Hobbyists helping hobbyists.
No attempts to lure you to a pay site.
No annoying pop-up ads.
No software which disables in 30 days unless you pay me money.
Not everyone on the internet is a greedy profiteer!
Also contains a lot of answers to the question, If it's not plain voice, what is it?
Read on!
21 May 2008 - After several years of letting this site languish, work to purge outdated information, and monitoring to collect new, is actively under way. The background color of updated pages will be changed from grey to yellow, to differentiate recent versus old information...Stay tuned...
Utah statewide interagency frequencies
Rural Nevada and the NHP
Northern California
Utah Forestry frequencies
Amateur Radio in Utah
My signaling page: CTCSS, trunking, encryption, paging
My equipment page
This page is intended for the radio hobbyist who realizes there is a lot more on the air to listen to than just the local police and fire dispatch. What I hope to accomplish is to learn through sharing. I put what I know on the table, others do likewise, and we all come away with more complete information than we started with. Information I receive will only be posted if permission is given.
I have made an effort to only include repeater output and simplex frequencies in my lists. Programming repeater input frequencies into a scanner is more of a hindrance than a help. CTCSS codes, not given in most scanner directories, are listed here. If your receiver is capable of CTCSS operation, this is a very effective way of eliminating the intermod problems that plague most scanners when you attach a decent antenna.
Exact frequencies and exact frequency ranges are highlighted in green, except when they appear in message headers. Approximate frequencies are not highlighted.
I have not published every frequency I know or suspect is in use, particularly in those areas of the state where I have never been, or haven't been to in years. If you don't see what you are looking for, email and ask.
You don't want to be confronted by the police, and your fellow hobbyists don't want systems to be made unmonitorable with encryption or voice scrambling, or laws against mobile scanning passed in this state.
If you really want to be there, explore opportunities as a search and rescue or media volunteer. Our hobby is already viewed by many with suspicion. One US Representative went as far as to characterize us as "electronic stalkers". Showing up, scanner in hand, but with no credentials or legitimate purpose, can only serve to perpetuate the idea that we are some kind of a problem.
Public safety workers have a difficult job to do. Let's let them do it. We certainly don't give them any reason to fear that we might get in their way.
With options such as Nextel, the federal bands (listed later on this page) have only a fraction of the signals on the air they once had. The US Government is actively implementing digital voice technology, and removing the analog systems they had been using. The standard being used is APCO Project 25 (commonly called P-25, sometimes called Motorola Astro). Encryption has become common since 9-11, though it is not universal. When not encrypted, P-25 can be monitored with what is marketed as a "digital scanner" (PRO-96, PRO2096, BC796D, BCD996T, PSR-500, PSR-600).
Previous to the change, the only agency which did not follow a uniform nationwide frequency list was the FBI. Now, the old frequency lists, available in abundance on usenet and on the web, are obsolete, and we monitoring hobbyists are back to square one, searching the federal bands for unencrypted traffic and trying to figure out who the user is.
The Valley Emergency Communication Center handles 911 service for most of the Salt Lake Valley.
Most Wasatch Front public safety communications are now found on these two systems:
Trunking System 7202, Utah Communications Agency Network
Trunking System AC33, Salt Lake City PD, Fire, Airport, and city services
Operations which who have not moved to one of these systems (or which still simulcast on their old frequencies) are listed on:
Salt Lake County non-trunked public safety frequency list
Weber/Davis Counties non-trunked public safety frequency list
Utah County non-trunked public safety frequency list
Cache Valley (link)
The LDS Church operates Motorola 800 MHz trunking system 3D38. This is simulcast from both Curry Peak and the roof of the Church Office building. Temple Square missionaries and maintenance personnel are the users most commonly heard. Security cannot be monitored due to encryption. They also have a digital paging system on 462.9 MHz. Most of the 460 MHz frequencies they once used have been abandoned.
Nextel Direct Connect has taken the place of two-way radios for many businesses, though radios still do have their niche in the market. A complete listing of frequencies or trunking information for every company in the valley using 2-way radios would not be possible. Radio companies are not about to release a list of all of their customers to the general community. There are, however, considerable resources available for determining information.
Recent Uniden scanners, with the Close Call feature, are an invaluable tool. The FCC database can also be useful
If the company in question is using radios just for a specific site, with no apparent long range capabilities, then you should listen for them on FRS or GMRS. If you do not find them, the next place to check is the following MURS and itinerant frequencies: 151.625 MHz, 154.57 MHz, 154.6 MHz, 464.5 MHz, 464.55 MHz, 469.5 MHz, 469.55 MHz, and 853.4875 MHz.
Statewide, 2-meter repeater outputs can be found from 145.21-145.49 MHz and 146.62-147.38 MHz in 20 KHz steps. 440 MHz repeater outputs can be found from 447-450 MHz in 25 KHz steps. The vast majority of ham activity above 30 MHz in this state can be found in these two bands.
My Salt Lake Valley Amateur Radio Page
220 MHz
Utah Amateur Radio Club's Home Page
Many of the frequencies used by public safety agencies before they moved to 800 MHz are now used for voice paging of fire personnel. My conventional public safety frequency lists (above) include these.
Most digital paging systems operate in the 929-930 MHz and 931-932 MHz range, with POCSAG and Flex protocols. There is no voice paging in this band. What remains below 900 MHz is mostly fire, hospital, and county government owned systems (voice and/or digital).
Sample audio files (wave format).
Digital paging system frequency list.
Low band is almost entirely unused in Utah.
Used for site-to-site linking purposes. Mostly digital, voice systems are rare.
Civilian aircraft
Federal government/military frequencies from 138-144 MHz, 148-150.775 MHz, and 162-174 MHz are well worth exploring.
150.775-162 MHz contains a mix of public safety, business, railroad, and marine. This band is still used by UHP and Sheriffs in areas of the state where the UCAN 800 MHz system has not yet been built out. Unlike the rest of the bands, there is no standard offset for repeater input/output. If a repeater is in use, your Close Call equipped scanner will give you the input frequency. There is no way to determine the output on site, but you will at least be able to hear one side of the conversation. When you get home, a search of The FCC database will tell you the output.
Historically, business users in this band were not allowed to use repeaters. Recently this has changed. In addition, there is at least one LTR format trunking system in use.
The 222-225 MHz amateur band is largely unused, though there are a few repeaters around the state. The Intermountain Repeater Emergency Amateur Network operates a network of linked 222 MHz systems throughout Utah.
Military aircraft.
In some areas of the country, 380-406 MHz has been reallocated to the 406-420 MHz UHF Federal band.
Federal government/military frequencies from 406-420 MHz are also worthy of exploration.
State/County/Local government are assigned 453-454 MHz and 460-460.625.
Trunking has been given approval in the 451-455 MHz and 461-465 MHz ranges, and most radio companies in the valley operate LTR Format commercial systems.
Above 450 MHz, all repeater inputs are exactly +5 Mhz above the output.
In use in some parts of the country. California is one of them, Utah is not.
Along with the mandate for television stations to cease analog broadcasts on 17 February 2009, they are also required to vacate channels 60-69, creating what is referred to as the 700 MHz band. In addition, they have been "asked" to "voluntarily" clear channels 52-59, freeing up 698-746 MHz.
Public safety has been assigned 769-775 MHz for P-25 digital voice output frequencies, and 799-805 MHz for inputs. Some of the newer scanners will cover it. One of the first systems in the country is under construction in Idaho. The objective is a statewide network, and some departments in Southern Idaho have already moved to it.
It remains to be seen how 700 MHz will be used in Utah.
In 1982, the FCC ordered TV stations to vacate channels 70-83, creating the 800 MHz band.
Public Safety agencies have moved from their previous 150 and 453/460 MHz frequencies to Motorola trunking systems (monitorable) with outputs from 851-869 MHz. (Inputs are exactly -45 MHz below the output). In the past, commercial trunking systems used the band heavily. Nextel (digital-not monitorable) has bought up nearly all of these commercial systems, shut them down, and thereby obtained the spectrum for their national cellular-like network. A lot of companies have boxes gathering dust which contain unusable radios that they once paid a lot of money for.
The old mountaintop commercial trunking systems coexisted with public safety systems, but having Nextel's valley floor cell sites on interleafed frequencies has presented problems. If your trunking scanner was purchased more than a year of two ago, you will want to google "rebanding" (and start putting a couple hundred bucks aside).
869-896 MHz contains the cellular A and B blocks. After 18 Feb 2008, Cingular/AT&T and Verizon were no longer required to maintain their analog cellular (AMPS format) systems. They promptly took all analog off the air, as well as Cingular/AT&T's TDMA network. Now Cingular/AT&T uses Block A for GSM, and Verizon uses Block B for CDMA, (in addition to what they both run at 1900 MHz). The government's ill-conceived laws did not stop cellular eavesdropping, but technology did.
Classified as an Industrial, Medical, and Scientific band, licensed services (almost always digital, and including spread spectrum) share the band with low power, unlicensed analog and digital (part 15) devices, such as cordless phones and baby monitors.
Amateur radio licensees have authorization to use this band on a secondary basis, though local hams have shown very little interest in it. No manufacturer commercially produces ham equipment for this band, so getting on the air on this band requires more expertise than others. Typically, modified Motorola and Kenwood radios designed for 935-941 MHz are used.
Businesses using Trunked radio systems, displaced from 800 MHz, have migrated to this 900 MHz range. LTR and Motorola formats are both in use. My Northern Utah Trunked Systems list, includes 900 MHz systems.
Inputs are exactly -39 MHz below the output.
Point to point microwave users in this range were relocated, and 6 blocks of spectrum were created for digital cellular use, aka. PCS.
Block Base RX Base TX User Technology
A 1850-1865 1930-1945 T-Mobile GSM D 1865-1870 1945-1950 Cingular GSM B 1870-1885 1950-1965 Sprint CDMA E 1885-1890 1965-1970 Verizon CDMA F 1890-1895 1970-1975 C 1895-1910 1975-1990 Cricket (Leap Wireless) CDMA
Email is always welcome from those with additional information or questions.
PGP public key available upon request.
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