Hamburg Angola Fire Control

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BTFire21

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Hamburg and Angola Fire Controls have been cut over to the new UHF system as of yesterday. The new dispatch frequency now covers Hamburg and the surrounding towns very well as there are simulcast sites instead of just the original Colden Fire Company repeater in Colden. So for you folks who didn't receive 454.0875 very well before might want to give it a listen again.
 

nyemt774

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I think I am listening to the feed over RR, right now. It sounds real scratchy and cut outs quite alot. They seem to be trying to figure out how the new system transmits and receives from different locations, also. just have to wait and see, I guess....
 

eriepascannist

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I live down near the state line in Chautauqua county and beginning I think two days back I have begun hearing 454.0875 active whereas I never did before. It was actually quite clear, for being so far from the transmitters. Ihought maybe it was just a "freak reception" so to speak but I'll have to keep listening! Thanks for the info!
 

mjmurphy61

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I'm listening to it right now on 454.0875. It's awful. Very scratchy. First time I have had the scanner on since Sunday. Was never this bad before.
 

JimD88

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Hamburg / Angola Fire Control

Is this (454.0875) the final frequency for both Hamburg anf Angola Fire dispatch and is it 100% converted at this point ? The Hamburg Fire Chiefs website shows a different dispatch frequency (459.0875) and I am still hearing everything on the old frequency of 46.200. Channel 454.0875 seems to have a lot of "bleed-over" interference from other organizations on 454.1000

In the near future, The Town of Hamburg will be moving over the the 400 Mhz frequencies:

CH NAME USE FREQ
1 F-1 DISPATCH 459.0875
2 TAC-1 TALKAROUND / DIRECT MODE 454.0875
 

BTFire21

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454.0875 is the dispatch frequency for Hamburg/Angola Fire Control. It is not converted from low band yet. They have been running into a multitude of problems that need to be worked out before they can turn over to UHF 100%.

As far as the bleed over from 454.100 try using Tone Squelch if your scanner has it to eliminate the problem.

Whoever posted the new Town of Hamburg Frequencies on the Fire Chief's site posted all of the input frequencies not the output that scanner listeners would need. Go by the information listed in the Radio Reference Database for Hamburg.
 

JimD88

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Thanks for the reply. Is there an ETA for the full UHF conversion and will that make their signal stronger ? Right now it seems to fade in and out depending on where you are, even within the Hamburg Township - not sure if that is related to the fact that they are still split on low band also or if it is a product of the bleed over from the neighboring frequency.

I don't think my scanner has tone squelch - it is just a BC350C. Will the bleed over also occur with a Motorola Minitor or are those fine tuned to only receive that specific frequency and eliminate any bleed over ? I am considering springing for that for ease of monitoring and portability but have been waiting for the final frequency to go live before I consider spending that money
 

JimD88

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I was considering upgrading my BC355 to a Uniden BCT15X to solve my bleedover problem as that radio has tone squelch (amongst many other upgraded features). You can get it on Amazon for about $190. Before I do, do you know if Hamburg has any plans to go to digital anytime in the conceivable future that would cause me to consider a digital scanner ?
 

nyemt774

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Hey Jim...Been doing a lot of reading and trying to stay on top of the changeover to high band in Erie County. I've never heard even a whisper of going digital in Erie County. It's been hard enough for them to make the transition over to high band so I would find it hard to believe they'd go digital. I have a 15X and it handles Erie County well.
 

JimD88

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Hamburg, NY
Hamburg / Angola Fire Control

Thanks for the replys. When you say they are "staying put", we are talking about staying put on 454.0875 non digital right (as opposed to staying put on low band 46.200) ? I just want to make sure there is definately a permanence and commitment to 454.0875 before I make my purchase - since they are having so many conversion issues. Will that be narrow or wide band ?
 

eriepascannist

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Yes, sorry if I was unclear. I was referring to "staying put" on 454.0875. As was posted, they've gone through so much trouble to get to this point, I just can't see them doing all this just to make another switch to digital.

As far as narrow/wideband, that I'm not sure, but I would assume narrow, given the narrowband deadline in just over 4 months. Someone else might know more about that.
 

JimD88

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Thanks for clarifying. I have been scanning for years but Hamburg has been low band forever so some of the UHF terminology is new to me so sorry if my questions seem novice. Does narrow / wide band make any difference on the receiving side (things like scanners and pagers will pick up either) - does it only matter on the transmit side of things ?
 

BTFire21

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As far as the fire service in Southern Erie County I find it highly unlikely that they will switch to Digital anytime soon.

But if you listen to Erie County Sheriffs or the Erie County Emergency Services Frequencies they have been testing and plan to move to digital in the very near future.
 

JimD88

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Thanks. So if I am thinking about this right, if Hamburg Fire is on 454.0875 then they are automatically on narrow band since the frequency goes into the 4th decimal place, or is that nor the right correlation ? Are they 100% set at 454.0875 as the final frequency - not expected to change ?
 

eriepascannist

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Yes, I believe so. Narrowbanding requires 12.5 KHz step sizes, and 454.0875 would comply with that in my opinion, being 12.5 khz from 454.075 and 454.100 MHZ. As far as I can tell, that channel is good to go with narrowbanding, so there should be no reason for any further freq/mode/system changes in the near future. I'm still figuring out this whole narrowbanding thing, though!
 
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DaveNF2G

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The UHF band has been channelized into 12.5 kHz steps for a long time. It has nothing to do with the current round of narrowbanding. You can expect Angola to become narrowband, if it hasn't already, by the 2013 deadline.
 

JimD88

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Hamburg / Angola Fire Control

BTFire - tone squelch has helped eliminate the bleedover interference when the Hamburg fire channel is inactive (thanks) - but when they are broadcasting I am still experiencing significant reception issues - the signal seems very weak, it fades in and out, and is just plain bad - and I live in the town so that seems odd. Is it because they are still simulcasting low band and UHF and maybe they do not have full transmit strength on UHF as a result ?
 

nyemt774

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Jim...I could be wrong, but it sounds like maybe they are still tweaking and working on the high band switchover which might account for why you are having reception issues. I would think living in Hamburg you should receive pretty much a good if not great signal. The only other thing I can think of to help would be (if possible and pretty obvious...)...Have you tried moving your scanner? Maybe something is interfering with the reception...Just a thought...

As for your earlier question is 454.0875 etched in stone as the final frequency...barring some major malfunction or issue that has to be it. With the 2013 FCC mandate to change over rapidly approaching they would have to get an extension, and/or reapply, get approval, and reprogram the system. That would not be cheap or easy or quick to do.
 
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