PRO 164 garbled noise

[G7hmcw]

Hi there! I am a complete beginner when it comes to scanners. I have had mine for nearly ten years, but just know the basics (really just how to get it to the police department). I know I have it on the correct channel for the Columbus Mississippi police, but it sounds completely garbled. I can tell they are talking but can’t hear what they are saying. This has started the past year or so. Is this due to the police encrypting their frequency to where I can’t hear it? Or is it some type of error on my end? (Again I don’t know much on operating my radio, so I know it is possible). Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Enjoi19]

According to the database, they are using voice inversion, which is what you're hearing. It's pretty low-tech security. Nothing you can do to get around it on a scanner side of things as they don't include any ability to correct the inversion.

 

[hiegtx]

Hi there! I am a complete beginner when it comes to scanners. I have had mine for nearly ten years, but just know the basics (really just how to get it to the police department). I know I have it on the correct channel for the Columbus Mississippi police, but it sounds completely garbled. I can tell they are talking but can’t hear what they are saying. This has started the past year or so. Is this due to the police encrypting their frequency to where I can’t hear it? Or is it some type of error on my end? (Again I don’t know much on operating my radio, so I know it is possible). Thank you in advance for the help!

Look at the database page for your county.

Lowndes County, Mississippi (MS) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Lowndes County, Mississippi (MS)

www.radioreference.com

Now, look at the Columbus channels:

They are using voice inversion. That's why it sounds garbled. Your scanner is not capable of automatically converting that to clear voice. At one time, there were several after market devices that did the trick. You plugged them into the scanner or other audio source, then they would remove the inversion so that you could understand what was being said.

Do a Google search for voice inversion, and you'll see several links with more information, some which claim to be able to remove the inversion. I haven't tried any of these. so cannot reccomend any in particular.

 

[G7hmcw]

Thank you! I saw that on the database but wasn’t aware exactly what it was. I will try googling it to see if I can find anything

According to the database, they are using voice inversion, which is what you're hearing. It's pretty low-tech security. Nothing you can do to get around it on a scanner side of things as they don't include any ability to correct the inversion.

It looks like from what I googled that it may be more advanced and over my head on that. Glad to know that’s what the change was on it though. Thanks!

 

[RichardKramer]

Look at the database page for your county.

Lowndes County, Mississippi (MS) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Lowndes County, Mississippi (MS)

www.radioreference.com

Now, look at the Columbus channels:
View attachment 103425
They are using voice inversion. That's why it sounds garbled. Your scanner is not capable of automatically converting that to clear voice. At one time, there were several after market devices that did the trick. You plugged them into the scanner or other audio source, then they would remove the inversion so that you could understand what was being said.

Do a Google search for voice inversion, and you'll see several links with more information, some which claim to be able to remove the inversion. I haven't tried any of these. so cannot reccomend any in particular.

The 90's model AOR 8000 scanner with the single inversion descrambler chip will decode this type of encryption. On Berks Co previous system it decoded their inversion and also decoded one of the hospitals inversion for info on patients coming out of the operating room.