Montgomery County Scanning Issues

[oakesna]

I have both the east and west simulcast systems programmed into my scanner (BCD396XT). I am in Whitemarsh township so I am able to pick up everything on the east system with no problems, including fire/ems and police. I am not able to hear any traffic from the west system. I have triple checked that the control frequencies are correct and all of the talkgroup ID's are correct. Would this issue be because I am not within range of the west system or am I doing something wrong? I don't have any of the fleetmaps programmed because I am lost as to how that works. Could this be my problem?

Thanks,
Nick
KC3FWP

 

[policefreak]

Correct. You will not start hearing the West system until about Eagleville, the northern edge of Horsham, or just before the Lansdale exit of the Northeast Extension.

 

[oakesna]

Interesting how that works. Its much different in Lancaster County. Thanks for the reply.

 

[cavmedic]

Interesting how that works. Its much different in Lancaster County. Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure how Lancaster is setup regarding to zones or how much they simulcast on each tower, But Montco's system is divided between East and West. Certain zones / talk groups are simulcast on the respective towers within the zone . So lets say you are in the Eastern portion of the County, you aren't going to hear traffic from regions One and Two on any Eastern towers ( unless it is a county wide talk group, like EMS , the event channels or the P-Tac channels)

The same holds true for the Western portion of the County. We aren't going to hear any East Zone operations simulcasting through the West Zone towers, except county wide talk groups.


Once you are in a geographical location to physically hear both zones, then you will get both, but physical location, will dictate that.

 

[oakesna]

They have four zones being northeast, northwest, central and south, but they all seem to be linked because I can hear the talkgroups in the northeast and northwest zone on the central and south towers. It seems a bit more convenient for scanners because I can hear everything that is going on countywide no matter where my physical location is.

 

[cavmedic]

They have four zones being northeast, northwest, central and south, but they all seem to be linked because I can hear the talkgroups in the northeast and northwest zone on the central and south towers. It seems a bit more convenient for scanners because I can hear everything that is going on countywide no matter where my physical location is.

Wonder if its a 100% simulcast or only simulcasting based on radios affiliating with said towers scanning those talk groups ...

 

[u2brent]

I'm pretty sure it's 100% simulcast for Lancaster Co's system. If it's on the system; regardless of origin; Then it's on all the sites/zones. At least that's what I'm hearing from the south.