio. Whereas scanners have virtually unlimited flexibility in that regard. 16 ch per zone and so on, where you literally can have the entire tg line up with a scanner for each system. Here, all public safety is on system 1, all dpw etc is on system 2 for Marion County. So you can put both systems in a slot on your favorites list and scan it all, or just one of the systems. If you want to literally hear everything, you need NXDN, and DMR capacity, on top of the P25. Like with me, I use the 436 for SAFE-T unless I want to monitor the simulcast sites, trunked DMR and NXDN, the SDS100 for MESA and the simulcast sites of SAFE-T (Plus the site NAC abilities of the SDS rock on using specific sites that have shared freqs etc.), the TRX-1 for air/rail, conventional DMR, NXDN, analog, etc.