For decades, many Tasmanians and radio enthusiasts enjoyed listening to emergency services on their scanners, hearing police, fire, and ambulance traffic live on the airwaves. But in recent years, that all changed. Today, those familiar police and emergency service transmissions are no longer accessible to the public with ordinary radio scanners. The reason? A major upgrade to how these services communicate: the Tasmanian Government Radio Network (TasGRN).
What Is TasGRN?
The Tasmanian Government Radio Network, or TasGRN, is a modern, unified digital radio system used by emergency services and other government agencies across Tasmania. Built in partnership with Telstra and Motorola Solutions, this network replaces multiple older communications systems with a single, secure platform for:
Tasmania Police
Ambulance Tasmania
Tasmania Fire Service
State Emergency Service (SES)
Parks and Wildlife Service, Hydro Tasmania, TasNetworks, and more
The network uses contemporary digital trunked radio technology (P25), supported by hundreds of sites across the state, giving responders better coverage, reliability, and interoperability wherever they are needed.
Why Scanning Used to Work - And Why It Doesn’t Now
Before TasGRN, different agencies used separate analog or basic digital channels to talk with each other:
Police used an older 800 MHz EDACS network with both analog dispatch and digital options.
Fire and ambulance used analog VHF/70 MHz systems.
These analog parts were easy for hobbyists and scanner enthusiasts to pick up because they weren’t encrypted. Anyone with the right scanner on the right frequency could hear calls, including dispatch and units in the field.
TasGRN Is Encrypted & Secure
With TasGRN, that openness is gone. The network is secure and encrypted, designed to keep sensitive communications private and protect public safety:
Encryption means only authorised radios can decode the audio. Regular scanners simply hear noise or digital data that makes no sense without the correct decryption keys.
The system does not broadcast as plain analog signals anymore , it’s a digital trunked network where transmissions are directed to authorised users only, with encryption keys exchanged securely between radios and the network.
This is why hobby scanners can’t pick up police, fire, or ambulance traffic anymore, the underlying data is not legally or technically available in plain audio form.
It’s About Safety, Privacy & Security
Officials argue that encryption and security are vital for modern emergency communications:
Protecting sensitive information: Emergency services often discuss private details (address info, personal medical info, criminal matters) that shouldn’t be publicly broadcast.
Protecting operations: Unsanctioned listeners could learn tactics or locations that might compromise response efforts.
Avoiding misuse: Unscrupulous people could use public traffic to interfere with or evade law enforcement.
TasGRN’s secure design helps ensure that emergency services can communicate about critical incidents without the risk of that information being overheard by the general public.
So What Does This Mean for Scanner Enthusiasts?
If you’re into scanning:
Police, fire, and ambulance digital traffic on TasGRN is essentially not listenable with standard hobby scanners.
Some older analog “paging” systems used by ambulance dispatch in the past were once audible, but they’re now replaced or being phased out with TasGRN upgrades.
Trunked digital systems like TasGRN are made to be secure, so no, you can’t just buy a scanner and tune in. You’d need official encryption keys and special licensed radios, which aren’t available to the general public.
In other words, that thrill of listening to live emergency services traffic in Tasmania is a thing of the past, a product of modern communication standards prioritising security and confidentiality over hobby listening.
The Bigger Picture
TasGRN isn’t just about stopping scanners:
It’s part of a statewide upgrade that improves how emergency crews communicate with each other, across different regions and services.
It gives responders reliable, interoperable voice and data networks, meaning better coordination during fires, medical emergencies, natural disasters, and other crises.
For emergency services, those improvements can save lives. For radio hobbyists, it means adapting expectations, and maybe turning towards other interesting parts of the spectrum that remain accessible.
In summary:
You can’t scan Tasmania’s police, fire, or ambulance services today because those critical communications now run on a digital, encrypted, trunked system (TasGRN). That network’s encryption keeps sensitive information safe and out of reach of ordinary scanners — ending the era of widely accessible emergency service listening on radio scanners across the state.
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