MARITIMES SCANNING SITE
WHAT IS TRUNKING?
HOW DOES TRUNKING WORK?
WHAT ABOUT TALKGROUP ID'S?
Before you really begin listening to a trunked system, you may wish to read up a little on what trunking is all about. This will avoid you asking what seems like a simple question in for example a forum, and have long and complicated answers, or none at all!
Rather than me attempt to give answers to these questions I am not going to reinvent the wheel. Trunking is a radio technology in which a number of users share a group of frequencies, without hearing each other. In the Maritimes these systems are invariably on 800 MHz, but they are possible in other bands as well. There are various types of trunking systems, identified by the name of the company that markets them. For example, most commonly in this area are Motorola systems of various sub-types. In a trunked system, the individual agencies or companies use virtual channels called talkgroups, but all the users on the system use the same set of frequencies.
For more information on how trunking works and how to in general listen to a trunked system, check out these external links, and then come back to the Maritimes Scanning Site for information about systems in our area, and in particular the largest one, the Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System.
Links to trunk radio information sites:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking_Basics
www.police-scanner.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunked_radio_system
http://www.mwc.co.uk/frames_trunk.htm
http://www.tech-faq.com/trunking.shtml
http://www.thebriarpatch.org/trunking/what_is_trunking.html
http://www.signalharbor.com/ttt/00jan/index.html
This article is about Motorola Type II trunk systems (such as the Nova Scotia system), and includes information on status bits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Type_II