new and addicted with 2 questions

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radiohead222

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Hey!

I'm new to the whole scanning hobby I just have one scanner in my bedroom for right now it's a radio shack pro-163 and so far love it!

I live in Tallahassee, Florida which is Leon County. I got it programed for leon county by radio shack so it has every thing that I would want to listen to around here.

The only one I listen to is the FD which is (154.1900) but i really like to know what frequencies their talk groups are (considering I have no idea how to read this table Tallahassee / Leon County (P25 Digital) Trunking System, Tallahassee , Florida - Scanner Frequencies ) I mostly just want to know the frequency for ch. 3 is.

I also need to know the frequency for bradfordville volunteer station 15's talk group.

I know TFD is digital now... but are they UHF or VHF? Just curious about that one.

ANY help I would be really thankful because I'm ignorant when it come to this.

-Jon
 

FLRAILMAN

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Hi Jon & welcome to Radioreference, the answer to your Bradfordville Volunteer fire Dept. Sta.15 talkgroup question is already in the Leon County trunked system file: DEC: 468 HEX: 1d4 Mode: D (Digital) which is not VHF nor UHF but 800 MHz as the trunked system frequencies reflect. The talkgroups are not frequencies per say, but but are individual entities within the trunked systems communications radio plan. To learn more about trunking, check out the trunking systems section of the RR Wiki. Trunking is a very involved process to get familiar with so if you have any questions just throw them out there & you will get plenty of advice to further assist you in this confusing aspect of the radio monitoring hobby. Again, welcome to Radioreference & happy scanning.

FLRAILMAN
 
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radiohead222

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Thanks FLRAILMAN! I'll have to look into all trunking info.

One last question.

My family and I just moved from a smaller town to Tallahassee back home everything was VHF. My dad was a radio junky but he's not around any more, and we still have all his radios. Now, my brother is a licensed ham operator and said he's going to start showing me the ropes in the next weeks but told me to do SOME research before and I've done some. My question is... Would a VHF 2-way radio be able to pick up TFD (154.19)? If not, could it pick up anything worth while around leon county?

Thanks,
Jon
 

Bolt21

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Sorry radiohead, but your PRO-163 is unable to monitor Leon County, which recently switched to a P25 digital system. The PRO-163 only does analog systems. You'll need a digital scanner.

Also, allow me to offer you a bit of advice. RadioShack is never your best option for your programming needs. This site, as you might have discovered by now, is your best bet.
 
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radiohead222

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I was just listening to TFD on the pro-163 I don't care about listening to the police... just tfd talquin electric and county works
 

FLRAILMAN

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New and addicted with 2 questions

Jon, yes you can use a VHF high band transceiver to receive 154.19 MHz, however how many more VHF high band frequencies do you intend to listen to altogether, a transceiver is a pretty pricey radio to buy for just one frequency. If you just want to monitor 154.19 MHz, get a low end analog scanner since you live in the capitol & save some money, there are a ton of vhf high band frequencies in Leon County to listen to, do you have any particular type of listening interest? Like more VHF FDs, railroad, forestry, murs, business? Otherwise tell us all about your monitoring needs to get a more informed reply to your question. We will be waiting.

Harold
 
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chandom

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If you want a scanner from Radio Shack you need to get the Pro-197.
As already stated most of the county functions have moved over a a digital system.

While you may be able to monitor the fire dispatch channel using the scanner you got, in the event of any thing major you'll end up in the dark once they switch channels. The volunteers I think have moved over to the digital system.

From what I'm guessing the only things that are encrypted is law enforcement and any thing that may have sensitive information (ambulance to ER/dispatch and fire medical).

The city and county have moved to the new digital system. Just about all that remains on the analog system is Star Metro and the various campus PDs.

On the subject of Radio Shack, once the managers get a clue about the digital system they might start pushing the digital units. That or play dumb and get people to buy what they can't use.

Added: Bradfordville VFD is on the digital system channel 468.

--Personally I'm thinking of swapping out my Pro-96 for a BCD396XT.
 
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radiohead222

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well I head have a 2-way radio that vhf so I won't have to buy one. The only people I listen to is TFD right now but I'm sure I'll start listening to more when I start getting more into scanning.
 

Bolt21

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You are hearing TFD on the 154.190MHz VHF freq that is simulcast with the TFD Dispatch channel from the 800MHz digital system. With a VHF radio or analog trunking scanner, you will ONLY hear the dispatch channel. You will need a digital-capable scanner in order to hear the rest of TFD's channels. Most counties that have a trunked system will maintain fire dispatch/tone-outs on a single conventional [usually] VHF freq.

Listening to a single VHF frequency compared to monitoring talkgroups (not frequencies) on a trunked 800MHz system are two completely different animals.
 
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