Newbie, help!

[sirsmiley]

I have a uniden bearcat 350c factory refurbished (vehicle mount, vehicle wiring, regular antenna, car adapter and ac adapter and manual)

according to this site my local police is encrypted, however ems and fire is not, i programmed them in and can hear the station but cant pick anything up, even though i just heard a unit leaving...my apartment is on the ground floor and its a large brick building, could this be causing the problem? at a friends house i picked up the weather WX on scan but im having problems picking it up here at the apartment...i will try it in my car in the parking lot with the regular antenna and the car cigarette adapter....

i realize that canadian and american pre sets are different, now when i dial in a band, will it scan am/fm/all modulation or can i specify what types of am/fm etc it is?

Thanks!

update: ive been able to tune to my gmrs/frs radios (in canada you see) with no difficulties, must be the building....i

 

[SlipNutz15]

Depending on if your local fire and EMS is simplex (Tx and Rx are the same freq) or duplex (offset by x MHz).

If the fire or EMS freq's are simplex, you need one frequency and you should be able to hear the base side and the unit side.

If the fire or EMS freq's are duplex, you will need BOTH frequencies if you want to hear everything, unless they have the repeater enabled all the time, then you only need to repeater out (county's Tx frequency) in your scanner.

I'm not too fimiliar with how the CAN. freq offset is different from AM. but just an example. If a unit is on UHF and the county transmits on 462.950, the unit transmits on 467.950. Not completely sure if it's any different for your area or not. If you need to find frequencies for your area for your scanner, go to www.google.com and type in "(name of your county or region) frequencies" without quotes and parentheses and there should be listings. I'm sure there will be multiple people that will be able to answer your question in a more direct way but I hope this is a start for you.

 

[loumaag]

It always helps to post your location when asking questions such as this. Letting us know where you are allows us to point you to the correct spot for finding the informaiton, if known.

 

[sirsmiley]

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=4292

is what im going by, i live in this general area (just out side of town, within 1km of the town edge) owen sound that is...im not sure what the R and BM is under Type

 

[SlipNutz15]

Well by just glancing at that list, it shows the list of input and output frequencies. The thing about you only hearing one side, depending on the power of the unit responding, how far they are from you and buildings and landscape effect reception as well. Honestly, most can't pick up the units unless they are close enough and/or have a powerful enough receiving power

 

[loumaag]

I am pretty sure that the 350C does not include several of the frequencies as presets; however, you should be able to program them in. I don't have 350C but do have a 350A and if the C model is anything like the A model it is not a simple task of just pushing keys, but you can get it programmed. Try that and see if it works. Only program the frequencies listed in the "Frequency" column. Which community were you trying to monitor?

 

[sirsmiley]

i programmed in the 2 fire departments .....now i did set it to CB and i did pick up some chatter on there, it must just be range limited, on the CB the guy said he was on such and such a street which was about 3 blocks away...he was coming in clear (low frequency on cb)...i imagine if i stuck this thing in my car and got an antenna or adapter for existing car antenna i might be able to get out and make use of this thing =) i was able to pick up the NOAA/weather on wx station from a friends house as well so it must just be location...my apartment is built into a steep hill and im on the ground floor and its all brick...

 

[rhutch]

Owen Sound is policed by the OPP, no? If so they are on Bell Fleet Net Zone 1. It is a Motorola Type II 800 and they are digital and for the most part not encrypted.

 

[sirsmiley]

nope, owen sound has their own police, they have earlier model radios from toronto police, they are not analog, they use some sort of trunking i believe...they are not opp....do opp use some sort of encryption?

i do not believe the fire and ambulance use any, ive only picked up on one EMS radio call....but i can pick up taxis all around town lol...heard about a car accident across town through a cabbie...so when i went out i made a detour

 

[nexus]

Only program whatever is colored in GREEN. Don't program in the INPUTS... only what's in the Frequency column.

Doesn't matter if you're in a brick building. As long as the distance isn't greater than 10 miles you should be able to pick up mobiles just fine. The offset has nothing to do with this. Offsets only are a concern if you're using a transceiver. Or if you're scanning a band like between 150 mHz and 174 mHz. The BC-350 should be fine. But if you're directly entering frequency data from here into your memories then offsets don't matter.

It almost sounds like you're trying to listen into the INPUT frequency. If so don't program those in.

I also noticed a LOT of the stuff in that database is TRUNKED using the Bell Fleetnet - Ontario Provincial Government Zone 1 System. If you're trying to use one of these the BC350 won't work. You'll need a TRUNKTRACKING scanner like the BC246T. I'm refering to any of the 141 or 142mHz frequencies.

R = REPEATER
BM = BASE / MOBILE

Repeater means the dispatch and mobile units transmit on one frequency (the input) and it's automatically rebroadcasted through a tower high above ground giving great range. That's a repeater. That's what R is in mode...

Other modes you'll encounter are A, and D, for Analog and Digital.

 

[sirsmiley]

ok thanks..yeah i cant pick up the police as its trunked, but the fire department and ems should be ok...maybe our town just doesnt get enough calls that i cant hear it...

im not sure why i cant hear the weather however, i heard it fine before ...i thought it was continuous 24/7 but maybe its only at set times of the hour? i tuned into 162.5500 and i heard something but now when i hit WX i get nothing =/ maybe its just really faint.....

 

[mciupa]

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&ctid=4292

is what im going by, i live in this general area (just out side of town, within 1km of the town edge) owen sound that is...im not sure what the R and BM is under Type

If you notice the Owen Sound Police use speech inversion . You will
hear them on 142.155 mHz. But you will not be able to understand them as they have distorted their comm's.
It it is a must , I believe in Canada we can purchase an Alinco scanner that will bring the comm's back to normal sound.

Forget about that and monitor the OPP analog UHF repeaters, there is usually
something going on. Check out the list at this link
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=577

 

[sirsmiley]

i was able to get local firedepartment as well as some other interesting stuff last night.... i found a lot of freq not in my local listings i will try to verify them so i can add them...the weather and airport 123.0000 doesnt come in from my little cave lol, steep hill behind me and brick all around but everything else does....

123.0000 and weather came in fine at friends house yesterday...

questions for you on antennas...they want 35 dollars (canadian) for a through the window (suction cup) antennas for cb antennas...can i use this to my scanner? or do i need an antenna specifically for scanning...someone told me that an antenna is an antenna...i will check my glass this morning to make sure it is of a kind that wont interfere...outrageous price for an antenna too....a regular external antenna is half that!

Thanks