Howard County Rebanding

[markgrutz]

Today is the day. Howard County has started the actual rebanding process. The control frequencies are jumping arround like mad today, and there are two new ones that have been active over the last hour. I will post all the new freqs here tonight or tomorrow when they are done, and I will send them to the database as soon as possible.

The new Control and Alt Control freqs are...
852.63750
853.03750
867.63750
868.03750
868.06250
867.80000

Mark

 

[ka3jjz]

and since 2 or 3 of the freqs for this system have a 0 in the 4th decimal, you will need to use custom tables to trunktrack this system correctly once rebanding is completed

Mike

 

[markgrutz]

So as promised, here is day 2 of ?? of the rebanding process. I missed the second half of the day of chit chat so I am not sure if there will be day 3 or not. If these stay the same for a couple days, I will submit a change to the database and get everything updated.

This is what Unitrunker has been picking up, the other existing ones were all reset, and no activity has been seen since the switch. I will do my best to keep an eye on them. Just FYI the PSR-800 didn't seem to have problems following it w/o custom plan, but I did update the table with the "rebanding" option just for good measure.

851.03750
851.06250
851.38750
851.53750
851.68750
851.96250
851.98750
852.63750 (alt cc)
853.03750 (alt cc)
853.06250 (cc)
857.23750 (old freq, still alive)
857.73750 (old freq, still alive)
862.56250
863.78750 (alt cc)
867.80000 (alt cc) (old freq, still alive)

Happy Scanning,
Mark

 

[ka3jjz]

You probably wouldn't notice it too much unless a conversation happens to land on that last frequency - it doesn't have a 5 in that 4th decimal. You will probably hear 95% of everything you need, even without the table.

Since you've listed both old and new ranges, I think it's safe to assume they're running in parallel until everything shakes out...Mike

 

[PrimoMoth]

Well I guess this explains why I can't hear anything. I live in PG, but listen to Howard County more than anything else, mostly because I have an older scanner and It can't pick up PG anymore, now I can't reband to Howard. I guess that's my clue to go shopping for a new toy huh? Since I am a first time poster, but a long time lurker, maybe you could PM me Mark, how do you like the GRE? I read all good things in the GRE thread....


Thanks
PM

 

[baybum]

My Pro-96's pick up Howard after the rebanding. If that's all you want to listen to, you can save a lot of money if you can find one of those for sale.

Mike

 

[pepperpot]

What did you do?

Mike, just read your comment about the PRO-96 still working after rebanding. What needs to be done to my same scanner? I am not a true hobbyist, just a listener so most of the tech talk goes beyond me. Did you reprogram with s/w and cable or reset or ??? Thanks for any info, Pat

 

[puzzleriddle]

You will need a programming cable & software if it is a 800 Mhz trunking system that has re banded( CAN NOT be done manually) Go here & read the info at bottom of this page ttp://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Win96

 

[ka3jjz]

Puzzle is right, but the URL he gave got chopped, and there's another software package that can also reband those 2 scanners. Here are the 2 links...

Win96 - The RadioReference Wiki

(go to the bottom of the Win96 article for the rebanding stuff) and

ARC96 - The RadioReference Wiki

HTH...Mike

 

[pepperpot]

Thanks

That helps, Mike, thank you. Which of the s/w would be easier to use for non-tech? Guess I may have to get the GRE cable 30-3290. I may have contacted you years back. Right now I'm using the online Live Audio to stay turned. I'm down in Clarksville area and key in on the David units at Southern. Pat

 

[baybum]

You might try (if you haven't already), entering the new control channel (853.06250) manually in the same bank you presently monitor Howard on. That's all I did. Make sure you enter all five of the digits right of the decimal point.
You might get lucky.
One caveat, I did use the software years ago to extend the frequencies.


Mike

 

[UPMan]

Would be great if someone could submit the new info to the dB (I've already got people pinging me that they cannot monitor the system).

 

[markgrutz]

I am going to put the change in as soon as I submit this post. I was just taking a few days to make sure what is here is staying. I have been keeping an eye on Unitrunker to see what freqs were gone, and which ones were staying. So far it appears the old freqs are completly dead, and the new ones are very much alive.


Mark

** Update **
It is number 404 in line to be processed. I stuck it on the Wiki until it updates in the DB, then I will delete the Wiki entry. Now at least it's stuck in the HoCo section instead of the forum.

 

[UPMan]

That 404 is for the total admin queue. It is likely that the individual admin responsible for MD has a much shorter queue.

 

[dtscho]

I just updated the database. I noticed the rebanded system has some frequencies in the 861-865 range. I've never seen these in a rebanded system in this area. Are these likely to be phased out as rebanding is completed?

Dave

 

[ka3jjz]

I'm willing to bet that Howard is paralleling the old/new system so they can shake out any of the bugs. If that's so then the old 866 Mhz freqs will eventually vanish..Mike

 

[dtscho]

There is one 866-869 freq left, but I was referring to the three 861-866 freqs (861.53750, 862.56250, and 863.78750).

Dave

 

[markgrutz]

As far as I know, the only two days it was being worked on was July 31 and Aug 1. I have not seen the radios they were using come back online and the talkgroup has been quiet. I am going to continue to keep an ear out, but that looks like what is going to stay. I listened to that incredibly boring process for both days, and as far as I understand, they unhooked the frequency combiners after each batch of 4 frequencies. The radios were done quite a while ago, to reflect the rebanding. It was probably close to 10/11 months since then. To me, it sounded like they were taking 4 channels offline, rebanding them, testing them between each tower site, then bringing the new ones online.

I have been watching the actual voice channel on my scanner, instead of the radio ID's. It all seems to jive with the new stuff. Like I said, I will continue to keep an ear and eye out, but they seem to have wrapped up on the 1st of August, with no spoken plans to come back and continue. If I see something, I will say something

Mark


I saw this after I posted but the 862.5625 has had 3002 hits since 8/1, 863.7875 has had 23, similar to the other alt controls, the 861.5375 has only had 1, so that may well be dead.

 

[pepperpot]

Pro-96 whala!

Mike, can't thank you enough for your suggestion to try plugging in Howard Co. 853.06250 and when I hit enter, I was back in business. So, don't understand those who say I couldn't do it manually. Also confused about the list of 15 control freqs Mark posted. If I were to enter those other 14 into my HC bank 5 would that benefit me?
Thanks again. Feel like I owe you a pizza, beers or something. Let me know what you like. Pat p.s. Promise to read more about this topic more to try to understand.

 

[ka3jjz]

pepper that will only work for a day or so, until the control channel changes. Once that happens, you will need to find the next new one from the list previously given.

Unfortunately this really isn't the solution, as you're going to miss a percentage of the conversations - how much is very difficult to project. Probably a small percentage, but you will miss some. The only way to properly reband this radio is with a USB cable and software, as was also mentioned previously.

Mike (the other one, hi)...