SHP Question

[skibomp]

Hey guys,
Long time listener, first time poster.

I have been listing to the Highway Patrol due to having a few friends in the area that are troopers. My question is, I can not hear common 1 or 2 for the troop I am listening to. I had a trooper key up next to me talk... and nothing.

I have a homepatrol and everything is up to date. I am not sure what this issue is. Does anybody have any input as to what the issue may be? Are these channels open to hear?

Thanks,
Brian

[randyK]

I'm not sure how the home patrol works as far as the multi-site function, but I wonder if he was affiliated with one site and you were receiving another site.

[trumpetman]

Randy nailed it.

Your Homepatrol may have been scanning one site and the trooper's radio was affiliated on another site.

Until the trooper affiliates to the site that you're scanning or vice versa, you won't hear anything, especially on a common channel that is only going to have 2 or 3 troopers on it on those rare occasions.

In most programming schemes, the radios have a button that will display the site that it's affiliated to; hold that button a few seconds and it'll search for a different site. Lock onto a local site that you know, have the trooper roam to the site you're monitoring, then you'll be able to hear him communicate. Or you could just enable a larger radius of scanning to listen to more sites.

Where are you monitoring from? I know some of the VIPER sites still need to be geo-tagged on the east end of the state, I can clean those up if you'll let me know where to look.

[skibomp]

Originally Posted by trumpetman

Randy nailed it.

Your Homepatrol may have been scanning one site and the trooper's radio was affiliated on another site.

Until the trooper affiliates to the site that you're scanning or vice versa, you won't hear anything, especially on a common channel that is only going to have 2 or 3 troopers on it on those rare occasions.

In most programming schemes, the radios have a button that will display the site that it's affiliated to; hold that button a few seconds and it'll search for a different site. Lock onto a local site that you know, have the trooper roam to the site you're monitoring, then you'll be able to hear him communicate. Or you could just enable a larger radius of scanning to listen to more sites.

Where are you monitoring from? I know some of the VIPER sites still need to be geo-tagged on the east end of the state, I can clean those up if you'll let me know where to look.

I was in Raleigh, Near the fair grounds and at my house in Cary. I had the home patrol locked on Viper and the second bank locked on Highway patrol. I was specifically trying to hear C3's Common Channel. He was telling me they talk on it quite a bit, and I have never heard anything... I hear the HP talking all the time, just not on common channels.
I see 2 selections in viper for HP, Digital and Analog, should I use one over the other?
Thanks for the assistance!

[reconrider8]

I hear them here and there but like everyones saying you gotta have the site and then you will hear them

[NCFire11]

Then again Raleigh is simulcast?

[trumpetman]

Troop Communications monitors Common 1 as well I believe, which means it should constantly be affiliated. Goes back to what site was he locked on. Not too familiar with the HP, but someone might be able to add in how to lock onto a specific site or find out which one is being scanned.

[KE4ZNR]

Originally Posted by skibomp

I see 2 selections in viper for HP, Digital and Analog, should I use one over the other?
Thanks for the assistance!

Couple of things:
1) Update your HomePatrol Database. If you are still seeing 2 choices for NCSHP (Analog/Digital) that means your HPDB is waaaay out of date. Your HPDB should mirror what is currently listed in the database in which the only analog talkgroups for NCSHP are the "Troop Mutual Aid" TGs.
In Sentinel go to Update->Update Master HPDB as seen in this pic:


If I was Pete Rose and a betting man (Not that Charlie Hustle ever placed a bet) I would bet that you had your HP parked on one of the old analog Common 1/2 TGs instead of the newer digital Common 1/2 TGs.
Gotta keep that HPDB updated to keep up with the changes made of VIPER
Once the HPDB is updated I would suggest creating a favorites list of just NCSHP talkgroups. This way you can lock out all other sites than the Wake County Simulcast.
I can tell you I hear traffic pretty regularly on the Common 1/2 talkgroups from my qth in West Raleigh.
As others have said there is a caveat to monitoring SHP: If I am monitoring the Wake County Simulcast site and a C4 Trooper tells another C4 Trooper to go to Common 1 there is a very high chance I will not hear their conversation. Why? Because C4 is Franklin County and there should be no reason to rebroadcast their comms in Wake County. Keep in mind that Wake County is an anomaly in terms of VIPER. Most VIPER sites operate in a Smartzone format verses Simulcast.
Email me back if you have further issues.
Marshall KE4ZNR

[skibomp]

You are right. Everything is updated, but I was using an Favorite list that a friend of mine gave to me when I got my home patrol. I will go in and make a new favorites list.

[KE4ZNR]

Originally Posted by skibomp

You are right. Everything is updated, but I was using an Favorite list that a friend of mine gave to me when I got my home patrol. I will go in and make a new favorites list.

Glad you got squared away!
If you still have issues let me know and I should be able to put together
a favorites list in hpe format that you can import into Sentinel.
Happy Monitoring
Marshall KE4ZNR