Hearing Arkansas State Police from Troop "A" in Little Rock on Pro 96 in Batesville

[airbear80]

I used to live in Little Rock and now live in Batesville, Arkansas. Recently I bought a Radio Shack Pro 96 digital trunking scanner with the idea that I could hear Troop "A" from Little Rock on the AWIN tower in Batesville. So far, no luck. We have programmed the scanner according to specs (from RadioReference frequency sheets). I have been told that others in N.E. Arkansas can hear Little Rock Troop "A", but so far, I have not determined how they programmed the scanner. One of those is the RS lady who says she just put all the L.R. frequencies in and it worked....but not for me. Any ideas? Or am I just expecting too much from the scannner? Batesville is about 90 miles northeast of Little Rock and one of the L.R towers is in Cabot Ar which is about 55 miles away. A Jonesboro Ar tower is about 47 miles away, and I hear them fine. I have had Police and Emergency receivers for over 40 years (even before there were scanners), but the DIGITAL, TRUNKING SYSTEMS, are all new to me. I do hear the Highway Police which mainly deal with big trucks, calling and talking to their dispatcher in Little Rock, but i realize that officer is in the Batesville area. Thanks in advance for any input! AIRBEAR80

[btritch]

Originally Posted by airbear80

I used to live in Little Rock and now live in Batesville, Arkansas. Recently I bought a Radio Shack Pro 96 digital trunking scanner with the idea that I could hear Troop "A" from Little Rock on the AWIN tower in Batesville. So far, no luck. We have programmed the scanner according to specs (from RadioReference frequency sheets). I have been told that others in N.E. Arkansas can hear Little Rock Troop "A", but so far, I have not determined how they programmed the scanner. One of those is the RS lady who says she just put all the L.R. frequencies in and it worked....but not for me. Any ideas? Or am I just expecting too much from the scannner? Batesville is about 90 miles northeast of Little Rock and one of the L.R towers is in Cabot Ar which is about 55 miles away. A Jonesboro Ar tower is about 47 miles away, and I hear them fine. I have had Police and Emergency receivers for over 40 years (even before there were scanners), but the DIGITAL, TRUNKING SYSTEMS, are all new to me. I do hear the Highway Police which mainly deal with big trucks, calling and talking to their dispatcher in Little Rock, but i realize that officer is in the Batesville area. Thanks in advance for any input! AIRBEAR80

The statewide channels are the ONLY ones that can be heard anywhere in the state. This includes highway police. As far as state police go, They work like everyone else You can only hear them in THAT district ONLY! No where else in the state, I can Hear Jonesboro District fine, I live in that district . I'm 45 miles away from Troop B district and can't hear them at all. You can only hear the district you are in ONLY. No one else at all unless you've got a really really really good outdoor directional antenna aimed that way up in the air about 30 feet or so..

[airbear80]

Brian, thank you for replying to my question about the Arkansas AWIN, and the Pro 96. What would you suggest as the really good antenna you mentioned? Also, any chance of getting Troop "A" streamed? Again thank you for taking the time to reply. I just got some bad info before I bought the scanner. Best Wishes! AIRBEAR80

[btritch]

There's no way I could possibly stream troop A from here. I can't even get B to stream let alone A. So as far as ME streaming no. That's not possible not even with a directional antenna and a darn good one at that. You're talking about 100 miles, There's no way.. Possible to stream A, If there's someone in that area that can hook up to the equipment and stream the little rock area, Yes and That'd be great! But I can't no. As far as a directional antenna, It's an 800 MHZ system so I'd say you'd need a good directional 800 MHZ Yagi Antenna at the least..hope this helps

[airbear80]

BRIAN: Yes, You've been a big help. Thanks again for taking time to answer my questions! AIRBEAR80

[safetyobc]

Actually you can hear other troops from the troop you live in. I'll explain...

When a Troop A trooper travels to say, Troop C. If that trooper still has his radio on Troop A, then the tower his radio is associated with (the one he is closest to) will broadcast all the audio that he is hearing over the air (ie, your scanner can pick it up.) That goes for any talkgroup on AWIN. ADEM, State Health, Counties, etc. So if you have a Washington County unit on AWIN, and he drives to say Texarkana and leaves his radio on Washington County the entire trip, he can listen to his home area traffic from where ever he is in the state and anyone using a scanner to monitor the tower he is on, will also hear his traffic.

That is why you heard Troop A from where you live. Likely a unit (anyone with an AWIN radio) had Troop A channel tuned in and you were hearing the traffic.

[airbear80]

Safetyobc Trooper Man.
Thank you for your reply. You are right about the way the system works. As I said in the other reply I just got some bad info before I bought the scanner, and should have checked here first. I was told by an individual, that i do not know personally, (in Jonesboro, Troop "C") that he has "to turn off Troop "A" because of all the traffic", in Jonesboro, on his Pro 96, coming from Little Rock (traffic stops on I-40, etc.)...and the person at the Radio Shack where I purchased my Pro 96 assured me I could routinely hear Troop "A" here in Batesville. So, just bad info. It would be kind of unlikely that a Troop "A" unit would be here in Batesville, or in Jonesboro very often. I do still like the Pro 96, and like hearing the Troopers from my area, along with Jonesboro, etc. I occasionally travel to L.R. and often to Jonesboro, so I probably would have purchased the scanner anyway. Again, Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions. I'll post questions here next time BEFORE I take the next step! AIRBEAR80....

[kingofengland]

More than likely the supervisor (Sgt., Lt., etc) where you live is tuning his or her radio to the Troop A comm to monitor traffic from the headquarters. This would explain it also, I think. Each area has at least one supervisor who has a need to contact with Troop A, so they may be scanning or listening to Troop A. Someone correct me if this is wrong.

[ncentralark]

Originally Posted by airbear80

Batesville is about 90 miles northeast of Little Rock and one of the L.R towers is in Cabot Ar which is about 55 miles away. A Jonesboro Ar tower is about 47 miles away, and I hear them fine. AIRBEAR80

AIRBEAR80, what kind of signal strength do you get when receiving the Jonesboro tower? It is good to hear that you can receive them in Batesville. I live just east of Batesville 10-15 miles and have a 396T; I hurried out to grab one when they first came and was amazed at how "hard hearing" they are compared to some older radio shack scanners I have had. A couple of items that might help you out in Batesville, if you can pick up Floyd tower (site 146) in White County you can hear some troop A talk pretty often. I have an outside Antennex 8246 fed through a Channel Master Amp (yeah..TV amp CM7777). With the set up, I can pick up the following sites Jonesboro, Ravenden, Newport, Batesville, Mt. View, Fair Oaks, Floyd, & Hbr Spgs. I have not been able to receive the Cabot tower. I am not using the LMR type cable just RG6. The LMR would help a lot preventing signal loss. I am thinking about the GRE PSR 500...I'd really like to get a unit more oriented to sensitivity than all the bells and whistles which I never use.

Regards-- this is a really good site for keeping up on all the latest.

[airbear80]

THANKS for the reply NCENTRALARK. I get a good signal from the Jonesboro tower. I am south of Batesville, however I suppose I have more trees, etc. south than I do east toward Newport and Jonesboro. I have tried one of the older models of the Grove Scanner Beam antenna which really worked good on the Independence Co. and surrounding area frequencies, but it is not very high at all. I think when I get time in the New Year I will either try to get this antenna higher, or get an antenna more tuned to the 800MHz band. I will definitely try to see if I am getting the Floyd tower. I do hear Heber Springs quite often on AWINS. Again, THANK YOU for the reply. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Best Wishes!!!! AIRBEAR80