NS Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMR) System Introduction

Last updated February 16, 2008

© 2008, MARITIMES SCANNING SITE, all rights reserved

Please note that information presented here and in the associated pages is a combination of information made available publicly by the Nova Scotia government or by Industry Canada as well as observations made by myself and other listeners.

This page describes the system and goes on to suggest some ways to listen to it.  You will also need talkgroup id's linked below, and you may wish also to add the non-trunked frequencies that are associated with the TMR, also linked below.

The Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMR or less commonly TMRS for short) is operated by Bell Canada, (this name replaces that of Aliant Telecom, a branch of the primary landline telephone provider and major cell-phone company in the Maritime Provinces and in Newfoundland).   The system went into service in late 2000 in partnership with the government of the province of Nova Scotia, which is by far the biggest user.  Please note that the term Aliant will continue to be used until I edit it to Bell.  The contract with Nova Scotia will expire in 2010, and there is no certainty that the arrangement would continue beyond that time.  As of late 2007 there was considerable speculation that this system is already past its half-life and something else, unknown at present, is on the horizon.

Usage: 

The four most predominant users of the TMR system are:  the Nova Scotia provincial government including the privately operated province-wide ambulance system, the Nova Scotia division of the RCMP, and the Halifax Regional Municipality. The following more detailed list is of agencies or categories of agencies using the trunk entirely or very significantly: 

A thorough but not complete list of users is incorporated into the talk group id list available on this site. The commercial users operate on a secondary priority basis, which means that if the system is overtaxed, the public service users take priority.   Some of these commercial users are identified in the tg id list as well; however most of these are not yet identified by listeners.  

1. The Short and Sweet Description.  Enough to get you listening:

First here is a map of the system. This map, from the early days of the system colour-codes sites by number of channels; however this is out of date except in a relative sort of way.   Excluded are the 3 sites in Fredericton and the added site just east of Shubenacadie at Chaswood.

The TMR is a network of 69 towers or sites throughout Nova Scotia but also including three sites in the Fredericton, New Brunswick area.  This description assumes that you know what trunking is, but does not include any un-needed system details.   If you have a scanner with control channel mode, then all you need to know are the control channel frequencies.   The sites must have set of frequencies that differ from other sites in the vicinity, and for this to happen there are 16 different sets.   As long as you  know the control channel frequency and the alternate control channel frequency for the site or sites you wish to monitor and enter these into your scanner, you will be fine.  Of course this assumes you also have talk groups entered as well, or are using search (open) mode.

Here are the control and alternate control frequencies.  Keep in mind that for most sites the alternate seems to be rarely used, but you should have it entered just in case.  A few sites, particularly those around Halifax do use the alternate quite often (no predictable pattern that I know of) and you cannot do without them around Halifax.   Do not worry about the designation column.  You can see that for complete listening coverage if you were travelling the province you need a total of 32 frequencies entered into your scanner (four each for groups 1 to 7, plus 2 each for groups 8 and 10 ..... there are no Group 9 control channels)

2. The more complicated description, with much information you do not really need for listening.  If you do not have a control channel mode trunktracking scanner you will need the detailed frequency information presented here.

The System:

This is not intended to be a technical description.  The TMR is a two-zone Motorola Smart-Zone system that covers the province of Nova Scotia using a network of 69 sites.  Incidental coverage extends to nearby areas of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island; however it is thought that there are no authorized users based in those areas.  There are also three sites in the vicinity of Fredericton, New Brunswick, where there is a contract with the city. Zone 1 consists of Western and Northwest Nova Scotia.   Zone 2 is the Northeast and Cape Breton Island, as well as the New Brunswick sites.   For the casual listener, the concept of zones is of no relevance as there is only one list of talk group id’s for the whole system, and mobile listening is seamless.   All major users have two-zone capability.  The sites are computer controlled from Halifax and connected by fibre optic cable.  Most sites are collocated with previously constructed Aliant cell phone towers, typically the very tall towers with multiple red flashing lights, but note that there most of these cell phone towers are not also TMR sites.  Frequencies are discussed in detail below but may be summarized as being the block of frequencies from 860.0125 MHz to 862.4875 MHz (plus the corresponding input frequencies); however a few overtaxed sites now have additional frequencies in the 858 and/or 859 range.   All sites have at least four frequencies consisting of a primary control frequency or channel (CC), an alternate or secondary CC (ACC) that normally operates as a voice channel (VC), and at least two other frequencies that are always voice channels.  Some sites have many more voice channels, as many as fourteen around the Halifax area.  My observations are that the busier sites do alternate between the CC and ACC but no time or date pattern has been discerned.   Some of the sites outside of the Halifax area have been observed using the ACC, but it is thought that this is relatively uncommon.  As is detailed below, there are 9 sets or groups of frequencies in use with 7 of these divided into upper and lower halves.  This means that there are in theory 16 different CC’s and 16 ACC’s associated in the system.  A mobile listener who wished to cover the system could enter these 32 CC/ACC’s into one or more scanner banks and be sure to have all sites.   There are some pitfalls in this method covered in the listening guide farther down this page.

List of sites, indicating area of service

Site numbers will be of interest to those using analysis software.  Official call signs are only relevant to those who listen with conventional scanners, in which case CW identifiers can be heard on occasion, and this may aid in identifying what site is being monitored.    Sites are listed in order of frequency group.   Frequencies are presented in more detail farther down this page.  

Alternate control channels are invariably 0.2500 MHz higher than the Control Channels shown. For example if the CC is 860.0125, the ACC will be 860.0125 + .2500 = 860.2625.

Zone 1   (System ID is 6939)

Zone 2  (System ID is 6D19)