What is best scanner to buy for Ottawa police

[VE3RADIO]

Sounds like you're new at this, so can I suggest you figure some things out before the
radio gets shipped?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong; but doesn't an EDACS radio programmed as a system
require a system key? People authorized shouldn't be giving these out to just anybody,
and if somebody's offering to use one who shouldn't have it, I wouldn't go there
(and I don't want to know about it).

Then it's reduced to scanning system frequencies manually; not sure how well
that would work in this case.

Second point, do you know which talkgroups to get programmed (if you have one
chance, without having to send it back and likely pay). The RR Database has some
specifc/dated info, but there's a whole lot of digital TGs not listed (dozen or two). I don't know
what they all are, but anyone who runs ETRUNK or UniTrunker can see them.
I suspect people who know keep this fairly quiet. Up to now, ability to monitor
clear Provoice has been fairly limited, but is now opening up with DSD software,
although getting a trunked setup is not a pushover.

As for TX disabled, great, hope it is done correctly. Possible consequence if it's
not, are radio interefering with the system, and likely getting shut down over the
air ("bricked") which will render it as a bookend.

Last; EDACS is on the chopping block. Harris (or should I say, Harris/Tyco/Macom/
Com-Net/Ericsson-GE) (did I miss any? ) will support what's there for now, but eventually
Ottawa has to switch to something else (P25 is one rumoured); system is now ~15 years old.

Dave

Let me clear the air, the dispatch talkgroups for the most part are accurate..

As for EDACS you do not need a system key to program a radio unless the system is using ESK (Ottawa is not).. you are getting confused with Motorola systems, secondly edacs radios can be setup to not transmit as it is a feature built in to the radios.

The short of the answer is that if you need to come on here and ask how to do it you probably are not qualified to be doing so and I would advise against it as if you were to set it up wrong you could cause problems and could find yourself in trouble should the radio transmit.

 

[ou10-4]

Thanks WZ1! As I mentioned earlier, I won't do any of the programming part myself and will leave that to a pro before having the radio shipped. If you say I can rely on the talk groups found on RR (for the most part at least..) is there any reason you would advise against purchasing an LPE in order to use it strictly as a scanner?

 

[VE3RADIO]

Thanks WZ1! As I mentioned earlier, I won't do any of the programming part myself and will leave that to a pro before having the radio shipped. If you say I can rely on the talk groups found on RR (for the most part at least..) is there any reason you would advise against purchasing an LPE in order to use it strictly as a scanner?

Yes.. mainly because unless you know enough to program it yourself you will never know if the radio was programmed correctly. Even if the radio is done by a "pro"... just because it may work does not mean that the guy who set it up did so the right way.

As for the talkgroups.. Ottawa Fire are confirmed correct, and the three main Police Dispatch groups are correct..(East, Central, West) and OC Transpo Law.

 

[DaveH]

As for the talkgroups.. Ottawa Fire are confirmed correct, and the three main Police Dispatch groups are correct..(East, Central, West) and OC Transpo Law.

Assuming OFS is correct is a pretty safe bet (being analog), so that leaves four Provoice TGs.

I've seen recent digital (dec.) TG hits in the following ranges, which are mostly not listed in the DB:

340's
350's
360's
390's
low 400's
780's
low 800's
low 900's

...and probably some other small sub-ranges.

TGs listed in the 290's have not seen a hit here in years.

Granted, not all of these are OPS; mix of Airport Security (apparently no longer on 314),
Military Police, RCMP, Commisionaires, and likely City property security and other uses.

I'm not much of a cop listener, so not inclined to chase any of these down, though
somebody may want to.

Dave