RACOM question

IowaBrian · #1 (**permalink**) 07-24-2009, 10:16 AM

I know there have been many post about how RACOM works I just need to know if I have to pick each transmitter say Cedar Rapids N&S, Benton County, Waterloo & Dubuque because when you pick your talk groups it adds for each site which really puts a hurt on memory. If you pick 10 towers and then pick your groups it has 10 of everything if you do it as a single batch which is a lot easier then going in and picking such and such for this tower and such and such for that tower. Guess I need to get something with more memory my 600 isn't cutting it

Being in the CR Marion area I can pick up Dubuque City with the duck and some Black Hawk County, I think I will need to get a base with more memory and good antenna that I can move around then I will be in business.

I know there are a few here from Marion CR area what are you able to get on the RACOM network?

Thanks
Brian

daren77 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-25-2009, 04:13 AM

Hi Brian,

Let me first say I am by no means an authority on Raycom but here is how it works as I understand it.

You basically only need to monitor one Raycom tower for your area. If you are monitoring ALL of the TG on that tower then you will hear all of the traffic on it regardless of what it is, as long as the tower has a reason to transmit it. So for example, you will hear Blackhawk traffic in your area if there are Blackhawk units within range of that tower. If the tower doesn't have a Blackhawk unit within range, then there is no reason for the tower transmit it and you won't hear it. The only reason to monitor multiple towers from other geographic areas would be if you are mobile and travel through their areas and want to hear their traffic.

I hope I understood your question and hopefully my reply isn't too confusing. There are many other people on this board that know much more about Raycom that me so I'm sure I'll be corrected if I've got it wrong.

Radioman96p71 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-25-2009, 01:26 PM

Nope, you hit it right on the head daren77! RACOM sites only transmit the GIDs that the users are affiliated with. So a Blackhawk or Marshall Co car wanders into Cedar Rapids with his radio set to Marshall Co TAC, he will bring that channel with him to each site as he makes his way there.

Now the exception to the rule:
SOME sites and SOME GIDs are set as scan GIDs. Meaning that they are broadcast on a tower even if they are not logged in to by a user. As an example, most major areas on the RACOM net have a link radio set up on the statewide Mutual Aid and local LEA tower for their areas. Now 99% of the time, there are no users affiliated with that channel because it is usually only used for interop with the State Patrol or the neighboring county that uses VHF analog. Both of those GIDs will be broadcast on all the area sites regardless of if they are logged in or not. The reason for this is if an officer has his radio set to scan a few GIDs, this allows him to hear those calls even tho he is not affiliated with the channel. If they didnt do this, scanning wouldnt work as you would only hear the channel you were on and whatever else officers are on in the area. The same applies to 'local' channel like Car, City and Portable here in Polk county. Noone sits on those channels so they have to be programmed to 'broadcast anyways, even tho noone is logged in' in order to get the desired effect.

Sorry for the long post, hope that makes a little sense!!!

KCØGIK

IowaBrian · #4 (**permalink**) 07-25-2009, 05:00 PM

So it sounds like if I want to listen to Waterloo-Black Hawk from CR I would need to hope to be able to pick it up with a directional pointed at their tower? Or if I am wrong I just get the CR N - S tower and hope a car roams into that tower so I can hear traffic. I understand the roaming car that allows that car to be on their home network thus we get to hear that network. I can get Black Hawk but sounds like some county cars only and it is hit or miss when I am in downtown CR.; I can get Dubuque if I use my long antenna and point it out my front window. I have their tower on my list so the big question is do I neeed to list their tower to listen to them or just add them to my CR tower list. I tried to play around a little last might but with the weather, I was watching(listening to EMA) to make sure I dodn't have to get the family to the basement. I will reprogram the 600 tonight and figure it out. I have been out of the listening for years so I am trying to get up to speed on the different trunks and hopw they work.

Thanks everyone
Brian

IowaGuy1603 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-25-2009, 07:43 PM

I am surprised you get the Dubuque tower in Marion..............................with a duck! That is pretty good stretch. I a ma whole lot closer and higher than you are and don't get real good reception from them. Also I don't hear the Waterloo towers until I am somewhere north of Urbana on 380 (mobile of course with a duck)

To answer your question.................you need to program in the towers you want to listen to. If you are wanting to listen to DX towers like Dbq or Wloo go for it. Its fun to listen

Adding the GID's for Dubuque or Waterloo on the CR towers will only work if there is car from Dubuque or Waterloo in range of the CR tower.

Trunking scanners are touchy when it comes to programming them. Its much easier to buy the computer programming software and save the profiles so you can quickly reprogram rather than having to manually enter the info.......or enter new GID's, frequencies, etc. Also people tend to like to share their setup files so others can use them. I often check out different scanner groups to see if anyone has uploaded a file containing areas I want to listen to.

IowaBrian · #6 (**permalink**) 07-25-2009, 08:51 PM

Thanks for the answers IowaGuy I thought that is how it worked.

As for Dubuque I am using one of those RS tele's with the center thingiemabob and pointing it out towards Dubuque the duck from GRE is a no go. I do get BH county with the duck at work in CR downtown but only county cars and not much traffic. The very first thing I got in Dubuque was a car chase couple days ago well chase is over stating it topped 40 MPH and was 20 most of the time. Not like our CR chase month ago with the bike that clocked at 158 mph!!!!! He had ISP on him in the plane It was fun to listen to as the pilot said 158 and he is pulling away from me

As for the computer program found out that was a must from day one!!! I would feed the scanner to the chipper if I had to program it by hand.

KD0BML · #7 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IowaBrian

As for Dubuque I am using one of those RS tele's with the center thingiemabob and pointing it out towards Dubuque the duck from GRE is a no go.

Which Dubuque tower do you have programmed in? I could see picking up Dubuque traffic from the Cascade, IA tower in Marion that's still 40 miles away, but either of the 2 main towers near Kieler, WI would be almost impossible. Those towers barely make it to the opposite end of the county...

IowaBrian · #8 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 12:49 PM

I programmed in one of the Dubuque towers and I am getting nothing so I am going to have to look back at my saved bins to see what I listed. I thought it was a LONG ways too. Hopefully I downloaded from the radio and saved it so I can see the hit counter and that will tell me. If not more programming and playing around with the 600. To be honest I don't know what I had programmed It was popping up D- City and the streets were Dubuque streets per the wife that was listening too, ( we were having quality time together hahaha).

Rich83 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 01:40 PM

Im not sure if Im on the same line here but I have the Ames tower frequencies set up and Im often in Des Moines. Could I add the Des Moines frequencies below the Ames control frequencies in the same system or do I have to set up a new system?

Radioman96p71 · #10 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich83

Im not sure if Im on the same line here but I have the Ames tower frequencies set up and Im often in Des Moines. Could I add the Des Moines frequencies below the Ames control frequencies in the same system or do I have to set up a new system?

You would need to set up a new system. If you add the frequencies after the Ames site, the LCNs for Des Moines would be off.

KCØGIK

IowaBrian · #11 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 03:26 PM

I have a new question, I have the GRE 500 (I said 600 before guess I was dreaming that I had both) With the Racom tower I have added both wildcards and I am getting hits on it and when I can get to the save button fast enough I save whatever comes up. Could you just do a tower and choose wildcard and not add the groups or does the wildcard use the groups and if something within the group that you don't have comes up it shows as wildcard? Since I am not at my programming computer I would just try it but I am not so I am asking

thanks Brian

Radioman96p71 · #12 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 03:40 PM

I don't have a 500 (or 600 for that matter lol) But I can say with my BC780, if you have groups tagged in your scanner, and then put a wildcard in as a group also, the tagged groups will show when they are active and anything else will just show up under the wildcard. This is how i usually run my portable scanner so i can pick up any new GIDs i might have missed otherwise. Hope that helps!

KCØGIK

IowaBrian · #13 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 04:44 PM

Sort of figured that didn't know if when it got to the wildcard if something was active on the tower it just picked it up even if you have it in your scanner already or if it everything but what you have programmed.

IowaBrian · #14 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 09:38 AM

Figured out the Dubuque that I was getting Police are on the CR N tower

Radioman96p71 · #15 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IowaBrian

Figured out the Dubuque that I was getting Police are on the CR N tower

That makes more sense now! It makes it kinda difficult to figure out just what tower you are on when you get traffic from far-out places. If you get the frequency of the CC, you can usually run down the system it belongs to by looking at the map at the bottom of the RACOM page here at RR, find the site that is closest to you with that number and kind of deduct from there. What makes it really fun is I can hear 2 system 3s and on some nights 2 system 13s. Trying to figure out which one is which can be a trip! Then throw in the oddball that doesn't fit the profile, like the Collins site, and this hobby can make your brain ache lol

Glad you got it figured out! Now the fun part of keeping track of the changes RACOM makes constantly!

KCØGIK

IowaBrian · #16 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 02:24 PM

Sort of wish they would put Black Hawk on CR N You never know they might really need me to help them out some day with something like stopping all of the gun fire up there. I can laugh since that is where I am from.

Radioman96p71 · #17 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 03:29 PM

Haha yea i hear its a pretty rough town! Seems thats how it always in on this network. Wherever you are, you arent close enuf to hear the town you want to! I try to monitor Marshalltown but im JUST out of range and cant hold a signal. Oh well!

KCØGIK

IowaGuy1603 · #18 (**permalink**) 07-31-2009, 07:16 PM

Also you might want to remember that many departments use Graybil to install lights, markings, & radios in their cars..............................the CR N tower would be the one that had any transient traffic in town for repairs/installs.......................................jus t sayinhg

IowaBrian · #19 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 05:31 PM

Another question lets just say a certain group 12-345 is on my tower why can't I get the rest of the talk group. Like 12-346 12-347 same agency but not on my tower??

Thanks Brian

Radioman96p71 · #20 (**permalink**) 08-12-2009, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IowaBrian

Another question lets just say a certain group 12-345 is on my tower why can't I get the rest of the talk group. Like 12-346 12-347 same agency but not on my tower??

Thanks Brian

Same reason as above applies here as well. If the user switches to another GID, it will bring that GID to the tower and 'release' the other. From what I have seen, the user only brings his current GID, not the entire agency and nothing in his scan list. So if a user leaves his 'home area' you are kinda SOL as far as scanning goes. Hope that makes sense!