-> 
MSGID: 1:300/105.0 34b14172
-> 
REPLY: 1:157/427 0019f48f
-> Hi Scott, as you were just saying about CODES....
-> SM>  Cleveland just went to a Digital Trunked 800mhz Radio dispatch
-> SM> system
-> SM>  for all 6 districts to prevent unwanted persons from gaining
-> SM>  information they shouldn't have (mainly TV stations), S.W.A.T. and
-> SM>  special operations units also have their own frequencies.
-> SM>
-> SM>  A trunked system essentially means that you have "example" 5 
-> different SM>  frequencies which are controlled via a central 
-> computer that rotates SM>  them when they are not in use, thereby 
-> deterring listening by persons SM>  whom may have equipment that 
-> could pick them up, and some departments SM>  have a birdie 
-> (electronic tone) which rotates on the channels not in SM>  use, 
-> making it impossible to scan the frequencies with radio traffic.
-> No, it isn't.  I can listen to my local county sheriff's office with
-> no birdie tones even thought they are on an Ericsson system.  There are
-> also a couple of scanner commercially available that track the Motorola
-> trunking system.  Uniden has one as does radio shack.
The "birdie tones" or ident tones that some radios put out at transmit
is a system developed by Motorola to identify the mobile.  It keys the
number assigned to the particular vehicle to a display in front of the
dispatcher.  We had a local PD that had it, and I set the scan option
off on my State radio for that frequency because it drove me up the
wall.
It's since be replaced by GPS systems that some of the more upscale
departments are using.
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