mgoehner said:
Howver the fine tuning is what I need help with. ie. ctccs or dcs. the ids, what is type and tone, ch and mode.
CTCSS - also called PL (or CG, if you're old enough). Just a subaudible (lower frequency than normal speech) tone transmitted while the radio is transmitting. A receiver set to only receive transmissions with that tone won't bother you with transmissions from other agencies using other tones.
DCS - same thing, but using a digital numerical sequence instead of a steady tone.
You don't need to know either one to receive everything on the frequency.
MODE - this means AM, N (narrow) FM (communications), W (wide) FM (FM broadcast stations and TV audio), Motorola, etc. Aircraft is AM. Public Service (police, fire, etc.) is NFM. Trunked systems are Motorola, GE/Ericsson or some other type. This will be indicated in the frequency listings. Program the system according to your scanner instructions for that particular type of system.
CHANNEL - same as frequency. Or the channel assigned by the system administrator, like F1, F2, etc. Meaningless for a scanist, unless you know which frequency each channel is assigned to, and you want to follow a conversation when someone is told to change to F3, etc.
(Or it could just mean the channel in your scanner. IOW, in channel 1 you have your local police. In channel 2 you have your local fire department.)
And how do I program this all into the scanner to listen most effectively.
That's an individual choice. Some people only want to listen to fire departments, or highway police, or some other agency. Some want every channel in the scanner filled, and still have more things they want to listen to. "Most effectively" for me might not be at all effective for you.
