Saskatchewan scanning

[IdleMonitor]

Im planning a trip this summer out to Saskatoon and Regina. What can I expect to be able to listen to with a Uniden 396T portable?

How is it in the rural areas as well? Probably goin on a camping trip too. Reason I ask is Ive never been there and not sure of the surrounding regions/county names.

Would like to start organizing some files.

 

[mobile_1]

Im planning a trip this summer out to Saskatoon and Regina. What can I expect to be able to listen to with a Uniden 396T portable?

How is it in the rural areas as well? Probably goin on a camping trip too. Reason I ask is Ive never been there and not sure of the surrounding regions/county names.

Would like to start organizing some files.

You have the right tool for the job. Just download the PPSTN and start scanning when you get here. Please tell us about your trip. Maybe you can post updates while you are in Sk. Have fun!

 

[bush_man]

Yes for sure, there is a lot of real estate with unknown towers and other information that is missing, any help would be appreciated.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Anyone got any ARC396 files they'd care to share? I'm gonna start building my scanning list for my trip this summer. Getting' a head start on downloading the files from RR. But any help would be greatly appreciated.

Not being picky or anything, but I usually organize my list for, Provincial/City Policing Trunked systems, then onto fire/ems and etc.. whatever I can cram in. For conventional, I usually just put them into one folder and seperate the groups into Police/Fire/EMS etc..

Again, whatever I can cram into this radio I will try and do. Always nice to have them preprogramed for the road.

Also, not knowing the region, would like to know which counties I need to look into between Saskatoon and Regina.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Anyone? No? I know I can download it all my self. What I was hoping for was if someone already had one that I could edit for myself. I dont like how it imports the current info. All caps. Not personalized enough I guess. Which is kinda understandable. But the tags could be better.

 

[georgesharpe]

Maybe this should be a new thread, but it is now a fact. Not one syllable of ANY police conversation anywhere in SK is in the clear, now. All RCMP, and all city police services are all encrypted. However, do take heart, there is lots of aircraft, trains, businesses, transportation, etc., to be heard. I got my start in scanning with the air band in 1966, with a Zenith Multi-Band, so I've gone back to my "roots" so to speak.

 

[PhotoJim]

Can you listen to ham radio repeaters (2 metre and 70 cm bands)? Home has a list of all the Saskatchewan repeaters. (Get your ham license and you can even talk back. )

 

[VE5JL]

Maybe this should be a new thread, but it is now a fact. Not one syllable of ANY police conversation anywhere in SK is in the clear, now. All RCMP, and all city police services are all encrypted. However, do take heart, there is lots of aircraft, trains, businesses, transportation, etc., to be heard. I got my start in scanning with the air band in 1966, with a Zenith Multi-Band, so I've gone back to my "roots" so to speak.

I assumed as much as I turned on my radios (396T and XT) and all encrypted. EMS isn't, STARS isn't, and like you said, LOTS of other stuff to listen to. My first radio that could put up VHF /UHF was a big dial type. I used to listen to my work (Winnipeg Tribune) and the Police EMS etc on the weekends.

 

[IdleMonitor]

What is the PPSTN? And where would I find this?

Edit - found it. If I put this whole system as control channel only scanning. Will all these talkgroups fit into one system or should I make up multiple systems to track this as I travel.

What about rural areas? Are they all served by trunking systems or is there much vhf activity for fire depts ems etc?

You have the right tool for the job. Just download the PPSTN and start scanning when you get here. Please tell us about your trip. Maybe you can post updates while you are in Sk. Have fun!

 

[IdleMonitor]

I also would like to know what counties are pretty much between Saskatoon and Regina as those are primarily the areas I will be visiting along with Prince Albert SK. Not familiar with the areas so any help would be great to get a start on the sk programming of the right regions.

 

[VE5JL]

I also would like to know what counties are pretty much between Saskatoon and Regina as those are primarily the areas I will be visiting along with Prince Albert SK. Not familiar with the areas so any help would be great to get a start on the sk programming of the right regions.

There's a lot of stuff in between YQR and YXE as far as provincial stuff goes. I can still pick up some RCMP in the PA area.

 

[IdleMonitor]

What's the difference between these two systems?

City of Saskatoon Trunking System, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Scanner Frequencies

City of Saskatoon (Project 25) Trunking System, Saskatoon , Saskatchewan - Scanner Frequencies

 

[Jay911]

Other than the obvious, the P25 system is newer, and I think I've heard it will be interfaced with the provincewide P25 network in some fashion.

 

[IdleMonitor]

I Haven't checked out each individual County for conventional stuff as of yet, but which counties should I be checking out. Again, not familiar with the areas, which counties should I be looking at?

I also would like to know what counties are pretty much between Saskatoon and Regina as those are primarily the areas I will be visiting along with Prince Albert SK. Not familiar with the areas so any help would be great to get a start on the sk programming of the right regions.

 

[ryan433pk]

Police and Fire use the P25 system. Fire is being simulcasted from the old system. Police are all ENC.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Police and Fire use the P25 system. Fire is being simulcasted from the old system. Police are all ENC.

So all rural area fire departments are on this system? No regular vhf analog type stuff from them?

Ive built some files up. Thought it would be harder then it was but I have it ready amyways for my trip.

Other then the obvious systems in the database. Anything else that I could put n?

 

[mohjo]

156.855. This is the provincial simplex fire frequency usually used to talk to STARS. It is also used by a lot of volunteer fire departments as the they can't get money to have all of there radio's switched over to the ppstn. Dispatch for the volunteer fire departments is on the ppstn, but only the fire chief will have a radio for dispatch. Also some of the small towns will have there own simplex frequency, so in some cases the tafl will come in handy.

 

[IdleMonitor]

The frequency I had seen in the database was 156.850.

Here's the files that I had built from the database here. This is what I'm gonna be programming into the radio for the trip out there.

If anyone can check them out that would be great and perhaps help with making changes where necessary. They are built using ARC396 for my BC396T radio.

 

[IdleMonitor]

I checked TAFL and yeah it's 156.855 I'll put that in for sure, seems to be a common frequency. I'll search out fire channels in TAFL as well. There's a lot, but I'll weed through them or just put everything in, who knows what I'll hear. I have lot's of room for programming so...

156.855. This is the provincial simplex fire frequency usually used to talk to STARS. It is also used by a lot of volunteer fire departments as the they can't get money to have all of there radio's switched over to the ppstn. Dispatch for the volunteer fire departments is on the ppstn, but only the fire chief will have a radio for dispatch. Also some of the small towns will have there own simplex frequency, so in some cases the tafl will come in handy.

Thanks for the help and suggestions here folks, much appreciate this.

The areas that I know for sure I'll be in will be the South Qu'Appelle, Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert areas, so whatever I need from there and everything in between would be great.

Been awhile since I had to program my radio for a trip to a different area so it'll be interesting to see what I can pick up along my travels.

 

[IdleMonitor]

Thoughts on this file?

Here's the files that I had built from the database here. This is what I'm gonna be programming into the radio for the trip out there.

If anyone can check them out that would be great and perhaps help with making changes where necessary. They are built using ARC396 for my BC396T radio.