AFRRCS antenna recommendation
- Thread starter Elray
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EdmontonFireRadio
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I have an 800 MHz yagi (Maxrad MYA82512) and it works quite well for the AFRRCS.
Elray - if you are in Edmonton, you may want a yagi, as Edmonton area is simulcast, and pointing an antenna directly at one of the towers is a known solution to problems receiving simulcast signals (at least with Uniden scanners).
In other areas of the province, at least ones I've been in, pretty much any antenna will do. I have an omnidirectional multi-band on my truck (Austin Spectra) and it receives a huge number of sites in the Calgary area. At home, I have a magmount SpectrumForce multi-band hooked up to a multicoupler (haven't gotten around to installing an outdoor antenna - for the past several years
) and I get good reception on at least 10 or 12 sites there as well. On my handhelds, I use the Diamond SRH-789 telescoping antenna with the bottom two sections extended and it works excellently.
In other areas of the province, at least ones I've been in, pretty much any antenna will do. I have an omnidirectional multi-band on my truck (Austin Spectra) and it receives a huge number of sites in the Calgary area. At home, I have a magmount SpectrumForce multi-band hooked up to a multicoupler (haven't gotten around to installing an outdoor antenna - for the past several years
) and I get good reception on at least 10 or 12 sites there as well. On my handhelds, I use the Diamond SRH-789 telescoping antenna with the bottom two sections extended and it works excellently.The reason I thought that an 800 MHz yagi would be better is that they seem to be more plentiful and AFRRCS uses 770+ MHz. As for location, I'm in central Alberta, 20-30 miles from Red Deer. Judging by the map I saw the towers here are not simulcast? No lines interconnecting them anyways. My bcd536hp is scanning AFRRCS as far as I can tell, but not picking up squat with a 400 MHz yagi or a VHF or UHF dual bander. Should I be hearing anything?
The lines on the map indicate that we know the sites are communicating with one another - doesn't have any bearing on simulcast.
The only sites in the system which are simulcast are within the Edmonton Metro region. All the others are "normal" 700 MHz sites.
Here's how to test if your scanner is receiving the system. On your 536, do this:
Hit MENU
Scroll to Analyze and hit E
Scroll to System Analyze if you have to (it might already be highlighted) and hit E
The radio will ask you to "Input System Name". You don't have to; just hit E.
You will see a list of all the trunk systems in range in your radio. Scroll to AFRRCS and hit E.
Scroll to the site of your choice and hit E.
You should see a screen that looks something like this:
where "AFRRCS" is the system name and "Cochrane" is the site name. (The display is from my 436, so obviously your display will be slightly different.)
The bar above S is the signal strength. You'll notice in my image that even though it seems like I have virtually no signal, I'm still getting site info (below the S, Q, and A bars).
Note that if you are monitoring a site that has a site number higher than 99, you won't see the site number after the 005Bh- (or 005Ah-) part. Uniden radios have a bug where they won't show site numbers that are three digits long.
S stands for Signal Strength, Q stands for Quality of Decode (how well you're decoding the system control channel), and A stands for Activity (how busy the system is).
If you're receiving the system at all, you will get some bars for S and Q and most likely at least some data in the section below that.
To check another site, hit FUNC and then MENU to go back to the "Input System Name" screen and start over from there. To get out of this section entirely and go back to scanning, hit FUNC and then SYSTEM.
The only sites in the system which are simulcast are within the Edmonton Metro region. All the others are "normal" 700 MHz sites.
Here's how to test if your scanner is receiving the system. On your 536, do this:
Hit MENU
Scroll to Analyze and hit E
Scroll to System Analyze if you have to (it might already be highlighted) and hit E
The radio will ask you to "Input System Name". You don't have to; just hit E.
You will see a list of all the trunk systems in range in your radio. Scroll to AFRRCS and hit E.
Scroll to the site of your choice and hit E.
You should see a screen that looks something like this:
where "AFRRCS" is the system name and "Cochrane" is the site name. (The display is from my 436, so obviously your display will be slightly different.)
The bar above S is the signal strength. You'll notice in my image that even though it seems like I have virtually no signal, I'm still getting site info (below the S, Q, and A bars).
Note that if you are monitoring a site that has a site number higher than 99, you won't see the site number after the 005Bh- (or 005Ah-) part. Uniden radios have a bug where they won't show site numbers that are three digits long.
S stands for Signal Strength, Q stands for Quality of Decode (how well you're decoding the system control channel), and A stands for Activity (how busy the system is).
If you're receiving the system at all, you will get some bars for S and Q and most likely at least some data in the section below that.
To check another site, hit FUNC and then MENU to go back to the "Input System Name" screen and start over from there. To get out of this section entirely and go back to scanning, hit FUNC and then SYSTEM.
Thanks Jay. I will try that. I can see that the scanner has the AFRRCs info in the database and is scanning those frequencies. It has just never stopped on an AFRRCs channel. As of 2 weeks ago EMS in this area stopped being dispatched over regular channels, and have been using AFRRCs, so there must be traffic. Still have lots to learn about the system and digital modes in general.
I believe it's been said earlier in this thread that EMS in the Red Deer area has gone to the encrypted talkgroup 991 on the system, so the Uniden scanners will skip right over them because they're encrypted.
Somebody did say that this talkgroup is (or was) being patched to the Red Deer Mot Type II system, but never came back to say what TG it was as far as I know.
I know I've seen 991 in use on a regular basis on Unitrunker down here in the Calgary area.
Somebody did say that this talkgroup is (or was) being patched to the Red Deer Mot Type II system, but never came back to say what TG it was as far as I know.
I know I've seen 991 in use on a regular basis on Unitrunker down here in the Calgary area.
So I went through what Jay described and I am getting good signal from local towers. No other antenna needed. For those following along make sure your firmware is updated to utilize the anylyze feature. Nothing heard due to encryption like was mentioned earlier.
I use these antennas to extend my listening range of AFRCCS Yes its indoor and mounted on a coat rack.
They work very well and can be had on Ebay for under $ 30.00 USD plus shipping, search 700 MHz antenna
They are come with cable and mounting hardware and rated for 75 MPH winds, dont think that will be a problem
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