Tucson Police

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klmcmullen

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I'm new here but I have been reading some of the posts. I live in the J6 ranch area so I'm out of Tucson a bit but not over 50 miles. I can not pick up Tucson Police from my house so I went to a house in Rita Ranch and had the same results. Can anyone help with this problem?
 

DanRollman

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I'm new here but I have been reading some of the posts. I live in the J6 ranch area so I'm out of Tucson a bit but not over 50 miles. I can not pick up Tucson Police from my house so I went to a house in Rita Ranch and had the same results. Can anyone help with this problem?

What are you listening to in trying to hear Tucson Police? What frequencies and talkgroups are you scanning, and on what type of scanner? Simulcast A and Simulcast B work fairly well in Rita Ranch, and several TPD divisions can be heard off the Keystone Peak PCWIN site for 50+ miles from Tucson.

You are monitoring TPD off PCWIN (Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) Trunking System, Tucson, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies) using a modern Phase II capable P25 digital trunking scanner ($400+), right?

Dan
 

DanRollman

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What are you listening to in trying to hear Tucson Police? What frequencies and talkgroups are you scanning, and on what type of scanner? Simulcast A and Simulcast B work fairly well in Rita Ranch, and several TPD divisions can be heard off the Keystone Peak PCWIN site for 50+ miles from Tucson.

You are monitoring TPD off PCWIN (Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) Trunking System, Tucson, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies) using a modern Phase II capable P25 digital trunking scanner ($400+), right?

Dan

Incidentally, I would expect the Haystack Peak tower to come in fairly well in the J6 ranch area. If nothing else, are you able to listen to Pima County Sheriff off Haystack? That would help us identify what your issue is.

Dan
 

klmcmullen

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I have a brand new uniden 436 scanner. While I was in Rita Ranch Mt. Bigello was the tower that the scanner would go to. I couldn't keep it on simulcast a or b. Haystack does the same in J6. My talk groups are law dispatch law tac law talk multi dispatch multi tac multi talk. My daughter is a TPD officer so I listen to her scanner and mine at the same time so I know whats being transmitted. The main reason I purchased the scanner is to listen to her calls. I can pick up the Sheriff very well but I can also pick up Yuma.
 

FLANO

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Short answer, you won't pick up TPD patrol off of Mt Bigelow repeater. I would only put in Bigelow if I wanted to hear Mt Lemmon FD, SO East-1, and a few other TG's. A lot of TG's are blocked from using this site, due to only three frequencies in use, one taken up by the control channel.

As Dan said, be sure Simulcast A and B are in the radio. If you use those sites, you will hear your sister, albeit sometimes garbled due to the simulcast issues. If I were you, these would be the only ones in the radio, if you are listening from Rita Ranch area and not moving about. If you are mobile, you may, but don't need to necessarily add the other sites.

The Keystone repeater, will give pretty good reception, but not always complete traffic, due to priorities being SO, county fire, and Pascua Yaqui.

Haystack is possible, depending upon your signal strength, but again, mostly SO and county fire.
 

FLANO

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Also, since you mentioned this is a new scanner, if you are using the rubber duck antenna that came with the 436, junk it. Go to one of the Radio Shacks that are still around and buy an 800mhz rubber duck antenna. You will be amazed at the difference in your reception. This should take care of some of your reception problems.
 

DanRollman

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As Dan said, be sure Simulcast A and B are in the radio. If you use those sites, you will hear your sister, albeit sometimes garbled due to the simulcast issues. If I were you, these would be the only ones in the radio, if you are listening from Rita Ranch area and not moving about. If you are mobile, you may, but don't need to necessarily add the other sites.

The Keystone repeater, will give pretty good reception, but not always complete traffic, due to priorities being SO, county fire, and Pascua Yaqui.

Haystack is possible, depending upon your signal strength, but again, mostly SO and county fire.

Except I think he said he lives in the J6 Ranch area, and only visits Vail and Rita Ranch. From J6 Ranch, I suspect he is probably out of luck. I've never tried, but I doubt Simulcast A/B work that far east (almost Benson). As John notes, not every system user can be heard off every tower at all times (or, in some cases, at any time!). Simulcast A/B is the only system that carries all traffic, all the time. The other towers may carry traffic of users in the area, or whose jurisdictions are in the area.

If you can't hear Simulcast A/B from a given location, you just have to take what you can get from the other towers you are able to hear. It may not be the users you're most interested in.

Dan
 

FLANO

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I have heard Simulcast A on I-10 as I head towards Benson. I'll get a better location, i.e. milemarker to see how far it extends out there. I use a rubber duck and a mag mounted antenna.

I'll see what I can hear, as I do a lot of traveling through Cochise County to get to other destinations.

If you still have problems, perhaps, we can meet up at the Vail Steak House, and I'd be happy to go over the radio and tricks that I employ :)
 

klmcmullen

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Its obvious I don't know much about this radio. I spent Monday night in Rita Ranch and did get great reception on the simulcast towers. I just don't know how to program the radio just for those towers. Haystack tower I get all bars for reception because I can see it from my house. I can meet at the Vail steakhouse just about any day. I am retired so the only thing I have to do is keep my wife happy.
 

klmcmullen

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Tucson police

No responses for a couple of days. I don't know how to keep the scanner on the simultaneous signals. It keeps going back to Haystack. Any suggestions?
 

kd7eir

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Menu Key -> Manage Favorites -> choose favorite list -> Review/Edit System -> choose system -> Edit Site -> choose site -> Set Avoid -> Avoid the site that you do not want to scan.
 

kd7eir

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If all else fails I can send you my hpe file customized for the TPD team and sites that you want to listen to.
 

mothertrucker

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Not to hijack this thread but I have heard numerous tests conducted by TPD & PCSO on the Common T.G.
They seem to do a lot of tests on channels L.E. Interop 1 - 8.

Does anyone else monitor the Interop channels & do they actually use these for cross agency communications very often ?
 

kd7eir

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I stumbled into getting haystack avoided. To kd7eir I would like for you to send me your TPD favorite list. My email is klmcmullen1956@gmail.com. I really appreciate it. This radio is way above me.

The list setup as favorites list 0

I have it setup for teams 1-5. Team 1 is quick key 1, team 2 is quick key 2, etc. This way you can choose to monitor just one team or any combination of teams.
 
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