[usconservative]

Feds are all using Digital Trunking now, your scanner will not pick their signals up.

You might want to check the scanner listings for your area (found via google) to see if local, county, and state authorities are still on vhf or if they too have gone digital trunking.

[Paladin2]

I have a scanner that is supposed to be able to follow trunking, but haven’t tried that feature out.

[Utilizer]

They don't use trunking here; too backwoods with older equipment. Most are Lower Business Band in the 152-159 MHz range with local sheriff there as well, standard channels and 500kHz separation. HP uses some 26MHz and local air and CalFire are all standard. Got it checked out, and nothing on the High Business (around 416 and 465 MHz) for the last several years, but I should probably set up a second scanner dedicated to the newer freqs in case someone passes by.

Trunking is not that difficult if you are simply trying to hear any action, the only thing is you might not be able to follow a complete conversation as it automatically switches freqs to maintain clear reception, but after you have followed a few conversations around you find out what they have set the trunked freqs to and can set up to jump if the signal disappears to the other channel. You would lose a second or a few of the conversation, but as long as you are listening for activity and not trying to follow an entire speech, you can still discover quite a bit.

[Utilizer]

Oh, also: the Trunking does not encrypt the comms, just makes them more agile so the freqs don’t get jammed when a lot of people try to talk at once. All audio is in the clear, and stadard FM, no SSB allowed. Once you have identified the trunking freqs, and they are quite well defined, you can definitely hear them.