1. Who are you? Who am I? Good question…. My name is Daron and with the exception of a 1 year hiatus I have lived in Snohomish County all my life. I graduate from Mariner High School and have been working at the same company for the last 19 years. When I was 20 I joined Silver Lake District #11 as a volunteer, became and EMT and eventually started working 12 and 24 hour shifts. It was a great department to be with. We had lots of calls and the volunteers were very active. That all ended when they merged with Fire District 1 and basically got rid of the volunteer program. Now I volunteer with King County #47 Kangley / Palmer. I’ve have been listening to scanners since I was a kid. My dad purchased a scanner from the PX that use to be out in Paine Field and it all started from there. I got my first programmable scanner when I was about 18 out of some catalog that came in the mail. I am a very “techy guru” type of person. I love technology and the Internet. Some of my other hobbies include Bowling, High Powered Rocket launching and camping in the Pacific NW. I live by the motto “If it’s not done 100% complete then it ain’t worth starting”. Needless to say I hate laziness and or procrastination in any form. Ok, that’s enough ranting. The rest is history……
2. Why do you do this? Well in a nutshell I do it just for the fun of it. However, I enjoy both the aspect of listening to the scanner anywhere I have internet access and building this website. Making all this technical stuff work simply put “It’s just a lot of fun”.
3. How come I can't hear your feed? There can be several reasons. First off my website uses the Windows Media Player plug-in. So make sure you have the plug-in installed for whatever browser you are using. Also check your browser security and firewall settings. Port 8000 needs to be open for traffic. One of those may be not allowing the connection. I've gotten reports that Safari does not work at all. I don't know what to say other than that's what you get for using an Apple product :-) Try using FirefoxChrome or Opera.
4. Why do I see these plugin errors on your website?
This likely means you do not have the Windows Media Player Plugin installed or the install is broken. In most cases just follow the instructions to automatically install it. However it could also mean that you have some security settings configured so the plug-in will not load. The plugin for Internet Explorer comes with Windows Media Player and you can download it from Here. The plugin for Firefox can be found Here. I can't comment about plugins for other browsers such as Chrome or Safari.
5. Does your live feed run 24x7 365/366? Yes. I try to keep broadcasting online as much as possible.
6. What's the reason for tracking my IP when I visit your site? In the past there has been some reports that my website may have been used while an individual or individuals committed a crime. Of course I do not condone the use of my website in this manner. I provide the website for those who enjoy the scanner hobby. Not for those who want to exploit the hobby. So I made the decision that it would be a good idea to track all the IP's that visit my site. So be aware, I will provide the IP logs to any law enforcement agency that request them with no questions asked. And if you don't like having your IP logged, don't visit my site.
7. What are the following sounds that I randomly hear when I'm listing? This is when I press a button on my scanner keypad. Likely to lock or unlock on a talk group. This is when I lock or unlock a talk group on the scanner. This is what the Control Channel sounds like. This is what an encrypted Talk Group sounds like.
8. How do I program my scanner? Best suggestion I can give you is to search Google for programming instructions for your scanner. In addition, almost every modern scanner model has a Google and or Yahoo group dedicated to it which can help you out.
9. Can you help me program my scanner? I'll pay you! Sorry, but no. I just don’t have the time.
10. What kind of scanners do you use? I have several scanners but for the Snohomish County Feeds that I broadcast, I use a Uniden BC246T. The handheld that I carry around with me is Uniden BC346XT. And in my car I have a Uniden BCT15. I also own several old Radio Shack scanners that I use for monitoring VHF and UHF communications. I got to have an old scanner when the Blue Angels are in town :)
11. Can you change or switch around (for me) what is broadcasted on each feed? Sorry, but no.
12. Do you broadcast anything other than Snohomish County? I only broadcast the Snohomish County 800Mhz Trunk Radio System. There are however other people that broadcast other radio systems here in Western Washington. A friend of mine has two King Co. feeds. One which is Valley Communications (Valleycom) and the other is NORCOM. You can find links to his feeds Here or Intercept Radio Directory. Other than that do a Google search.
13. Where can I find info on the different codes the Fire and Police Departments use? There is a "10 Code" list HERE for what SCSO uses. But some have changed and some don’t get used anymore. For example the dispatcher use to say “20Tom45 10-62” but now it's “20Tom45 Status”. And the only acceptable "I'm A-Ok" response to this is "Code4".
14. What scanner do you recommend? There is no one single answer to this question. It all depends on what you want to listen to and the type of radio system you want to monitor. You will need to find out if it is Analog or Digital system and what type of system it is such as Trunk or Conventional. This info can be found in the Intercept Radio Wiki. With all that said I highly recommend the Uniden brand scanners. For one, there are lots of free programming and control software available for the Uniden product line. Plus the quality of my Uniden scanners is superb. And lastly, Uniden is very proactive as far as releasing new firmware for bug fixes, enhancements and the upcoming frequency re-band that is going to happen.
15. Where can I get technical info about the Snohomish County 800Mhz trunk system? There are a couple of places you can find info. One is at the Intercept Radio Wiki. The other is the Snohomish County Emergency Radio System website. It's also known as SERS.
16. Where can I get info showing what frequency and Talk Groups each department uses? Almost all of that info can be found in the Intercept Radio Wiki. In addition, Intercept Radio has a great forum that has some very knowledgeable members that are more than willing to help out. And it's all FREE. Check it out here Intercept Northwest Forum
17. What software do you use to program and remotely control your scanner? I use FreeSCAN. It’s freeware and works great. There are several other programs available that you have to pay for. Such as BuTeL but I refuse to pay for something when I can get free program that is just as good or better. As far as controlling my scanner from a PC, I use Advanced Virtual Control.
18. Can I get a copy of your programming file you use in FreeSCAN? Sure. Here it is Snohomish County Scanner Programming (updated 08-01-11). As a bonus you will notice this file also contains programming for some King Co. systems and other stuff. You will need to unzip the file with a program like WinZip or 7-Zip.
19. Why do you have Amazon Ads and a PayPal donation button on your site. I put up the Amazon ads to help pay for the web hosting and Internet service. Please take a minute to click them. And the PayPal donation button was put up because I got a few emails asking about how to donate. Much thanks to everyone that has clicked on the Amazon Ads and/or donated via PayPal.
20. How can I broadcast my own feed? Contact Rich at Intercept Radio
22. Can I re-broadcast your live scanner audio on my own website? Simple answer, no. Please do not steal my feeds.
23. Why do you have SCSO South on Feed #1 when it's mostly Fire and EMS? Feed #1 is what I listen to 99% of the time so I have configured it to broadcast what I prefer to listen to.
24. If I have a question can I talk to you on the phone? In most cases the answer is no. First send a detailed email with ALL questions to snohomishcountyscanner (at) daronjohnson.com and I will do my best to answer. If I feel a person to person phone call would be a better avenue then I will ask to contact you via telephone. And lastly, if you ask me questions that are already answered in this FAQ, or directly within the links I have provided, I will likely not reply to your email.
25. Why are you not responding to my emails? There is a 99.9% chance that what you are asking is already answered in this FAQ or is directly answered in the links I have provided.
26. Who is this Annie Alley gal the police dispatchers refer to? Well, it’s actually “ANI/ALI”. And it’s a term used when a 911 hang-up call comes in to the dispatch center. ANI is Automatic Number Identification. And ALI is Automatic Location Identification.
27. How come when I click play it says connecting but then back to ready? This means the feed is likely down for one reason or another. Just send me an email at snohomishcountyscanner (at) daronjohnson.com and I will look in to it. I do appreciate you letting me know when something goes down. So thank you!
28. Why do the feeds randomly go down? There are several answers to this question. But in a nutshell there are several pieces of software and hardware that all have to work for the feeds run. Some of which I have control of and some not. If one piece breaks then the feed(s) will go down. Considering the whole picture it's impressive that the feeds are up about 98% of the time.
29. How much time do you put in to this site to keep it all up and running? Honestly, only a few hours a week on average. I have things setup pretty good to run on their own. But if something breaks on my end then I could spend several hours in one day trying to fix it. And please keep in mind, like most of you I work a normal job and I also volunteer at the Fire Dept. So please be patient when the feeds go down or the site is broken.
30. Why is the sky blue and grass green? See Here! and Here!