Monitoring in Bernalillo County

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scanthewaves

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Hi we will be relocating to the ABQ area next month and are wondering what we will be able to monitor, we will be most likely in the Tijeras east mountain area with occasional trips into the city. I understand most of the counties Talk Group is Pro Voice with little in the clear. I own a pro 164 and pro 196 what if anything can I expect to monitor how bout State Police??
Thanks
 

Lebowski

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Bernalillo County

With a scanner, you're pretty much out of luck for Public safety :(. I think you can get some state and maybe smaller East mountain SOs and local police or fire. As far as Bernalillo County or Albuquerque, both are ProVoice. There are some options there but they are either technically involved or expensive. APD used to dispatch on analog EDACS but I think that went away recently, maybe someone else can chime in on that.
 

scanthewaves

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Pretty much what I figured as far as the ProVoice, what I don't get is why they encrypt the PD with ProVoice and yet ABQ PD is being streamed, how does that protect the communications, anyone with a iphone or similar can listen to the stream and that includes the bad guys. So why not just broadcast in the clear so scanners enthusiasts like myself can monitor since most bad guys don't use them? I thought I read on here that not all is ProVoice and some IDs are in the clear? I'm curious since there are no ProVoice capable scanners, what kind of options are there other than the method being used to rebroadcast APD? When you say East mountain SO are you saying Tijeras has it's own Sheriff or are we talking about the East Mountain counties? I thought I saw that online somewhweres. So state meaning State PD since there is no Highways Patrol as far as I remember. Too bad they don't use analag EDACS anymore, that's easy to monitor. What about Kirkland anything worth monitoring there? Will I need to use my Pro 96 for the digital or is it also encrypted? Thanks for the info.
 
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NMPhillieFan

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Pretty much what I figured as far as the ProVoice, what I don't get is why they encrypt the PD with ProVoice and yet ABQ PD is being streamed, how does that protect the communications, anyone with a iphone or similar can listen to the stream and that includes the bad guys.

You are confusing Provoice with encryption. They are not one in the same. Many of APD's talkgroups are truly encrypted. You wont hear any of those on the live stream. What you will hear are the APD dispatch groups and few from AFD. Beyond that, you are out of luck with the other 50 or so talkgroups in use on the system....

As for the bad guys, they get to listen with the same delay we all do, not to mention the constant scanning and stopping on different groups...hardly a benefit to their "profession".
 

MrAstroSaber

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NM State PD is VHF. You can always here the dispatcher and if you scan the input of there channel and your not to far away from the officers car you can hear the officer. Kirtland is P25 type II trunking and they are worth listening too I think. You might be able to hear Torrance County. I also listen to Rio Rancho, NM Gas Company, NM DOT, BLM, and Sandoval County. I am working on getting an LPE200 with Provoice so that I can scan APD, AFD, and BCSO. Till then i listen online. Now i think I read somewhere on here that in a few years ABQ was going to update there radio system to a P25 system which I hope they do soon!!!
 

scanthewaves

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Prov Voice DSD and Scanners

Sorry was not able to reply been enroute, now in ABQ listening on stream, does anyone know if someone with a particular scanner listed on the DSD WIKI Main Page - The RadioReference Wiki DSD has had success with DSD software making the Bernalilo pro voice system able to be monitored?
Thanks
 
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NMPhillieFan

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Sorry was not able to reply been enroute, now in ABQ listening on stream, does anyone know if someone with a particular scanner listed on the DSD WIKI Main Page - The RadioReference Wiki DSD has had success with DSD software making the Bernalilo pro voice system able to be monitored?
Thanks

To answer your question, I do not know of anyone who has tried to listen to the provoice system here in Albuquerque, using the software. On a side note, I have no reason to believe it would not work with the right scanner, computer and the DSD software.
 

abqscan

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Sorry was not able to reply been enroute, now in ABQ listening on stream, does anyone know if someone with a particular scanner listed on the DSD WIKI Main Page - The RadioReference Wiki DSD has had success with DSD software making the Bernalilo pro voice system able to be monitored?
Thanks


I have used DSD to decode what the city and county uses. There is nothing special about their provoice. Just keep in mind that if the TG is encrypted, there is no way to monitor it.
 

scanthewaves

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The reason I asked is because I would like to be able monitor if the stream goes down and right now a Pro Voice radio is not in my budget, but I could easily afford say a bc235lt as listed in the DSD WIKI. I understand if it's an encrypted TG like gangs or SWAT (I take it those would be the ones encrypted amongst others) that's a whole different ball of wax, but I just want to be able to listen to the same of what's being streamed say in case I have no net access. Any suggestions on which scanner would work best with DSD? I have a ASUS 2.3 Ghz desktop duo core processor 1 gig laptop that should work fine I would think? Just as I was typing this a ABQ rescue unit went by and I wasn't monitoring at the time, but the stream is up and that's what counts.
Thanks
 
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abqscan

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I used a Pro106 to feed the CC to Unitrunker... then I had unitrunker control a BCT-15. The BCT-15 sent its tapped audio to a computer runing Ubuntu and that computer gave me the provoice audio.
 

scanthewaves

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Ok good so I can use my Pro 106 for the CC, at least it's not useless. Do I need to have a bct-15, I noticed on the WIKI there is no tap info, only a link to a photo,so how is it tapped? Do you think I could use one of the other radios listed on the WIKI? Also I see that the Pro 164, That's my other scanner. can also be tapped but doesn't seem to support DSD?
Thanks
 
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abqscan

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Unitrunker needs to be able to control the 2nd radio, so take your pick of what models it can can control. I use the Uniden -15 because that is what I had laying around. The photo shows an arrow that points to the tap point on the PC board.
 

SCPD

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NM State PD is VHF. You can always here the dispatcher and if you scan the input of there channel and your not to far away from the officers car you can hear the officer. Kirtland is P25 type II trunking and they are worth listening too I think. You might be able to hear Torrance County. I also listen to Rio Rancho, NM Gas Company, NM DOT, BLM, and Sandoval County. I am working on getting an LPE200 with Provoice so that I can scan APD, AFD, and BCSO. Till then i listen online. Now i think I read somewhere on here that in a few years ABQ was going to update there radio system to a P25 system which I hope they do soon!!!

Don't forget to put the frequencies of the Cibola National Forest in your scanner. The most active ranger district of this forest is the Sandia RD. I worked on the Cibola longer ago than I can believe (I transferred out on October 21, 1981), but as I remember the repeaters used on that ranger district are on the top of the Sandias, enabling you to hear most of what is going on even though much of it is on the west side. You might even be able to pick up some repeaters in the Manzano Mtns., depending on how far east of the Sandias you will be. The RR database has a good listing of all the natural resource agencies in the state.

Another system I liked to listen to when I lived there was that of the New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish. It is a low band system that employs a couple of dozen microwave linked remote bases. The mobiles transmit to the bases on one frequency and the bases transmit on another so receiving the mobiles is a challenge, similar to the NM State Police.

The New Mexico State Police are no only the state highway patrol, they are in charge of all search and rescue statewide, and they also provide more assistance to local jurisdictions than most state law enforcement agencies. Many of the counties are small in population and cannot afford to do what other large counties can. With 35 counties, many of them are somewhat small and remote. Also, and I may have the wrong impression, but their investigative organization is larger than that of the justice department or Attorney General's office so they are the main statewide investigative organization in the state government. Other states have "BI" agencies (Bureau of Investigation) such as the GBI in Georgia, but New Mexico does not as the State Police have this assignment.

The electronic site on top of the Sandia Crest, north of the upper tram station, has more transceivers and commercial TV/Radio transmitters than any other location in both Arizona and New Mexico (South Mtn. in Phoenix is the only one close). New Mexico's topography is largely flat, interrupted by small mountain ranges that are called "Islands in the Sky." Many of these islands have electronic sites on them. The distance you can receive these island transmitters is phenomenal. Even the distance you can receive simplex traffic, especially on VHF-High is amazing. Spend some time on top of one of these islands with a scanner, the results will surprise you. I spent some time at the summit of the Magdalena Mountains and was picking up simplex traffic on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona, using a BC-210 with its standard short whip antenna. All of this, of course, depending on your location, receiver and antenna. I used to pick up APD cars simplex and direct in Magdalena, a distance of over 80 miles line of sight. Sometimes I picked up the Carson National Forest, a distance of 150 miles or more.

New Mexico's license plates have the wording "Land of Enchantment." I believe the state lives up to that. The mountains, rivers and wonderfully remote country is very special. I encourage anyone that lives there to get out and see it. The west side of the mountain ranges have the 'sangre de cristo" ("blood of Christ") effect at sunset. The effect exists in other mountain ranges, not just the mountains with that name Unfortunately, I could not stay as my career needed to move forward and New Mexico did not have the job opportunities I needed. I did not get to see all that I wanted to, in spite of the frequent off-duty trips I took so frequently. Put aside guidebooks and travel to remote dinky towns. I didn't travel in the central and southeast portions of the state south of I-40, so I can't tell you what is like. Understanding the "Land of Enchantment" takes time as it can be very subtle and will be contained in seemingly small events during your travels. If you backpack you will see much of what I'm talking about. Several magazines, over the years, have stated that living in a small, isolated county in New Mexico is a close to living in a third world country as is possible in the U.S. This has probably changed since I moved away, but I would bet not everywhere. The memories of New Mexico that stand out the most are lightning and sunsets, along with living in an old Hispanic culture. I was immersed in it in Magdalena. The lightning is the result of the summer monsoon. It is awesome!
 
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