Scanner frequency types - Franklin, Williamson County etc.

[elbereth]

I'd like to listen to local pd, fire, emergency, etc, - I've tried researching and not sure if I can. I understand that scanners started out as analog, then digital, then trunked, and now encrypted(?). Is it even possible to listen to encrypted channels? I think Franklin and Williamson are encrypted. Appreciate the help.

[billmeek]

No, you can't listen to encrypted channels without the encryption key. Most of what you want to listen to is encrypted:

https://www.radioreference.com/db/browse/ctid/2521

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Encrypted_Agencies#Tennessee

 

[Jackalope]

Yeah, encryption is a challenge.  In my part of middle Tennessee, a Uniden Homepatrol II picks up a lot of transmissions.  It's useful for following utilities and other public agencies that haven't gone with encryption.  I'm also surprised at the number of GMRS repeaters and the associated amount of radio traffic.  It's also amazing how much radio traffic has been diverted to cell phones.

[TennesseeCamper]

I owned scanners for decades. I started when you had to buy plug in channels in the 70s. There is very little left for analog scanners. The weather channels, aircraft on rare occasion maybe fire or ambulance.   Maybe in some rural counties if they haven’t upgraded you could find more.

I just decided that it’s not worth pursuing digital for me.

I used to dabble a little with 2 meter ham. That’s pretty much dead too.  

[tnhawk]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:58 AM, TennesseeCamper said:

I used to dabble a little with 2 meter ham. That’s pretty much dead too.  

The 2 meter band is far from being dead. The number of active repeaters would show the 2 meter band to be very active. While I spend more time on HF, I also use VHF radio several times a week.

[Photoguy67]

6 hours ago, tnhawk said:

The 2 meter band is far from being dead. The number of active repeaters would show the 2 meter band to be very active. While I spend more time on HF, I also use VHF radio several times a week.

I would tend to agree with TennesseeCamper on this one, at least in middle tennessee are, the 2 meter repeaters are mostly very inactive.

[tnhawk]

The ARRL Repeater Directory lists many active repeaters across TN.  Most of my travel across TN has been along I-40 and I-75.  

[Jackalope]

From my experience, in Middle Tennessee, two meter repeaters are active.  I think a lot of folks are monitoring frequencies, and if you make a call, someone will come back to you.  If I want to chat, I'll go over to a simplex frequency, rather than tying up a repeater.   Some repeaters are much busier, especially in the metro areas.  Rather than tying up a scanner with ham radio transmissions, I scan the ham bands with a dual band transceiver, and that radio almost always has some activity, and the HomePatrol 2 scanner catches everything else.

I also hear a lot of activity on GMRS repeaters.

[TennesseeCamper]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:58 PM, tnhawk said:

The 2 meter band is far from being dead. The number of active repeaters would show the 2 meter band to be very active. While I spend more time on HF, I also use VHF radio several times a week.

YMMV but in my area there isn’t much activity. 
They’re used to be a lot more repeater’s here but not now.