Trip to Philadelphia

[sffire]

Hi All,

I am planning a trip to Philadelphia at the end of July, 2010. I am a fire buff and I hope to bring my Uniden BC246T scanner during the trip. I am not sure if this will work not knowing if the fire dept is using digital or analog. Would appreciate any help on this and to set up my scanner for this trip.

Thank you in advance.

Milt

 

[nursepen]

Philly fire and police both are digital

 

[Benzman66]

And also encrypted I believe.

 

[trap5858]

Only certain talk groups are encrypted. Most police transmissions are in the clear and the fire and ems dispatches are in the clear. The fireground talkgroups are encrypted and some detective talkgroups also.
If you are just coming to Philly there is not going to be a lot to listen to outside of marine and air band freqs. Medical helicopters are available on a conventional scanner as well. Most of the surrounding counties are also now digital.

 

[fourthhorseman]

And also encrypted I believe.

Not full encryption,but yeah its digital so your going to need the appropriate
hardware to RX..
However,PPD is digital,But state PD,and many of the surrounding areas are
analog an you should be able to hear.

SEPTA
DELCO LAW
CamdenPD-NJ
NJSP
PSP
College PD-UPenn/Temple ect
FPS
PATCO PD

and on the septa band you can catch the citywide flash for
for priority calls,usually like crowd fighting on the highway,
person with a gun,shots fired,ect...

theres plenty to hear when visiting,philly is a major metro city
and were pretty,,lets say,,busy..lol...

Oh and dont forget the philly flash mobs,,

mssg me if you have any Qs..

 

[sffire]

I will be listening to fire, are all the area fire departments digital or encrypted?

 

[ocguard]

I will be listening to fire, are all the area fire departments digital or encrypted?

The database is quite accurate for the area.

Philadelphia Fire Department is all digital with some encryption

Delaware County fire uses UHF-T band conventional analog repeaters

Montgomery County is using Smartnet 800mhz mixed-mode (most fire talk groups are digital, but you will sometimes hear analog), and there are conventional analog dispatch frequencies

Bucks County is using a Smarnet 500mhz system all digital but there are conventional analog dispatch frequencies

Chester County's 800mhz system is not track-able but there are conventional dispatch frequencies to listen to

New Castle County (Delaware) is using 800mhz all-digital and also has conventional dispatch frequencies.

I recommend visiting the database and loading the conventional dispatch frequencies for those countys using digital, as well as all of Delaware County's frequencies.

 

[ocguard]

Here is a link to what Radioreference considers the "Philadelphia Metro Area"
Philadelphia Metro Area Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference