(Ha)rrisonburg / (Ro)ckingham / (Pa)ge
Trunked Radio System Scanner
Online scanner for the Rockingham / Harrisonburg / Page P25 trunked radio system. This web page serves as the information page for this service. This service is Not an official source, but simply a radio enthusiast who likes to listen from his phone. The entire system is monitored using an (Airspy R2 no longer used, replaced) SDRPlay RSP1A SDR (Wikipedia page), with a computer running SDRTrunk software. The audio is uploaded to Broadcastify Calls, several Broadcastify Feeds, as well as a self-hosted Rdio-Scanner server. Further detail on each method of listening below.
First time? Read this.
First, you need to understand one thing about this Harris radio system regarding dynamically patched talkgroups. A talkgroup, (or TG) is what you might know as a 'channel', like RFR Tac 1, Ops 1, HFD 1, etc. Typically, whenever a unit or ECC makes a radio transmission, it is on a stand alone TG. However, there frequent instances where a radio transmission is broadcast on more than one TG, which creates the lamentable patched TG. Examples include:
Fire/Rescue 'secondary information'. When a unit marks responding to an incident, ECC transmits additional information. This information is transmitted on the assigned incident TG, as well as TAC 1 (the digital TG and UHF paging frequency).
When mutual aid agencies without radio access to this trunked system, a patch between the assigned incident TG and (usually) a conventional UHF interop channel is created for duration of the incident.
Law enforcement patches. RCSO to HPD, RCSO to VSP, etc.
When a patch such as this is created, it is broadcast on the radio system using one of 200 TG id's between 65100-65299. The assignment rotates on a time basis, but is not always sequential, and there does not seem to be a strict time schedule. The P25 radios registered to the system on one of the TG id's that are patched can decode the patch and plays the audio (the radio user has no indication that there is a patch). SDRTrunk cannot decode this, and hence the audio is played as if coming from the TG ID of the patch. Hence, you must be listening to these 200 TG id's or you will likely miss critical radio traffic intended for one of the TG you are trying to monitor. Any reference to 'Patched TG' or 'F/R Patched TG' is referring to these 200 TG ID's.
How to Listen
Rdio-Scanner (preferred- minimal audio delay): Rdio-Scanner is hosted locally on scanning computer since 7/18/23. Listening on a phone works best with the Rdio-Scanner app (Play Store, App Store), but clicking the URL works too. This service allows you to specifically select what you want to hear on demand, as well as retrieve historical audio for any talkgroup. You need the server URL and access code.
Server URL: https://scanner.haropascanner.com/ (if you're on a computer- just click it. Copy and paste into the Rdio-Scanner app for mobile devices)
Access Code (free- restricted access): haropa. This gives access to anything you could pick up with a conventional scanner (Paging & Patched talkgroups).
Since all this costs money, there is a fee of $10 per year to receive a personal access code which allows access to all talkgroups. View the Premium Access page for details and a free trial.
Broadcastify Feeds (usually 1-2 minutes audio delay): The Feeds system allows me to add unlimited talkgroups to a feed, but restricted to certain types of talkgroups by Broadcastify Feed TOS (here and here). Feeds are listed here, by going to each feeds page you can see what talkgroups are fed to them. You can use web based browser player, as well as the plethura of scanner apps on Google Play / Apple App store, many which use the Broadcastify Feed service. I use the offical app.
Broadcastify Calls: The Calls platform is browser based only (no apps), but works both on desktop and mobile browsers. Every call (each radio audio transmission) is uploaded to Node 1857. You can view all the captured talkgroups here, and listen to any single TG, and add it to a playlist (a premium feature, I believe). You will not be able to add the patched talkgroups to a playlist due to a 20 TG limit per playlist.