Scanning Annapolis

[Howiescans3215]

Hello: I just moved to Annapolis from New York last week. I have a BCD 436 HP. The radio programs itself and Anne Arundel County is definitely working.
My question is this: I don't see Annapolis Fire or police listed anywhere. Does anyone know if they are under the Anne Arundel P16 system ?

 

[u2brent]

Anne Arundel County, Maryland (MD) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Anne Arundel County, Maryland (MD)

www.radioreference.com

 

[u2brent]

The info your seeking is there in the notes:

Anne Arundel County (P16) Trunking System, Various, Maryland

Anne Arundel County (P16) Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[maus92]

Annapolis Police Dept has several tgs on the county system. The Annapolis Fire Department operates on the county system using county tgs generally assigned to the southern area of the county. The police department is pretty entertaining - hopefully they will remain in the clear when the P25 system becomes operational.

 

[Howiescans3215]

Thank you for your response. Since I'm not a premium user, Annapolis doesn't appear. On the scanner, how would I even know if Annapolis Fire and police are being scanned ?

 

[maus92]

Thank you for your response. Since I'm not a premium user, Annapolis doesn't appear. On the scanner, how would I even know if Annapolis Fire and police are being scanned ?

I strongly suggest that you create a Favorites list for the county, and customize your programming rather than using location based programming. The Sentinel software is free as are updates to its database. There is a member in the Maryland forum who will probably read this thread and can send you a well crafted Favorites list for AACo / Annapolis. In the meantime, set the radio to ID Search, which will play all talk groups that are not specifically locked out by the user. The database in your radio will have the ID tags associated with the tgs so you should see the Annapolis Police come up as "APD xxxx" if you have the correct service types enabled. The Anne Arundel County Police Southern District also covers parts of Annapolis that are not incorporated, and the Maryland State Police Glen Burnie Barrack tg controls Annapolis Barrack Troopers (J-units). You will need to know the Annapolis Fire Dept station / unit numbers as they will be heard on the county fire talk groups. Annapolis station numbers are 35 (Forest Drive), 36 (Eastport), 38 / 39 (combined in Taylor Ave) and 40 (West Annapolis VFD) plus county station 8 (Annapolis Neck). Unit numbers are prefixed with the station number, i.e. Engine 351, Truck 39 etc. All dispatch for the county (and city of Annapolis) happens on Alpha; Ops tg for the Annapolis area is Charlie. Box Alarms would be on India, Kilo, Lima and Mike. Water Rescue Boxes and Special Operations responses are on Juliette.

 

[Howiescans3215]

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[tvengr]

Here is an Anne Arundel County favorites list file for you to try. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Go to the File tab in Sentinel and click on Import from hpe file (Favorites List). Click on New Favorites List and name it: AnneArundelCo MD Click on OK. In the Downloads folder, open the extracted file. It will appear as a favorites list in Sentinel. Department quick keys as follows:

DEPARTMENT QUICK KEYS:

0. County Interop

0. County Emergency Ops

1. County Fire/EMS

2. BWI Airport Fire

3. County EMS/Hospital

4. County Fire Training

5. County Fire Misc

6. County Police

7. County Sheriff

8. Annapolis Police

9. MD State Police

 

[Howiescans3215]

Thanks very much

 

[Howiescans3215]

Since I just moved in, I am getting mostly settled in. I will at some point soon, check out the Sentinel software. My familiarity was only with an analog Motorola trunked system back in NY so I have a lot to learn. After seeing your response with Annapolis police listings, I put in the police ID #'s and now I am receiving Annapolis PD which I am grateful for. If you have a few ID #'s for Annapolis fire, that would be great. I have not seen any website out there that specifically lists Annapolis, just Anne Arundel.
I would think because they are public service frequencies, they would be listed without having to have a membership. Once my apartment is unpacked I look forward to checking out the software. thanks again, Howie R. Annapolis

 

[u2brent]

You can take a look here. FWIW.

Anne Arundel County (MD) - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[maus92]

Since I just moved in, I am getting mostly settled in. I will at some point soon, check out the Sentinel software. My familiarity was only with an analog Motorola trunked system back in NY so I have a lot to learn. After seeing your response with Annapolis police listings, I put in the police ID #'s and now I am receiving Annapolis PD which I am grateful for. If you have a few ID #'s for Annapolis fire, that would be great. I have not seen any website out there that specifically lists Annapolis, just Anne Arundel.
I would think because they are public service frequencies, they would be listed without having to have a membership. Once my apartment is unpacked I look forward to checking out the software. thanks again, Howie R. Annapolis

There are not any operational tgs specifically for the Annapolis Fire Dept as they operate on the county fire tgs. There are one or two administrative tgs for AFD, but are pretty boring.

 

[Howiescans3215]

Thanks for the info.

 

[tvengr]

If you have a few ID #'s for Annapolis fire, that would be great. I have not seen any website out there that specifically lists Annapolis, just Anne Arundel.

If you download and install Sentinel, the favorites list has all of the fire talkgroups. http://info.uniden.com/UnidenMan4/BCDx36HPSentinel

 

[Howiescans3215]

If you download and install Sentinel, the favorites list has all of the fire talkgroups. http://info.uniden.com/UnidenMan4/BCDx36HPSentinel

Thanks. I will definitely do that and appreciate your feedback.

 

[Howiescans3215]

Now that I have been in Annapolis since early October, I have been able to customize my BCD436HP. I listen to police, fire and EMS for Anne Arundel County as well as Annapolis PD and the med channels. Sometimes the audio on the digital channel is a drop hard to understand; but usually it is fine, For example, when fire dispatches a call it sounds like they're saying: "Tucker Charlie or Tucker Bravo." and then another dispatcher enunciated more clearly and I heard "talk group Charlie". So I figured that's what it was- talk group. I am used to my 2 prior analog trunk trackers which I enjoyed for years. I also missed the squelch tails, which seemed to be disliked by both. Overall, the digital scanner is doing it's job pretty well, so far.

 

[maus92]

It is "Talk group Charlie" - or Bravo, Lima, Kilo, etc. A few years ago, the talk groups were simply referred to as "Bravo", "Charley", etc. but the new Fire Communications director decided to prefix "Talk Group" to the channel name for some reason. Anne Arundel is an old system, one of the first Smart Zone systems in the state. The digital voice on the Smart Zone system (mostly police) requires a good quality talk-in signal, meaning the field units must "hit" a receive site with enough energy to provide a good BER. There are also some interference channel pairs that are being replaced / deprecated, so received signal quality should improve (theoretically) with the new P25 Phase 2 system. The bad news for you is that it will not play nicely with the 436, so be aware.

 

[Howiescans3215]

Thanks for the heads up. Since I bought the 436 last summer, I'm not spending a fortune to upgrade to the SDS100. Even though I've been scanning for 40+ years, I do not have the vast technical knowledge that you have.. One positive is that I am high up in an apt. building in Annapolis and the 436 receives well. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[maus92]

Thanks for the heads up. Since I bought the 436 last summer, I'm not spending a fortune to upgrade to the SDS100. Even though I've been scanning for 40+ years, I do not have the vast technical knowledge that you have.. One positive is that I am high up in an apt. building in Annapolis and the 436 receives well. Thanks for your feedback.

Simulcast "distortion" occurs when a non-optimized receiver captures signalling from multiple transmit sites almost simultaneously. The county is moving from 10 high power simulcast sites to 22 lower power, lower HAAT sites. Elevation is likely not going to be advantageous. However, you might get lucky if your building is equipped with a BDA. I guess you'll find out. Good luck!