Traveling to LA

[SA_tx_88116]

I’m going to be heading to LA soon for a vacation and I would like to know about the frequencies and systems that LAPD use and LAFD use and I would also want to know about any other interesting stuff to monitor, for police I am particularly interested in all areas and departments I also would want to listen to detectives and CID, and Swat. Also does LAPD use any helicopter frequencies that you can listen to? And can I get a coverage map of all LAPD departments because I searched up the street names and I only got a rough estimate of their designated areas.And a majority of police comms are unencrypted right? At least that’s what I can tell from the database, it’s kinda funny to see LAPD running unencrypted frequencies since as long as they been around and yet my own crappy city of San Antonio just transitioned from EDACS with ESK to p25 phase 2 and encrypted almost everything law enforcement, it’s truly disappointing.

 

[Peter_SD911]

Best place to start is here. The good RR folks have compiled various list of exactly what you are looking for. It's all in the database.
Enjoy L.A. ....and lock your doors!

Scan Sexy

Los Angeles County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Los Angeles County, California (CA)

www.radioreference.com

 

[resnickm]

You will find most of this information on the RRDB LA County page. LAPD uses conventional P25 (480-506 range)
pretty much all unencrypted. They will occasionally switch to simplex for tactical comms etc, which you won’t be able
to hear unless you are very close. LAPD helicopters will communicate on whatever division channels are relevant for a given incident (they do have a frequency to communicate with the Hooper base but it’s really nothing particularly interesting)

LAFD uses conventional channels in the 800 range.

LAPD Division Map

Edit:
Are you staying within LA city limits? Not sure how familiar you are with LA, but there are over 80 municipalities in the county, many with their own agencies and channels (fortunately, many of these agencies use the ICI trunked system, making it slightly less of a headache). Some of these cities are enclaves, surrounded entirely by LA city, such as West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, etc. I would suggest doing some research to be clear on what agencies might appeal to you, or be more specific on here.

 

[ladn]

Use the RR database for frequencies as previously mentioned.

• LAPD is a very large department. There are multiple dispatch channels organized by area/division. Personally, I think monitoring the dispatch channels is a waste of time because of the unrelenting call volume. LAPD has a "hotshot" channel but even that gets annoyingly busy, especially if you have only one radio. I think it's more productive to monitor the Tac channels, plus Metro/SWAT and air support. Anything of significant interest will pop up there.
• LAFD is also very large with three dispatch channels. The EMS dispatch channel is nearly non-stop with paramedic calls and not worth monitoring. I'm in the San Fernando Valley area, so I don't usually monitor Ch. 7, the Metro dispatch channel. I monitor Ch 8, the valley dispatch channel, plush Ch5 for brush fires, and Ch3 for misc operations and channels 9-18 which are a mixture of tac and command channels. Like LAPD, anything significant will pop up there.
• LAFD works in conjunction with LA Co. FD and the USFS on brush fires. Usually these will switch to a separate comm plan involving the V-FIRE VHF frequencies. I actively monitor V-FIRE 21 because there's usually a dispatch-level announcement of a working incident and comm plan.
• CHP is interesting to monitor, especially if there's a pursuit. Pursuits usually switch over to the BLUE frequency.
• A lot of smaller cities are part of ICIS System which is trunked. Verdugo fire is the dispatch center and isn't encrypted, but some of the city PD's are. The system has very good coverage throughout the Los Angels area.
• Don't forget agencies such as the USFS and Coast Guard (if you're near the water). ANF is very active on their VHF system with routine visitor traffic, traffic accidents, rescues and fires. Marine Ch. 16 is worth having if you are close to the coast.
• VHF aero traffic is very active with LE, Fire and News Media helicopters. 123.025 is a good catch all along with listed agencies aero frequencies.

Happy listening!

 

[LAflyer]

The Los Angeles metro is massive and very rich RF environment.

I would focus on activity in the specific area of town that you will be visiting and staying in. Otherwise you will have a scanner going nonstop with activity for areas dozens of miles away.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

You will find most of this information on the RRDB LA County page. LAPD uses conventional P25 (480-506 range)
pretty much all unencrypted. They will occasionally switch to simplex for tactical comms etc, which you won’t be able
to hear unless you are very close. LAPD helicopters will communicate on whatever division channels are relevant for a given incident (they do have a frequency to communicate with the Hooper base but it’s really nothing particularly interesting)

LAFD uses conventional channels in the 800 range.

LAPD Division Map

Edit:
Are you staying within LA city limits? Not sure how familiar you are with LA, but there are over 80 municipalities in the county, many with their own agencies and channels (fortunately, many of these agencies use the ICI trunked system, making it slightly less of a headache). Some of these cities are enclaves, surrounded entirely by LA city, such as West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, etc. I would suggest doing some research to be clear on what agencies might appeal to you, or be more specific on here.

I am very familiar with LA because i do a lot of research about it I know most of the municipalities and areas and most of the surrounding cities. I’ve been to LA once but I only stayed in Hollywood

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Use the RR database for frequencies as previously mentioned.

• LAPD is a very large department. There are multiple dispatch channels organized by area/division. Personally, I think monitoring the dispatch channels is a waste of time because of the unrelenting call volume. LAPD has a "hotshot" channel but even that gets annoyingly busy, especially if you have only one radio. I think it's more productive to monitor the Tac channels, plus Metro/SWAT and air support. Anything of significant interest will pop up there.
• LAFD is also very large with three dispatch channels. The EMS dispatch channel is nearly non-stop with paramedic calls and not worth monitoring. I'm in the San Fernando Valley area, so I don't usually monitor Ch. 7, the Metro dispatch channel. I monitor Ch 8, the valley dispatch channel, plush Ch5 for brush fires, and Ch3 for misc operations and channels 9-18 which are a mixture of tac and command channels. Like LAPD, anything significant will pop up there.
• LAFD works in conjunction with LA Co. FD and the USFS on brush fires. Usually these will switch to a separate comm plan involving the V-FIRE VHF frequencies. I actively monitor V-FIRE 21 because there's usually a dispatch-level announcement of a working incident and comm plan.
• CHP is interesting to monitor, especially if there's a pursuit. Pursuits usually switch over to the BLUE frequency.
• A lot of smaller cities are part of ICIS System which is trunked. Verdugo fire is the dispatch center and isn't encrypted, but some of the city PD's are. The system has very good coverage throughout the Los Angels area.
• Don't forget agencies such as the USFS and Coast Guard (if you're near the water). ANF is very active on their VHF system with routine visitor traffic, traffic accidents, rescues and fires. Marine Ch. 16 is worth having if you are close to the coast.
• VHF aero traffic is very active with LE, Fire and News Media helicopters. 123.025 is a good catch all along with listed agencies aero frequencies.

Happy listening!

Swats unencrypted?

 

[ladn]

Swats unencrypted?

Yes. LAPD METRO/SWAT frequency is conventional FM. They also make use of cell phones and vehicle MDTs for sensitive information.

 

[NA-Producer]

I’m going to be heading to LA soon for a vacation and I would like to know about the frequencies and systems that LAPD use and LAFD use and I would also want to know about any other interesting stuff to monitor, for police I am particularly interested in all areas and departments I also would want to listen to detectives and CID, and Swat. Also does LAPD use any helicopter frequencies that you can listen to? And can I get a coverage map of all LAPD departments because I searched up the street names and I only got a rough estimate of their designated areas.And a majority of police comms are unencrypted right? At least that’s what I can tell from the database, it’s kinda funny to see LAPD running unencrypted frequencies since as long as they been around and yet my own crappy city of San Antonio just transitioned from EDACS with ESK to p25 phase 2 and encrypted almost everything law enforcement, it’s truly disappointing.

try LAPD Divisions - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times