Bell Aliant's 800 MHz Motorola Type II
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 Halifax Airport in late 2013.

 

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.   Note that many of these frequencies continue on within the current 700 MHz system.

 

General Introduction to the TMR

The Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System, commonly referred to at the time as "the TMR" but now retroactively as "TMR1" was a province-wide system dedicated primarily to public safety and government communications throughout Nova Scotia, and extending also to Fredericton, New Brunswick.

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 province of Nova Scotia; however there are some sites located on provincial towers.

·         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 Nova Scotia as well as three sites in the Fredericton, New Brunswick area.

·         Built by what is now called Bell Mobility or Bell Aliant in order to serve a ten-year contract with the Nova Scotia provincial government.  Commenced operations in late 2000.  Contract extended to approximately 2015.

·         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 Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, plus Fredericton, NB).

·         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 Fredericton and the added sites just east of Shubenacadie at Chaswood and at the Halifax Airport.

·         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 Bell.

·         Almost all the sites are Bell property, collocated on cell towers; however there are a very few that are owned by the provincial government.

·         Bell provides the fibre optic system that connects the sites with each other and with the central computer ("switch") in Halifax.

·         Usage of the TMR by Nova Scotia public service agencies is directed by the Public Safety and Field Communications Office of the provincial government. In addition to other responsibilities, employees of this office conduct training sessions with user agencies.

·         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 Halifax Regional system.  With the exception of some administrative talk groups in the ambulance system, all communications are analog.

·       RCMP Nova Scotia [all digital, with some encrypted].  J Division HQ in Fredericton is also capable so that units on VHF in NB can be patched to the NS system and vice versa. It would be possible for an Amherst RCMP car to communicate with one just across the border by patch between the two systems.

·         Halifax Regional Municipality, including Hfx Regional Police (digital, some encrypted), Hfx Fire (includes some vfd’s outside HRM), Hfx Works, Hfx Transit Supervisors and Mechanical, Hfx animal control, and HRM Parking.

·         Truro Police Service and Bridgewater Police use TMR exclusively.   All other town police forces and the CBR Police do not use the TMR at present except for limited liaison with the RCMP. 

·        CFB Halifax, and at least some communications at CFB Greenwood.  Some encrypted.

·         Fredericton City (as of 2010 this user was in the process of partially converting to other means)

·         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 Nova Scotia, and therefore it is mentioned separately above.

·         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 Glasgow you would be able to hear all the local traffic operating through whatever site or sites are in range of you and that you program into your scanner. It is highly unlikely that you would hear radio traffic from from far away such as Halifax Regional Police.  The only way that can happen (without a system override) is if an HRP radio is in or near New Glasgow and is turned on and tuned to one of their talk groups, and that talk group is being used.   "Being used" can mean the user that is in New Glasgow is transmitting, but that is not necessary.  As long as the radio is on and tuned, and it affiliates to a New Glasgow area site, such as Sutherlands Bog, the HRP traffic on that talk group will be heard on a scanner, if the scanner is on Search, or if the talk group has been programmed into the scanner.

·         A second example will involve that same radio.  Let's say the HRP member drives on to Glace Bay.  As they drive along the radio will jump from one site to another, and make that talk group active, and leaving behind the sites behind.  It can only affiliate to one site at a time.   You could be in New Glasgow listening to traffic from Halifax and then all of a sudden it is over.  The police officer has moved on and the radio has left Sutherlands Bog and moved its affiliation to let's say Piedmont, and so on. While in and around Glace Bay the radio will presumably be affiliated to the Glace Bay site (or possibly anther site in that area), and unless there is another HRP officer somewhere else along the way, there will be no activation of that talk group in any of the sites along the way.

·         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 Halifax, then back out to all the sites where a radio is tuned to that same talk group.

·         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 Halifax direct by fibre optic cable, from which it goes out to the appropriate sites.   Same thing for incoming traffic to the centre.    This means that even if you are sitting beside the dispatch centre, you cannot sit there and search for signals, even those -45 MHz ones I just mentioned.   You won't hear a thing coming directly out of the centre by radio.  Having said that, you can be assured that all dispatch centres do keep a radio or two around in case something goes wrong with a console.

·         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 Cumberland County.   A DNR employee with a radio in Yarmouth hears about it, and turns on the Cumberland talk group on his radio, which then brings up that talk group on the Hebron TMR site.   This constitutes unnecessary use of the Hebron repeaters and potentially ties that site up.  Usually it is not particularly a problem but would be if there was also heavy use of the Hebron site going on, and perhaps someone could not get on due to a repeater being active with the unnecessary distant traffic.

·         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 Liverpool site from my area unless the Sackville site goes down or goes to its alternate CC.     Occasionally it is said that perhaps a distant radio affiliates to a site that is local to you however that ought to be almost impossible.    Radios affiliate to the strongest site that is has an available channel, so that for example, even in unusual propagation conditions a radio in the Annapolis Valley should not affiliate to a site in or around Halifax as there would be several Annapolis Valley sites it should prefer to affiliate to, based on signal strength.  But I guess nothing is absolutely impossible.

·         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 Musquodoboit Harbour the natural inclination would be program in the local site.  If that is all you do you would not hear much from the Halifax core area.  However you might be able to easily also receive the Preston site and through it you would hear quite a lot of the central Halifax traffic.   If you have a decent location and an external antenna you might be able to receive a more central site like Geizers Hill or Sackville and through that receive pretty much everything from the central Halifax area.    This is just an example.  In my case I live in Sackville and through my local site I already do get most of the core area traffic but I also can receive the Ellershouse and Shubenacadie sites so regularly hear traffic from all of Hants County and as well some from Colchester County.

 

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.  

  • Note that although there are 70+ sites, there are only 16 different sets of control channel frequencies.
  • In the TMR the alternate CC is invariably the next higher channel up from the primary, i.e. up 250 kHz from the primary. For example, if the primary CC is 860.0125, then the alternate is 860.2625.  In normal circumstances the alternate frequency will be quiet but it will have use as a voice channel if the dedicated voice channels are already in use.
  • The site goes to the alternate CC if the primary CC goes down or an alarm indicates that it is in danger of going down.   If you enter all 32 of these frequencies into your scanner you will have complete coverage of the system.   Note that whereas there are dozens of sites in the system, all frequency sets are used in at least two sites and therefore you will cover the whole system with these 32.    Your decision on how many of the CC frequencies to enter is a crucial decision, that will affect your monitoring of the system.  The effects vary from one model of scanner to another.    Some discussion of this is included in programming comments farther down this page.
  • Alternates in some systems regularly interchange on a daily or weekly basis with the primary control channel, but in the TMR, there is very little use of the alternate and in most cases it is there in case there is a technical problem with the main control channel repeater.  In a few high traffic areas there is some use of the alternate on a fairly common but unpredictable basis, such as at the downtown Halifax site.    At most sites there has never in over ten years been any reported use of the alternate.  On that basis and if you have limited space for frequencies on your particular scanner, you could get away with not entering the alternates for most of the sites, with the exception of  6A, 8, 10 and 2B, so that 20 in total would almost always suffice.

·         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, South Shore, HRM]  
(with site no.)

Sites in System 6D19 [NE Mainland, Cape Breton, Fredericton]  
(with site no.)

1A

860.0125

860.2625

Belliveau Lk (18), Wakeup Hill (32), Ecum Secum (45), Halifax Airport (47??)

Loch Lomond (5), North Mtn (15)

2A

860.0375

860.2875

Caledonia (28), Chaswood (46)

Rear Big Hill (11)

3A

860.0625

860.3125

Londonderry (7), Central Clarence (14), Hebron (21), Queensland (34)

Cape Smokey (13), Aulds Cove (20)

4A

860.0875

860.3375

Martock (11), Middle East Pubnico (23), Chaplin (44)

Coxheath (8)

5A

860.1125
 

860.3625
 

Amherst (3), Meteghan (19),
 Hebbville (29), Tangier (42)
Note re Amherst: some sources, including TAFL, list Amherst as being in Group 5B (see below) but a trusted listener indicates that it is indeed in Group 5A, and moreover that normally it uses 860.3625 as the CC, which is elsewhere in the system is the Alternate CC.

Kiltarlity (17)

6A

860.1375

860.3875

Morristown (13), Barrington (24), Maritime Ctr (38)

Arichat (4), Glace Bay (9), Nuttby Mtn, (25)
Popple Hill (Fredericton) (27)

7A

860.1625

860.4125

Claremont (4), Belleville South (22), New Germany (31),  Musquodoboit Hbr, (41)

 Fairmont (21), North Side East Bay (7)

8A

860.1875

860.4375

Geizers Hill (37)

Maryland Hill (Fredericton) (26)

10A

860.2375

860.4875

Preston (40), Blomidon (12)

 none

1B

861.2625

861.5125

Hilden (8), Dalhousie (15), Prospect (36)

Lundy-Salmon R (3), Cape North (14)

2B

861.2875

861.5375

Great Hill (27), Sackville (39)

Lower Middle River (12), Sutherlands Bog (23)

3B

861.3125

861.5625

Wentworth (6), Eaton Lake (16), Tantallon (35)

Cheticamp (16)

4B

861.3375

861.5875

Ellershouse (10), Granite Village (26)

Melrose (2),
 Silverwood (Fredericton) (28)

5B

861.3625

861.6125

Wharton (2), Marshalltown (17), Marinette (43)

Louisbourg (6), Inverness** (18)

6B

861.3875

861.6375

Shelburne (25), Aldersville (33)

Kingsville (19), Brookland (24)

7B

861.4125

861.6625

Pugwash (5), Shubenacadie (9),
East Kemptville (20), Sellers Brook (30)

Boularderie (10), Piedmont (22)

** 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

  • When you program your scanner you basically only need to enter the chosen control channel frequencies and then, depending on the model of scanner you have, the frequency of the control channel OR the frequency of the voice frequency will show on the screen when you are receiving.     It takes a further step to substitute words or alphatags for the frequencies on the display.     Some scanners do not allow alphatagging of trunk frequencies, just alphatagging of talk groups.
  • With some scanners you will be able to enter an alphatag that shows whenever you are listening to traffic through a particular site or group of sites.   This is generally possible with GRE scanners and with some Unidens
  • With other scanners this is not possible.  For example, on my Uniden BCD796, when the scanner stops on traffic it shows the voice frequency being received, without a tag, and therefore if you are interested in  knowing what site you are hearing you must memorize the voice frequencies for each site you will hear.
  • You may be one who doesn’t really care what site you are hearing, as long as you hear something.   In that case there really is no point in alphatagging.  Just make sure you entered all the frequencies you think you will be in range of, and start scanning, and don’t read any farther here.
  • If your scanner does allow for alphatagging individual trunk sites you will have to decide what the tag will be.  Keep in mind that in the TMR every set of control frequencies is used more than once.   The basic question is:  “Do I tag the frequency with just the name of the site I am most likely to hear, or something more general?”
  • If you do not think you will travel much or you think it is fine to tag with the local name and have in your mind or on a list the other sites that have the same frequency as your “local” you can just go with a simple tag.   For example let’s say you are in the Halifax area and have programmed the Preston site into your scanner.   You can obviously tag this one as “Preston” or “Preston TMR” but if you travel to the Annapolis Valley you would want to know that if “Preston” comes up on the display you are actually hearing the Blomidon site, which has the same control channel frequency.
  • If you are planning to travel more often, or if your memory is not so good you will want to use tags that display more than one site name for that frequency.   For the above example you could use “PrestBlom” or something along that line, keeping in mind there are character limits that do not allow very lengthy tags.    Most frequencies are used by several sites, not just a  couple, so you cannot in most cases get a complete tag for the whole TMR.   You would just choose the two or possibly three most likely ones and then in unusual travels study ahead of time which ones in the new area go with your established tags, or keep a list with you for reference.
  • I myself also use the frequency group numbers  (seen on the chart above) PLUS the one or two most likely site names I will receive.   For example Preston and Blomidon are the only two sites in frequency group 10A so my tag says “10A PRESBLOM”.   Similarly I have
    “1A  ES WAKEUP”, “1B PROS HILDEN”, etc, etc.    In these latter cases there are several other sites in 1A and 1B but the two sites I use on the tag are the ones I am most likely to hear.   If I travel farther afield I will just look up the local sites according to the number.   For example if I am way up north on Cape Breton Island and “1A ES WAKEUP” appears I quickly check my list under 1A and see that it is the North Mountain site I am hearing. 
  • If you use my method you may find that printing out the chart just above will be a useful thing to do.    The one drawback is that I haven’t really pointed out where in the province the sites are.   
  • One further thing I do, depending on my display space, is to differently tag the alternate control channel.  Just a one character symbol or letter.    For example in the first example used above I have “10A PRESBLOM” and “10A2 PRESBLOM”. You might tag them identically but I like to know if I am hearing the alternate.  It makes no practical difference however, and for me just helps me in my obsession to know what is going on with the system.  It is not as if I stare at the display enough to notice, and if I did see for example the alternate for Ellershouse come up I would be shocked, as most have not been known to be used in more than a decade.   For you it may be just fine to identically tag the alternate and primary, if in fact you even bothered to program in the alternates.  In some scanners such as the 396XT you cannot differently tag the two control frequencies, because when you set up a site as a “system” you enter both the primary and secondary CC’s, and then tag that system.
  • How you actually go about tagging your trunk frequencies, i.e. program them, depends on your scanner and your software.  Those differences are beyond the scope of this page.

 

 

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.

  • Sites are listed by zone and then by site number.  Coordinates are listed in case you wish to locate sites in real life or on the map.  The format used is pastable directly to Google Maps.    Call Signs are of little interest but if you are unsure of which site you are hearing, you can listen conventionally to voice frequencies and every so often the call sign will be transmitted in CW (morse code) – this is not hearable in trunking mode.

 

"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

58

Louisbourg

5B

861.3625

861.6125

2

6

 45 54 40, -60 00 30

XKB862

Louisbourg

59

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.

  • Frequency Set numbers relate to channels used at sites. For example for frequency sets 6A and 6B all frequencies used at these sites have Industry Canada channel numbers ending in 6, with the A sets being lower in frequency than the B set. Channel numbers for the control channels are shown in the chart above, with the voice channels being others with the same last digit.

·         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
Using Group 1 as an example
Note the ten channel (250 kHz) spacing.  Other groups, at other sites, use the intervening frequencies.

860.0125 Ch 361 Control Channel for Group 1A (low half of Group 1) [Example: Wakeup Hill]
860.2625 Ch 371 Alternate for 1A (May be used normally as a voice channel)
860.5125 Ch 381 Voice Channel for 1A
860.7625 Ch 391 Voice Channel for 1A
861.0125 Ch 401 Voice Channel for 1A
861.2625 Ch 411 Control Channel for Group 1B (high half of Group 1) [Example: Prospect]
861.5125 Ch 421 Alternate for 1B (may be used normally as a voice channel)
861.7625 Ch 431 Voice Channel for 1B
862.0125 Ch 441 Voice Channel for 1B
862.2625 Ch 451 Voice Channel for 1B

Thus each site has two control channels and three voice channels.  There are a few low volume sites in the province at which perhaps only two of the three voice channels have actually been installed.  In cases such as this the other site in the pair could be given that frequency if it requires more than its basic three channels.

 

 

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 & Fundy Park**

 

 

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}