New day and age in AL I guess

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joecryar

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Dec 18, 2011
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44
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Boaz, Alabama
Hello everyone,

First off, a little introduction since I just signed up. I used to live here in North Alabama for a long time, then moved to Florida in 98. I just moved back to AL in July. I guess I have been out of the loop for quite some time. I used to consider myself very tech savvy, being able to mod and deal with most any piece of equipment for radio communications. Apparently this is not the case anymore, now everything is going digital and encrypted?! Well, this just sux. Glad I came here and poked around for info first, I was planning on buying a scanner so I can start one of my favorite hobbies back up. No need right this minute. I looked around on here, so far I cannot find a thing about the city I live in, Boaz. I contact a law enforcement friend in a neighboring town for info. His reply to me was that more than likely Boaz is on digital trunking now.....ugh. After reading a thread about Etowah and Gadsden going encrypted and such, since their tower(s) are in Boaz, I'm afraid that he is correct. So either i can purchase a scanner for more money than I can afford, or even doing that will be uneventful since I won't be able to hear no matter what. Unless!!! someone on here can tell me different? Does anyone on here know for sure what system Boaz City is using now? Thanks in advance, and hello everyone!
 

fxdscon

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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7,162
Hello everyone,

First off, a little introduction since I just signed up. I used to live here in North Alabama for a long time, then moved to Florida in 98. I just moved back to AL in July. I guess I have been out of the loop for quite some time. I used to consider myself very tech savvy, being able to mod and deal with most any piece of equipment for radio communications. Apparently this is not the case anymore, now everything is going digital and encrypted?! Well, this just sux. Glad I came here and poked around for info first, I was planning on buying a scanner so I can start one of my favorite hobbies back up. No need right this minute. I looked around on here, so far I cannot find a thing about the city I live in, Boaz. I contact a law enforcement friend in a neighboring town for info. His reply to me was that more than likely Boaz is on digital trunking now.....ugh. After reading a thread about Etowah and Gadsden going encrypted and such, since their tower(s) are in Boaz, I'm afraid that he is correct. So either i can purchase a scanner for more money than I can afford, or even doing that will be uneventful since I won't be able to hear no matter what. Unless!!! someone on here can tell me different? Does anyone on here know for sure what system Boaz City is using now? Thanks in advance, and hello everyone!


The database right here on Radio Reference could be a good start for you:

Marshall County, Alabama (AL) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
 
Joined
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Messages
450
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hey Boaz, i used to live over in sardis city and had a boaz address.
any way when i left sand mtn area a few years back boaz and albertville was working on apco25
change over but not sure if it was changed.
73
DW
SoCal
 

joecryar

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Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Boaz, Alabama
Thanks. I've already looked at that several times in an attempt to find current info. That list seems a bit confusing to me, how updated or current is it? It does list Boaz dispatch as one of the freq's. But that's it. and if i remember correctly, back in the 90's before I moved, as I was friends with several cops here, they were talking about going to motorola systems then. Now no one seems to know what they are using, and as I said, the police friend I have in a neighboring town did some digging for me, and he's pretty sure they are digital trunking, at least that's all he could tell me. My question is, what system, encrypted or no, will they be if they aren't now, etc.. I will buy a scanner later on for other things, but I wanted to monitor the local PD right away for various reasons(none illegal on my part, BTW). I dont want to waste my money right now if I cannot even use a scanner for what i want it for. I just need to know for certain. if they are still using old(er) systems, cool, i'll get one. If not, then that's out completely or i'll have to save money to get a better unit. Just need the facts. Thanks again!
 

joecryar

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Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Boaz, Alabama
Thanks oldradioguy2010, this might be the answer i'm looking for, any confirmations to his info? Can I still listen to that system? or is it automatically encrypted? I just don't want to waste my money or time.
 

medic9351301

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Aug 16, 2002
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1,669
here is the bottom line you can listen to digital systems on a digital scanner (d) designator on data base

if they are marked with a (e) that means encrypted no way to break it yet

if the are motrorla digital (mototurbo) no way to listen on a scanner

the other way is to find a cheap analog radio plug in all the conventional freqs and listen if your hear buzzing sounds that tells u its either digital or encrypted

hope this helps
 

RomeRon

Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
394
Location
Rome Ga.
Hello everyone,

First off, a little introduction since I just signed up. I used to live here in North Alabama for a long time, then moved to Florida in 98. I just moved back to AL in July. I guess I have been out of the loop for quite some time. I used to consider myself very tech savvy, being able to mod and deal with most any piece of equipment for radio communications. Apparently this is not the case anymore, now everything is going digital and encrypted?! Well, this just sux. Glad I came here and poked around for info first, I was planning on buying a scanner so I can start one of my favorite hobbies back up. No need right this minute. I looked around on here, so far I cannot find a thing about the city I live in, Boaz. I contact a law enforcement friend in a neighboring town for info. His reply to me was that more than likely Boaz is on digital trunking now.....ugh. After reading a thread about Etowah and Gadsden going encrypted and such, since their tower(s) are in Boaz, I'm afraid that he is correct. So either i can purchase a scanner for more money than I can afford, or even doing that will be uneventful since I won't be able to hear no matter what. Unless!!! someone on here can tell me different? Does anyone on here know for sure what system Boaz City is using now? Thanks in advance, and hello everyone!

showing frequencies for Boaz under Gadsden Public Safety System (Project 25)
Gadsden Public Safety System (Project 25) Trunking System, Gadsden, Alabama - Scanner Frequencies
 
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
450
Location
Southern California
no joe, you will not hear anything buzzing.
for a while out here they use a scramble system that sounded like a SSB voice.
after that we learned how to translate the signal.
dw
so cal
 

joecryar

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Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Boaz, Alabama
well, that sucks. from everything I've read, it seems that Boaz City has latched on to that of Etowah counties tower(Boaz is in Marshall County, by the way, for those that do not know, however, Etowah starts at the end of Boaz, which is at the top of the mountain). Clever ba***rds. As far as their system being encrypted, well, since Etowah is, I can only assume that they are too, which means no monitoring. Oh well. thanks for all everyone's help, though!
 

bamahandyman

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Aug 19, 2010
Messages
55
Location
Boaz, Alabama
umm boaz is conventional

Boaz alabama pd. is a conventional freq. at 453.275, with a ct. of 114.8... listening to it now, the only digital around here is albertville, but they are not encrypted.. other than albertville, any coventional scanner will get ya about everything in marshall, and dekalb county, and a lot of morgan cullman and blount county... buy one you will have all kinds of listening opportunities.
 

joecryar

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Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Boaz, Alabama
And that sir, is all I needed to know. I couldn't tell by the list(s) I've seen on here whether or not they were current, and there is/was a mixture of what etowah is doing. So If i go pick up a pro 2055 at the pawn shop down the street from here, i should be able to have some fun, correct?

Thank you!
 

bamahandyman

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2010
Messages
55
Location
Boaz, Alabama
more than u need

a 2055 will get everything you want and then some, the only trunkned system again is albertville, with a decent enough antenna you should be able to get huntsville's trunked system with that, and there is an edacs system in morgan county it will receive if you use the brindley mountain freqs. in the database. have fun. you will find just about everything around here is still conventional. trust the database, for this area it is pretty much accurate, and yes etowah county is digital as far as the s/o and gadsden, but attalla is not and you should be able to receive them as well.
 

bamahandyman

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Aug 19, 2010
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Location
Boaz, Alabama
well let me put it to you this way...the average price for a used 2055 on ebay is $65.16 (before sipping cost), which makesit around 75-80 dollars to get it to you (with shipping) that way. so yes if it has the power supply, antenna and no issues, it is worth $70.00.
 

joecryar

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Joined
Dec 18, 2011
Messages
44
Location
Boaz, Alabama
thats what i was looking for, thank you. The pawn shop has one, including (from what i quickly glanced at) cords, another set of headphone type cables with a "splitter" in the jack itself, external speaker, etc.. but no antenna. There is, however, a bearcat on the next shelf up, with a perfectly good antenna. I may see what I can do and tell him that its worthless without an antenna. I could go with the bc, too, at 50, but i don't think its a trunking model, and i'd kinda like to have that feature......we'll see, i'm going to be heading that way in a bit, i'll let you know what i come up with. If you know of any other place around here i might find a deal at, let me know! Thanks again
 

bamahandyman

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Joined
Aug 19, 2010
Messages
55
Location
Boaz, Alabama
hard to find deals on scanners around here, thats why i use ebay......good luck....and by the way, you should be able to run into radio shack and get a bnc antenna for 10 or 15 dollars new, maybe cheaper...
 
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