police scanner

[acruz1869]

I just recently wanted a new scanner for my are. I live in Vacaville Ca, and I found that the local radio shack scanners dont seperate individual cities in my area. They are on something called triple trunking. So everything in this county is clustered together. I need a scanner that will speperate all the cities so i can hear things going on in just a select city, is that possible?

 

[DickH]

I just recently wanted a new scanner for my are. I live in Vacaville Ca, and I found that the local radio shack scanners dont seperate individual cities in my area. They are on something called triple trunking. So everything in this county is clustered together. I need a scanner that will speperate all the cities so i can hear things going on in just a select city, is that possible?

Unfortunately many Radio Shack people have little or no knowledge of scanners or radio systems. Triple Trunking simply means it will trunk track 3 types of systems, Motorola, EDACS and LTR. Vacaville uses this Motorola system.
Vacaville/Fairfield/Suisun Trunking System, Vacaville/Fairfield, California - Scanner Frequencies

 

[gmclam]

Vacaville Fairfield Trunked Radio System

It sounds like you are scanning frequencies, which is why everything is "clumped together". Vacaville and Fairfield share a trunked radio system, and you need a trunk tracking scanner to properly monitor it. The scanner will "trunk track" to follow a conversation as it is assigned different frequencies AND also let you select the "channels" (agencies) you want to hear.

A trunked radio system is much like a PBX phone system. Think of a huge company with 1000 people, each with their own phone, usually in different departments, but there are only 20 phone lines. It works because no more than 20 people are making outside calls at once.

There are 2 models of scanners, hand-held and base units, in two classes (and then there are radios capable of decoding some digital transmissions). If you want a traditional scanner; the PRO-163 or PRO-164 will do the job. If you want digital scanners (much more expensive) there are the PRO-197 and PRO-106 which will do it also. There is a newer class of scanner that works more like an MP3 player that many non-technical people like such as PRO-107.

The PRO-164 is the Radio Shack version of model PSR-300; both made by GRE. These models are actually discontinued now and I wouldn't recommend them for new purchases. The model that takes its place is PSR-310. I have both the '300 and the '310 and can monitor Vacaville just fine with them. One place that sells these scanners is ScannerMaster - they have a link at the top of this page. The prices are all similar (unless you find a sale), it's just you have to wait for shipping rather than picking up in a store.

 

[cb225662]

Scanners

Also have Uniden scanners that will do Homepatrol,BCD996xt,I think it is BCD396???

 

[kb2vxa]

"Unfortunately many Radio Shack people have little or no knowledge of scanners or radio systems."
At Radio Shack you have questions, we have blank stares. Translation: don't ask questions.

"Triple Trunking simply means it will trunk track 3 types of systems, Motorola, EDACS and LTR. Vacaville uses this Motorola system."
There's where you start understanding.

I'll keep it simple and nonspecific to avoid confusion starting with terms you will encounter. Frequency or channel refers to the radio frequency (RF channel), there are several in a trunked system to allow frequency hopping. Talk group refers to a virtual "sub-channel" within the frequency group, that is the group of RF channels the system uses. Trunk tracking refers to following a talk group as it hops through the RF channels. As a telephone trunk line puts many conversations on a single line a trunked radio system puts many talk groups on a single system using fewer RF channels than a conventional system that puts them one on one using more RF channels.

Now that we know how it works it all comes down to programming. Like a conventional system you can program what you want to hear or program everything and lock out what you don't want to hear depending on when you want to hear it. In any case alpha tags (what you name the channel or talk group) are to eyes what voices are to ears, they help you know what you're listening to. That takes care of the talk groups, how you program the RF channels depends on how your scanner handles control channels. With some scanners all you need are the control channels, with others you need all of them.

That's about as specific as it gets here, for details consult the scanner manual. Don't ask ME what scanner to buy, I'm not an encyclopedia, more like a Rat Shack employee in THAT department. OK, ask away, I'm sure somebody can help you but when it comes to advice around here I hope you're wearing waders and have a shovel handy, EVERYBODY has his own opinion. (;->) Oh maybe it won't be a problem for the experienced, the name of the place where you live translates to village of cows. <groan>

(ducking)