Radio Id's

[Moishev]

Hi.

I'm trying to get radio Id's for all the mobile and portable radios in my county, it's no where to be found on radioreference.com, but when I listen to broadcastify and download the audio, the radio id and the name of the unit who holds the radio appears.

For example, I want to know that radio id 20222 belongs to car 3843, can't find the list on radio reference, but when I download the audio form broadcastify I see the car number in the properties of the audio file.

Attached is a screenshot of what i see by the audio properties.

 

[dave3825]

'm trying to get radio Id's for all the mobile and portable radios in my county, it's no where to be found on radioreference.com

That's not data that is in the database. You may get lucky searching the wiki for your county and the name of the system. If it's on the feed, its showing because either the feed provider found a list, or created his or her own.

Search results for "radio id" - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Welcome to the RR forums. As mentioned by my "esteemed RR colleague" above, check your county's wiki page to see if someone compiled & logged the UID info there. This can be quite tedious work, particularly for larger trunked radio systems with hundreds or thousands of subscriber units so not everyone takes the time to do this

 

[ka3aaa]

there is no universal database for uid's, they must be harvested by you and programmed into your scanner in the system they belong to. secondly they are not county specific, they could be used in what ever system engineer the decides to use them in. ex, uid 23560009 is a fire dept vehicle in system a, the same uid could be a police car in a different system in the same county, or used by a school bus in a third different system in the same county. this is just a sample of how they work, frustrating, but true. have fun hunting

 

[racefan0020]

How I've done it over the last few years is, I keep a composition book by the scanner. When I hear a unit that I have not already identified, I enter the uid into the book. When I hear the unit number, I also write that down. Every so often, I then enter the uid and unit number into the scanner. In the last 3 years, I have identified well over 15000 units on various systems in my area. It IS labor intensive, but worth it. Also in the wiki you can find that some uid's or an explanation on how to decode the uid to come up the unit number. In my area, Lancaster County PA comes to mind. On their wiki page is an explanation on what each number in the uid stands for.

 

[sonm10]

A notebook? That's a of writing.
I think most of use use some form of spreadsheet or software like Unitrunker to document RID/UIDs.

 

[racefan0020]

So, I'm in my 60's and somewhat old school. Nothing wrong with that. lol. What happens if the computer eats your spreadsheet? just kidding.

 

[RaleighGuy]

So, I'm in my 60's and somewhat old school. Nothing wrong with that. lol. What happens if the computer eats your spreadsheet? just kidding.

You start over, no different than if you spill your sweet tea on your notebook with log.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

What happens if the computer eats your spreadsheet? just kidding.

That's what cloud storage is for, à la Google Sheets

 

[dave3825]

I think most of use use some form of spreadsheet or software like Unitrunker to document RID/UIDs.

It's a very time consuming process. Having dongles and the right software does have benefits. If your run Unitrunker or DSDPlus along with Trunking recorder, and let those log all the radio id's, you can play back the recordings and make the alpha tags in either program.

Then if you want them all in a scanner, either export from UT as csv. Manipulate the data leaving 2 columns, radio id value and alpha tag. Copy and paste where desired.

Or from DSDPlus, open the radios file and copy all rid entries into excel and choose separate by comma. Then eliminate all columns leaving just radio id value and alpha tag. Then copy and paste where desired.



Benefit of using Unitrunker is you can see a history of where each radio has affiliated and spoke.

 

[rrobinso84]

On the side, I've got two SDR dongles running two area P25 systems. When I have the opportunity and can positively the calling unit, I write down the UID and use notepad++ to edit the DSD+ radios file to add a name (like E25 for Engine 25). It is tedious, and it takes dedication. I believe the radios file is sorted by TGID, so I may have to repeat the entry if it transmits on another.

 

[dave3825]

It is tedious, and it takes dedication. I believe the radios file is sorted by TGID, so I may have to repeat the entry if it transmits on another.

Rid's in DSDPlus are grouped by the last tg they were on. No duplicate rids will appear within the same system.

 

[hill]

I have found in my Fire Department mobile radios are easiest ones to track, since they always are in the unit assigned.

Portable radios always end up in a different unit and I won't track those ids, but do the portables in my county start 225 and mobiles start 224. Don't even try to track police radio ids.

The only police would be our State Police or Natural Resources Police, since they both have take home assigned vehicles.

At least here in Maryland the state committee that runs the radio systems assigns id blocks to each county, so each on has unique ones and they can be used on the same systems without them being the same. Each state agency with radios also is assigned a block of ids.

 

[dave3825]

mobile radios are easiest ones to track, since they always are in the unit assigned

Must be nice that way. My county seems to have no plan or system. A radio that was in a county dpw truck last week, can appear in a county police car, county tow truck or in any other county owned vehicle this week. I have seen radios from county police cars end up in county buses.

 

[fourgres]

I use PRO96.com ( program), shows al radio I.D.s and saves them in a separate file. You did not mention your scanner type so I can't say if you can use the program. I have GRE 600. The program is free to download. Old Tech school but works great for what you want.

 

[hill]

I haven't really tracked ids lately, but may start again.

A few years ago spent a lot of time tracking ids.

Don't have in my G4 owned for over a year, but that's another radio project to do.

 

[rrobinso84]

Rid's in DSDPlus are grouped by the last tg they were on. No duplicate rids will appear within the same system.

And if I've added text, will my edit follow the radio?

 

[dave3825]

And if I've added text, will my edit follow the radio?

Yes sir. Add text to any rid in DSDPlus and it will stay attached to that rid no matter where it goes.

 

[KD8FSJ]

Keeping a good database of RIDS can be very challenging. Radios are lost, broken and replaced all the time. Even with the unit number right in front of them, somebody will no doubt forget what unit they are in and say something else. The mobile RIDS are a little more easy, they don't change hands as often but, they to will eventally be replaced.

I've been logging and tracking my local RIDS for a long time now (over 81K RIDS). It's almost a fulltime job to try and keep up with all of them.

 

[EJB]

Keeping a good database of RIDS can be very challenging. Radios are lost, broken and replaced all the time. Even with the unit number right in front of them, somebody will no doubt forget what unit they are in and say something else. The mobile RIDS are a little more easy, they don't change hands as often but, they to will eventally be replaced.

I've been logging and tracking my local RIDS for a long time now (over 81K RIDS). It's almost a fulltime job to try and keep up with all of them.

It can be. Our provincial system is implementing a new and Sadly encrypted system and there are new radios being put into service on the old system. So it means the list of tens of thousands on the old system are gone and I log the new ones in.

Pen and paper then into the scanners. It can be a full time job but like many of us it's a labour of love