Just got a scanner... a few questions

[Ovencleaner]

I just purchased a Uniden BCT246 Analog Trunking scanner for my area, which is all analog.

I was wondering which banks would containt things like speedtraps, or calls about noise complaints etc.

I assume that Dispatch would be noise complaints, but what type of channels would I have greatest luck on for finding a big speed trap operation?

Also, If I enable all of the above banks for all areas of houston, will I hear them no matter what area I am in, or only when I get near the areas?

erickonphoenix, I know you have some information for me

[erickonphoenix]

Originally Posted by Ovencleaner

I just purchased a Uniden BCT246 Analog Trunking scanner for my area, which is all analog.

I was wondering which banks would containt things like speedtraps, or calls about noise complaints etc.

I assume that Dispatch would be noise complaints, but what type of channels would I have greatest luck on for finding a big speed trap operation?

Also, If I enable all of the above banks for all areas of houston, will I hear them no matter what area I am in, or only when I get near the areas?

erickonphoenix, I know you have some information for me

The undercover operation is usually on HPD's B9 Tactical channel, frequency 460.4000. But they also use B3 Tactical channel, freq 460.5250. Might be wise to monitor all the TAC channels.

Frequency Channel PL Tone Description
460.3250 A1 123.0 North Dispatch
460.1250 A2 123.0 Northeast/Kingwood Dispatch
460.0250 A3 123.0 Southeast/Clear Lake Dispatch
460.0500 A4 123.0 Southwest Dispatch
460.4250 A5 123.0 Citywide
460.1000 A6 123.0 Central Dispatch
460.3500 A7 123.0 Operations
460.2250 A8 123.0 Car-to-Car
460.5500 A9 123.0 South Central/Eastside
460.4500 A10 123.0 Detectives
460.4750 A11 123.0 Northwest Dispatch
460.1500 A12 123.0 West Dispatch
460.3750 B2 123.0 Tactical 1
460.5250 B3 123.0 Tactical
460.0750 B4 123.0 Tactical 3
465.3750 B6 123.0 Tactical 2
460.4000 B9 123.0 CID/Tactical
453.7000 B10 127.3 Bush Intercontinental Airport
460.5500 B11 National Law Enforcement Common
453.9000 B12 123.0 Hobby Airport/Ellington Field
465.2250 C1 123.0 SWAT
453.7000 N/A Houston PD Mobile Data Terminals (Data)

Also, I'm not sure how aggressive a driver you are but if you get your vehicle called in you won't know which channel that will come up on. So you want to keep that scanner spinning.

[Ovencleaner]

Thanks man, you freaking rock

I am not really that aggressive of a driver (never go above 90 in mild traffic), but I do want to be informed of possible calls against me.

The two main reasons I got the scanner was for when I throw parties at my appartment, I would be aware of dispatch coming my way, and to pick up on these undercover speed trap operations.

I just need to find a good antenna now... a mag mount.

[erickonphoenix]

Originally Posted by Ovencleaner

Thanks man, you freaking rock

I am not really that aggressive of a driver (never go above 90 in mild traffic), but I do want to be informed of possible calls against me.

The two main reasons I got the scanner was for when I throw parties at my appartment, I would be aware of dispatch coming my way, and to pick up on these undercover speed trap operations.

I just need to find a good antenna now... a mag mount.

Yeah, the mag mount is the way to go. I'm tossing my Larsen glass mount now that I have a metal car and going with the Mag mount.

good luck.

[erickonphoenix]

BTW: be sure to program 460.2250. That's car2car and can be fun if your sitting behind a LEO in traffic and you see him run a red light. Almost always car2car "lets get a burger" time. Hilarious.

[Loiosh]

As for your concerns, the Dispatch channels will be what you want to listen to most of the time. Here's how things usually go:
Dispatch: Traffic reports (motorist assist / traffic tickets location), Dispatches (1Baker 1 head to address), FD/PD interop
Operations: Special events (speed traps, SWAT/PD interop, hostage rescue, etc)
Tactical: LEO group discussions (to avoid talking too much on Dispatch), supervisor discussion
Car to Car: Patrol discussions, non-official business conversation
Citywide: POE (persons of interest) updates, major incident notification

Each PD has their own method of using their channels, but generally they tend to fall into those categories. What you're most concerned about will be on the Dispatch channels. That's where they'll report the location and license plate # of their traffic stops and where any reports will come in.

[Ovencleaner]

Scanner Frequencies: Southeast Texas Area Radio Network (STARNET) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas

It appears Precinct 5 Constables (One of the most common LEO's I run into doing traffic enforcment) is on this system "Star-NET"


Is there an option in most scanners to only listen to certain group ID's on a frequency?

For example:
10000 271 A HCCO5 Trafic Precinct 5 - Traffic Law Tac
I want to listen in to that, so I would need to program the ID into my scanner, and set it to only talk on that id?

[erickonphoenix]

Originally Posted by Ovencleaner

Scanner Frequencies: Southeast Texas Area Radio Network (STARNET) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas

It appears Precinct 5 Constables (One of the most common LEO's I run into doing traffic enforcment) is on this system "Star-NET"


Is there an option in most scanners to only listen to certain group ID's on a frequency?

For example:
10000 271 A HCCO5 Trafic Precinct 5 - Traffic Law Tac
I want to listen in to that, so I would need to program the ID into my scanner, and set it to only talk on that id?

Kind of. You can preset a bank of frequencies and label them ConstP5. Then park your scanner on that bank and let it focus there.

But frankly I'm not exactly sure how to set that up on the Pro97 because I've got so much overlap on my banks since I cross three counties.

[Ovencleaner]

Originally Posted by erickonphoenix

Kind of. You can preset a bank of frequencies and label them ConstP5. Then park your scanner on that bank and let it focus there.

But frankly I'm not exactly sure how to set that up on the Pro97 because I've got so much overlap on my banks since I cross three counties.

Haha yeah.

I just read a post over on RR.net about using the trunked system frequency offsets to see how close a signal is... pretty cool stuff!

[Ovencleaner]

Ok, I just got my scanner and am programming it.

I programmed HPD's conventional system.

I added harris county under a motorolla trunked 800 mhz system.

Scanner Frequencies: Southeast Texas Area Radio Network (STARNET) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas

Look how many frequencies there are for the area... am I supposed to add them all?