Summertime usually means vacations, and that means taking your scanner on the road. Planes, trains, and automobiles can get you where you want to go, but being able to monitor can make for a more enjoyable and often safer trip.

Preparation is the key. First, map out the areas you'll be traveling to, and any interesting areas along the way. Then locate frequencies for those areas.

Finding Frequencies

The traditional method for finding frequencies is to use a publication such as Police Call. My 2001 Edition is well used, and I'd recommend bringing a copy of the proper volume along on your trip. It doesn't need batteries and there's room to make notes or update listings. Also, if the fish aren't biting or you're stuck in your tent during a rain storm you can pass the time by reading the Listener's Guide in the front section of the publication, which provides an excellent introduction to radio monitoring in general and scanning in particular. There's also a separate section on trunked radio systems.

The computer age has brought us an alternative way to locate specific frequency and talkgroup information, and that is via the World Wide Web. A number of websites cater to the trunked radio listener, and I'll list a few of the more popular ones here:

I would also recommend using a search engine such as www.google.com, which may help to locate frequencies not easily found elsewhere. Using keywords like "trunked" and "talkgroup" along with the city or county of interest will often turn up a wealth of information.

Conventional Frequencies

Besides state and county police, don't forget about federal agencies. For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service are two organizations that may be involved in survey, protection, and even rescue operations during the summer. Warm dry weather often means forest fires out west, and frequencies used by the U.S. Forest Service are often busy with firefighting traffic.

Fish and Wildlife Service may be found at 34.8100 and 34.8300 MHz, as well as 408.6750, 408.7500, and 410.6250 MHz.

If your scanner doesn't already have it built in, you may want to add the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather frequencies. NOAA operates more than 500 radio stations across the country, broadcasting weather forecasts and alerts 24 hours a day. The seven nationwide frequencies are 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz.

I'd be interested in hearing about other frequencies, whether trunked or conventional, that you're using during your summer road trips.

Project 25 Scanner in the works

At the end of April, Uniden America announced they are expecting to manufacture a scanner capable of decoding trunked Project 25 radio signals within a year or so. Their primary customer focus for this new scanner appears to be news gathering organizations, who are increasingly shut out from police and fire radio transmissions due to the digital nature of Project 25 and the current lack of consumer digital receivers.

Also, at the Dayton Hamvention in May, the ScannerMaster booth had a sign reading

This Drop-in Board is apparently the long-rumored addition to the Uniden Bearcat 780XLT scanner and is being developed by Greg Knox and Rich Barnett.

Uniden expects that public safety agencies may move to encrypted communications once Project 25 scanners become widely available, in order to maintain the relative privacy from scanner listeners they now enjoy. Encrypted signals would be illegal to monitor under federal law, but Uniden speculates that news organizations may petition to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make an exception for public safety systems paid for by public tax dollars.

In addition, even though Motorola, the primary manufacturer for Project 25 equipment, would be happy to sell encryption devices to public safety agencies, it's not clear that counties and municipalities will be willing to spend additional dollars in the face of public opposition. Only time will tell.

Fleet Map Programming

Dan,

When it comes to actual scanner programming, I am still unclear about how to use a Fleet Map. For instance, I am attempting to program Jefferson County in Arkansas. The web site shows

Fleet Map: B0 = S13; B4 = S12; B6 = S12

Hence, B0 uses 4 blocks, B4 uses 2 blocks and B6 uses 2 blocks for a total of 8.

If I am required to program all eight blocks, what do I put into the scanner? For instance, what would go into the first block? Would this be S13?

I am assuming that B1, B2, B3, B5, B7 are left without any entry. The way I understand this, only three entries are required to finish the fleet map. That is, B0, B4 and B6. I have both a BC245 and Pro-90.

Am I on the right track? Sorry, I am substandard in my understanding of this left-brained process.

David

David, don't feel bad. Fleet Maps can be rather confusing at times, but you are indeed on the right track.

Jefferson County, Arkansas, and the city of Pine Bluff use a Motorola Type I analog system. I have conflicting frequency information: one source shows 856.2375, 856.9625, 857.2375, 857.9625, 858.2375, 858.9625, 859.2375, 859.9625, 860.2375, and 860.9625 MHz in use, the other reports only 856.4625, 857.4625, 858.4625, 859.4625, and 860.4625 MHz. Perhaps David or another Arkansas monitor can clarify the situation.

In any case, the Fleet Map information of B0 = S13, B4 = S12, and B6 = S12 breaks down like this. Recall that there are eight blocks in a Type I system. Each block has an associated size code, which can range anywhere from S-1 to S-14. Most size codes fit in a single block, except for S-12, S-13, and S-14. S-12 fits in two blocks, S-13 fits in four blocks, and S-14 fits in eight blocks.

For the Jefferson County system, then, all eight blocks are taken up by the three size codes. Blocks 0, 1, 2, and 3 contain size code S-13, blocks 4 and 5 hold S-12 and blocks 6 and 7 hold a second S-12. A size code of S-12 allows for up to 16 subfleets and 1024 individual unit identifiers. S-13 also supports 16 subfleets but can have as many as 2048 individual identifiers.

More information about Fleet Maps can be found in my August 2000, Tracking the Trunks column.

Instructions for programming fleet maps into the BC 245XLT begin on page 56 of the Owner's Manual. None of the sixteen predefined fleet maps match the Jefferson County system, so you'll need to create a "User Defined" fleet map. To do this on the BC 245XLT perform the following steps:

1. Be sure the proper frequencies are already programmed into a selected bank.
2. Turn on the radio.
3. Press and hold the [TRNK] button until BANK and TRUNK begin flashing.
4. Select the trunking bank you wish to use.
5. Use the [Down/Limit] button until E1 appears in the display.
6. Press the [E] button.
7. Press the [DATA] button. E1P1 should appear in the display.
8. Press the [Down/Limit] button until USr appears in the display.
9. Press the [DATA] button. b0 should appear on the left side of the display, indicating that the radio is waiting for the size code for block 0. In the center S-0 should appear, indicating that block 0 is currently set to a size code of 0.
10. Press the [Up/Hold] or [Down/Limit] button until S-13 appears in the center of the display.
11. Press the [E] button. This selects size code S-13 for block 0. The radio should now display b4 on the left side of the display and S-0 in the center. It has automatically skipped blocks 1, 2, and 3, since they're taken up by the S-13 in block 0.
12. Press the [Up/Hold] or [Down/Limit] button until S-12 appears in the center of the display.
13. Press the [E] button. This selects size code S-12 for block 4. The radio should now display b6 on the left side of the display and S-0 in the center. It has automatically skipped block 5 since it is taken up by the S-12 in block 4.
14. Press the [Up/Hold] or [Down/Limit] button until S-12 appears in the center of the display.
15. Press the [E] button. This selects size code S-12 for block 6. The radio should now display b0 on the left side of the display and S-13 in the center. It has automatically skipped block 7 since it is taken up by the S-12 in block 6.
16. Finally, press the [SEARCH] button to exit the programming mode and begin searching for the control channel.