Question about scanning

[chance154]

Hi, I'm sorry if this thread seems stupid but I am new to scanning and have a few questions. I live in the Camden County area around Cherry Hill in New Jersey - I would like to scan my town's fire/ems but I can't seem to find the frequency for it - I can only find the DEC and HEX. I am also not sure what scanner I should go about purchasing as there are sooo many out there and I would like one within a reasonable price/possibly for beginners as-well.

Please let me know if anyone could help me make sense of any of this.

Thank you!

 

[doctordialtone]

Please let me know if anyone could help me make sense of any of this.

This is for your area.

Camden County, New Jersey (NJ) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Camden County, New Jersey (NJ)

www.radioreference.com

and this is the trunked system for your area.

Camden County Public Safety Trunking System, Camden County, New Jersey

Camden County Public Safety Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

An E in the mode column means Encrypted - full time.

An e in the mode column means part-time encryption.

Scanning 101 - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[chance154]

This is for your area.

Camden County, New Jersey (NJ) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Camden County, New Jersey (NJ)

www.radioreference.com

and this is the trunked system for your area.

Camden County Public Safety Trunking System, Camden County, New Jersey

Camden County Public Safety Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

An E in the mode column means Encrypted - full time.

An e in the mode column means part-time encryption.

Scanning 101 - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Do you have any Scanner suggestions for a reasonable price that could work with what you sent?

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Do you have any Scanner suggestions for a reasonable price that could work with what you sent?

According to the database, there's a simulcast site for that system. Older scanners sometimes have a lot of trouble with those types of sites. The Uniden Bearcat SDS100 and SDS200 are designed for those, but they're really expensive. Another option is you could get an SDR dongle or a Unication pager, or even a BlueTail P25RX. But on the other hand, depending on your location amongst the towers, a cheaper scanner might not do so bad. It just depends.

 

[Priority-One]

I would invest in the Uniden SDS 100. It's going to be pricey, But the decoding upgrade options are worth it.

 

[chance154]

I would invest in the Uniden SDS 100. It's going to be pricey, But the decoding upgrade options are worth it.

Any cheaper options? Was looking for something between 100-300 if possible.

 

[mass-man]

While lesser cost scanners MIGHT work for the Phase2 system in your area, the SDS100 is about as good as it gets! You could try a 436HP…might work in your area, might not! I would post another thread in the NJ forum asking specifically what is best for the Camden County system?
BTW you only saw the HEX and DEC cuz the frequencies were above in a table! Good luck…

 

[trentbob]

Hi @chance154.. understand you live in Camden County, New Jersey, I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Without going into details, there are plenty of very experienced people that will follow up I hope, with details. The city of Camden and Camden County has been encrypted for a while now as doc mentioned. So has Burlington County, Bucks County and Montgomery County. Police of course, you still have access to some Fire/ Rescue Ops. Philadelphia police are still in the clear on district dispatch but use a good number of encrypted talk groups as needed, including fire and secondary police car to car..

Before you spend the big bucks, do a needs assessment of what you're really looking to hear.

 

[chance154]

Hi @chance154.. understand you live in Camden County, New Jersey, I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Without going into details, there are plenty of very experienced people that will follow up I hope, with details. The city of Camden and Camden County has been encrypted for a while now as doc mentioned. So has Burlington County, Bucks County and Montgomery County. Police of course, you still have access to some Fire/ Rescue Ops. Philadelphia police are still in the clear on district dispatch but use a good number of encrypted talk groups as needed, including fire and secondary police car to car..

Before you spend the big bucks, do a needs assessment of what you're really looking to hear.

Hey trent, I am mainly looking to hear fire/ems and from what I've seen it isn't encrypted.

 

[trentbob]

Hey trent, I am mainly looking to hear fire/ems and from what I've seen it isn't encrypted.

Correct, all surrounding counties that I named also are in the clear on fire except for Philadelphia which does encrypt fire ground channels but dispatch is in the clear.

Everything around you is Phase 2 simulcast except for Philadelphia which is Phase 1 simulcast and you could have simulcast issues with a radio other than the SDS series but it's all location based.

For those not familiar with the geography, Camden County and the City of Camden are directly across from the city of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, Burlington County is north of you and I am north of you on the Pennsylvania side right on the Delaware River. Other ballywicks south of you on both sides of the river are also eventually going Phase 2 and I have no doubt they will be encrypted on police.

There's plenty of information on simulcast distortion, just Google it. If you want Dependable Communications that you can hear consistently you have to spend the bucks for the SDS 100 or 200 which is an SDR Radio designed to pick up simulcast. Good luck... Bob.

 

[chance154]

Correct, all surrounding counties that I named also are in the clear on fire except for Philadelphia which does encrypt fire ground channels but dispatch is in the clear.

Everything around you is Phase 2 simulcast except for Philadelphia which is Phase 1 simulcast and you could have simulcast issues with a radio other than the SDS series but it's all location based.

For those not familiar with the geography, Camden County and the City of Camden are directly across from the city of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, Burlington County is north of you and I am north of you on the Pennsylvania side right on the Delaware River. Other ballywicks south of you on both sides of the river are also eventually going Phase 2 and I have no doubt they will be encrypted on police.

There's plenty of information on simulcast distortion, just Google it. If you want Dependable Communications that you can hear consistently you have to spend the bucks for the SDS 100 or 200 which is an SDR Radio designed to pick up simulcast. Good luck... Bob.

Heard - I was honestly looking at the Uniden BCD325P2 and doing my research on that.

 

[scanfreqer]

Did you look in the classified here in RR?. I found a lot of radios thru Facebook Marketplace. I bought 2 from there.

 

[trentbob]

Heard - I was honestly looking at the Uniden BCD325P2 and doing my research on that.

LOL, there are so many threads addressing this, some are active right now, again, I'll let other people chime in. That radio is certainly phase 2 capable as old as it is, LOL.

I'm going to bow out now and good luck to you, do your research before you take your credit card out. Again, good luck, Bob.

 

[chance154]

LOL, there are so many threads addressing this, some are active right now, again, I'll let other people chime in. That radio is certainly phase 2 capable as old as it is, LOL.

I'm going to bow out now and good luck to you, do your research before you take your credit card out. Again, good luck, Bob.

Thank you for your assistance above Bob, will do

 

[AvidHiker]

As mentioned, this is not a situation where being thrifty is likely to pay off, so make sure you buy from a place with a good return policy. If you want the ability to monitor while on the move you almost definitely need to be looking at the SDS radios (or, better yet, Unication) - I have a 436HP and it's pretty bad with any simulcast distortion (and it's supposed to be better than the 325P2). If I take the time to find the perfect receive location, and keep it in that exact position, it can receive well for days, sometimes even weeks, but it never lasts. It will eventually start missing transmissions. A lot of them. Looks like the best budget move with portability might be a smartphone with, as already mentioned, an SDR dongle but I suspect the learning curve would be steeper (I'm totally unfamiliar so do your homework). The nice thing about the 436/536HP is that it uses the same (relatively) user-friendly programming software as the SDS scanners (the 325P2 is different), so if you choose to upgrade you can basically clone your 436 over to the SDS. Someone is auctioning a 436 on eBay right now and it's up to $310 with 1 hour to go.

 

[fredva]

@chance154 I'm glad you came to the forums and asked questions before you purchased a scanner. The challenge that you and many of us face is that public safety radio systems have become more sophisticated (and expensive) over the years, and many of the newer ones require sophisticated and expensive scanners to receive them clearly.

 

[dave3825]

The challenge that you and many of us face is that public safety radio systems have become more sophisticated (and expensive) over the years, and many of the newer ones require sophisticated and expensive scanners to receive them clearly.

While I do have several expensive scanners, a 30 dollar sdr dongle and free software does a good job..

 

[bucket772]

Heard - I was honestly looking at the Uniden BCD325P2 and doing my research on that.

I am in Gloucester. I am only about a mile from a tower so my 325 does quite well. I can also hear Camden well. I don't travel much with it as I provide Broadcastify feeds for both counties via SDR and OP25 software so its easier to remote in to my network and listen that way.
Like others said, your results may vary just based of your location to the different sites. Sometimes a simple antenna change can make all the difference. Also, others have said SDR. get a dongle from rtl-sdr.com. They are cheap. Plenty of Windows based software to get listening on. If you have any linux knowledge, you can run software called OP25. I have a Raspberry Pi running two dongles (one each for Camden and Gloucester). Sounds just as good, if not better then a Motorola Subscriber unit. That will be your cheapest option by far. Portability is not your friend though.

 

[howie38]

I'm using the Uniden Trunk Tracker 5 BCD996P2 here in Burlington County and use the FreeScan program to download the programing from here and then uploading it into the scanner.
BTW even though the local police went encrypted (how rude) state police didn't.