Polk County Channels

jclark1116 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-17-2012, 1:25 PM

New to the forum and also the Scanner Hobby and I think I have educated myself pretty decently up to this point. I am in Plant City with my RS Pro106 listening to Hillsborough County. I purchased another Pro 106 exclusively to Listen to Polk because it seems like i am close enough. I like to listen to the Fire dispatch and Tac channels. When i pull up Polk,there is the p25 trunk group, and the public safety talkgroup. should i upload both? or is that redundancy? or is the public safety talkgroup "abandoned".

Thanks for the help guys. What I have learned was from sniping from here!

exportdawg · #2 (**permalink**) 08-17-2012, 1:58 PM

Although I am not completely sure about Polk, I would bet most everything now (Fire/EMS and SO) are on the P25 System. I would only program the P25. Just my two cents
Polk County (Project 25) Public Safety System Trunking System, Bartow, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

Git-R-Done · #3 (**permalink**) 08-17-2012, 2:03 PM

Go ahead and program the Polk County P25 system you'll hear the FIRE/EMS and Sheriff and the other talkgroups as well. Lakeland is on the old system still.

jclark1116 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-21-2012, 8:08 AM

i programmed in the p25 system with the Lakeland Conv channels and i am getting practically nothing. i am gitting snippets from tac 6 and tac 5 so i know it is working. So being that i am plant city, is it because i am too far away from the winter haven tower? i am using the RS 800 mhz rubber ducky antenna. should i spend real money on another antennae or should i find a location closer to the tower?

jclark1116 · #5 (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 8:48 AM

any ideas? i am at a loss on this one

RyanRox099 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jclark1116

i am using the RS 800 mhz rubber ducky antenna. should i spend real money on another antennae or should i find a location closer to the tower?

The Rubber ducky are good when you're right on top of the system. I would suggest you get a better antenna, Or even an outdoor Antenna.

jclark1116 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 12:44 PM

what product would you think is best? My understanding is that Plant City is pretty far away from the P25 system tower located in Winter Haven? Thank you in advance if you could "Barney" that down for me!

Git-R-Done · #8 (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 3:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jclark1116

what product would you think is best? My understanding is that Plant City is pretty far away from the P25 system tower located in Winter Haven? Thank you in advance if you could "Barney" that down for me!

I hear alot of great things about the antenna products from DPD Productions I believe the guy who owns the company is a forum member here on the site? From what it shows for Polk County P25 system is located in Bartow down south east a little bit from Plant City.

Polk County (Project 25) Public Safety System Trunking System, Bartow, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

tampabaynews · #9 (**permalink**) 08-23-2012, 7:51 PM

Almost everything has migrated to the Polk P25 system. The old Polk system if I recall is only now only used for data. City of Lakeland has been using their own Motorola system for some time. You might be able to receive the Lakeland's from Plant City but the Polk P25 may be a bit of a challenge. Even on I-4 with a great car mounted antenna tuned for 800mhz, I don't get a thing out of Polk P25 until I cross the county line. Apparently it's the same for the users of the system as well. I happened to be within Polk and monitored a pursuit one day. Units on I-4 went silent almost immediately after crossing into Hillsborough.

Polk County (Project 25) Public Safety System Trunking System, Bartow, Florida - Scanner Frequencies
Lakeland City Services Trunking System, Lakeland, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

ke4crc · #10 (**permalink**) 08-24-2012, 9:33 PM

Polk county uses the P-25 system on 10 different towers. The one closes to Plant City would be on the City of Lakeland Tower @ 1109 E PARKER ST lakeland
the Analog system shares the P-25 freq. but as tampabaynews said The old Polk analog system is only used for data.

[QUOTE=tampabaynews;1807416] Almost everything has migrated to the Polk P25 system.

Bronson24 · #11 (**permalink**) 08-26-2012, 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jclark1116

i programmed in the p25 system with the Lakeland Conv channels and i am getting practically nothing. i am gitting snippets from tac 6 and tac 5 so i know it is working. So being that i am plant city, is it because i am too far away from the winter haven tower? i am using the RS 800 mhz rubber ducky antenna. should i spend real money on another antennae or should i find a location closer to the tower?

nevermind to my question I found them Thanks

jclark1116 · #12 (**permalink**) 09-18-2012, 7:22 PM

ok it has been a bit but i did find a spot in Babson to plant it. The signal seems to be good but the transmissions are "spotty' at best. I set it up to "stationary", and to sweep all CC channels but i am unable to actually "dial it in" i guess. I am not sure if it it the location, system, or all of the above. I do not know any better but if I am receiving good signal on the screen i cant think its a problem with my antenna? any ideas?

jclark1116 · #13 (**permalink**) 09-20-2012, 10:35 AM

Bump

Today i noticed when the transmission cuts in and out, the scanner screen (pro 106) has the "T" going in and out as well. am i loosing CC data intermittently?

n3obl · #14 (**permalink**) 10-13-2012, 5:59 AM

Its the simulcast effect. you can search on here for articles about it and scanner reception.

Frank

jclark1116 · #15 (**permalink**) 10-17-2012, 8:21 AM

i think i got it after much research. i went the directional antenna - attenuate route and it seems to be 90% perfect. Thanks everyone for the assist!

jclark1116 · #16 (**permalink**) 10-22-2012, 11:37 AM

Here is an "interesting" tidbit. something happens intermittently where the volume goes from a good listening level to where you have to crank it up almost all the way to hear it. its been happening for a few weeks and i have been blaming it on day to day stuff like weather but it just happened mid call?

any ideas? do you think they could be playing with tower power levels? or am i just crazy?

ke4crc · #17 (**permalink**) 10-23-2012, 8:16 PM

A lot of Deputy's use their speaker Mike and don't talk into the mike directly this causes the audio to be low

jclark1116 · #18 (**permalink**) 10-29-2012, 12:38 PM

the volume gimmik is consistant. there are days where it is at the right line level then some days where it is almost non existant. I know its not just me going crazy or deaf because the last time i checked the polk feed here it was very very low. plus the scanner app was also super low. are they playing with tower power (that rhymes) possibly?

Git-R-Done · #19 (**permalink**) 10-29-2012, 8:36 PM

It might be either some of the deputies covering their speaker microphones or like you said it may be low audio coming from the live feed.

ke4crc · #20 (**permalink**) 10-29-2012, 9:03 PM

anything's possible with the polk county System