sdh600 said:
Thanks for all the info. This is a great site. I am very new to this digital stuff and don't understand how all of it works yet. But I will get it figured out. I do have a question about it though. Maybe a stupid question to some of you. I was talking to a local Sioux Falls fireman the other day and he told me that with the new digital radios they are able to talk to their other firefighters that were out in the black hills fighting wild fires. He also said that they can hear and talk to other departments across the state. Does that mean that with a digital scanner I can hear departments from across the state if the scanner is programed correctly? Or can I only pick what is happening locally?
Thanks
Steve Hansen
Steve,
A real radio is able to "affiliate" with any talk group programmed into the radio anywhere on the system. A scanner is a passive device, it must rely on real radios being affiliated with the local tower for you to hear anything on the tower. Some things are affiliated on certain towers by programming (system programming). For example, your local INT talk group (whatever is used in your area) will appear on your local tower even if no one is affiliated with the tower. This allows for real radios to "scan" the INT channel for traffic when necessary without leaving whatever talk group they are currently monitoring.
What you need to do is click on the RR Wiki link at the top of the page, go to the Trunking page and then read both the Trunking Basics and Motorola information there. It will help you to better understand how it all works.
As for listening to things that are happening across the state, if that abuse continues, eventually BIT will "enforce" radio use discipline by denying out of area talk groups on towers by system programming. Then even when there is a valid reason to talk on something from a far distance away it will be impossible. BTW, I cannot think of a valid reason for this at any time, that is one of the defined purposes of the INT channels. As BIT "gently" put it in the training manual:
The radio has the capability of monitoring traffic anywhere in the state. Keep in mind, any outside traffic imported to your area ties up local resources and lessens capacity for local users. If you do not have specific business monitoring traffic from elsewhere, please consider not practicing this.
I suspect they are less inclined to tolerate the practice these days.