148 - Discovering and Logging Radio IDs with Kenneth Fowler

Do you want to discover the radio IDs broadcasting in your area? In this episode, Phil welcomes back guest Kenneth Fowler. They discuss how Kenneth logs and verifies the radio IDs he finds, issues you may run into, and developments in the hobby coming soon. What You Need To Know Everything that transmits on a trunk system documents itself with a radio ID. Kenneth started in the scanner radio hobby because of friends who volunteered with the fire department. Every digital radio and radio on a trunk system are programmed with an ID and alias so others know who you are when you broadcast. When Kenneth uses Uniden scanners, he runs ProScan and has radio IDs display on the screen so he can determine what he wants to pay attention to based on who is broadcasting. Radio IDs assignments can change, and the person using a particular radio with a particular ID can change, especially if they’re portables. Kenneth started by logging IDs in a notebook, and he still keeps a hard copy but transfers the information into a spreadsheet. Phil got interested in this when he wanted to map out an encrypted trunk system. Many radio IDs are defined by department, location, or some other way of organizing the information, and it can help you figure out what each ID is on an encrypted system. Sometimes Radio Reference will have collected radio IDs published on their wiki pages. Different scanners and software have different ways of programming radio IDs.   All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session148 If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out.  Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today! You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello