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[Jill39]

Im in Morgantown WV and wanted to know if anyone can tell me if Westover police, Granville police, Star City police and Mon. County Sheriff Dept use encrypted Frequencies and if so will a whistler trx1 decode them? Also, can someone give me these frequencies or tell me where to find them?

Thanks

 

[marjam49]

If it's encrypted, it won't pick up. It will either come in garbled or you will get a busy signal when the frequency is locked on.

I don't know if you're aware or not, but there is a site where someone scrubs the FCC database and puts out digital frequencies for all counties in WV. You can try here and it will even allow you to paste a list to the clipboard where it can be imported into the ez scan software. You may have to tweak it some once it's pasted into ez scan, but it is accurate regarding frequencies as I have gotten some for my county off of there. The link is below. Good luck.

Digital Frequency Search

Find the newest frequencies for your digital radio scanner.

digitalfrequencysearch.com

 

[dave3825]

there is a site where someone scrubs the FCC database and puts out digital frequencies for all counties in WV.

That site will do all counties in all states, not just WV.

but it is accurate regarding frequencies as I have gotten some for my county off of there.

The freqs should be compared to our db that lists known to be in use freqs. It's a great site and the exporting is good but in the end, it's pulling from the FCC site and many freqs listed there have wrong info.

 

[marjam49]

That site will do all counties in all states, not just WV.




The freqs should be compared to our db that lists known to be in use freqs. It's a great site and the exporting is good but in the end, it's pulling from the FCC site and many freqs listed there have wrong info.

Not from my experience. It isn't as clean as what's in the radio reference database but the frequencies I have loaded work here in Logan County. I know this has frequencies all over the US, but the OP is in a WV county so I didn't bother listing the US. I figured if they looked at the site, that would be figured out.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Im in Morgantown WV and wanted to know if anyone can tell me if Westover police, Granville police, Star City police and Mon. County Sheriff Dept use encrypted Frequencies and if so will a whistler trx1 decode them?

Welcome to the RR forums. This question frequently comes up here: NO SCANNER can decode encrypted transmissions, period! With that said...
Westover PD shows analog conventional, no encryption
No DB listing for "Star City PD"
Granville only has a private talkgroup listed on WV SIRN (TGID-330) & it's "in the clear"
All Monongalia County Sheriff talkgroups show they're clear

Pro tip: Focus on the "mode" column per database table. Any talkgroup ID'ed as mode "DE" would be fully encrypted (can't be monitored). Only mode "D" talkgroups are "in the clear". Hope this helps

 

[techlogix]

Westover police, Granville police, Star City police and Mon. County Sheriff Dept all use the talkgroup 307 on WV SIRN. It is not encrypted.

 

[morrisr3nd]

Just to add on to the awesome info that @Whiskey3JMC gave, TE would also be fully encrypted and no scanner can decode. However Te is only encrypted sometimes but in most cases (like here in MS listening to state troopers) you can pick up a lot of traffic. Don't know if you have any in your area but just a note for the future.

 

[Jill39]

Thanks to all that replied the information given was very helpful and cleared a lot of confusion up for me already, and im just getting started . Hope everyone sees this not quite sure how to move around on here yet.

My next question is about a scanner for a newbie . I looked at the trx 1 because Im sure it said it would decode encryption and now that i know that isn't the case {maybe i didn't understand what they meant} Does anyone want to recommend a handheld scanner that is lower in price without all the capabilities that i don't need right now and will scan public safety in my area?

 

[jaspence]

No scanner made for public use can decode encrypted frequencies due to Federal Law. The TRX1 is based on an older design and does not usually do simulcast well or Phase 2 P25 at all. The Uniden SDS100, introduced in 2018 is the last new scanner design, and is under the same Federal guidelines as the TRX1 but handles P25 1 & 2 due to more modern circuitry. The TRX1 does a decent job with DMR and NXDN which is included in the firmware. NXDN and DMR are each an extra cost add on for the Uniden SDS models.

 

[tvfd700]

I’m located down towards Huntington. I have the TRX 1, the Uniden SDS100, as well as the Uniden BCD436HP. All monitor the WV SIRN system well, but I actually find the TRX 1 to be my go to portable.

 

[tvfd700]

For ease of operation, another option you may want to consider is the Uniden Home Patrol 2.

 

[Jill39]

For ease of operation, another option you may want to consider is the Uniden Home Patrol 2.

Thanks, i did look at home patrol it did seem easier Im just not sure that i will like the horizontal position

No scanner made for public use can decode encrypted frequencies due to Federal Law. The TRX1 is based on an older design and does not usually do simulcast well or Phase 2 P25 at all. The Uniden SDS100, introduced in 2018 is the last new scanner design, and is under the same Federal guidelines as the TRX1 but handles P25 1 & 2 due to more modern circuitry. The TRX1 does a decent job with DMR and NXDN which is included in the firmware. NXDN and DMR are each an extra cost add on for the Uniden SDS models.

Thanks, I still have some homework to do figuring out what all DMR, NXDN, Simulcast, Phase 2 P25, and WV SIRN actually means. and what is best suited for my area

 

[Jill39]

Westover police, Granville police, Star City police and Mon. County Sheriff Dept all use the talkgroup 307 on WV SIRN. It is not encrypted.

Thanks I was watching a video on programming and didn't understand what i would need to use for my preferences, sounds like talk group would cover what i want to monitor.

Welcome to the RR forums. This question frequently comes up here: NO SCANNER can decode encrypted transmissions, period! With that said...
Westover PD shows analog conventional, no encryption
No DB listing for "Star City PD"
Granville only has a private talkgroup listed on WV SIRN (TGID-330) & it's "in the clear"
All Monongalia County Sheriff talkgroups show they're clear

Pro tip: Focus on the "mode" column per database table. Any talkgroup ID'ed as mode "DE" would be fully encrypted (can't be monitored). Only mode "D" talkgroups are "in the clear". Hope this helps

Thanks for the tip, I did look that question up how to know if a frequency was encrypted and there seemed to be a debate as to rather or not you can tell by those modes. that wasn't here on this site though. Ok if you have Westover as analog conventional no encryption and i have seen a frequency somewhere for Westover PD just don't remember where, Ive been so many places before i got here. If i find that frequency and it is correct should i be able to program it into this Baofeng uv-5R i got off ebay (advertised as digital but pretty sure it's not, should have known by the price if nothing else) and be able to receive their transmissions with Mecca?

 

[moochie]

Mon County is not encrypted. Use TG 307. WVU Police are unecrypted also.

 

[Jill39]

Mon County is not encrypted. Use TG 307. WVU Police are unecrypted also.

Thanks, I have not bought a scanner yet trying to learn more before i spend the 500 or 600. I can listen to WVU Police on Broadcastify. There is a Feed for the area it says SIRN Digital and that it covers all of Monongalia County safety departments but Im not hearing anything for the departments I mentioned above

 

[morrisr3nd]

There are some pretty descent deals here on RR Classifieds for SDS100 and others. I don't have simulcast in my area but I still have and use a SDS daily.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Thanks, I still have some homework to do figuring out what all DMR, NXDN, Simulcast, Phase 2 P25, and WV SIRN actually means. and what is best suited for my area

WV SIRN stands for West Virginia Statewide Interoperability Radio Network. That just means that it's a trunked radio network that almost any agency in the state can use and, if necessary, the Wood County Sheriff's Office on the west side of the state can talk to the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office clear over to the other side where you are. Most states have systems like this. Ohio calls theirs MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communications System).

Simulcast, or LSM (Linear Simulcast Modulation), is when a site or county has multiple radio towers that broadcast the same traffic at the same time. I haven't looked in the database yet to see if your county uses LSM or not. But the only scanners that are designed for LSM sites are the Uniden Bearcat SDS100 and SDS200. Those are really expensive, but there are other options like the Bluetail receivers, SDR dongles, or Unication pagers. But, I haven't checked yet to see if you would need that, but I think probably not.

P25, DMR, and NXDN are different types of digital radio technologies and the most popular one is P25 which stands for Project 25. P25 has two phases, P25 Phase II is just a little more advanced than Phase I. WV SIRN is a P25 Phase I network.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

It looks like Monongalia County might be simulcast, but it doesn't say for sure. And, my mistake, I thought you were way over on the east side of WV, but you're actually at the north end, but still WV SIRN allows Wood County to communicate with Mon. County and Mon. County could even talk to McDowell County on the south tip.

 

[dintimid8or]

I recommend the Whistler WS-1040 and Win500 to program it.

 

[Jill39]

WV SIRN stands for West Virginia Statewide Interoperability Radio Network. That just means that it's a trunked radio network that almost any agency in the state can use and, if necessary, the Wood County Sheriff's Office on the west side of the state can talk to the Monongalia County Sheriff's Office clear over to the other side where you are. Most states have systems like this. Ohio calls theirs MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communications System).

Simulcast, or LSM (Linear Simulcast Modulation), is when a site or county has multiple radio towers that broadcast the same traffic at the same time. I haven't looked in the database yet to see if your county uses LSM or not. But the only scanners that are designed for LSM sites are the Uniden Bearcat SDS100 and SDS200. Those are really expensive, but there are other options like the Bluetail receivers, SDR dongles, or Unication pagers. But, I haven't checked yet to see if you would need that, but I think probably not.

P25, DMR, and NXDN are different types of digital radio technologies and the most popular one is P25 which stands for Project 25. P25 has two phases, P25 Phase II is just a little more advanced than Phase I. WV SIRN is a P25 Phase I network.

Thanks for taking the time with that information.