To BCD396T or not to BCD396T

[ILikeHatchChili]

Hello All,

This is my first post on RR.com. I live in Las Cruces, NM and have been a police scanner listener for some time. The trunk radios I have now are a BC245XLT, a BC780XLT, and a PRO-95. I am thinking about getting a BCD396T or a BR330T. From the Uniden specs and reviews and post, I think I know the features about both, compared to the trunk radios I now have. I have a few questions for you in this area (Las Cruces, El Paso, WSMR, Deming, Alamogordo).

(1) are there any digital trunking in this area for which I could use the 396T?

(2) is the buzzing in the WSMR Motorola trunking digital voice or digital data? Besides this buzzing and analog voice transmissions, I also hear white noise transmissions (probably encrypted voice or data?)

(3) I saw a recent post in RR.com about the El Paso Fire Department going digital. They are currently with the police and the rest of the City of EP on a Motorola 800 MHz trunk system. I assume that means the police and perhaps others will be on the same digital trunking system. Will that new system be one that the 396T can follow, or one like the Albuquerque PD is on which the 396T cannot follow?

(4) For those cruising down South Telshor Blvd.. do you get horrendous interference whenever you hear a city PD (EDAC) transmission? Really bad on the blvd from Mesilla Valley Mall to Memorial Medical Center Do you think this is the reason for Nextel having to reband some folks down to the 700 MHz band?

What I want to know for myself is: can I now, or in the near future, use the digital trunking feature of the 396T in my area. I am hoping someone is privy to this information. Thanks in advance for your input.

Peter

 

[boate8]

RE: WSMR Noise

Hey, I just got s RS Pro-97. I plugged in the WSMR/HAFB freqs and codes and all I get is noise cyclic noise.

I am going to check the set up again. I used Win97 to program the scanner but it is my first use of scanners so I need to check if I got everything correct.

I commute from Alamogordo to the NASA site and i want to use the scanner to hear the WSMR security reports for the pass in the winter and we I get stuck at roadblocks.

RAY

 

[ILikeHatchChili]

Hi Boate8,

I have a PRO95, not a digital. I got some WSMR stuff, mostly project users who talk to each other or to other projects, and most importantly, to RANGE CONTROL, who maintains a current log of who is entering the range, etc. I live in LC and I can barely get a good signal from over the Organs and San Augustine Pass. A lot of transmissions are clear voice, and some are like noise, like a rattling. I do not know whether or not that rattling is digital voice as I do not have an APCO P25 scanner (will get one next week from CEI, though). I am not familiar with the PRO97, but this is how I get the WSMR stuff on the PRO95.

Control Channel: 410.15 (programmed this in a bank, specified Motorola trunking)
Base Freq: 406.00
Offset: 380
Step: 12.5 KHz

then I got all the clear voice ids by running a search (the + sign in the display indicating Bank Open) for a long time, saving only the ids with clear voice. After I saved enough ids, I closed the bank (the - sign in the display) and scanned.

I hope you like the 97. I ordered the Uniden BCD396T mostly because I like the I-Call feature.

73

Peter

 

[abqscan]

Yes, the WSMR is Digital and analog. When I was down there in April for the Air Show I didn't catch any encrypted comm's, but I'm sure the radios have the feature.

boate8, Your Pro-97 will not monitor the digital comms. Most of the HAFB is on the digital trunk system. The contractors will be on the analog side.

Just so you all know, the Pro-96/2096 will be on sale for $399 in November, So save $150 vs. the Uniden.

Erik

 

[andrew_m]

I don't get any noise when I drive down Telshore with my BCT8. El Paso is going to a ProVoice, like Albuq. But that will not be for another 5 years. Nice to see others in Las Cruces, I almost thought I was the only one in the city with a scanner.

 

[boate8]

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the freqs and info. I figured as much about HAFB being secured or digital.

There was a lot of activity tonight on the way some rolled a vehicle on 70 just passed Organ.

Nice to see a couple of other folks in the area.

I find scanning more enjoyable than listening to radio go in and out as drive from Alamo to Cruces.


Ray

 

[ILikeHatchChili]

Scanning Las Cruces

Ray and Andrew, yeah, it is nice to see others scanning LC. What else is there to scan in LC?
By the way, Ray, if Radio Shack loaded your 97 from their computer, there is one frequency in their data base that is incorrect for the LCPD. It is channel no. 3 (LCN 3). It should be 867.175 and not 867.150. As we speak, LCN 3 is currently the control channel (the control channel changes to another LCN once in a while). I sort of know the old timers at Radio Shack, and they know that I scan LCPD.

Andrew, the noise I am talking about when I go by Telshor and drive around the mall area is humming that suppresses the audio of only the LCPD receptions I get on both my Uniden and Radio Shack trunk scanners, which humming I do not get when receiving the SO or some other conventional transmission, like Checker Cab (well, what else is there to listen to?)

Andrew, I hope you are wrong about El Paso going Provoice... that's ruin me. I just invested into my first digital (the BCD396T). I understand that no hobbist scanner today is capable of decoding Provoice. How did you find that out? erroneous hearsay, I hope. If you can, try talking them out of using Provoice audio. BTY what is IPN dispatcher mean?

Ray, it is a long drag from Alamo to Nasa. I used to commute to WSMR from LC daily until I retired. You might think about XM, Sirius Radio, and amatuer radio along with your scanning hobby to keep you await and alert.

73,
Peter

 

[andrew_m]

Never heard the humm near the mall, checked that night, drove down to Missouri on my way to Vally Wal-Mart.

Linsay (owner of this site) said that El Paso is going ProVoice http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21577

IPN stands for Incident Paging Network http://www.incidentpage.net/
I'm a dispatcher for them, in other words when something big happens, like that shooting on University the other night, I go to the webpage, put in the info and it gets paged out to all the members. I'm not sure what the cost of membership is but if you a dispatcher and page out atlest 3 a month it's free. I could really use the help, i'm the only dispatcher in New Mexico, i think.

 

[boate8]

Thanks for the info

Peter,

I did not let RS program my scanner. I got my freqs off of this site. So my LCPD is correct. I have an IPOD for music, and as "KC5PIO" I will be added so radios to the car. I have been inactive for a while because I promised only one expensive hobby at a time.


Well, I sold the motorcycle so now I can devote resources to radios.


Ray

 

[zergg]

396t

Peter,

I live in Alamogordo, and sometimes work 48 hour shifts in O.B. at MountainView Hospital. I always take my 396T. 48 hours is to long to be without a scanner.
If you get the 396T you can program the White Sands Missel Range and Holloman and hear alot. You hear WSMR in Cruces, and Holloman as you go east on 70. I usually listen to the Edacs system and Holloman-WSMR Digital, while I work. I hear some El Paso as I go home.
I wish someone would come out with a scanner which would do El Paso's new system.

Dan

 

[ILikeHatchChili]

Dan,

I recently got the 396T, and love it. I immediately upgraded it and bought the BUTEL ARC 396 program which makes is so easy to program and manage files, and gives a better overall view of how systems and groups can be arranged.

I have the EDACS WSMR and EDACS HAFB programmed as separate systems but cannot hear either control channel on the Cruces side of SA Pass. Did you put both control channels and voice frequencies into ONE system? The way RR.com presents the data, the talk groups are shared.

Are you also listening to the WSMR Motorola TRS? Just program in the control channel: 410.15 and tell the scanner to Ctrl Ch only.
Control Channel: 410.15
Base Freq: 406.00
Offset: 380
Step: 12.5 KHz
I can hear this system in certain parts of Cruces, as I do the El Paso Motorola system. The WSMR Motorola TRS has both clear and P25 voice, but uses only 4 voice frequencies. I think that is why there is a long hesitation sometimes before a user gets a response. (system busy with other users at the same time).

Can you get the WSMR-Holloman digital TRS in the area of Mountain View?

BTW, what's in Alamo worth while listening to from Cruces? I get 155.76, and maybe 155.79? are these not NMSP?

Peter

 

[zergg]

Otero/Alamo

Peter,

The WSMR, and HAFB are Motorolla UHF digital systems, not EDACS. I enter the following control channels in, in CC only mode.
HAFB : 410.2250
WSMR : 407.1750
WSMR : 410.150
407.170 is a system which seems older, and has some analog traffic. the other information is the same, ie
Base : 406.000
Offset : 380
Step : 12.5
From MountainView I hear Digital traffic on both the 396T, and the PRO-96. When I travel I use a window mount antenna I got at eather Scanner Master or Scanner World. I use the BNC antenna from the radio for the window mount antenna.

Otero/Alamogordo frequencies are as follows.
Alamo DPS : 155.760
Otero Co. So : 154.680
Otero CO So Long range : 155.670
Otero Co Fire: 154.205
NMSP: 155.730 Mobile
NMSP: 155.790 Base
I need to put the rest of the Dona Ana Co frequencies in the scanners. I hear traffic on 156.210 and 158.???. I will look them up on the Site.

Hope this helps.

Dan