Understanding Talk Groups and Fleet Maps

[acab6]

O.K.......For all the people that have a problem with me I gotta say somethin. I got my first scanner 5 years ago, I got my PRO-94 a year ago. I've screwed around withh both of them ALOT. I've read the manual to my scanners ALOT. Ive read stuff all over this website and its links. So when I'm asking a question it's not because I'm lazy, it's cause I really dont understand how to figure it out. I've got a learning disability and this stuff is like a different language to me. The point of this website is to ask questions. If you find my questions retarded or frusturating then dont reply, no ones twisting your arm. I've got a few days off work, I wanna try and figure some things out on my scanner that Ive been trying to figure out for a long time, and then I willl leave all of you alone. So if you can help me, it's appreciated, and if you dont want to, then dont, but I dont wanna hear how I'm not trying hard enough, or that cause ***edit***....here's my question. I just programmed in the system frequencies for the Toronto Police. Is that all I can do, I mean, is that the best way I can listen to them on my PRO-94? I cant seem to understand what Talk Groups and Fleet Maps are for, or when and how I can use them or if they relate to what I've just programmed on my scanner? Also how can I figure out what is Off-set frquencies and base Frequencies to program in Motorolla VHF and UHF frequencies of the Toronto Police?

 

[EJB]

Enter in all the frequencies for a particular tower i.e. south tower.
Make sure your scanner is set to trunk Motorola Type 2.
There is no need for fleetnet on here or off sets and the like for the Toronto system.

Make sure you can hear the griding control channel on 863.21215 or its altnerate 862.9625.
If you can and you put your settings right then you can trunk.
Then enter in the t/g's you see fit. If you want to type in the police ones go ahead.
For example if you want to listen to 11 Division the talk group in 4112. You will also hear action for 12 Division.
4144 is the t/g for 13 Division and the Highway units.
If you wat to hear EMS action look at the list and type in25616 NW, 25648 NE, etc.
If you have room then enter in the Fire T/G's esp the first 6 Dispatch T/G's and the various zones E W N S.
All this info is in the database for Toronto.

You will find here that there are a great deal of people who will willingly help you, people who will take time and effort to do this but when you swear and get personnel you do not have a hope in hell for any help.

 

[acab6]

Thanks for trying to help me with this, and beleive me, I really am trying to wrap my head around this....Yes I can hear the griding control channel. I just read something in the wiki about programming t/g's in my PRO-94, it explains to me how to enter a talk group but what I dont understand is do I enter the t/g's in relation to a frequency or do I just enter all the t/g's I want to listen to? how do I tell which t/g is for which group of system freqs? I put south in one bank, west in the next bank, etc.. So in the wiki it says you must have your freqs programmed before you can program in your t/g's. So I have all the freqs for Toronto South in one bank, now do I just follow the directions on how to enter a t/g into that bank?Do I just enter in one t/g after another in any order? how can I tell if a t/g is for Toronto South or Tornto East? I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say...
I didnt mean to get personal, I just thought the whole thing was childish and started acting that way, but that's not why I'm here.......

 

[jellotor]

Context matters and often makes all the difference, acab6. You may not want to advertise your learning disability to others but on a forum on the intarweb it's often the difference between people thinking you are lazy and showing some restraint and then helping you.

Here's hoping the rest of the members here will give you a mulligan and a chance to start over.

 

[firefgtr]

Context matters and often makes all the difference, acab6. You may not want to advertise your learning disability to others but on a forum on the intarweb it's often the difference between people thinking you are lazy and showing some restraint and then helping you.

Here's hoping the rest of the members here will give you a mulligan and a chance to start over.

no worries

 

[EJB]

Acabe:
When working to enter the TPS radio system there are many ways to do it:
1) You can do it by tower i.e. enter in all the frequs for the East zone and then figure out which t/g's would be active.
Off the top of my head you can enter in 54/55 Div T/G (enter in 55D), T/G's for 41-43, all east zone t/g's for Fire and EMS T/G's for NE & SE as well as 25840. Destinator Co-ordinator.

Sout Zone is the busiest tower: I personally live in an area where I can get S zone and W and N but I generally use S.

If I had a 10 bank radio like the 94 I'd

1) South Zone Fire and EMS t/g's
2) South Zone Police T/G's.
3) West Zone Fire, PD divisions 21 &23, 31 Division(plus tac T/G's) EMS SW & NW.
4) North Zone-Police T/G's like 31, 32/33 (patched, type in 32's) NW and NE EMS & Fire T/G's for North Zone.

I think this is what you are asking: A note though South Zone is the busiest and at one time or another I have hears about each and every t/g whether or not it is 43 D or 23 D.

Eric

 

[acab6]

Alright, I think I'm getting it, thanks for all the help, sorry if I seem redundant...So your saying I should organize my scanner banks as different parts of the city, right?South for one bank, East for another, like I have already done. The only question I still have is this, How can I tell what division is in which part of the city, and all the other t/g's like tactical and others I cant think of right now, how can I tell if I should enter them in a South bank or East bank or North bank, etc. I guess I can find a map of Toronto somewhere saying which divisions are where but what about the rest, is there a way to tell or is it just surfing around on the internet trying to find out, asking questions and so on? Also I havent really looked at EMS and Fire but I imagine its similar to the PD, am I missing something or is it hard to tell which t/g goes where......

 

[SCPD]

For fire, check out this website by John Hanley: http://www.torontofirepics.com
The district maps will show you which stations are in which part of the city. Or go to the Toronto Fire website http://www.toronto.ca/fire/stations/index.htm to see which stations are in each area.
For EMS, the border between areas is roughly Yonge ST / Eglinton AV. For example, NE is generally the area north of Eglinton and east of Yonge.

Following up on Eric's post, I suggest you start with one zone - south if you can get the control channel because it's the busiest. Decide which talkgroups you want to listen to and start entering them into the banks.
EMS - SE, SW, NE, NW, Destinations, and anything else you think might be interesting.
Fire - I would start with the South Command TGs and the Dispatch TGs.
Police - start with the divisions downtown and the "old" city of Toronto - 51 to 55.

Try to keep each service in a separate bank - EMS in bank 1, fire dispatch in bank 2, fire south in bank 3, police in bank 4.

Once you get the south zone set up and become more comfortable and confident with programming your scanner, go ahead and do the same thing for the other zones you can hear the control channel for. You may have to do a bit of searching to figure out which talkgroups you want to listen to in each zone. For this I suggest putting the scanner in search mode instead of scan mode - you will see and hear lots of different talkgroups. Have the talkgroup list from Radio Reference handy - either on your computer or print a copy after clicking on the "List All" in one table. If you don't want to hear a talkgroup, lock it out. If you do want to hear it, write it down. Once you've listened for a while, take the list of talkgroups and decide which bank you want to put each of them in. Program them in and now start using the scan feature. If one day you only want to listen to police, turn off the fire and EMS banks.

I started with a basic 10 channel PRO-49 before most places went trunked.
Then I got a PRO-90 to listen to Police and Fire when Peel Region went to their Motorola Type 2 trunked system.
Now my primary scanner is the BC245XLT, which I bought to listen to analog Fleetnet. It's not the top of the line but it suits me just fine.
The programming manuals aren't very good if you're new to scanning, and the guys on this forum are great at answering questions of all types. Play around for a bit now that you have the channels programmed, and see what happens. If you have figured out how to enter talkgroups into banks, then really all you have left to do is decide what you want to hear and what you don't.

Good luck!

 

[jellotor]

Alright, I think I'm getting it, thanks for all the help, sorry if I seem redundant...So your saying I should organize my scanner banks as different parts of the city, right?South for one bank, East for another, like I have already done. The only question I still have is this, How can I tell what division is in which part of the city, and all the other t/g's like tactical and others I cant think of right now, how can I tell if I should enter them in a South bank or East bank or North bank, etc. I guess I can find a map of Toronto somewhere saying which divisions are where but what about the rest, is there a way to tell or is it just surfing around on the internet trying to find out, asking questions and so on? Also I havent really looked at EMS and Fire but I imagine its similar to the PD, am I missing something or is it hard to tell which t/g goes where......

You've got two options to help you figure out which division is which in Toronto. You can hit their website (http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/divisions/map.php) and/or check out the files section on the scanont yahoogroup. I recall there being a Toronto police map in one of the folders there.

 

[acab6]

Finally got it....................thanks

 

[69stiles]

One of my first scanners was a pro-94. I think most would agree that it is not the easiest to program. Lately the pro-93, pro-95, & pro-97 are becoming very inexpensive. They are also some of the easiest to program with winsoft software. Part of the fun of these things is getting them to sing the way you want them to but most of the fun is actually being satisfied with what's in there & just listening. I upgraded to radios that suit my time & needs better.

 

[acab6]

yeah, been thinking of upgrading as I have got my last scanner used and fairly cheap. How important is having a digital scanner for listening to police/OPP in Toronto??also alpha tagging, is that just for me to make up a name for a talk group so I can better see and remember who it is I'm listening too?

 

[EJB]

Yup, upgrading is prob a good idea.
The newer scanners allow you to listen in to anything broadcast save the rare encypted comms the OPP uses on occasion.
The newer scanners also allow you to use tags for your channels be it talkgroups or conventional ones.
As long as you have the smallest understanding of spreadsheets (excel) you can either create your own (using this website with ARC software) or making your own.

 

[acab6]

sounds quite intimidating actually, I still dont understand all the things this old scanner I got has to offer...For some reason I have a really hard time with these things......