New scanner user! confused!

[midnight0045]

hello! i am a new scanner user of Carmel, Indiana and i have a BC350C and would like to moniter carmel police channels.. the BC350C wont let me manually enter these in.. sooo is there anyone out there who has the specific frequencies for hamilton county? i know there are tons of frequencies on this site.. but i just CAN'T make sense of them.. perhaps someone could explain what to look at when viewing the cities "talkgroups"?
thanks alot

 

[Dubbin]

If you are trying to enter the Hamilton County Public Safety and Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T then they will not work with your scanner. You will need a digital trunking scanner to hear most (not all) of the Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T system. You will need a trunking radio to hear the Hamilton County Public Safety system.

 

[midnight0045]

ok, is it becuase the BC350C isn't trunktracking?

 

[midnight0045]

so, in the hamilton county public safety system i can't get frequencies? in the carmel area? if thats true then which frequencies can i pick up in that system with my BC350C? is a BCT8 a necessary upgrade?

 

[Dubbin]

so, in the hamilton county public safety system i can't get frequencies? in the carmel area? if thats true then which frequencies can i pick up in that system with my BC350C? is a BCT8 a necessary upgrade?

You can not get either one of those systems with the BC350C. I would get the BCT15 way before I would get a BCT8. There is a big thread here on RR about all of the problems with the BCT8. If you want to save some money then look at one of the new radio shack trunkers. They are pretty basic but "should" get the job done for the Hamilton County system.

 

[midnight0045]

i hear police frequencies on my bc350c what are they? and are they listed on this site somewhere?

 

[James]

so, in the hamilton county public safety system i can't get frequencies? in the carmel area? if thats true then which frequencies can i pick up in that system with my BC350C? is a BCT8 a necessary upgrade?

You will be able to *hear* communications on the 800mhz freqs. Your scanner won't *track* the conversations though.
I think you are confusing the talkgroups, with frequencies.
Also if you enter all the 800mhz freqs. in addition to analog communications you are gonna hear alot of digital traffic. That will drive you nuts

 

[Dubbin]

Its hard to say who you are hearing. What freq is it? You can find most of whats in your county here http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=721

 

[Dubbin]

You will be able to *hear* communications on the 800mhz freqs. Your scanner won't *track* the conversations though.
I think you are confusing the talkgroups, with frequencies.
Also if you enter all the 800mhz freqs. in addition to analog communications you are gonna hear alot of digital traffic. That will drive you nuts

Oh thats right, the 350C gets 800mhz. I was confusing it with the 350A. Anyway, its going to be near impossible to follow any conversation on that system without a trunking scanner.

 

[James]

i hear police frequencies on my bc350c what are they? and are they listed on this site somewhere?

Preprogrammed freqs. in your scanners search bands could be anyone broadcasting on those freqs.
You will have to look in the data base and match them up. There are some conventional freqs listed.

Here:

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=721

 

[midnight0045]

hmm.. ok thanks guys but i'm picking up like an 858.2125 freq. that constantly has police talk on it that moves nowhere but .. i mean not alot of it makes sense.. but i wish i knew more about who i waws listening to.. i cant find general frequencies for my area's public service anywhere

 

[midnight0045]

Carmel Police Talkgroups

DEC AFS Mode Display Description
1473 11-081 A CPD DISP 1 Dispatch - Primary
1474 11-082 A CPD DISP 2 Dispatch - Secondary
1475 11-083 A CPD CAR - CAR Car-to-Car
1476 11-084 A CPD TAC A Tac - A
1477 11-085 A CPD TAC B Tac - B
1478 11-086 A CPD TAC C Tac - C
1479 11-087 A CPD SPEV 1 Special Event - 1
1480 11-090 A CPD SPEV 2 Special Event - 2
1481 11-091 A CPD SPEV 3 Special Event - 3
1482 11-092 A CPD TRN 1 Traffic
1483 11-093 A CPD SUPV. Supervisors
1486 11-096 A CPD ALARM Emergency Alarm
1489 11-101 A CPD SID 1 Detectives
1490 11-102 A CPD CID Detectives
1491 11-103 E CPD AEGIS Encrypted
1492 11-104 A CPD SID 2 Detectives
1505 11-121 A CPD ERT ENTRY Emergency Response Team - Entry
1506 11-122 A CPD ERT SNIPER Emergency Response Team - Snipers
1507 11-123 A CPD ERT NEGOT. Emergency Response Team - Hostage Negotiation Team


i apologize for wearing the noob hat strong right now but what is the dec mean, i understand the mode of transmission, analog/digital .. but what is the 11-122, 11-123 numbers mean?

 

[Dubbin]

hmm.. ok thanks guys but i'm picking up like an 858.2125 freq. that constantly has police talk on it that moves nowhere but .. i mean not alot of it makes sense.. but i wish i knew more about who i waws listening to.. i cant find general frequencies for my area's public service anywhere

That would probably be from the Indianapolis/Marion County Public Safety system. The reason nothing makes sense in what you are hearing is because your radio can not track the system.

 

[Dubbin]

i apologize for wearing the noob hat strong right now but what is the dec mean, i understand the mode of transmission, analog/digital .. but what is the 11-122, 11-123 numbers mean?

Those are the talkgroups. If you had a trunking radio then you would enter them into it.

 

[midnight0045]

ok.. well then you might suggest returning the BC350C in exhange for.. say the pro 2051? do you have a suggestion for a under 150 triple trunker?

 

[Dubbin]

You can try one of the newer radio shack trunkers. I think they are on sale or they will be soon.

 

[K9GTJ]

Midnight - Welcome to scanning. I would strongly suggest you spend the $$$ and get a digital (trunking) scanner. An analog trunking scanner such as the Uniden BR330T or BCT15 will do a fine job picking up the Hamilton Co Public Safety including Carmel.

However, you will not be able to hear Westfield or State Police and other stage agencies. Over the next year to 18 months, all of Indianapolis will be going digital and that will likely push Hamilton Co to consider going digital in a few years following.

The digital scaners are the Uniden BCD996T (base) or the BCF396T (hand held) or Radio Shack PRO-96 or the base model which escapes me. You will expect to spend $500 or so for a scanner. It will be worth it, trust me.

 

[DickH]

ok.. well then you might suggest returning the BC350C in exhange for.. say the pro 2051? do you have a suggestion for a under 150 triple trunker?

The Radio Shack portable PRO-528 is on sale now for $129.99. The base/mobile PRO-433 is $169.99. They are both triple trunking scanners.
Try this group for step-by-step programming details, etc.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRO-433_scanners

Dick

 

[James]

The Radio Shack portable PRO-528 is on sale now for $129.99. The base/mobile PRO-433 is $169.99. They are both triple trunking scanners.
Try this group for step-by-step programming details, etc.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRO-433_scanners

Dick

I kinda agree with DickH. If you get the 528 you will hear plenty for little investment, you can learn the ropes on it. One MAJOR drawback might be no sofware for programming. I don't know of any available for these two units.
But learning to prog. by hand will teach you alot of useful cocepts. You won't have alpha tags, something once you have, you won't be able to go back :lol:

I also agree with kokomo1
Quote:
"However, you will not be able to hear Westfield or State Police and other stage agencies. Over the next year to 18 months, all of Indianapolis will be going digital and that will likely push Hamilton Co to consider going digital in a few years following."

You will be missing some digital (maybe alot) but you are gonna have to pay to play $500 + software $30.00 and cable.
In other words for your area a non Digital scanner may be obsolete in a year. You may be able to sell it and recoup maybe half your investment later.
Or keep it for conventional stuff, maybe some analog will still be around, and get the digital also. If you get into the hobby you are going to end up with a few scanners