NYPD talk-in frequencies?

[bd9]

Hello! Pretty new to radio, so forgive me if I mix up some terms.

I'm interested in tuning into transmissions directly from NYPD mobile units, rather than repeater-broadcast frequencies featuring the dispatcher.

I was reading this thread, which states the mobile units use a separate "talk-in" frequency. I've been tuning into the frequencies listed here, but as I understand it, the presence of the dispatcher means these are talk-out. I've tried the Tac frequencies as well, but they seem totally empty. Where can I find the talk-in frequencies?

Any guidance? Thank you!

 

[k2hz]

At the top of the list there is a box "Input Frequencies" which is normally "Hidden" - click to change to "Shown" and you will see the Input "Talk-in" .

You are likely to only hear units in your immediate vicinity (like a few blocks). Unless you have a good outside antenna you may hear almost nothing. The same is true of the simplex TAC frequencies. You have be at or very near the incident to hear anything.

 

[bd9]

Ahh, how I could I miss that - thanks a million k2hz! Do you have any recommended antenna models?

 

[k2hz]

It is hard to recommend an antenna without knowing what you want to hear and what you can easily install.

For general monitoring a simple Discone like the Tram 1410 gives decent results on VHF, UHF, 700 & 800. Unless you are in an area where Low Band is really important to you, Discones with the added Low Band whip like the Tram 1411 are not worth it. The 1410 will work well enough for casual monitoring of Low Band.

If you only want to monitor UHF 450-480 , there are various UHF only antennas available that may give superior performance to a Discone.

Unless your antenna is in a good, relatively open location, you are likely to still find reception of portable radios to be very limited or non-existent unless the unit is in your immediate vicinity.

NYPD has a network of multiple receive sites for each frequency with a Receiver Voting system that automatically senses and sends the signal from the best site to the dispatcher and the repeater. Not sure why you want to monitor the input on NYPD when everything is generally on the repeater output. FDNY is a different situation where the dispatcher controls "mixer off" to limit what you hear on the repeater output.

NYPD simplex TAC channels reception would benefit from a good antenna but only if you are often within range of situations where TAC is used.