Old newbie needs help, please

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swoosieque

Newbie
Joined
Aug 4, 2012
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3
Location
choctaw, ok
I don't have a scanner but am wanting to buy one to try and monitor what's going on when fires start, I'm terrified of fires. We were evacuated once and it was more scary than anything I've ever been through.

I'm confused though about what I need insofar as purchasing a scanner. Radio Shack told me that I would need a digital trunking scanner and they start around $400. That's fine, our lives are worth it, but, after reading the sticky note about ProVoice and encryption, I'm wondering if I would even be able to monitor what's going on, like, are fires getting closer to where we live.

I'm sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place, but I was hoping that other Okies might be able to help me with this. We live on the border-line between Choctaw and Harrah, if that helps.

Thanks!
 

andy51edge

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
191
Location
Somewhere in North Texas
It all depends on what you want to hear and how much futureproofing you want.

Currently Choctaw and Harrah use a conventional VHF radio system. What that means for you is that you don't need a digital trucking scanner,. You can find a scanner for Choctaw and Harrah for a bit more than $100. But if you want to listen to the Oklahoma city police and fire you will need a scanner with analog voice trunking capabilities (which start around $200ish. With that you can listen to the OKC fire and police channels on the radio network called OKWIN. Currently though the police channels are the dispatchers only (no tactical channels) and the fire channels are part time. But there is one major catch...The system is being upgraded so the voice is digital. What that means is that to have future proofing you will need the digital trunking scanner. The provoice system you referred to is the OKC police departments main radio system and that can not be monitored by any scanner at the moment, so they link some of the talk groups to the OKWIN radio network that most trunking scanners can monitor.

I hope this helps.


If you want more info on the OKC area radio systems here are some RadioReference wiki entries that may be of some use.
Oklahoma Wireless Information Network (OKWIN) - The RadioReference Wiki
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Oklahoma_County_(OK)
 
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swoosieque

Newbie
Joined
Aug 4, 2012
Messages
3
Location
choctaw, ok
Thank You So Much

Thank you so very much for your prompt response and presenting the information in a manner which I can understand. You have really helped me! Have a great day and weekend!
 

Freqed

I'm just a listener
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
1,633
Location
Broken Arrow
Yes a great explanation indeed, a step further is after obtaining one of these units is programming one, a task that can be overwhelming if one piece of info is not in the right place. Several PC programming software are available for different radios and you should probably chose to get on instead of paying Radio Shack to program it for you. A lot of changes occur and if your stuck with no programming SW doing it manually is a chore. Plus if you become a RR premium subscriber some programs allow you access to the database and this downloads the info into your scanner correctly. After you get up and running and understand what your hearing and what you want to monitor more than others you will make changes to the channel line-up to hear what you want. Plus some of the higher end radios have alert tones and alert lights that you can program to "go off" when an important channel is active.
 

rockhound

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Joined
Apr 29, 2008
Messages
59
Live Audio option

If you go to Live Audio here on RR you will find a listing for OKC Fire.

This is live streaming audio from a Provoice radio.

In addition to OKC FD you will also hear some police calls.
 

peterjmag

Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2001
Messages
2,023
Location
Tulsa, OK
I don't have a scanner but am wanting to buy one to try and monitor what's going on when fires start, I'm terrified of fires. We were evacuated once and it was more scary than anything I've ever been through.

I'm confused though about what I need insofar as purchasing a scanner. Radio Shack told me that I would need a digital trunking scanner and they start around $400. That's fine, our lives are worth it, but, after reading the sticky note about ProVoice and encryption, I'm wondering if I would even be able to monitor what's going on, like, are fires getting closer to where we live.

I'm sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place, but I was hoping that other Okies might be able to help me with this. We live on the border-line between Choctaw and Harrah, if that helps.

Thanks!

If I were you I would just stay basic and monitor your local area. The problem is that you live in a huge metro area and to cover all of the OKC and Oklahoma County is to overwhelming and really doesn't have anything to do with Choctaw and or Harrah. What happens is you miss calls for your area because the scanner is locked up on something 15 miles away from you. If I live where you do I would program Oklahoma County Fire and Oklahoma County EMA and maybe SO and that's about it if you are wanting to monitor for fires and other emergencies like severe weather. Anything after that is really not necessary for Choctaw and Harrah. Just my two sense.
 

PaulSuperman

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
58
If I were you I would just stay basic and monitor your local area. The problem is that you live in a huge metro area and to cover all of the OKC and Oklahoma County is to overwhelming and really doesn't have anything to do with Choctaw and or Harrah. What happens is you miss calls for your area because the scanner is locked up on something 15 miles away from you. If I live where you do I would program Oklahoma County Fire and Oklahoma County EMA and maybe SO and that's about it if you are wanting to monitor for fires and other emergencies like severe weather. Anything after that is really not necessary for Choctaw and Harrah. Just my two sense.

I would have agree with Mr. Mag we have a Choctaw FF here on the RR site, And a OCSO radio tech. Please ask one of them, or maybe they will chime in.

Here is the link to Choctaw, Harrah. I have been to both places in my travels so I know there are nice people there to help you if you need it.

Oklahoma County, Oklahoma (OK) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Central Oklahoma Mutual Aid Radio

COMAR is Oklahoma County's interoperability communcations link for all law enforcement agencies in the metro. The VHF and UHF repeaters are linked .

COMAR UHF is Ch11 in Sheriff's Deputies radios.
Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag
460.20000 WNAJ824 RM 146.2 PL COMAR UHF Central Oklahoma Mutual Aid Radio (COMAR UHF) FMN Interop
158.80500 WPWG418 RM 114.8 PL COMAR VHF Central Oklahoma Mutual Aid Radio (COMAR VHF) FMN Interop

County Fire

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office dispatches Fire Departments for several towns in Eastern Oklahoma County, including: Choctaw, Forest Park, Luther, Jones, Spencer, Harrah, Newalla and Nicoma Park. The system has two repeaters. The south repeater (EOC-1) is at I-240 and S. Anderson Road. The north repeater (EOC-2) is near NE 63rd and Westminster.
Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag
154.37000 WPYL838 RM 712 DPL OkCoFireDisp Oklahoma County Fire -- Dispatch FMN Fire Dispatch
158.83500 WQCH789 M 243 DPL OkCoFD Ops-3 Oklahoma County Fire -- Ops-3 FMN Fire-Tac
156.09000 WNXP612 BM 243 DPL OkCoFD Ops-4 Oklahoma County Fire -- Ops-4 FMN Fire-Tac
154.19000 WXQ984 BM 243 DPL OkCoFD Ops-5 Oklahoma County Fire -- Ops-5 FMN Fire-Tac
155.95500 WPYL838 M 243 DPL OkCoFD Ops-6 Oklahoma County Fire -- Ops-6 FMN Fire-Tac

Emergency Management

Oklahoma County EOC activates county storm warning sirens on 151.445 MHz.

Oklahoma County EOC activates storm warning sirens for several towns in eastern Oklahoma County on 154.370 MHz
Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network (OKWIN) Motorola
Motorola Type II SmartZone Oklahoma County Emergency Management has a talkgroup on this system. Most operations are on VHF.

Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag
151.44500 WNPQ647 RM 466 DPL Ok Co EM Wx Oklahoma County Emergency Management -- Severe Weather Storm Spotters FMN Emergency Ops
453.40000 WPFA912 RM 167.9 PL OK Co Damage Oklahoma County Emergency Management -- Damage Assessment FMN Emergency Ops
154.07000 KB63870 M 100.0 PL OK Co EM Car Oklahoma County Emergency Management -- Car to Car FMN Emergency Ops
154.16000 KB63870 M 100.0 PL OK Co EM Car Oklahoma County Emergency Management -- Car to Car FMN Emergency Ops
145.41000 WX5OKC RM 141.3 PL OKC WX Link Central Oklahoma "liason net" link to Norman National Weather Service (WX5OUN) FM Ham
151.23500 WNUA650 RM 127.3 PL OKCoRedCross The American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma -- Disaster Response FMN Emergency Ops

Oklahoma County Wildland Fire Task Force

Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag
155.79000 KKC867 BM CSQ OklaCo Blue Oklahoma County -- Blue FMN Interop
155.19000 KKC867 BM CSQ OKla Co Red Oklahoma County -- Red FMN Interop
155.73000 KKC867 BM CSQ OklaCo Green Oklahoma County -- Green FMN Interop
153.95000 WXQ984 BM CSQ Okla Co Alt Oklahoma County -- Alt FMN Interop
158.88000 BM 156.7 PL OkCoAirGrnd1 Oklahoma County -- Air to Ground 1 FMN Interop
149.26250 BM 156.7 PL OkCoAirGrnd2 Oklahoma County -- Air to Ground 2 FMN Interop
169.20000 BM CSQ OkCoForestry Oklahoma County -- Forestry Interop FMN Interop

Choctaw

Choctaw Police are dispatched by the County Sheriff on the Eastern County Net -- 460.400 MHz

Choctaw Fire is dispatched on both 154.415 MHz and the Oklahoma County Fire Net 154.370 MHz during normal business hours. During non-business hours, dispatch is on the Oklahoma County Fire Net 154.370 MHz.

Choctaw Fire (154.415 MHz) is Ch 11 in county fire radios
Frequency License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag
460.22500 WNDZ953 RM 506 DPL Choctaw PD Choctaw Police -- Car-to- Car FMN Law Dispatch
154.41500 WNXP612 RM 203.5 PL Choctaw Fire Choctaw Fire / Storm Siren Activation FMN Fire-Tac
156.21000 WNGF760 RM 412 DPL ChoctawDPW Choctaw Public Works FMN Public Works
152.40500 WQBL843 RM 516 DPL Choctaw Schl Choctaw-Nicoma Park Schools -- School Buses and Maintenance FMN Schools
 
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