A receiving device in the trunked radio communications system receives an outbound signaling word comprising at least an opcode field and a band plan field, wherein the opcode field indicates that the outbound signaling message is a system status message and the band plan field indicates the band plan in use on the site. In another embodiment, the receiving device receives an outbound signaling word comprising at least an opcode field, a site identification field and a four bit band plan field, wherein the opcode field indicates that the outbound signaling message is an adjacent control channel message, the site identification field identifies a second site, and the four bit band plan field indicates the band plan in use on the second site.