Yes, I agree. I think the biggest thing is I'm over thinking things and making them more complicated than they truly are. I will heed your advice, for sure. I appreciate all the help and advice!
Thank you!
Sentinel: Question on creating a favorite list on sentinel with colorado DTRS sites
- Thread starter chad_96
- Start date
Thank you!
So, I just wanted to touch on a few things after watching the Video a few times, again, and ask if I understand this fully and completely. I will try to keep it brief, simple and to the point.
First, what I gather from this video, is that when he is Manually entering/ programming into his favorite list, he knows the "Site" that the department would be operating on, as well as the Control frequency for that "Site". Sidenote, I have learned how to see the "Sites" around my area, as well as the map/Diagram of the Area covered, on the RR database.
Secondly, he knows the Talkgroup ID and information for that said department, Through what I have learned is simply obtained from the RR database for the desired Agency/Department desired, As well as if its available to listen to, or encrypted and unavailable.
So, That being said, I understand that programming this way will require a person to know these things to be done properly.
1. The "Site/Sites" used for said agency, and the Control Frequency or Frequencies, if more than one. (Obtained by RR Database)
2. The Talkgroup ID for that Agency. (Obtained By RR Database)
3. What type of Radio system the operate on ( In my case would be the State of Colorado DTRS statewide system using P-25)
In a Nutshell, other than assigning QK's (which I have learned is optional), those are the things that MUST be known to properly program a department? Do i understand the Video Correctly?
Finally, If the steps/information I have provided above is correct, That's a confusion to a point as well. There are a total of 12 "sites" I have located, around my area, I feel are applicable. Most of these have 4-5 Control channels per site listed, so I would assume ALL Control channels listed would need to be programmed for that "Site". The only actual Law in my area that's not encrypted that I'm interested in programming is our State Patrol. The problem there is simply this. Our area is VERY rural and they cover A LOT of area, with a small town here and there. Our State patrol troop is dived into the 2 small town offices, on each side of me, but they Cover the 7 Counties total collectively in my Area. So That is ultimately the biggest hurdle that i can see. I would assume to be able to properly hear them I would need to have ALL 12 of the sites and their control frequencies programmed if I did a List through the Sentinel program. Also, Their Dispatch is 85 miles away in another county they don't patrol. Other than that, My small area has very little EMS/Fire to listen to and that would knock it down to the 2-3 Sites I Have seen that cover my area, and make things probably much simpler.
Anyways, Thanks for the help, advice and opinions. I greatly appreciate it.
Spitfire8520
I might be completely clueless! =)
So you are getting a lot of advice from a lot of different people which can be confusing, so I will add to the confusion with my own opinion.
Programming from the ground up can be very confusing and there is a lot of room for mistakes because you need to set every single numerical value exactly as it is shown in the database, or your programming will not work. A lot of the advice you have been getting comes from the experienced and power user perspective where a lot of the folks know what they are doing and have been doing it for years, so it is easy for them.
ZIP code/Location Control scanning can be done with the built in database without a Favorites List (the easiest route), or it can be done with a Favorites List if you just want to have increased control over what you want to listen to. You can also use Favorites Lists without ZIP codes/location control, which is how most people use Favorites Lists if they are not using an add-on GPS module and want to control exactly what they want to listen to.
If you want to do a Favorites List, then my opinion is to do the append from database route for someone who is brand new, but still wants the personalized Favorites List route because it will handle 90% of the programming and completely eliminates the possibilities of incorrectly entering an ID or frequency wrong. This is also the only practical way of allowing you to use Location Control quickly without having to go through the nightmare of manually entering latitude, longitude, and range information for everything you are programming. Once you are successful with this route, you can reference that version of the programming if you want to try your hand going all in on manual programming in the future.
My rough Sentinel step-by-step for the Favorites List route is the following:
Programming from the ground up can be very confusing and there is a lot of room for mistakes because you need to set every single numerical value exactly as it is shown in the database, or your programming will not work. A lot of the advice you have been getting comes from the experienced and power user perspective where a lot of the folks know what they are doing and have been doing it for years, so it is easy for them.
ZIP code/Location Control scanning can be done with the built in database without a Favorites List (the easiest route), or it can be done with a Favorites List if you just want to have increased control over what you want to listen to. You can also use Favorites Lists without ZIP codes/location control, which is how most people use Favorites Lists if they are not using an add-on GPS module and want to control exactly what they want to listen to.
If you want to do a Favorites List, then my opinion is to do the append from database route for someone who is brand new, but still wants the personalized Favorites List route because it will handle 90% of the programming and completely eliminates the possibilities of incorrectly entering an ID or frequency wrong. This is also the only practical way of allowing you to use Location Control quickly without having to go through the nightmare of manually entering latitude, longitude, and range information for everything you are programming. Once you are successful with this route, you can reference that version of the programming if you want to try your hand going all in on manual programming in the future.
My rough Sentinel step-by-step for the Favorites List route is the following:
- Update your database by going to the top menu bar, Update > Update Master Database(HPDB)...
- Create a your Favorites List if you have not done so already. Go to the top menu bar, Edit > Edit Favorites List... > New Favorites List.
- Open the Database and navigate the tree to USA > Colorado > Bent > Statewide > State of Colorado DTRS.
- Click on Bent County, right click > Append to Favorites List..., select your Favorites List.
- Repeat for Colorado State Patrol, Las Animas (not the County), and anything else you want to listen to.
- Click on Bent County, right click > Append to Favorites List..., select your Favorites List.
- After appending what you want to listen to, go down to the Favorites List section, right click on Favorites List, select Program Favorites List...
- If you are using ZIP Code/Location Control, select the Favorites List name, open the Options tab, and set Location Control to On. Do not turn this on if you specifically want to force the scanner to scan everything in the Favorites List exactly as programmed.
- Navigate to the State of Colorado DTRS system, open the Sites tab.
- Select all the sites you do not want and start deleting. This is less important if you plan on using Location Control as it will automatically turn off sites that is out of range.
- If you want to isolate just a few site nearby, it is faster to select all of the sites (either Ctrl + A or clicking the empty square above the 0 multiple times), then Ctrl + clicking the sites you want to keep so that they are not selected. Once you are done, you can click on delete and it will wipe all of the remaining sites.
- Optionally, you may navigate to a large Department like Colorado State Patrol using the tree and Avoid/delete talkgroups you are not interested in.
- Once you have finished editing your Favorites List to how you want it, close out of the Favorites List Editor.
- Right click on your Favorites List and double check that Download Favorites List is set to On and Monitor Favorites List is set to On.
- Plug in your scanner, go to the top menu bar, Scanner > Write to Scanner...
Yes, Thank you for this instruction. It really help verify the process very well. I did create a Playlist and set it to "Location Control". The only thing I did different really than your instruction, thus far, is I did not create the favorites list first. When I chose my first selection I appended it and had to create a favorites list at that point, which I assume doesn't matter either way it's created or what order.
Anyways, this layout really has helped and I will definitely use it as a resource.
One question that I have in common with this, and maybe you amswered it already in your posting, and im just not getting it clearly. If I just leave all the Sites and don't delete or avoid any, by doing so and having Location Control set, should be all I need for the system to "shut off/not use" those Sites out of range then with my agency selections, correct?
Thank you for the help and great advice!
Spitfire8520
I might be completely clueless! =)
Correct. When you enter a ZIP code, the scanner will use roughly the center point of that ZIP code area as your location and figure out what sites have circles that overlap with that location and enable those sites. You can increase your location by using the Set Range option as posted in previous replies, which will change your scanner's location from a single point to a circle with a radius in miles of the value you set it to. The scanner will use that location and disable all sites that do not overlap with the programmed location.
Side note, being in a rural area may require you to increase your location range to increase your location circle to pick up more distant sites and departments, especially if you do not live in or near Las Animas proper. There are some quirks with the database where an agency like Las Animas FD got grouped into the City of Las Animas even though they provide wider coverage for unincorporated western half of the county. You can see Las Animas' range circle defined here: State of Colorado DTRS TG Category: Las Animas. If the center of your ZIP code is not directly inside of that circle, then all of the Las Animas talkgroups will be automatically disabled with Location Control.
What county are you in, what is your primary listening target to start?
I'm in Bent County, Colorado. I'm not certain what you mean by primary listening target, however?
Police, Fire etc.
I only see 1 site in Bent County, Colorado:
State of Colorado DTRS Site: Toonerville
State of Colorado DTRS Site: Toonerville Details
www.radioreference.com
Not sure where you thought you needed 12?
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So in Bent County specifically, the only law enforcement we have is the sheriff's office, which is encrypted.
So, ultimately the main things I'm interested in is our fire/ems who operate on the same channel, and the state patrol in our area ( colorado state patrol troop 2C) and of course there are a few other channels I would like but those are specifically the channels I can get that are of interest.
According to the database, the Sheriff is not encrypted (Mode D) which means Phase 1 not encrypted?
So, if what I see is correct, you only need to program 1 site, red is primary and secondary control channels, and the Sheriff and whatever fire departments you're interested in. I see South Metro/East Metro and fire departments listed in Bent County, so not sure what you're interested in there.
So, I'm not sure fully what mode D is or who south metro/east metro is.
But, I will attach screen shots of my county/city. Our sheriff's office shows encrypted as far as I know. As for the city of Las animas it would be the fire/ems. We no longer have a police department so that is null and void as far as a department.
Attachments
Mode D is Phase 1 unencrypted. I'm not familiar with Colorado, but based on what I see SO (Sheriff Office) TGID 203 is showing as Mode D. County LE (Law Enforcement) is showing as mode DE (Phase 1/Encrypted). If it's set up like other states I've programmed, my best guess is the county dispatches other Bent County police departments and utilizes the County LE talk group. If it's the Sheriff office you're interested in, it would "appear" it can be monitored. These questions might be better answered in a Colorado state forum.
However, as far as all the confusion over the sites etc., I only see one that is "probably" used for what you're looking to listen to. The Correctional center is "probably" only used for traffic in the facility, but if I was out there and setting it up for the first time, I would add both sites with a Quick Key assigned to each. I would make sure my display shows the sites so I know which of the two sites is being used primarily, set up a few departments: State Police/Sheriff/Fire..Quick Key's 1,2,3, put it in ID Scan to start and go from there. You would always be able to add sites nearby if in range as well as departments, but I'd start there.
Spitfire8520
I might be completely clueless! =)
South Metro and East Metro are in the South and East Denver Metro area over 100 miles away. I am not quite sure how you saw those as listed in Bent County.
The listing is very likely out-of-date, with almost all the information originating from the mid-2000s. From my understanding, Bent & Kiowa Counties (Bent dispatches for Kiowa) moved their law enforcement dispatch to TG 274, which is accurately listed as encrypted. They were among the first law enforcement in Colorado to flip the switch on encryption. I suspect that TG 203 is/was being used for EMS dispatch at some point, but I am not in a position to confirm anything with certainty.
Colorado sorely lacks intel from the rural parts of the state to provide updates for the area. I do know that some of the existing talkgroups have been completely inhibited from the system and that there are unknown talkgroups from the area that have not been identified, but that brings in a lot of complexity and confusion of programming for ID search operations. @chad_96, if you are up for it, you can add TG 276 through 279 manually with placeholder names to Bent County in case there is something interesting on those talkgroups.
As for sites, Fort Lyons Correctional is going to be an essential site for county coverage. The majority of the county's population is on the north side along the US-50. Toonerville is set up almost at the edge of the southern border of Bent County, more than 30 miles line-of-sight from US-50 at its closest point. Without it, there is very little portable radio coverage along the highway. The standard for site names is to base it off of actual site name used by the system, which for Colorado is based on physical location rather than intended users. As for additional sites, there are well positioned sites in neighboring Otero and Prowers Counties that provide coverage for US-50 into Bent County.
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The South/East Metro listing was in the statewide listing is why I mentioned it and not sure how the fire departments are organized there. It appears you're from Colorado and would be a much better help to the OP and might be time to update the database.
Hello,
I would agree that the database is most certainly out-of-date. Looking at the 2 lists that reference both Bent County and Las animas have things listed I know do not exist anymore, to my best knowledge. The Las Animas List, which shows the City of Las Animas Police Department, which was shut down years ago. I would imagine those (TG 207-208) that were in use for a couple years at the beginning of the state DTRS system implementation , are no longer in use most likely. That is unless someone else is using them for something. I am not sure on the Local Government channel and whether it is in use still. This solely leaving what I do know that still is operating, The Las animas Fire Channels, Who is used by both the Fire Department and Ambulance service, as far as I'm aware. At least when I was on the Ambulance service here locally several years ago, that's how the departments operated.
Looking at the Bent County List, I know that you are absolutely correct on that. The Bent county Sheriffs office does in fact dispatch for both Bent County and Kiowa County. Also, I do know that the Sheriff's office channels are in fact Encrypted for both Bent and Kiowa County Law Enforcement. But what I do know on that list is that the Department or TG still in operation are they Hasty/McClave Fire Department and Bent County Road and Bridge. unsure on the mutual aid channel and School. However, I'm not sure what TG 276-279 are, as i don't see them listed. maybe most likely I'm just not understanding what you meant by that.
Obviously, I'm new to this. I sure would like to figure things out and be able to help update the Database for this area, in time. I just am aware from knowing someone who has a scanner the departments that still operate currently. But I have also found some more local agencies that show on the Database that I would also like to monitor ( i.e. John Martin Reservoir state park operations and Tac) and a feq others. I will add these to my FL and see how it turns out.
Lastly, As for the Site listed Fort Lyon Correctional Facility. I figure that the site is still in operation although the Facility had shut down several years ago, and is now the State's homeless coalition. I figured the site was still operational, however. Anyways, I appreciate your Input as it has been extremely helpful and to the point. I will give it a go and see what I can get accomplished.
Thank You!
Spitfire8520
I might be completely clueless! =)
Sometimes old talkgroups get repurposed for other uses, so it would be worth keeping to find out if someone else is using them.
My suggestion of adding TG 276-279 is so that you can listen to new and unknown talkgroups that are not in the database. Colorado typically assigns new talkgroups consecutively by county. I know 276, 277, and 278 are active in the system, but I have no idea what they are and am not sure if they are Bent County. 279 is an additional talkgroup in case more talkgroups have been assigned. This is part of the more advanced skills where people will listen to something that is unknown to try to figure out what it is being used for, which is how the database ends up getting updated with new things.
Adding the unknown talkgroups is up to you, but I mention it as it could be helpful in finding radio traffic you might be interested in. As they are unknown, it could be anything from the county consolidating emergency services dispatching to a single talkgroup to the local transit wanting to talk to their drivers using the radio. What will be fun is that you will be among the first to figure it out and be able to listen in until that information finally makes it to the database, whether that be from yourself or someone else!
Thanks for that clarification. That makes perfect sense to me now. Yes, that is definitely a great idea and I will absolutely take your advice and check into them and see what I come up with.
Thanks again for all the great and helpful advice!
One question regarding my new Uniden Sds100. I have took everyone's advice best I can and have read up on things and have also watched YouTube videos on the scanner.
Now, i have seen some videos speaking about the antenna. I'm curious as to anyone's knowledge, opinion, or even experience. Being in a rural area where there is a lot of area covered, should I upgrade the antenna from the stock one provided?
Looking at recommendations and the place I bought the scanner offers 2 that are recommended for upgrade. The Remtronix REM-820S or the REM-842S. Anyhow, should I not worry about it or would it be a benefit to upgrade to one of those?
Thank you!
Now, i have seen some videos speaking about the antenna. I'm curious as to anyone's knowledge, opinion, or even experience. Being in a rural area where there is a lot of area covered, should I upgrade the antenna from the stock one provided?
Looking at recommendations and the place I bought the scanner offers 2 that are recommended for upgrade. The Remtronix REM-820S or the REM-842S. Anyhow, should I not worry about it or would it be a benefit to upgrade to one of those?
Thank you!
You might consider changing the ID Search field to ON for the system. It is in the Options tab (right pane) for the System.
This will allow you to discover any new talkgroups that are NOT in the database. You'll have to do some detective work to figure out what/who it is as all you get is the Talkgroup ID number. (You will also be "scanning" the programmed talkgroups that are not turned off).
From there you can submit any new "stuff" to the database folks.
If the majority of your listening is to frequencies 700-900 then you'll want the REM-820S.
This will allow you to discover any new talkgroups that are NOT in the database. You'll have to do some detective work to figure out what/who it is as all you get is the Talkgroup ID number. (You will also be "scanning" the programmed talkgroups that are not turned off).
From there you can submit any new "stuff" to the database folks.
If the majority of your listening is to frequencies 700-900 then you'll want the REM-820S.
So, I'm going to go out on a limb on this. Pretty much all frequencies are 8xxx.xxx from everything I've seen. Therefore, I will take that advice and go for the REM-820S.
Thanks for the helpful advice. You as well as others have really helped make this new journey much more understandable.
Thanks!
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