NS Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMR)
System Introduction
THIS PAGE IS ENTIRELY HISTORICAL IN NATURE, with
information current back in around 2014. THIS SYSTEM WAS REPLACED IN 2015 BY THE
700 MHz TMR2.
FOR INFORMATION ON THAT CURRENT SYSTEM CLICK HERE.
Map
of the system from hfx-chris on Google Maps and
clickable to zoom in on each site (map or satellite)
This
map does not include the site established at the
Non-trunked
Frequencies associated with the TMR. Most public safety
and government users of the TMR also install conventional (non-trunked)
channels into their radios. These are used for short range communications, or
for fill-in repeaters, and do not go through the TMR sites. The users are
able to select these on their radios seamlessly, and might not even realize
they were not using the trunk when they do so. This list is of known
public safety and government conventional frequencies. Commercial users
could in theory also have such frequencies. |
General Introduction to the TMR
The
For the time being the remainder of this page is written in the present tense, as it is at this point a verbatim reposting of a past page.
This is not intended to be a
technical description, and therefore any comments made here are subject to
correction by those who are more technically-oriented.
·
This system is not owned or operated by the
·
While
this system is usually referred to as the TMR, it sometimes is identified by
its more complete abbreviation NSTMRS. In its very early years it was
sometimes referred to as IWANS.
·
A network of 70 towers or sites
throughout
·
Built by what is now called
·
Intent was to provide seamless communications throughout the province
for all or practically all provincial government agencies as well as supported
volunteer organizations operating in the public safety sector. A
corollary to this was that all of these agencies would be able to
intercommunicate in the event of a major incident or in any other appropriate
circumstance.
·
Bell
sells excess capacity to commercial users, municipalities and the federal
government.
·
800 MHz Motorola SmartZone system actually made
up of two interconnected systems or zones (6939 in central and SW Nova
Scotia, 6D19 in NE mainland
·
Zoning is irrelevant to casual scanner listeners as one set of talk
groups is used throughout the whole system.
·
Capable
of supporting analog, digital and digital encrypted transmission. Air time is cheapest for analog and most
expensive for digital encrypted, and as well the equipment required may also
increase in cost. For scanner
listeners digital transmissions require a digital scanner. Encrypted transmissions are not decipherable
by any current or forthcoming scanner.
·
Map of the
system. This map, from the early days of the system, colour-codes sites by number
of channels; however this is somewhat out of date due to a subsequent increase
in frequencies in use throughout the system.
Excluded from this obsolescent map are the 3 sites in
·
Ten sets of frequencies re-used from site to site. Set #9 is
in extremely limited use (two frequencies at Chaswood
only) so that for discussion purposes we will say there are 9 sets.
·
7 of the sets are divided into subsets of frequencies usually shared by
pairs of TMR sites, so that there are 14 subsets and 2 undivided sets, yielding
16 sets of control channels. See below for detail.
·
System
itself is under the care and technical control of
·
Almost
all the sites are
·
·
Usage
of the TMR by
· There are various sets of contract terms but in general it can be said that users paying a flat rate receive a set number of "free" seconds per unit of time, such as a month, per agency overall, or per radio. This "free" usage may be also restricted to a particular set of sites, or perhaps to within one of the two zones. Usage outside of the prescribed area will lead to roaming charges. Due to the vagaries of propagation and affiliation, radios that are restricted in their free usage may have a preference programmed in, so that the radio will only affiliate outside the "free" sites if there is no possible affiliation to a "free" site
This page is
not intended to explain what trunking is but you may
be interested to know the following generalities about Motorola Type II
systems:
· It is possible to have up to 4094 individual talk groups or channels. (I have also seen 4095 mentioned in some sources). The channels can be identified by the sequential numbers 1 to 4094 but in the scanner community, i.e. on scanners, it is much more common to use talk group numbers that are the above numbers multiplied by 16. For example EHS Central 1 is on Channel 2309 but in scanners this appears as 36944 (2309 X 16 =). This convention is due to the fact that in theory each channel can have up to 16 varieties, all part of the same talk group, so that 36944 also includes 36945, 36946, etc up to 36959. These varieties are referred to as status bits, which is an interesting topic for you to check out on the web.
· It is possible to have 65534 (but I have seen 65535 also mentioned) separate radio id’s on the system. This sounds like the same as saying that there can be up to that many individual radios using the system but apparently it is possible for radio id’s to be cloned so that two radios might have the same id. My impression is that this is at least shady in nature, but maybe it is perfectly legitimate.
· There can be up to 64 separate sites in a system. If more sites are required two systems can be linked, with identical talk group and radio participants. This is the case with the NS Trunk, which currently has 73 sites, divided into two systems of 46 and 27 sites respectively, excluding the central controller site, and also excluding dispatch locations with consoles.
· There can be up to 28 frequencies per site, including the control channels.
· In a Type II system there are some special capabilities such as allowing dispatch to override a stuck-on user transmitter to tell them they are sitting on the mike! It is also possible to transmit talk groups on sites that do not have any user affiliated on that talk group. I call this a system override (not the real term I am sure). This allows user scanners to monitor several talk groups even though their radio is only affiliated on one talk group. By “user” I am referring to bona fide users of the system, not casual hobby listeners. For example a regional highways superintendant might wish to monitor several highways shed talk groups. His or her radio might be affiliated to Chezzetcook (for example) but other talk groups are being scanned as well. Without this feature (that must be arranged and no doubt paid for through the system administrator) he or she would only be hearing Chezzetcook.
WHO USES THE
TMR
The dominant users of the TMR
system are:
·
NS Government Departments. Almost all of these
communications are analog. The major exception is the Wildlife
enforcement section of DNR which is at least digital and perhaps also encrypted
at some times.
·
NS Government affiliated agencies, including the regional health
authorities (hospital operators), the EMC-operated ambulance system, and
cooperating volunteer agencies such as Red Cross, Ground Search teams,
Volunteer Fire Departments. VFD's use the
TMR in limited ways only, except for the few that are dispatched by the
· RCMP Nova
·
·
· CFB
·
·
Federal departments including Fisheries and Oceans, Parks, Border
Services, for at least part of their communications. Extent unknown. Mostly encrypted. The RCMP is
federal but most of its operations are in its function as the provincial police
for
· Commercial users on a secondary basis. (This means that although these users have allocated talk groups, in times of high usage by public service users, service may be unavailable temporarily, which could mean for a few seconds or in an emergency situation, for hours or days)
COMMENTS RE LISTENING TO A TRUNK SYSTEM
The first comment to be made is that despite the fact
that the TMR covers all of Nova Scotia, you will not as a general rule hear
communications from outside your own local area; but you can at times do so, as
explained below. I am saying this first
as some new scanner owners are anticipating that they will hear it all from
everywhere, but they won’t!
·
This is not
intended to be a technical description. The comments here refer to a
Motorola Type II system such as the TMR.
·
In trunking there is a sharing of several frequencies at a
site, among many users, based on the concept that any one user is more often
not on the air as compared to the time it IS on the air. For example, there could be dozens of users
sharing four or five frequencies, and it would be a rarity for a user to
encounter a busy signal, i.e. all frequencies in use.
·
An agency is
assigned a virtual channel called a talk group. It is referred to as
“virtual” because although it is specific to that agency, and the users do not
know the difference, it does not have a specific frequency. The talk group
jumps around among the set of frequencies at a trunk radio site, without the
user knowing this is happening.
·
A central
computer decides what frequency the talk group will be on at any given
time. It can jump around even within the time of a single
conversation. The computer tells all the radios using that talk
group to go to the new frequency. The
radio users do not do any manual selection of frequencies, and they are unaware
of what particular frequency they are on, or of any changes.
·
Most scanner
listeners identify talk groups by name (which may or may not be official names)
or by 5-digit numbers such as 7280 or 36144. Note that leading zeroes are
not shown. These numbers are 16 apart but in the TMR most often
only every second talk group is assigned so that it might seem that a series of
talk groups are really 32 apart. It is beyond the scope of this page to
elaborate on this. The numbers are what
are used in programming your scanner.
·
A system such as
the TMR has more than one site, and unless prohibited by the central processor,
a talk group can operate through any of the sites, and in theory (but not in
practice) through ALL the sites at the same time. Usually a talk group is
only operating through one or a few sites.
·
Any particular
radio affiliates to a trunk site. Affiliation of a radio to a site means
that the radio has "picked" a site to connect to and
through. Usually this will be the closest and therefore strongest
site, but this is not strictly the case. At any particular location there
could be more than one site that has an adequate signal and therefore the radio
could affiliate to a site that is not the closest. It cannot affiliate to
more than one site at a time. At times there may be a situation
where the radio would affiliate to a particular site, but it is busy, and
therefore it affiliates to another site, perhaps farther away and/or not the
strongest signal.
·
A talk group can
only be heard through a particular site when: 1. Someone is transmitting on
that talk group, and 2. There is a radio affiliated to that particular site and
tuned to that talk group. There is a
general exception to this statement in that the central administrator can in
fact set it up that a particular talk group can be sent to any or all sites,
even if no radio on that talk group is affiliated to the site. I will call this latter situation a system
override.
·
Here is an
example of the normal situation: If you
are in New
·
A second example
will involve that same radio. Let's say the HRP member drives on to
·
The radio
traffic (voices, data etc) on a particular talk group go from a radio to the
affiliated site and then via fibre optic cable to the
central processor (switch) in
·
Radios transmit
to the sites on a frequency that is 45 MHz lower than the particular voice
channel repeater the central processor has assigned. For example if a fire
truck on HRFES DISP-C talk group is in Sackville it will most likely be
affiliated to the Sackville TMR site and assigned by the central processor to a
frequency... let's say 860.0375. The truck radio will transmit on
860.0375 minus 45 = 815.0375 MHz. If you are really keen you can scan the
input frequencies. Keep in mind that this frequency
assignment can change in between transmissions, and the operator does not have
to do a thing. It is all automatic.
·
Dispatch centres
typically have a console. This means they do not actually have a
radio. Their elaborate desk unit sends traffic to the central
processor in
·
Sometimes you
can hear interesting traffic from far away in the province. Often
this happens when someone in an organization hears that there is an incident
going on. They go to their radio and tune it to the talk group that is in
use at that distant incident, and immediately that talk group begins to be
routed through the site with which this local radio is affiliated, and
therefore now all the scanner listeners can hear the traffic as
well. While sometimes this turning of radios to the talk
group in use at the incident is legitimate, and necessary for overseeing the
situation from headquarters, etc. much of the time it is strictly speaking not
allowed. Let’s say there is a forest fire in
·
Another
potential way to occasionally hear distant traffic is in times of unusual
propagation. Let’s say you have a
particular control channel programmed in but you do not actually have a site
nearby to you that uses that CC. There
could be a time when a distant site that you do not normally receive does reach
your scanner, and in that case you would hear its traffic. On the other hand you should not be able to
hear distant sites that are on the same frequency as one of your locals because
they would never be able to dominate over your local. For example I live near the Sackville site
and I should never be able to hear the
·
It always has to
be said that glitches are possible in a complex system like this. When someone says that they are hearing
Fredericton fire department in Halifax the overwhelming possibility is that a
FFD radio is in the Halifax area, with the remote other possibility being a
glitch in the system.
·
Note that just
like in conventional systems you might be able to hear traffic from outside
your local area in normal conditions if you can regularly receive sites that
are not really local to you. For example
if you live in
SITES AND CONTROL CHANNELS IN
THE TMR:
THE BASIC INFORMATION YOU NEED TO PROGRAM YOUR SCANNER
(Keep in mind that unless you plan to use Search mode, you
will also need to enter the talk groups of the services you wish to monitor.
The talk groups are not listed in any overall way on this site; however there
are some lists of provincial government and fire department talk
groups. For overall lists go to ScanMaritimes
or RadioReference
If you have a control-channel only" capable scanner, as all or practically all recent trunktracking scanners are, you do not need to know the voice channel frequencies on a Motorola trunk system. All you need are the locations of the sites (so you can pick out the ones you want) and their control frequencies. This chart gives that basic information.
·
Please note that
entering this table-full of control frequencies is intended for those who are
mobile and want to receive ALL sites. If you are stationary or only
locally mobile you may want to receive one or a few sites and therefore just
put in the pairs you want.
·
Groups of sites
are defined as those having the same control frequencies and are shown here in
ascending order beginning with 860.0125 MHz.
·
Frequency set
numbers shown in column #1 have a
logical basis, based on frequency order and explained later on this page, are
my own designations, but you can ignore them unless you are looking for
in-depth understanding of the system.
Freq Set # |
Control Channel |
Alternate CC |
Sites in System 6939 [NW mainland, Hants, Valley, |
Sites in System 6D19 [NE
Mainland, |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
Belliveau Lk (18), Wakeup Hill
(32), Ecum Secum (45), |
Loch Lomond (5), |
2A |
860.0375 |
860.2875 |
|
Rear Big Hill (11) |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
Londonderry (7),
Central Clarence (14), |
|
4A |
860.0875 |
860.3375 |
Martock (11), Middle |
Coxheath (8) |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
Amherst (3), Meteghan (19), |
Kiltarlity (17) |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
|
Arichat (4), |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
|
Fairmont (21), |
8A |
860.1875 |
860.4375 |
|
|
10A |
860.2375 |
860.4875 |
|
none |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
|
Lundy-Salmon R (3), |
2B |
861.2875 |
861.5375 |
Great Hill (27), Sackville
(39) |
|
3B |
861.3125 |
861.5625 |
Wentworth (6), |
Cheticamp (16) |
4B |
861.3375 |
861.5875 |
Ellershouse (10), |
|
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
Wharton (2) |
Louisbourg (6), |
6B |
861.3875 |
861.6375 |
Shelburne (25), Aldersville (33) |
|
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
Pugwash (5), Shubenacadie (9), |
Boularderie (10), |
** Inverness is listed in TAFL as being in the 1B family, but
is observed by listeners to be in the 5B group as shown here.
Alphatagging Control Channels
NONE OF THE FOLLOWING FREQUENCY INFORMATION IS REQUIRED FOR NORMAL CASUAL SCANNING OF THE TMR IF YOU ARE USING A MODERN SCANNER ON CONTROL CHANNEL MODE. IT IS HERE DUE TO MY OWN INTEREST IN FREQUENCY USE, AND IN FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE TMR.
CHART 2:
TMR SITES ORDERED BY ZONE AND SITE NUMBER, WITH EXACT LOCATIONS, AND OFFICIAL
CALL SIGNS.
"Map" indicates the map page for Nova Scotia on
which the TMR site can be found. These map page numbers are those
as used in the 2006 Atlantic Canada Back Road Atlas. The maps can be
accessed via this link.
In a couple of cases I have provided a direct link to the appropriate page.
The airport site should be added to the chart as follows:
Halifax Airport
Group 1A 860.0125 860.2625
Zone 1 #47 44 53 14, -63 31 00 CKZ712
Serves Hfx Airport
Site |
Group |
CC |
ACC |
Zone |
# |
Coordinates |
Call Sign |
Area Served |
Map |
Wharton |
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
1 |
2 |
45 27 01, -64 25 20 |
XKB861 |
Parrsboro |
66 |
Amherst |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
1 |
3 |
45 50 17, -64 09 56 |
XKB845 |
Amherst |
51 |
Claremont |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
1 |
4 |
45 40 18, -63 58 27 |
XKB864 |
Springhill |
51 |
Pugwash |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
1 |
5 |
45 48 55, -63 41 24 |
XKB881 |
Pugwash |
51 |
Wentworth |
3B |
861.3125 |
861.5625 |
1 |
6 |
45 35 16, -63 32 47 |
XKB822 |
Wentworth |
52 |
Londonderry |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
1 |
7 |
45 29 44, -63 38 53 |
XKB823 |
Cobequid Pass |
68 |
Hilden |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
1 |
8 |
45 19 17, -63 16 07 |
XKB809 |
Truro |
68 |
Shubenacadie |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
1 |
9 |
45 04 20, -63 26 28 |
XKD802 |
Shubenacadie |
68 |
Ellershouse |
4B |
861.3375 |
861.5875 |
1 |
10 |
44 56 21, -63 57 28 |
XKD800 |
West Hants |
80 |
Martock |
4A |
860.0875 |
860.3375 |
1 |
11 |
44 55 44, -64 09 52 |
XKB805 |
Windsor |
80 |
Blomidon |
10A |
860.2375 |
860.4875 |
1 |
12 |
45 12 17, -64 24 11 |
XKB841 |
E Kings County |
66 |
Morristown |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
1 |
13 |
44 58 37, -64 45 37 |
XKB877 |
W Kings |
79 |
Central Clarence |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
1 |
14 |
44 55 08, -65 13 32 |
XKB839 |
C Annapolis Valley |
78 |
Dalhousie |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
1 |
15 |
44 41 58, -64 56 10 |
XKB837 |
SE Annapolis |
78 |
Eaton Lake |
3B |
861.3125 |
861.5625 |
1 |
16 |
44 47 10, -65 29 23 |
XKB836 |
C Annapolis Valley |
78 |
Marshalltown |
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
1 |
17 |
44 34 32, -65 47 47 |
XKB880 |
Digby |
76 |
Belliveau Lake |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
1 |
18 |
44 21 04, -66 02 22 |
XKB842 |
Weymouth |
84 |
Meteghan |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
1 |
19 |
44 12 09, -66 06 20 |
XKB879 |
Meteghan |
84 |
East Kemptville |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
1 |
20 |
44 04 47, -65 46 44 |
XKB870 |
Yarmouth County |
84 |
Hebron |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
1 |
21 |
43 53 46, -66 04 32 |
XKB875 |
Yarmouth |
88 |
Belleville South |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
1 |
22 |
43 50 33, -65 55 42 |
XKB843 |
Argyle |
88 |
Middle East Pubnico |
4A |
860.0875 |
860.3375 |
1 |
23 |
43 39 14, -65 45 28 |
XKB878 |
S Yarmouth
County |
88 |
Barrington |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
1 |
24 |
43 34 16, -65 32 23 |
XKB844 |
Barrington |
89 |
Shelburne |
6B |
861.3875 |
861.6375 |
1 |
25 |
43 46 42, -65 18 24 |
XKB882 |
Shelburne |
89 |
Granite Village |
4B |
861.3375 |
861.5875 |
1 |
26 |
43 51 31, -64 59 29 |
XKB834 |
Sable River |
90 |
Great Hill |
2B |
861.2875 |
861.5375 |
1 |
27 |
44 04 02, -64 43 12 |
XKB884 |
Liverpool |
87 |
Caledonia |
2A |
860.0375 |
860.2875 |
1 |
28 |
44 22 28, -65 02 09 |
XKB865 |
North Queens |
86 |
Hebbville |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
1 |
29 |
44 20 41, -64 31 23 |
XKB874 |
Bridgewater |
87 |
Sellars Brook |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
1 |
30 |
44 24 37, -64 23 26 |
XKB883 |
Lunenburg |
87 |
New Germany |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
1 |
31 |
44 34 41, -64 40 55 |
XKB866 |
North
Lunenburg |
79 |
Wakeup Hill |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
1 |
32 |
44 34 15, -64 16 12 |
XKB863 |
Chester |
79/80 |
Aldersville |
6B |
861.3875 |
861.6375 |
1 |
33 |
44 50 13, -64 30 26 |
XKB806 |
Highway 12 |
79 |
Queensland |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
1 |
34 |
44 38 30, -64 01 27 |
XKB812 |
West End HRM |
80 |
Tantallon |
3B |
861.3125 |
861.5625 |
1 |
35 |
44 42 15, -63 51 52 |
XKD803 |
Tantallon |
80 |
Prospect |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
1 |
36 |
44 30 39, -63 44 46 |
XKB804 |
Prospect |
81 |
Geizers Hill |
8A |
860.1875 |
860.4375 |
1 |
37 |
44 39 03, -63 39 25 |
XKB813 |
Halifax |
81 |
Maritime Centre |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
1 |
38 |
44 38 39, -63 34 19 |
XKB811 |
Halifax
Downtown |
81 |
Sackville |
2B |
861.2875 |
861.5375 |
1 |
39 |
44 45 37, -63 39 10 |
XKB814 |
Sackville |
81 |
Preston |
10A |
860.2375 |
860.4875 |
1 |
40 |
44 43 29, -63 26 17 |
XKB810 |
Preston/Cole Hbr |
81 |
Musquodoboit Hbr |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
1 |
41 |
44 48 20, -63 10 36 |
XKD801 |
Musquodoboit Hbr |
82 |
Tangier |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
1 |
42 |
44 48 29, -62 40 32 |
XKB808 |
Eastern Shore |
83 |
Marinette |
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
1 |
43 |
44 58 06, -62 39 47 |
XKB815 |
Sheet Harbour |
83 |
Chaplin |
4A |
860.0875 |
860.3375 |
1 |
44 |
45 12 14, -65 50 20 |
XKB830 |
NE End Musquodoboit Valley |
69 |
Ecum Secum |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
1 |
45 |
44 57 53, -62 08 54 |
XKB816 |
East End HRM |
83 |
Chaswood |
2A |
860.0375 |
860.2875 |
1 |
46 |
45 02 11, -63 13 01 |
CIT965 |
SW Musquodoboit Valley |
68 |
Melrose |
4B |
861.3375 |
861.5875 |
2 |
2 |
45 14 39, -62 01 35 |
XKB807 |
Sherbrooke |
71 |
Lundy (Salmon R) |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
2 |
3 |
45 19 05, -61 28 29 |
XKB868 |
Canso |
72 |
Arichat |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
2 |
4 |
45 33 43, -64 04 18 |
XKB846 |
Richmond County |
57 |
Loch Lomond |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
2 |
5 |
45 46 22, -60 33 04 |
XKB832 |
NE Richmond |
|
Louisbourg |
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
2 |
6 |
45 54 40, -60 00 30 |
XKB862 |
Louisbourg |
|
North Side East Bay |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
2 |
7 |
45 59 49, -60 27 22 |
XKB817 |
S CBRM |
58 |
Coxheath |
4A |
860.0875 |
860.3375 |
2 |
8 |
46 06 16, -60 16 26 |
XKB838 |
Sydney |
42 |
Glace Bay |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
2 |
9 |
46 11 40, -59 59 04 |
XKB835 |
Glace Bay |
43 |
Boularderie |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
2 |
10 |
46 15 42, -60 20 28 |
XKB840 |
W CBRM |
42 |
Rear Big Hill |
2A |
860.0375 |
860.2875 |
2 |
11 |
46 10 11, -60 39 59 |
XKB818 |
St Anne |
41/42 |
Lower Middle River |
2B |
861.2875 |
861.5375 |
2 |
12 |
46 08 16, -60 53
332 |
XKB833 |
Baddeck |
41 |
Cape Smokey |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
2 |
13 |
46 35 38, -60 22 59 |
XKB826 |
E Highlands |
42 |
Cape North |
1B |
861.2625 |
861.5125 |
2 |
14 |
47 00 35, -60 25 26 |
XKB825 |
Cape North |
27 |
North Mountain |
1A |
860.0125 |
860.2625 |
2 |
15 |
46 49 02, -60 40 47 |
XKB829 |
North
Highlands |
26 |
Cheticamp |
3B |
861.3125 |
861.5625 |
2 |
16 |
46 34 41, -60 59 01 |
XKB828 |
Cheticamp |
41 |
Kiltarlity |
5A |
860.1125 |
860.3625 |
2 |
17 |
46 13 15, -61 09 27 |
XKB831 |
S Highlands |
41 |
Inverness |
5B |
861.3625 |
861.6125 |
2 |
18 |
46 12 46, -61 19 44 |
XKB827 |
Inverness Town |
40 |
Kingsville |
6B |
861.3875 |
861.6375 |
2 |
19 |
45 47 33, -61 18 12 |
XKB876 |
S Inverness |
56 |
Aulds Cove |
3A |
860.0625 |
860.3125 |
2 |
20 |
45 38 54, -61 27 52 |
XKB819 |
Port Hawkesbury |
56 |
Fairmount |
7A |
860.1625 |
860.4125 |
2 |
21 |
45 40 55, -61 58 41 |
XKB871 |
Antigonish |
55 |
Piedmont |
7B |
861.4125 |
861.6625 |
2 |
22 |
45 35 28, -62 20 53 |
XKB820 |
E Pictou |
54 |
Sutherlands Bog |
2B |
861.2875 |
861.5375 |
2 |
23 |
45 35 10, -62 40 29 |
XKB847 |
New Glasgow |
53/54 |
Brookland |
6B |
861.3875 |
861.6375 |
2 |
24 |
45 32 24, -62 57 17 |
XKB821 |
W Pictou |
69 |
Nuttby Mountain |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
2 |
25 |
45 33 17, -63 13 25 |
XKB824 |
N Colchester |
52/68 |
Maryland Hill |
8A |
860.1875 |
860.4375 |
2 |
26 |
45 56 29, -66 39 15 |
XJR879 |
Fredericton
central |
46 |
Popple Hill |
6A |
860.1375 |
860.3875 |
2 |
27 |
45 57 26, -66 33 40 |
CGG914 |
Fredericton |
46 |
Silverwood |
4B |
861.3375 |
861.5875 |
2 |
28 |
45 57 18, -66 45 58 |
XJR878 |
Fredericton |
46 |
Further
explanation of the frequency groups and channel numbers used in the TMR
Please note that due to information
received in June 2013, the channel numbers shown here may be “off” by one
digit. For example a channel identified
here as Channel 361 may in reality be actually designated Channel 360. This matter is being investigated.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS NOT REQUIRED FOR ANYONE SIMPLY PLANNING TO PROGRAM CONTROL CHANNELS. IT IS FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PROGRAMMING INDIVIDUAL VOICE CHANNELS (NOT NECESSARY IN ANY CURRENT TRUNK TRACKING SCANNER), OR WHO WANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT IS ALL ORGANIZED. Notice in the charts above that 8 and 10 do not have a B half. That is because the few sites on 8A and 10A all use (or could use) both the A and B frequencies. There are no sites using the potential 8B and 10B control channels and therefore we do not put them into our scanners. Also note that the TMR essentially does not use channels ending in 9, except for a few voice channels at Chaswood. Most channels ending in 9 are allocated by Industry Canada to other uses.
·
800 MHz
frequencies in Canada have Industry Canada channel numbers beginning with
Channel 1 at 851.0125 MHz. 800 MHz repeaters in Canada each
generally use only one series of channels, each ending in the same digit, so
that there is a ten-channel spacing between frequencies at that repeater.
For example a repeater might be allotted Channels 456, 466, 476, 486 and 496.
·
There
are ten series of frequencies: those with channel numbers ending in 0, 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
·
See the 800 MHz Channel Plan for more
detail.
·
The TMR
uses nine of the ten series of frequencies. It does not use Series 9,
except for two voice frequencies at the Chaswood
site.
·
Generally
speaking the nine series each
consist of ten frequencies in the range 860.0125 to 862.4375 MHz, which in turn
are divided in most cases between pairs of sites, so that each site in the pair
can have up to five of the frequencies.
·
Some busy sites
are given all ten frequencies in the set, and there is no paired site.
Examples are Geizers, Sackville, Preston, Hilden, Coxheath, Maritime Centre. In such cases the
site uses either the A or B control channels and the control channels not used
as such become voice channels. For example Sackville uses all ten Group 2
frequencies. It uses the 2B control channels and what are at other sites
the 2A control channels become voice channels just like any others.
·
Extremely busy
sites also have received extra voice frequencies lower than the original range
of TMR frequencies (860.0125 to 862.4375 MHz), but they will be in the same
channel sequence.
·
There are a few
odd cases in which a site has a frequency or two that are not from its channel
group sequence. For example Chaswood is a
Group 2 site according to its control channels but has at least a couple of
voice channels from Group 9 (the only site to have any Group 9
frequencies). Geizers Hill has at least
one voice channel that is not from its predominant Group 8.
·
The following
chart shows typical use of a ten-channel set of frequencies as used by a pair
of TMR sites. The example is from Group 1 (all channel numbers end in 1),
divided between A and B halves.
Typical
Use of a Ten-channel Set of Frequencies in the TMR |
Complete
Frequency Listings for all TMR Sites
This chart last updated
November 14, 2008
This chart will be of interest
to:
1.
Those who do not have a control-channel mode trunk
tracking scanner, or only have a conventional scanner. In the first case
you must enter all the frequencies for the site or sites you want to
monitor. In the second case you would need to enter all but the primary
control channel frequency, for whichever site(s) you want to monitor.
2.
And of course this list is of interest to those of us
who want to know all the details, even if they don't matter much.
The following chart indicates
the frequencies used at each site. The
chart is based principally on entries in TAFL, augmented by observation. It shows not only the two control channels
or frequencies for each site, but also the other frequencies used only as voice
channels.
My feeling is that this chart
may be to a small extent incomplete, and therefore if you must resort to
entering frequencies, i.e. you do not have control channel mode, then it is
best to enter all the frequencies in the group.
For example, with Belliveau Lake, which
apparently only has three frequencies, it would be prudent to enter all 5
frequencies in the sub-group, or even all 10 from Group 1.
An anomaly to be aware of is Chaswood, which has the two control channels in Group 2 but
the two dedicated voice channels in Group 9.
This is the only use of Group 9 in the entire TMR. If you check TAFL you will find that Group
9 is assigned mostly to other users in Atlantic Canada.
Additionally the chart shows
other oddities that may or may not reflect reality. For example Hebron shows one frequency in
Group 3 and the remainder in Group 8. If you are in the Yarmouth area, please check this for me
and confirm one way or the other.
Similarly Hilden, near Truro, has an odd assignment of frequencies,
within Group 1, but not the normal assignment. Please let me know if this is accurate or
not.
This chart also shows
Department of Fisheries and Oceans repeater frequencies in New Brunswick as
well as a listed Canada Border Services Agency frequency. I have shown these out of interest as they
are otherwise TMR frequencies. Please
note that there are some other users of frequencies on this chart, principally
in New Brunswick, and of course elsewhere in Canada and in the USA.
Legend: Primary control channels are
bolded. Unpaired sites are in
capitals.
Listing notes (Key to symbols):
·
! = frequency not in TAFL but someone has reported it
to be in use at the site anyway.
·
? = frequency not in TAFL and not heard, but is a logical
frequency to be inserted if another is needed
·
?? = frequency does appear in TAFL but is questionable (out
of expected series) or a listener has stated it is not in use
·
* = frequency appears in TAFL but confirmed definitely not
to be in use according to trunk analysis software.
It is recommended that the
marked frequencies be entered regardless in order to ensure reception, if you
have the space in your scanner. For sure the ! frequencies should
be entered, but the others could be omitted if you have little space in the
scanner.
Anyone having analysis
software (Trunker, etc) is requested to check the
sites nearby to you and find out what exactly is what and let me
know. Thanks to hfx_chris for
confirming the Preston situation as of June 2009.
Grp |
Half |
Chan |
Freq |
Site/Pair 1 |
Site/Pair 2 |
Site/Pair 3 |
Site/Pair 4 |
Site/Pair 5 |
Site/Pair 6 |
1 |
A |
361 |
860.0125 |
Belliveau Lk |
Wakeup |
Ecum Secum |
Airport |
Loch Lomond |
North Mtn |
1 |
A |
371 |
860.2625 |
Belliveau Lk |
Wakeup |
Ecum Secum |
Airport |
Loch Lomond |
North Mtn |
1 |
A |
381 |
860.5125 |
Belliveau Lk |
Wakeup |
Ecum Secum |
HILDEN?? |
Loch Lomond |
North Mtn |
1 |
A |
391 |
860.7625 |
|
Wakeup |
Ecum Secum |
HILDEN?? |
Loch Lomond |
North Mtn |
1 |
A |
401 |
861.0125 |
|
|
|
HILDEN?? |
|
|
1 |
B |
411 |
861.2625 |
Dalhousie |
Prospect |
Lundy |
HILDEN |
Inverness?? |
C. North |
1 |
B |
421 |
861.5125 |
Dalhousie |
Prospect |
Lundy |
HILDEN? |
|
C. North |
1 |
B |
431 |
861.7625 |
Dalhousie |
Prospect |
Lundy |
HILDEN? |
Inverness?? |
C. North |
1 |
B |
441 |
862.0125 |
Dalhousie |
Prospect |
Lundy |
HILDEN? |
Inverness?? |
C. North |
1 |
B |
451 |
862.2625 |
|
MARITIME CTR? |
|
|
|
|
2 |
extra |
|
858.0375 |
|
|
|
Shubenacadie ! |
|
|
2 |
extra |
|
858.2875 |
|
|
SACKVILLE |
|
|
|
2 |
extra |
|
858.7875 |
|
|
SACKVILLE ! |
Preston?? |
|
|
2 |
A |
362 |
860.0375 |
Caledonia |
CHASWOOD |
SACKVILLE |
Rear Big Hill |
POPPLE HILL |
DFO Bethel** |
2 |
A |
372 |
860.2875 |
Caledonia |
CHASWOOD |
SACKVILLE |
Rear Big Hill |
POPPLE HILL |
|
2 |
A |
382 |
860.5375 |
Caledonia |
|
SACKVILLE ! |
Rear Big Hill |
POPPLE HILL |
|
2 |
A |
392 |
860.7875 |
Caledonia |
|
SACKVILLE |
Rear Big Hill |
POPPLE HILL |
|
2 |
A |
402 |
861.0375 |
|
|
SACKVILLE |
|
|
|
2 |
B |
412 |
861.2875 |
Great Hill |
|
SACKVILLE |
Lwr Mid R. |
SUTH. BOG |
|
2 |
B |
422 |
861.5375 |
Great Hill |
|
SACKVILLE |
Lwr Mid R. |
SUTH. BOG |
DFO Spruce Lk* |
2 |
B |
432 |
861.7875 |
Great Hill |
|
SACKVILLE ! |
Lwr Mid R. |
SUTH. BOG |
|
2 |
B |
442 |
862.0375 |
Great Hill |
|
SACKVILLE ! |
Lwr Mid R. |
SUTH. BOG |
|
2 |
B |
452 |
862.2875 |
|
|
SACKVILLE? |
|
SUTH. BOG |
|
3 |
A |
363 |
860.0625 |
Hebron |
C Clarence |
Queensland |
Londonderry |
AULDS COVE |
Cape Smokey |
3 |
A |
373 |
860.3125 |
Hebron |
C Clarence |
Queensland |
Londonderry |
AULDS COVE |
Cape Smokey |
3 |
A |
383 |
860.5625 |
Hebron |
C Clarence |
Tantallon !/Quns? |
Londonderry |
AULDS COVE |
Cape Smokey? |
3 |
A |
393 |
860.8125 |
Hebron |
C Clarence |
Tantallon !/Quns? |
Londonderry |
AULDS COVE |
Cape Smokey |
3 |
A |
403 |
861.0625 |
Hebron |
C Clarence |
Queensland? |
|
|
|
3 |
B |
413 |
861.3125 |
|
Eaton Lake |
Tantallon |
Wentworth |
|
Cheticamp |
3 |
B |
423 |
861.5625 |
|
Eaton Lake |
Tantallon |
Wentworth |
|
Cheticamp |
3 |
B |
433 |
861.8125 |
|
Eaton Lake |
Tantallon |
Wentworth |
|
Cheticamp |
3 |
B |
443 |
862.0625 |
|
Eaton Lake |
Tantallon |
Wentworth |
|
Cheticamp |
3 |
B |
453 |
862.3125 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
A |
364 |
860.0875 |
M E Pubnico |
Martock |
Chaplin |
COXHEATH |
|
|
4 |
A |
374 |
860.3375 |
M E Pubnico |
Martock |
Chaplin |
COXHEATH |
|
|
4 |
A |
384 |
860.5875 |
M E Pubnico |
Martock |
Chaplin |
COXHEATH |
|
|
4 |
A |
394 |
860.8375 |
M E Pubnico |
Martock |
Chaplin? |
COXHEATH |
|
|
4 |
A |
404 |
861.0875 |
|
Martock |
Chaplin |
COXHEATH |
|
|
4 |
B |
414 |
861.3375 |
Granite Vill. |
Ellershouse |
Melrose |
|
SILVERWOOD |
|
4 |
B |
424 |
861.5875 |
Granite Vill. |
Ellershouse |
Melrose? |
|
SILVERWOOD |
|
4 |
B |
434 |
861.8375 |
Granite Vill. |
Ellershouse |
Melrose |
|
SILVERWOOD |
|
4 |
B |
444 |
862.0875 |
Granite Vill. |
Ellershouse |
|
|
SILVERWOOD |
|
4 |
B |
454 |
862.3375 |
|
Ellershouse ! |
|
|
|
|
5 |
A |
365 |
860.1125 |
Meteghan |
Tangier |
HEBBVILLE |
|
Kiltarlity |
|
5 |
A |
375 |
860.3625 |
Meteghan |
Tangier |
HEBBVILLE |
|
Kiltarlity |
|
5 |
A |
385 |
860.6125 |
Meteghan |
Tangier |
HEBBVILLE |
|
Kiltarlity |
|
5 |
A |
395 |
860.8625 |
Meteghan |
Tangier |
HEBBVILLE |
|
Kiltarlity |
|
5 |
A |
405 |
861.1125 |
|
|
HEBBVILLE |
Airport |
|
|
5 |
B |
415 |
861.3625 |
Marshalltown |
Marinette |
Wharton |
Amherst |
Inverness! |
Louisbourg |
5 |
B |
425 |
861.6125 |
Marshalltown |
Marinette |
Wharton |
Amherst |
Inverness?? |
Louisbourg |
5 |
B |
435 |
861.8625 |
Marshalltown |
Marinette |
Wharton |
Amherst |
Inverness?? |
Louisbourg |
5 |
B |
445 |
862.1125 |
Marshalltown |
Marinette |
Wharton |
Amherst |
Inverness?? |
Louisbourg |
5 |
B |
455 |
862.3625 |
Marshalltown |
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
A |
366 |
860.1375 |
Barrington |
Morristown |
MARITIME CTR |
Nuttby Mtn |
Arichat |
GLACE BAY |
6 |
A |
376 |
860.3875 |
Barrington |
Morristown |
MARITIME CTR |
Nuttby Mtn |
Arichat |
GLACE BAY |
6 |
A |
386 |
860.6375 |
Barrington |
Morristown |
MARITIME CTR |
Nuttby Mtn |
Arichat |
GLACE BAY |
6 |
A |
396 |
860.8875 |
Barrington |
Morristown |
MARITIME CTR |
Nuttby Mtn |
Arichat |
GLACE BAY |
6 |
A |
406 |
861.1375 |
|
|
MARITIME CTR |
|
|
|
6 |
B |
416 |
861.3875 |
Shelburne |
Aldersville |
MARITIME CTR ? |
Brookland |
Kingsville |
|
6 |
B |
426 |
861.6375 |
Shelburne |
Aldersville |
MARITIME CTR |
Brookland |
Kingsville |
|
6 |
B |
436 |
861.8875 |
Shelburne |
Aldersville |
MARITIME CTR |
Brookland |
Kingsville |
|
6 |
B |
446 |
862.1375 |
|
Morristown? |
Airport |
Brookland |
Kingsville |
|
6 |
B |
456 |
862.3875 |
|
|
|
Brookland |
|
|
7 |
A |
367 |
860.1625 |
Belleville Sth |
New Germany |
Musq. Hbr |
Claremont |
Fairmount |
Nth Side E Bay |
7 |
A |
377 |
860.4125 |
Belleville Sth |
New Germany |
Musq. Hbr |
Claremont |
Fairmount |
Nth Side E Bay |
7 |
A |
387 |
860.6625 |
Belleville Sth |
New Germany |
Musq. Hbr |
Claremont |
Fairmount |
Nth Side E Bay |
7 |
A |
397 |
860.9125 |
|
New Germany |
Musq. Hbr |
Claremont |
Fairmount |
Nth Side E Bay |
7 |
A |
407 |
861.1625 |
|
|
Musq. Hbr |
Pugwash |
Fairmount |
|
7 |
B |
417 |
861.4125 |
E Kemptville |
Sellars Brk |
Shubenacadie |
Pugwash |
Piedmont |
Boularderie |
7 |
B |
427 |
861.6625 |
E Kemptville |
Sellars Brk |
Shubenacadie |
Pugwash |
Piedmont |
Boularderie |
7 |
B |
437 |
861.9125 |
E Kemptville |
Sellars Brk |
Shubenacadie |
Pugwash |
Piedmont |
Boularderie |
7 |
B |
447 |
862.1625 |
E Kemptville |
Sellars Brk |
Shubenacadie |
Pugwash? |
Piedmont |
Boularderie |
7 |
B |
457 |
862.4125 |
|
|
Shubenacadie |
|
|
Boularderie |
8 |
extra |
338 |
859.4375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
extra |
348 |
859.6875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
extra |
358 |
859.9375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
A |
368 |
860.1875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
A |
378 |
860.4375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
A |
388 |
860.6875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
A |
398 |
860.9375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
A |
408 |
861.1875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
B |
418 |
861.4375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
MARYLAND HILL |
|
|
|
8 |
B |
428 |
861.6875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
B |
438 |
861.9375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
B |
448 |
862.1875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
B |
458 |
862.4375 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
A |
369 |
860.2125 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
A |
379 |
860.4625 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
A |
389 |
860.7125 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
A |
399 |
860.9625 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
A |
409 |
861.2125 |
|
|
|
CBSA** |
|
|
9 |
B |
419 |
861.4625 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
B |
429 |
861.7125 |
|
CHASWOOD |
|
|
|
|
9 |
B |
439 |
861.9625 |
|
CHASWOOD |
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
|
859.9875 |
PRESTON |
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
370 |
860.2375 |
PRESTON |
BLOMIDON |
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
380 |
860.4875 |
PRESTON |
BLOMIDON |
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
390 |
860.7375 |
PRESTON* |
BLOMIDON |
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
400 |
860.9875 |
PRESTON* |
BLOMIDON |
|
|
|
|
10 |
A |
410 |
861.2375 |
PRESTON* |
BLOMIDON |
|
|
|
|
10 |
B |
420 |
861.4875 |
PRESTON |
|
|
DFO Maces Bay & Fu |
|
|
10 |
B |
430 |
861.7375 |
PRESTON |
|
|
DFO Campobello** |
|
|
10 |
B |
440 |
861.9875 |
PRESTON |
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
B |
450 |
862.2375 |
PRESTON |
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
B |
460 |
862.4875 |
GEIZERS HILL |
|
|
|
|
|
THE FOLLOWING
SECTION IS NOW OBSOLESCENT... NOT REALLY COMPLETELY OUT OF DATE, BUT NOT UP TO
DATE EITHER! DUE TO THE COMPLEXITIES AND VARIETY OF SCANNERS NOWADAYS I PLAN TO
EITHER DELETE THIS SECTION ENTIRELY OR RE-WRITE IT AND PUT IN ON A NEW PAGE.
PROGRAMMING COMMENTS.
HOW TO PROGRAM THE TMR INTO YOUR SCANNER.
AT THE END OF 2012 I MUST CONSIDER THIS SECTION TO BE
OUTMODED FOR MOST OF US, UNLESS WE ARE USING AN OLDER SCANNER. I
HAVE RETAINED IT HERE IN CASE IT IS USEFUL TO YOU. I MYSELF DO
STILL USE SCANNERS THAT THESE COMMENTS RELATE TO, BUT I ALSO USE A 396XT, AND
HAVE USED A PRO-106 (SAME AS GRE PSR 500) AND THESE SCANNERS ARE SO COMPLICATED
AND WITH MANY DIFFERENT WAYS TO DO THINGS THAT WHAT I SAY BELOW SERIOUSLY
REQUIRES UPDATING. I HAVE MY 396XT SET UP IN A WAY THAT IS VERY
SATISFACTORY TO ME, TO RECEIVE, WHEN IN RANGE, ALL TMR SITES. THE BEST I
WILL DO IN THE NEAR FUTURE IS TO DESCRIBE MY SETUP.
Setting
up your Defined Bank trunktracking scanner to listen
to the TMR:
Please note that this is NOT a set of instructions on how to physically input data, i.e. "program", your scanner. All scanners come with instructions in their manuals; however with most modern scanners it is much much better to program using provided or proprietary software through your computer. This section is about how to arrange things on your scanner. THIS SECTION PERTAINS TO THE TYPE OF TRUNK TRACKER SCANNER THAT HAS A DEFINED NUMBER OF BANKS, PREDATING SUCH SCANNERS AS THE GRE PSR 500/600 AND THE UNIDEN BC396 AND 996 MODELS. WHAT IS DESCRIBED HERE WOULD WORK WITH THE PRO-96, 97, 296, ETC, AND THE UNIDEN BC-296, 796 ETC.
In writing about this topic I
have to make some assumptions. I will start off by assuming you
have a modern trunktracker with defined banks (not
virtual banks) that has control channel mode and in addition allows you to place
trunk and non-trunk frequencies into the same bank. If you have a
scanner that picks up 800 MHz but is NOT a trunktracker
there will be some help for you farther down the page. Similarly, if you
have a first generation trunktracker that requires
you to input all the voice frequencies for a desired site, that will also be
mentioned down below. Conversely if you have a modern (2010+)
top of the line scanner with virtual banks you will not be restricted to a set
number of banks with a set number of frequency and talkgroup
slots. I am NOT going to be speaking of this latter type of scanner
here. Finally I am also assuming that you are in range of Nova Scotia
sites of the TMR. With that out of the way, let's go!
Set-up Decision
#1: How many banks to be used for the TMR?
It is crucial to decide what
in general you want to listen to, and here I mean what if anything do you want
to listen to that is not on the TMR? If you want to
listen to another trunked system such as in Halifax, Moncton or Saint John,
those systems will have to go into separate banks in your scanner. Let's
say you have 10 banks. If you want to have two other trunk systems
you will be using up at least two banks for them, and therefore have only eight
left for TMR. Similarly if you want to listen to a large number of
non-trunked frequencies such as let's say 45 volunteer fire department
frequencies, they will take up a bank. At this point you might be saying why
cant I just have one bank for TMR? Well, you can but I will talk
about that down the page, so hang on. At this point I will go on the
concept that you will want several TMR banks. Now,
carrying on with what I was saying. Let's say that you live near Halifax
and want to listen to just a few conventional frequencies such as the
VHF pagers in the Halifax fire system. When there are only a few
conventional frequencies you can put them into a bank that already has the
trunk frequencies entered. For example, continuing with the VHF
fire frequencies if you have a trunked bank that you use for hearing TMR
traffic relating to fire incidents, you might add a few local VHF frequencies
to the site. Let's say that your scanner can take 50 frequencies
per bank. If you have entered all 32 TMR control frequencies then there
will be room for 18 conventional frequencies. In
my own case, yes I do that sort of thing, but I have need of complete banks for
non-TMR things. I listen on occasion to 2 metre
ham, aeronautical, and marine. Each of these services, depending on your
mobility and interests can have pretty much their own banks-worth of
frequencies. In fact I have two banks full of aeronautical
frequencies! I live in the Halifax area and do not have any
need or desire to have other trunk systems entered into my scanner. Yes
there are other trunk systems in the Halifax area but they are of little
interest to me so the result is that I have five banks dedicated to the TMR and
five to conventional frequencies (Aero, Aero, Marine, Ham, and as well rural
fire departments outside HRM).
Set-up Decision
#2: How much of the TMR system is to be monitored?
Keep in mind that the TMR has
nearly 70 sites but at any one location you will only be able to hear a few,
maybe only one. Okay, the first thing you have to decide is whether or
not you want to be able to listen to the whole TMR system or just one or a few
local sites. Using the charts on this page you can either
enter all 32 possible control channels or simply pick out the ones for your
desired sites. If you only listen from home
there really isn't much point in entering multiple sites that you cannot even
hear. In fact, even if you can hear more than one, you might find
it better to just enter the strongest one, but there is a caveat to mention
here: the talkgroups active on one local site
will not necessarily be the same as on another. I live in the Halifax
area and I know that the Sackville site and the Tantallon
site, for example, do have slightly different affiliations that do vary from
day to day and time to time. If you are mobile then of
course the decision is based on where you travel and you will enter control
frequencies as appropriate. I think that most of us who are
mobile will want to enter all 32 frequencies to cover the possibility of being
anywhere the TMR is present. One can always turn off and on the
particular frequencies via lockout as you move around.
Personally I leave them all active but some feel that this slows down the
scanning operation to go through inactive channels. Quite likely but I
don't find it to be a significant problem. On a related
personal note, I commute over 120 km one-way each day and in doing so am
definitely in range of 10 sites with different control frequencies, as well as
a couple that I would pick up if I diverge a bit from my normal route.
Since there are only 16 sets of frequencies I might as well have them all in,
as even the ones I cannot normally hear are not that far off my normal path and
just for interest maybe on a good day I will detect them from a
hilltop. So for the purposes of my discussion I will go
on the concept of entering all 32 control frequencies into the scanner, leaving
let's say 18 spots in each bank for conventional frequencies if desired.
Set-up Decision
#3: Okay, there will be several banks for the TMR; how will
they be organized?
At this point I have already
gotten ahead of myself. I have already implied above that all the
control frequencies (maybe as many as the full 32) would go into each TMR bank
but wait a minute, maybe not. Some listeners like to organize
the scanner differently by separating the banks by site. Let's say
you live in Truro: Bank 1 could have Hilden, Bank 2 could have Londonderry,
Bank 3 could have Nuttby, and if you drive to Halifax
you might put Shubie in Bank 4 and Geizers in Bank 5. I would be able to lockout
the banks for sites not in range. You could vary somewhat in the set of talkgroups entered into each of the banks. This
is NOT the way I do it but sometimes I wish I had so I can compare what is on
each site, and also to make sure my scanner is sampling all the sites in
my area.
You can certainly do things as
just described but I personally feel it to be much superior to enter all my desired
site control frequencies into each TMR dedicated bank and then differentiate
by service. The reason for this is two fold.
For one thing I can turn off and on the various services, so that if I want to
listen to fire but not the Halifax transit system or vice versa, then I can
easily do so. The other reason is I think much more important and
the one that stops me from dividing in the manner described in the paragraph
just above. The TMR is a very large system, not just
physically, but also in the number of talkgroups
assigned and active. Most listeners would like to monitor hundreds
of talkgroups, not just a few, and not just
dozens. The typical scanner can only take 50 to 100 talkgroups in a bank and that means unless you live in an isolated
area and are not mobile your capacity will be exceeded by your
wishes. Yes if you live in Fredericton and you only have the local
city services to monitor, you might put them all in one bank (possibly divided
into sub-banks) and have a separate bank for each of the three local
sites. Most of us will want to put in more talkgroups than there are spaces and therefore the only
thing you can do is put different services into different
banks. So that is what I recommend for most
people. I am not going to tell you how to
arrange them Obviously it depends somewhat upon where
you live. For example if you have a digital trunktracker
and live in the Halifax area you will likely want a bank for the HR Police and
local RCMP, another for HR Fire, etc.. but really it is
up to you what you put in separate banks and what you
combine. No matter what, without a high end scanner with
virtual banks, you will have to make some compromises. I do
not currently have a digital scanner so I do not have a police bank, but I only
have 5 banks available due to my other interests. My five TMR banks
are as follows: 1. HRM Fire, also includes the
VHF paging frequencies as well as 800 MHz backups, 2. EMO/Mutual Aid/EO
and includes some EHS and conventional, 3. DOT and selected HRM. I
use this in the winter for monitoring plows and the transit commentaries on
roads. 4. In the summer season I listen to DNR for forest fire
related traffic. 5. NS Govt
and Miscl. Most of the time I do not listen
to this, as I am tired of Corrections and truck inspectors signing in and out
but you never know what you might hear. But I also have in here Truro PD
and Fredericton just in case someday they are hearable in my
area. Each of these TMR banks also has at least a few related
conventional frequencies also entered. If I had a digital scanner (as I
used to), I would also want a bank for the Halifax Regional Police and
associated local RCMP talkgroups and another separate
bank for the RCMP outside of HRM and also the non municipal
units. Also, most of you will want a bank dedicated to
EHS. Keep in mind that I would still have other
banks available for other things that are conventional.
In this method you might
likely have all 32 control frequencies in each bank. You can still
turn individual sites off and on by using individual channel
lockout. Let's say you have the CC frequencies for Shubenacadie (and the other sites with the same
frequencies) in positions 15 and 16 on every bank. If you want to
lockout Shubie you can manually go to all your active
TMR banks and lockout 15 and 16 on each one, but remember they are locked out
so you will have to remember to turn them back on again. For this sort of
thing you better keep a card with you to remind you which sites are in which
spots, and make sure you enter site frequencies identically into each of your
TMR banks. This is likely what you would do anyway using copy and
paste in your software.
Now a word about
sub-banks. In trunking banks you will be
entering talkgroup id's. In most scanners you
can divide the talkgroups into subbanks
of 10 to 50 each. It is best to arrange and use these
sub-banks. Ideally you would be familiar with what you have in each
sub-bank and know how to turn them off and on while you are using your
scanner. Personally I do not do this and would have to go to the
instructions to remember how to turn sub-banks on and off. But you might
want to do so... let's say you have EHS in one scanner bank, but you want to selectively
turn on and off various regional channels. That is how you
would do it -- use the sub-banks!
Set-up Decision
#4: Open or Closed?
Generally trunktrackers
can operate in two modes. One is an open mode or search
mode. In this mode the scanner will let you hear whatever is
being transmitted on the site, and will display the talkgroup
id number on the screen. You are able however to lockout a
number of talkgroups that do not interest
you. A typical lockout maximum is around 100. That way
you can get rid of data bursts, encrypted signals, and probably many of the
commercial talkgroups. The good thing
about the search mode is that you may encounter something new and interesting
that does not appear on lists such as that found on the Maritimes Scanning
Site. The bad thing about this search mode is that in some areas of
Nova Scotia, such as around Halifax there may be more than 100 talkgroups that you want to lockout.
Personally, I rarely use this mode, and rely on my friends and contributors to
find new channels, but with a simple trunktracker you
might find this to be the best method.
The other mode is closed mode or scan mode. For this mode
you must load or program in known talkgroup id's that
you find in a list. With a simple trunktracker
you might only be able to enter 50 to 100 chosen talkgroups
and therefore you will in all likelihood find this method to be
inadequate. The big advantage with closed mode is that you are only
going to hear talkgroups that you want to hear, but
remember, you will not discover anything new.
Beyond this are other
features that add to your listening abilities and convenience. The main
one is alpha-tagging, which is a way for you to correlate talkgroup
names or descriptions with the talkgroup numbers that
appear on the screen. You enter the alphatags
and when done, the tag will appear along with or instead of the
number. Just as important as this is computer
programmability. Instead of pushing buttons on your scanner to
enter the frequencies and talkgroups, you do the work
on your computer and then download to the scanner. In fact it is
possible to take a file from a friend or off the internet and load your scanner
from that. This feature is of particular use with alphatags, which are a huge pain to manually enter on your
scanner. All, or practically all, trunktracking
scanners now in production have both of these features. The third
feature is the ability to decode digital transmissions, and at present scanners
that can do this are more expensive. This feature is only of use if you
live in an area with digital transmissions that are of interest. At
present the main digital users are the Nova Scotia RCMP and the Halifax
Police. There is another mode beyond digital which may be termed
digital encrypted (DES). No scanner is able to decode these
at the present time, nor is it likely in the foreseeable future. The more
sensitive talkgroups of the RCMP and HRP are
encrypted, as well as Conservation Officers and Dept of Fisheries, and possibly
other federal government law enforcement agencies.
That pretty much does it if
you are using a typical trunk tracking scanner from the mid first decade of
this century, other than the highest end types with virtual banks.
Setting
up your Object defined (virtual banks) trunktracking
scanner to listen to the TMR:
This pertains to premium trunk
tracking scanners available from approximately 2010 to the present.
THIS SECTION IS YET TO BE
WRITTEN, AND MIGHT NEVER BE. I HAVE PROGRAMMED A PRO-106 (GRE PSR-500)
AND ALSO A UNIDEN BEARCAT 396XT AND THEY ARE QUITE DIFFERENT. IT REALLY
IT IS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS WEBPAGE TO GIVE ANY DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON
PROGRAMMING PARTICULAR SCANNERS, ESPECIALLY AS THEY BECOME MORE COMPLICATED.
CURRENTLY I AM USING THE 396XT
AND HAVE SETTLED INTO A METHOD OF ALLOWING THE IDENTIFICATION OF WHATEVER SITE
I AM HEARING AND ALSO TO TURN EACH ONE ON AND OFF AS I WISH. I WILL BE
HAPPY TO SHARE ON REQUEST THAT METHOD THAT I INHERITED FROM HFXCHRIS, AND MAY
AT SOME POINT DESCRIBE IT HERE.
That's about it if you have a modern scanner with control channel
mode. The rest is for less sophisticated scanners, or for those who are
interested in knowing more about the voice frequencies in the system.
If you do
not have CC mode on your scanner, then you will have to pay careful attention
to the frequency charts included here, as you must enter all the frequencies
for the sites you want to listen to. You will only have room in
your scanner for a few sites, as you must program in all the voice frequencies
for the sites you want, not just the control channels.
Now let's have some
details:
Listening to the TMR
requires at the very least a scanner capable of monitoring 800 MHz
frequencies. At present the range of frequencies on the TMR spans
from about 858.2 to about 862.5 MHz. All scanners capable of 800
MHz will cover this band of frequencies.
I will now cover
listening using three types of less capable scanners. I suggest you read
all sections up to and including your type of scanner.
1. Conventional scanner
(which must be able to receive the 800 MHz band)
2. Simple Trunktracker (able to receive one site at a time, and not
mix trunk with conventional listening) [Obsolete]
3. First generation multitrunking trunktracker
without control channel mode [Obsolete]
1. You have an 800 MHz
conventional scanner [NOT a trunktracker]
First of all a comment
of interest to all, regardless of what kind of scanner you have. Some
scanner listeners have reported that it is easier to receive distant
transmissions if you use conventional mode. For example if you live
a considerable distance from let's say the Pugwash
site, and want to hear it you would first, if you have a trunktracker,
enter the control channel as normal. If you do not get anything you
might then enter voice frequencies and scan them conventionally, and have much
better results. This may be because you need strong
control channel reception in order for your scanner to actually go to the proper
voice channels automatically, and therefore you might never hear them. If
you simply enter them in and scan them you will more likely be able to hear
them. Naturally, with this method you will not be following
conversations, and will be hearing things you do not want to hear, as described
next.
All you have to do is
figure out what the voice frequencies are at your local site (you can find them
here), and ignore the control channel, which means DO NOT ENTER IT.
You won't be able to specifically follow Acme Ambulance from one frequency to
another but with your radio on scan it will go from one frequency to another
and find Acme again very quickly. So what is wrong with this
scenario? The trouble is, that it isn't just Acme
Ambulance that uses the TMR. The TMR serves many many users. It is quite true that you aren't going to
hear Fredericton communications through a site in the Halifax area (at least
not usually, but it is technically possible), but even when you discount the
far-away stuff, there are lots of users that might be on the local part of the
system while you are listening to Acme Ambulance. Your
scanner will stop on any and all of these other users and there is no way to
avoid this. Your conventional scanner scans frequencies, not talkgroups! You might say that you are
okay with hearing these other users.... Just keep in mind however
that some of the users are sending data bursts, such as to monitor water flow,
or are using digital transmissions which come across as a harsh buzzsaw sound, similar to that found on the control
channels. After a while you will get plenty tired of not being able
to lockout these unwanted things, and you will want to get a trunktracker.
2. You have a simple trunktracker.
The first trunk trackers such as the PRO-90, PRO-2050 or BC-235 were relatively
simple but I thought it was wonderful when I first got my BC-235! While
they had several banks you could only listen to one at a time in trunking mode, and you could not mix trunk and conventional
frequencies on one bank. Certainly you could load one TMR site into
one bank, and others into other banks, but you would have to manually open and
close banks in order to go from one site to another, and you would not be able
to listen for conventional signals such as fire pages while listening to a
trunk site. These early receivers had no provision for alpha tags,
and can only show the tg id number.
With these scanners you would
enter the control frequencies as well as all the voice frequencies.
The scanner had to have the frequencies actually entered but would then be able
follow the conversation from one of them to another. If you
have this kind of scanner you will have to determine all the frequencies for
your chosen site(s) from the charts provided farther down this page. This
is the same as if you have a conventional non trunked scanner but in this case
you MUST enter the control frequencies but you will not hear
them. You will be restricted as to
how many TMR sites you can listen to as your scanner will likely not have
enough space for all of them, especially if you want to have other types of
frequencies also entered into your scanner.
3. Now we move on to multi-trunker without control channel mode.
A multi-trunker
allows you to have different trunk systems in different banks and as well mix
conventional (non-trunked) frequencies with trunked ones within banks, and scan
them all. A first generation trunk tracker did not allow for that.
Other than that, things are the same as with the simplest trunktracker
mentioned above, except that in some cases you can enter alphatags
and in addition use software for your entering tasks. The
PRO-92 and PRO-2067 fit into this category.
TALK
GROUPS IN THE TMR
Trunking basics: Trunking is a method by
which a number of users share a group of frequencies. This page is not intended
to tell you in depth how trunking works, or what talk
groups are.
With trunking there will be several frequencies available but
they are shared amongst many users. Let us say that there are 20 agencies
on the system. Instead of each user having a private frequency of its
own, which most of the time is not in use, there could be 3 or 4 frequencies
that are shared amongst the 20 users. Most of the time there will not be
any conflict. This does not mean that with 20 users and 4
frequencies that each frequency has 5 users. The 4 frequencies are
shared in an overall way amongst the 20 users so that each user can use any of
the 4 frequencies. What this means is that if you want to
listen to Acme Ambulance, it does not have one specific frequency; it has four
frequencies and at any time it can be on any one of them. Acme's
"channel" hops around from one frequency to another, even sometimes in
the middle of a conversation. In trunking
the "channels" are generally called "talkgroups"
because they do not correspond to a particular frequency. Suffice it to say that talk groups are the virtual channels
assigned to various users on any trunk system including this one.
In order for a user like
Acme Ambulance to have all its units in a particular region hop around from one
frequency to another, and all at the same time, (so they can hear each other)
there is a central computer control. This computer or
processor informs each radio which frequency it should go to. The
information going to radios goes out on a special frequency called a control
channel (also known as the data channel). Each TMR site has a control
channel. When you tune to it on a conventional scanner you will
hear nothing but a continuous harsh buzzing sound, which is a steady stream of
information telling the radios of all the users what to do. The control
channel at each site may stay the same from day to day, or it may change.
At some TMR sites, definitely some in the Halifax area, there are two
frequently alternating control channels. All sites in the system have a
primary control channel and an alternate.
I no longer list
TMR talk groups here on this site. A list
of users and their talk groups can be found at www.scanmaritimes.com (free registration as a member will be required) and at www.radioreference.com . I do include a few talk group id's
incidentally on some of my user-specific pages.
Most scanning enthusiasts will be content to enter
selected known talk group id numbers into the scanner from the list, and once
the scanner is also set up with frequencies, listen to whatever is active. Others will leave their scanners on search
mode and hope to discover previously unknown talk groups.
Unlike in conventional
systems in which radio users can install any frequency and tone and therefore
access not only their own channels but also in theory anyone else's, in a trunk system the system
manager (in this case Bell) must authorize with a system key access to the
system and then must allocate specific talk groups. No user can on its own gain
access to another user's talk groups.
{this comment does not take into account any possible hacking}