Tallahassee / Leon County (2A6.BEE00)

nj13h

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Mar 5, 2022
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Hi all,

I’m pretty technologically challenged in this area, new to scanning. I’ve spent a good deal of time searching google, reading my unit’s manual, the police scanner subreddit, and still I’m pretty damn confused. If anyone is able to help me, it is much obliged, but if not, no worries.

So I’m operating on a most basic Uniden BC365CRS. I purchased it because crime is on the rise here and I am interested in tracking the number of shootings on weekends. I had no expectations to be able to tap into police chatter, but I did expect to be able to hear county EMS and city FD. I have found that, so far, in my few hours of tinkering, I can only hear KTLH ATC, the FG&AR depot comms, and on rare occasions, the local fire department through their local input frequency — nothing on their output of course.

From what I've read, fire, and EMS are all encrypted here and I will be unable to access their communications with my current scanner. What I’m hoping to ask is, would a more expensive scanner with enhanced capabilities be able to tap into the output frequencies of additional channels?

Apologize for the dilettante question here, but I’m really struggling. Just trying to get a grasp of this tech to keep track of public safety issues.

Thanks for any assist on this.
 

batdude

Florida Db Admin / Florida Forum Moderator
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East Central, Florida
Thanks for any assist on this.

A few things right off the bat. Your scanner is not capable of 800Mhz operation or any type of digital trunking.

That will prevent you from hearing anything happening on this system.

That said - we have some significant gaps in the RR dB for this system. Is it all 100% encrypted? No. But from what is available in the dB - it appears that most of the LE and Fire/EMS comms are encrypted. That doesn't mean they ALL are.

You are going to need to upgrade your scanner to something that can do P25 Phase 1 (minimum) digital trunking and go from there. I would offer that this system is simulcast (multiple sites transmitting the same information simultaneously) - and the only scanner that is capable of working well with these types of systems is the Uniden SDS100/200 series. They are not cheap. Programming them is a completely different paradigm than legacy channel #/freqency entries --- but youtube can help show you how this is done with the (free) Uniden Sentinel software.

I'll let someone closer to you up in the panhandle chime in here --- I am too far away to offer any insights on day-to-day monitoring of this system.



doug
 

nj13h

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Joined
Mar 5, 2022
Messages
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A few things right off the bat. Your scanner is not capable of 800Mhz operation or any type of digital trunking.

That will prevent you from hearing anything happening on this system.

That said - we have some significant gaps in the RR dB for this system. Is it all 100% encrypted? No. But from what is available in the dB - it appears that most of the LE and Fire/EMS comms are encrypted. That doesn't mean they ALL are.

You are going to need to upgrade your scanner to something that can do P25 Phase 1 (minimum) digital trunking and go from there. I would offer that this system is simulcast (multiple sites transmitting the same information simultaneously) - and the only scanner that is capable of working well with these types of systems is the Uniden SDS100/200 series. They are not cheap. Programming them is a completely different paradigm than legacy channel #/freqency entries --- but youtube can help show you how this is done with the (free) Uniden Sentinel software.

I'll let someone closer to you up in the panhandle chime in here --- I am too far away to offer any insights on day-to-day monitoring of this system.



doug

This is all really great info, I appreciate it! A helpful crash course for me, and thank you for taking the time to type it out.

I'll look into slightly more advanced scanner technology at a price point I can afford to try and see if I can wedge out some accessibility to local channels. The Uniden BCD325P2 is advertised as having support for Project 25 Phase 2 systems and it's a bit cheaper, so that might be a possible aim of mine, but I'm going to do research on the points you've made in your post first, and learn more about programming units.

Thanks again for the insight.
 

KB1UAM

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Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
1,032
Location
New Bedford,Ma
Can you monitor the Tallahassee Fire department on the city P25 system? I'm in town for 2 weeks. I know the Police are encrypted. I programmed all the talkgroups for Tallahassee Fire and haven't heard much comms. Is the Fire department encrypted as well?
 

tampabaynews

Keeping your PIO busy
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Jan 26, 2007
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Tampa, FL
Well, if you plugged in the fire/rescue talkgroups and don’t hear much… I’d say that answers your question.
 

flaw101

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Mar 11, 2012
Messages
96
Location
Fruit Cove, FL
Been listening to SJFRD and saw 20170 show up reporting a brush fire to "Flagler". Is this another Flagler FR talkgroup? Also seem to be testing a couple of new talkgroups on the system. I'll post as I find.

Frank K4WOW

///
 

dgoodson

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Dec 19, 2002
Messages
434
Location
Florida
You might hear some comms here:
Wakulla County 154.355
Jefferson County 453.675
Gadsden County 155.805
Thomas County 159.705
 

dgoodson

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Dec 19, 2002
Messages
434
Location
Florida
I happen to realize the half-dozen or so talkgroups used by the Star Metro transit agency have "gone silent". Gotta believe they still have a need to communicate, so I can't help but wonder if they have moved or implemented some other scheme. Star Metro isn't that interesting to monitor, but made me wonder if other users on the P25 system might be going/gone silent as well...

TIA
 
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