I have 4 scanners that I use regularly. Meaning, at least one is always on whenever I'm not at work: One is a Uniden Bearcat 800XLT base unit with the G/WIZ board installed. One is a Pro 43 hand held unit that also has a G/WIZ board installed. One is a PRO 2026 Mobile unit. And my last purchase is a PRO 2045 base unit with CTCSS board.
Most trunk following scanners are incapable of following the Ericsson system. Also, the long trailing squelch and tones are designed to discourage would be listeners. However, Most of the Sheriff Department's conversations can be heard with a few tricks.
First, you need a scanner capable of receiving the 800 megahertz band. Enter all the trunked frequencies in one bank of the scanner. Then, enter all the mobile frequencies in another bank. When you listen to the trunked frequencies, you are actually listening to everyone in the entire county. This includes the Sheriff Department, Fire/Rescue units, Animal Control, the Water Department, Dade City Police Department, and who knows what other agency is on the system. When you listen to the mobile units, you will only hear conversations of those on the system that are within close range to you.
If possible, I recommend that you have a G/WIZ board installed in your scanner. This modification will eliminate the long trailing squelch at the end of each conversation. It will also eliminate the beeps or tones at the end of conversations. The scanner will immediately resume scanning after each transmission.
If you can afford it, I also recommend that you have two scanners capable of 800 MHz reception with G/WIZ boards installed. Let me say here that I am in no way advertising the sale of these boards, only that I use them and they work great for me. (The scanning and computing hobbies are expensive if you enjoy them as much as me!).
Since there are 8 frequencies in use as of now, and there is one controlling frequency used for computer control of the system, if one were to scan only 3 frequencies on one scanner and 4 frequencies on the other scanner, just about all conversations would be heard. If action is taking place in your neighborhood, scan only the mobile unit frequencies and the Fire/Rescue unit frequencies.
The computer controlling frequency changes periodically and that frequency will need to be locked out to prevent the scanner from needlessly stopping on that channel. When the controlling frequency does change, simply lock out the new controlling channel and unlock the previous controlling channel. I hope this information will help you.
Last Updated on 7/16/98