Monitoring Mercer County, New Jersey

For all the municipalities or groups listed above, there is a table of the frequencies and a brief description of how they are used. The first field is the channel name and/or usage, the second column is the radio frequency, the third column is the type (R=repeater, B=base, M=mobile), and the fourth column is the squelch or modulation type (CSq = carrier squelch). A two-digit number in the last field represents an LTR LCN; any known associated talkgroups will be listed further down in the same table.

It is intended for all public safety (police/fire/EMS/OEM) and government (roads dept/building dept/MUA) channels to be listed here, plus most business repeaters and other channels which may be of particular interest. Many business channels have intentionally been omitted because researching and processing them all would be impractical. If you are searching for one not listed, try the FCC database or check if they are using an undentified talkgroup on one of the SMRs. And as always, please feel free to submit additional channels to the author.

Businesses should be listed under the municipality they are principally located in. County-wide busineses may be listed under the County Other section or with the municipality in which the main transmitter is located. Major utilities are covered on the state page. An effort has been made to group the businesses under their real municipality, but in some cases they may be listed under their postal code's municipality (for example, many businesses list Princeton as their transmitter's city even though they're in Montgomery or West Windsor or Lawrence).

Good sources of additional information are:
• Frequency Lists (located at this site, includes more license data, excludes narratives).
• NJ State Channels in Mercer / Middlesex / Somerset (located at this site).
• Philly Scanner E-Book (may be worth the one-time subscription fee if you listen to much south Jersey stuff).
• PhillyScanner Yahoo Group (free companion to the E-Book).
• RadioReference.com, particularly for trunked radio system information but increasingly for conventional data too.

Mercer County Trunked Radio System

A control channel on Mercer County's new trunked system went live in early July 2006. It is a APCO P25-compliant system with a 9600 baud control channel, which means that all traffic on it will be digital (clear or encrypted). The license permits analog traffic, but 9600 systems are all-digital.

The sysid is 1EA, the site id is 101 (only one site on this system, composed of two simulcast locations). The configs are Base1=500.4500, Offset1=000, Step1=12.5; Base2=506.3000, Offset2=4096, Step2=12.5; Base3=508.4875, Offset3=8192, Step3=12.5.

County-wide OEM roll calls are now being conducted on OEM Command in the clear, with the following dispatch centers being called: East Windsor, Ewing, Hamilton, Hightstown, Hopewell Township, Lawrence, Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, Robbinsville, Trenton, West Windsor, Lifecom, and Sheriff. Whereas tests seemed to be run regularly on Tuesdays at 1100, they now seem to be a little more random but sometimes follow tests of the Crime Alert channel. On 4/03/07 Princeton Borough tried responding to the roll call on 00017 and was not acknowledged. 00019 was used on 2/09/07 for traffic and/or crowd control at the Trenton FD LODD services.

Mercer County-wide Police

Mercer County uses a UHF repeater for crime alerts/information. The channel is licensed and apparently maintained by Ewing, with most municipalities licensing the input to the frequency (consequently not listed individually). Tests are run by Ewing on Wednesday mornings at about 1000, with the following reporting: East Windsor PD, Hamilton PD, Hightstown PD, Hopewell PD, Lawrence PD, Princeton Borough PD, Princeton Township PD, Robbinsville PD, The College of NJ PD, Trenton PD, West Windsor PD, and county central. The County Sheriff and County Prosecutor used to also report on this channel, but have not been heard in recent tests.

The park rangers operate on the parks department channel, listed in the County Other section.

453.925 is licensed for low-power mobiles, possibly at Route 29 & River Road in Hopewell. The low-band Corrections Department frequency is licensed for one base and three mobiles, all low-power, at River Road & Route 29.

Mercer County-wide Fire & EMS & OEM

Most of Mercer County's fire companies are dispatched on F-1 by the Mercer County Emergency Services Communications Center (AKA "Central"), located at the Dempster Fire Training Center in Lawrence. F-2 and and F-4, the South Jersey Fire Network, are used primarily for secondary dispatch and inter-county coordination. The Tactical channels are for response and fireground operations. If a municipality is missing from the list, see its individual section for fire/EMS dispatch frequencies.

Central fire dispatch operates several towers throughout the county for communicating with the various apparatus. Some towers omit certain frequencies that are not relevant to that geographic area. The primary tower (along with dispatch & county OEM HQ) is at the Demptster Fire Service Training Center near Quakerbridge Mall; satellite towers are at: Trenton/Mercer Airport; Province Line Road in Hopewell; First Avenue in Hightstown; and Klockner Avenue in Hamilton.

Mercer County also dispatches Plainsboro (Middlesex County) after the Plainsboro Township PSAP receives the 911 call and pages out the fire company. Kingston Fire Company, Middlesex Station 24, is included in the list above because they run mutual aid into Princeton semi-regularly; note that their South Brunswick station number doesn't quite correspond with the Mercer County system.

Mercer County OEM Communications has access to a plethora of public safety and amateur radio channels for use in emergencies. The statewide EMRAD network is usually tested at 7:30 PM on the last Monday of each month. The Red Cross Central New Jersey Chapter operates a fully-equipped amateur station with permission to use the DSRC repeater when appropriate, in addition to the standard 47.42.

There was a buff network repeater which is completely unaffiliated with the county, but seemed to cover the greater-Mercer area. Traffic hasn't been heard on it in a while so they may have changed frequencies or gone defunct.

Helene Fuld was designated as a Level II Trauma Center in the late '90s. Lifecom is generally notified of an incoming trauma patient by ALS (or by telephone or state trunked radio if coming from out-of-county).

When not using cell phones, Capital Health ALS units use the standard med channels for physician control and talk-around with Lifecom. The base radio (Lifecom or the doc) transmits on the lower channel and mobiles transmit on the higher, so units can not normally talk amongst themselves (unless they have these channels programmed in again, in simplex mode). CH ALS units apparently have mobile repeaters from the UHF med channels to a unique VHF-Hi channel for each unit, presumably so that medics can carry just one portable. The CH ED Alert channel is for alerting trauma staff to an incoming patient.

BLS units use the HEAR channel to provide patient reports to all Mercer County hospitals.

The low-band 'EMS Unknown' channel is licensed for one base and one mobile at Mercer Medical Center, but appears in a license for other EMS channels.

Mercer County Other

Most of these frequencies are self-explanatory.

The College of New Jersey

The College of New Jersey uses a UHF repeater for police dispatch. The old police channel is reportedly used for EMS and maintenance services.

The college's radio station is on 91.3, and there are a couple channels apparently for use in broadcast production; likely studio links or relays or that sort of thing.

Several more UHF repeaters were recently found, previously undiscovered because they are licensed to the state. Use is unknown, but there is strong reason to believe they are intended for TCNJ. It is possible they have not yet been placed in use.

East Windsor Township

East Windsor Township Police Department has two repeaters for dispatch and alternate communication.

Fire Stations 42 and 46 are alerted on Fire-1 and typically operate on Tac-1. Initial alerting is sometimes by East Windsor, but county will always repeat it themselves and all follow-on dispatch communications should be with county.

Squads 142 and 146 are alerted and operate on the EW high-band repeater. Units CH-1 & CH-2 are the paid daytime BLS units for the township, operated by Capital Health EMS.

EW Public Works has its own repeated channel, and the EW Municipal Utility Authority has its own simplex channel.

The DPL for the EWRS bus channel is strongly suspected but not confirmed; it may be another bus service (there are many on 155.220, not to mention EMS).

Ewing Township

Ewing Police finished moving from a conventional UHF analog system to a digital encrypted UHF Type II Motorola trunked system in October of 2005. To date, all talkgroups used by Ewing PD are encrypted, and there are no scanners which are capable of receiving this. It is unknown what plans, if any, there are for Ewing public works and municipal services to go trunked. Based on license data, it looks as if Hopewell Township will also be using this trunked system. For information on Hopewell's end of things (if there is any), see that part.

For the technically-oriented, Trunker files are available; look for sysid 941C. Base is 507.3000, offset is 380, step is 12.5. Control channels are 507.3, 507.575, 507.725, and 508.7. Channels 507.575, 508.6, and 508.875 are seeing heavy use; light use on 507.725 and 508.7, no activity logged on 507.3000. Digital audio is APCO P-25, but encrypted.

Ewing apparently gave up its MDT repeater, probably using a commercial service instead, and let Trenton trunk on the frequency (although there's currently no valid license for it).

Stations 31, 32, and 33 are alerted by county on Fire-1 and operate on Tac-2.

Squads 132 (volunteer 1800-0600) and 139 (paid 0600-2300) are paged on JEMS 1 by LifeCom, and both operate on LifeCom's repeater.

OEM channels are per unconfirmed report. Licenses currently exist for some, but not all of the channels.

The Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority uses a high-band channel.

Hamilton Township

Hamilton Township Police have three repeaters, F-1 for primary dispatch with the two others for alternate / lookups / tactical. F-3 is the same frequency as the MDT repeater; the voice channel has a PL to avoid annoyance from the MDTs.

Stations 10, 12, 13, 14-1, 14-2, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 are alerted on Fire-1 and operate on Tac-3. 'Fire Officers' is licensed for low-power usage, listed by the Dempster Center web site as for chiefs. Under certain circumstances (apparently ALS calls and MVA's) an 'EMS' engine may be dispatched to medical calls. The apparatus is paged on Fire-1 and subsequently operates on Tac-3 or Lifecom's repeater.

BLS is provided to Hamilton Township by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton. Units 110-1 and 110-2 are stationed at the hospital and dispatched by Lifecom on county Fire-1 (paging) and the operations channel.

EMS is also still provided by Nottingham Ambulance Squad.

Hightstown Borough

The Hightstown Police Department is dispatched on a UHF repeater. Through an interlocal agreement, they also dispatch Cranbury Township Police (Middlesex County) on the same channel.

Station 41 is alerted on Fire-1 and operates on Tac-1. An additional channel is licensed at high-power to Hightstown Engine Company #1, for unknown use.

Squad 41 is alerted on Fire-1 and operates on 155.265, but with a different CTCSS tone than Mercer's JEMS 1. Cranbury FAS (Squad 48, Middlesex County) also uses the 155.265 channel, for both alerting & communications.

See East Windsor for known EW Regional Schools channels.

Hopewell Borough and Hopewell Township

The Hopewell Township Police Department, also serving the Borough, uses a UHF repeater for dispatch. The current use (if any) of the old police VHF-High repeater is unknown, though OEM is a good possibility. Based on FCC license data, it appears that Hopewell will be sharing the trunked system now in use by Ewing PD. See Ewing for more technical info on the trunked system; if/when Hopewell moves up, information specific to them will be posted here.

Emergency Services are dispatched by county on 154.13. Station 52 operates on Tac-2. The "Hopewell Township Fire District" has licensed a low-power high-band repeater, the purpose of which is unknown. Daytime EMS coverage is enhanced by '159', an EMT/fire inspector team who respond to medical emergencies if a volunteer ambulance is not available. They supplement the borough and township as well as Pennington.

The Hopewell Valley Regional School District has a UHF repeater. More general information on Hopewell is available at the HVRSD Community Page.

See Lawrence Township for additional BMS channels. Most of the BMS info listed here was gained only from FCC license data; due to this facility's close proximity to those in Lawrence, it is possible that the main channels used here are the Lawrence repeaters.

Lawrence Township

Lawrence Police use a UHF repeater for dispatch; dispatch (and maybe officers too) also has ability on the Quakerbridge Mall channel for coordination with mall security. An old relay pair has been recycled into two tactical channels, and the old dispatch repeater is still in use as an alternate channel.

Stations 21, 22, and 23 are alerted on Fire-1 and generally operate on Tac-2. Station 20, the township fire inspectors, reportedly use 154.055.

Lifecom pages and dispatches Squad 129 on JEMS-1 and Lifecom's operations repeater, respectively.

Bristol Myers Squibb has two campuses in the township and a third in Hopewell Township. All the identified channels here are confirmed at least for the main campus, but on some of the channels it sounds like there may be a couple different repeaters using the same input and output PLs (as in another repeater in Hopewell for better coverage on one channel). Alerts for the BMS Fire Brigade go out on F-1, F-5, and the paging channel. The brigade and first aid squad typically operate on F-5, though they may choose to use another channel on occasion. The license for the mobiles-only channels is centered upon the second campus, but may be used at any of the three or elsewhere.

Pennington Borough

Pennington Borough Police (7** units) are now dispatched by Hopewell directly on Hopewell's police repeater.

Emergency Services are dispatched by county with Hopewell on 154.13. Squad 151 usually stays on this frequency or uses JEMS 1, while Station 51 switches to Tac-2 for fireground operations.

Princeton Borough & Princeton Township

The Princeton Borough Police Department is dispatched on a UHF repeater, by "718" (as in WPMJ718). Princeton Township Police are dispatched on a separate UHF repeater by '993'. The township police department has an "aviation unit" which rents a helicopter from a local business on an as-needed basis for searches, training, and similar. The borough placed their old MDT channel in service as an alternate channel on or about 3/08/08.

Stations 61, 62, and 63 (all together as the Princeton Fire Department) are paged and operate on their own channel. Initial dispatch is generally by the borough (KEI901) or township (900), and Mercer County takes over after the page-out. F-3 "Private" is unconfirmed, and F-2 "Tac" is unknown, although if F-3 turns out to be correct then F-2 may be another "dot" business channel like 154.57 or 154.6 or 151.955.

Squad 168 is alerted and communicates with borough and township dispatch on the same channel as the fire department. The old, apparently unlicensed, Tac-3 (158.895R/D131) has been replaced by 155.8275. The squad has been heard chatting with the township dispatcher on Tac-2, and has a mobile data connection to the township's CAD system.

The borough uses the old 677 channel for municipal communications, particularly parking garage ops. Borough DPW utilizes a simplex channel, and the township DPW has a repeater.

Princeton Regional Schools (PRS) is the public school district serving the borough and township.

There is perennial discussion of merging the two muncipal dispatch centers into one for increased efficiency, but it has not yet occured (and, at this rate, will never). Even if/when it does, there is a strong likelihood that channels will remain the same.

The Nassau Inn transportation coordination and A/V production channels were in use during an event on 4/28/07. They probably "belong" to the particular livery and production services used for that event, which may or may not be frequently used by the Nassau Inn.

Princeton University

Princeton University runs most of its communications, including PUPS (Princeton University Public Safety) over its UHF Motorola Type II trunked radio system.

For the technically-oriented, Trunker files are available; look for sysid 680A. Base is 506.0125, offset is 380, step is 25.0. Control channels are 507.4625 and 508.3625.

The art museum and food service have their own conventional channels, and certain departments appear to have conventional tactical channels. OIT in particular has mentioned switching to "Local-4" in areas where the trunked system doesn't have good coverage, but I haven't been able to confirm the frequency or determine the PL/DPL.

Princeton Borough dispatches Fire and EMS onto most University property, at the request of the university dispatcher. The township similarly dispatches ES to the rest of the university.

During routine updating in early 2007 it appeared that some talkgroups have been realigned since prior identification. This was also hinted at by some radio users, discussing who the new user of a particular talkgroup is. All of the identified talkgroups here are recently confirmed or very strongly suspected, however some or all of the unidentified talkgroups may have been abandoned. Many of the fleet call channels have been interpolated.

Rider University

Rider University has six channels licensed. License data suggests the first two are used for some sort of paging or telemetry, the others are unknown.

Links:

• Rider Public Safety Department

Robbinsville Township

Please note that Washington Township voted to change its name to Robbinsville Township on 11/06/07.

Robbinsville Police are dispatched on a UHF repeater.

Station 40 is alerted on Fire-1 and operates on Tac-1. The EMS component, 140-10, operates on Lifecom's repeater. The fire district was dissolved in July of 2006.

City of Trenton

Trenton city services use an 800MHz Motorola Type II trunked radio system. The police department is a special flavor of digital (VSELP) which current "digital" scanners do not support. Whereas there was speculation that the system may convert to APCO P-25 digital at the time of rebanding, I have received a report that Motorola is custom-building/writing necessary upgrades to the VSELP hardware and/or firmware to enable Trenton and Cleveland to reband.

853.9375 has been rebanded onto 858.6625 as of the middle of 2006. That was the only channel that should have needed special coordination -- 854.2625 should remain the same and all the others should move down 15 MHz; the "Trunk System Future" channels show the total lineup after rebanding. It is not presently clear what effect rebanding will have on scanner functionality. Some hobbyists are reasonably confident that recent scanner models will be able to be "flash" upgraded by the user or by a repair facility. It is fairly definite that no scanner will be able to trunk Trenton's system after the rebanding without some sort of upgrading or replacement.

Aside from the police and certain Fire Department users, all others are analog. The main fire talkgroups will remain analog for the forseeable future because of technical issues with the over-the-air Knox box unlocking mechanism. In addition, a main dispatch talkgroup is multicast on the old city Fire-1 channel.

The city licenses repeaters and mobiles on the five 800 MHz I-Call/I-Tac channels listed on the state page. Refer to RadioReference.com for the latest talkgroup and system information.

It appears that Ewing's old MDT channel may have been added to the city's trunked system. The Ewing license is expired and there is no valid license for transmitters on that frequency in Mercer County. I'm working on verifying that it is really in use; as long as you have a scanner properly configured for Control Channel Only Mode (CCOM), then it won't really make a difference in monitoring.

Trenton EMS ('TEMS') is dispatched by LifeCom -- see the County-wide Fire/EMS/OEM section for more information.

West Windsor Township

The West Windsor Police Department is dispatched on a UHF repeater.

West Windsor Emergency Services, including Stations 43 & 44 and Squad 145, reconfigured their radio communications in the third quarter of 2005. They are now paged on one channel and operate on a new, separate repeater. WWPD, as '275', still generally does the alerting while county central handles it from there for the fire companies and 275 for the ambulances.

West Windsor roads department switched from their old simplex channel to a repeater around April of 2007.

The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District uses a UHF repeater for its school buses. The district also operates low-power station WWPH at the high school on Clarksville Road.

Mercer-Area SMRs