Ok soo im new and i need help programing philly police frequencies into my bc250d. I programed some in and they work but i was reading somewhere that they should be in talk groups. im lost lol. Any help i would really appreciate it
You need to have a basic understanding of what it is you are listening to and how it works to get the most from this hobby.
Philly uses 2 separate digital Motorola type II trunk systems. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Motorola_Type_II
1 is primarily police, the other is fire and everything else.
With a trunking system it is the talkgroups that define what / who you are listening to. Not frequencies such as you may encounter if you listen to Camden, Gloucester or Delaware county police or fire. The conversations move around from frequency to frequency, ofter each time the mic key is released.
It should also be stressed that, as I understand it, the Philadelphia system is configured to be best heard in the city, not necessarily in the 'burbs. This might make it a bit harder to hear.
It is also well worth your while to join the Phillyscanner Yahoo group. I can't discuss why this is true, but there is information to be had there that cannot be found here on RR. Here's the URL;
The 250 won't handle this system without the optional BC25i digital card, which if you don't have it, is getting very hard to find. Alternately, you would need something along the lines of a 396, 996 or the GRE PSR 500 or 600.
hey thanks for the great information, and yeah i do have the digital card. I just programmed the talk groups and it seams to be working good thanks. One last question though is there a way to set it so it just stays on one or two different talkgroups, so it soesnt skip from one to another. thanks for all the great help