Checking Interest For A Radio Monitor Meeting

JASII · Jun 5, 2016

I am checking interest for a radio monitor meeting. Not so much if, but rather when. I have very mixed feeling about a summer meeting because many people are busy with lots of other activities. One thought would be to do this on a Sunday afternoon/evening somewhere at something of an outdoor venue. Does anybody happen to know of any places that meet these requirements:

-Both free parking and free admission.

-Electrical power available.

-Free wifi.

-A roof overhead so that this would work rain or shine.

I know that there are a LOT of city and county parks around us. I did not include state parks because they have an admission fee. I don't recall ever reserving a picnic area, so I don't know if any of them are free or if they all charge some nominal fee.

The electricity and wifi is also likely a huge stumbling block. However, maybe there is some city or county park close enough to a library that has free wifi or near a restaurant that has free wifi. So many of us have portable devices, including radios and laptop computers, that of the two, if I could only have one, I might be inclined to take the free wife, without electricity, since we could get by with portable devices.

As far as topics of discussion, I might be inclined to schedule this far enough out that some of the newer radios will have been in the wild for a bit. With the MOTO TRBO/DMR upgrade for Unidens and Whistler getting DMR, I might wait until someone locally has one and is willing to show it off.

I hope to order a Unication G5 this week and by the time we would have a meeting, I should know enough about it to demonstrate it to people.

With regards to food, I really don't want to spend a lot of time on that. If we were to get a picnic shelter somewhere, I would be fine with just stopping at a nearby Subway and bringing a sandwich over to the site. Each of us would be on or own for food and beverages.

For my money, I would even be quite satisfied with a couple of picnic tables outside of an American Legion of VFW. They sell food and drink and are always looking for business. Does anybody know of one that could accommodate us? I know someone at the Richfield American Legion. I would just have to see if they have picnic tables and such.

kc0rzw · Jun 5, 2016

July 3rd I'll be down for the Twins game. With the holiday I imagine it won't be too popular of a date for a meeting though.

wogggieee · Jun 6, 2016

I agree that Sunday afternoon/evenings are the best. Besides rain the other two issues with an outside meeting I can see are the sun/bright daylight issue making computer screens very hard to see, and the heat. If we have a day like next weekend is supposed to be with temps in the 90s and dewpoints in the 70s I can imagine it being difficult to get people to come out to a place without AC.

JASII · Jun 6, 2016

You make an excellent point. Perhaps rather than "re-inventing the wheel" we can just stick with a Davanni's. If it is late enough in the afternoon/evening, people already had their fill of being outside. They have returned from the cabin, got sunburned while fishing, etc., and they might just want to be inside, cool down, have a slice of garlic cheese bread, and talk radio for an hour or so.

I did order my Unication G5 this morning, so when that arrives, the learning curve will begin. I did watch a YouTube video about programming it and it looks pretty straight forward.

Also, it sounds like there are reports here about how the various flavors of DMR are playing out on scanners. At the end of the day, there might not even be that many DMR systems that I want to monitor all that often, but I still want to do it just to learn a bit more about the hobby.

SCPD · Jun 6, 2016

kc0rzw said:
July 3rd I'll be down for the Twins game. With the holiday I imagine it won't be too popular of a date for a meeting though.

Remember to plug your nose at the game, it stinks there and I am not talking about Target Field!.

kc0rzw · Jun 12, 2016

JASII said:
You make an excellent point. Perhaps rather than "re-inventing the wheel" we can just stick with a Davanni's. If it is late enough in the afternoon/evening, people already had their fill of being outside. They have returned from the cabin, got sunburned while fishing, etc., and they might just want to be inside, cool down, have a slice of garlic cheese bread, and talk radio for an hour or so.

I did order my Unication G5 this morning, so when that arrives, the learning curve will begin. I did watch a YouTube video about programming it and it looks pretty straight forward.

Also, it sounds like there are reports here about how the various flavors of DMR are playing out on scanners. At the end of the day, there might not even be that many DMR systems that I want to monitor all that often, but I still want to do it just to learn a bit more about the hobby.

Did your G5 show up yet?

JASII · Jun 12, 2016

kc0rzw said:
Did your G5 show up yet?

No, not yet. According to the tracking, it should be delivered tomorrow.

SCPD · Jun 13, 2016

JASII said:
No, not yet. According to the tracking, it should be delivered tomorrow.

Can't wait for you giving us the lowdown on how well it works on ARMER.

JASII · Jun 13, 2016

It never fails. One of the few times that I would love to have someone home to accept a delivery that requires a signature and none of us are home. I was off from work today, but I was up in Saint Paul. My oldest is home from hippie college and at work today. My wife and youngest son are getting his driver's license today.

Anyway, I get home and I have the little USPS slip stating they need a signature. It further states that it is available for pickup after 1630. So, I call them about 1530 and they tell me it is there now and I can come and get it. I needed an excuse to run a field test on a new Garmin GPS, so off I go. I signed for it and back home I go.

I just opened up the box and one of the first things I see is a slip stating, "G4/G5 BATTERY NOTICE: Battery must be charged a minimum of 5 hours prior to usage." So, I put it on the micro USB cord about 1648.

My first impressions are pretty much what I have read from others. It feels heavy, even though it is a relatively small device. The battery pack was already installed and the belt clip was on it already, too.

Ray had already sent me the link to the software https://www.dropbox.com/s/73s80m700..._PPS_Setup_V00-03-03_Beta04_20160505.zip?dl=0 I think it was just updated last week. Once it was installed, I was welcomed with Username: admin and the Password field was black. So, checked the YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuF2kn9MJE&feature=youtu.be to confirm my recollection, was that the Password is also Admin.

I am still trying to get a feel for what the layout is. If I recall correctly, each of the eight positions on the one rotary channel selector can be used to select trunked talkgroups or conventional channels to monitor. I also think that there are different systems that can be selected. While I am likely to use this primarily for ARMER, I suppose with Wisconsin being so close, I could have some ARMER systems and some WISCOM systems.

With regard to the Minnesota ARMER systems, I suspect that I will start with something along these lines for my first eight channel positions:

-Dakota County Simulcast

-Minneapolis N - S Simulcast

-Hennepin County East Simulcast

-Ramsey County Simulcast

-Washington County - Dakota East Simulcast

-Anoka County Simulcast

-Carver - Scott County Simulcast

I am sort of torn on the last position, however. I am considering either Hennepin County West Simulcast or Minneapolis City Center Simulcast. One the one hand, I am inclined to simply go with Hennepin County West because that will pretty much cover much of the 7 county metro area.

On the other hand, I don't travel very often to far western Hennepin County, so maybe I should simply go with Minneapolis City Center Simulcast. Can someone refresh my memory, what is likely to be carried on Minneapolis City Center that is NOT carried on another sub-system? Or shall I say what is carried there that is not on others that I might want to monitor? Things like Metro Mobility and Metro Transit are of very little interest to me.

As I continue to program, I might work my way north. For example, the next eight might be:

-Chisago-Isanti County Simulcast

-Pine County Simulcast

-Moose Lake Lookout

-Mahtowa

-Cromwell

-Duluth Simulcast

-Lake County Simulcast

-Cook County Simulcast

Another eight toward the southeast area would be:

-Goodhue County Simulcast

-Wabasha County Simulcast

-Olmsted County Simulcast

I did notice that Winona County does not appear to be simulcast. Does anybody happen to know if that is still accurate? If they are not, I would be inclined to add sites for the various Winona County towers.

kc0rzw · Jun 13, 2016

JASII said:
It never fails. One of the few times that I would love to have someone home to accept a delivery that requires a signature and none of us are home. I was off from work today, but I was up in Saint Paul. My oldest is home from hippie college and at work today. My wife and youngest son are getting his driver's license today.

Anyway, I get home and I have the little USPS slip stating they need a signature. It further states that it is available for pickup after 1630. So, I call them about 1530 and they tell me it is there now and I can come and get it. I needed an excuse to run a field test on a new Garmin GPS, so off I go. I signed for it and back home I go.

I just opened up the box and one of the first things I see is a slip stating, "G4/G5 BATTERY NOTICE: Battery must be charged a minimum of 5 hours prior to usage." So, I put it on the micro USB cord about 1648.

My first impressions are pretty much what I have read from others. It feels heavy, even though it is a relatively small device. The battery pack was already installed and the belt clip was on it already, too.

Ray had already sent me the link to the software https://www.dropbox.com/s/73s80m700..._PPS_Setup_V00-03-03_Beta04_20160505.zip?dl=0 I think it was just updated last week. Once it was installed, I was welcomed with Username: admin and the Password field was black. So, checked the YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuF2kn9MJE&feature=youtu.be to confirm my recollection, was that the Password is also Admin.

I am still trying to get a feel for what the layout is. If I recall correctly, each of the eight positions on the one rotary channel selector can be used to select trunked talkgroups or conventional channels to monitor. I also think that there are different systems that can be selected. While I am likely to use this primarily for ARMER, I suppose with Wisconsin being so close, I could have some ARMER systems and some WISCOM systems.

With regard to the Minnesota ARMER systems, I suspect that I will start with something along these lines for my first eight channel positions:

-Dakota County Simulcast

-Minneapolis N - S Simulcast

-Hennepin County East Simulcast

-Ramsey County Simulcast

-Washington County - Dakota East Simulcast

-Anoka County Simulcast

-Carver - Scott County Simulcast

I am sort of torn on the last position, however. I am considering either Hennepin County West Simulcast or Minneapolis City Center Simulcast. One the one hand, I am inclined to simply go with Hennepin County West because that will pretty much cover much of the 7 county metro area.

On the other hand, I don't travel very often to far western Hennepin County, so maybe I should simply go with Minneapolis City Center Simulcast. Can someone refresh my memory, what is likely to be carried on Minneapolis City Center that is NOT carried on another sub-system? Or shall I say what is carried there that is not on others that I might want to monitor? Things like Metro Mobility and Metro Transit are of very little interest to me.

As I continue to program, I might work my way north. For example, the next eight might be:

-Chisago-Isanti County Simulcast

-Pine County Simulcast

-Moose Lake Lookout

-Mahtowa

-Cromwell

-Duluth Simulcast

-Lake County Simulcast

-Cook County Simulcast

Another eight toward the southeast area would be:

-Goodhue County Simulcast

-Wabasha County Simulcast

-Olmsted County Simulcast

I did notice that Winona County does not appear to be simulcast. Does anybody happen to know if that is still accurate? If they are not, I would be inclined to add sites for the various Winona County towers.

Sounds fun. Hope I can make it to one of the scanner meetings sometime and see it.

ScanWI · Jun 13, 2016

I would love to get together with others from the Minnesota Area, I will be up the weekend after the 4th. I do have the BCD536HP with DMR upgrade along with DSD+ setups for trunking. ETC....

SCPD · Jun 13, 2016

If you want to and without divulging the place purchased from, how much did it cost you?. Just curious if the budget allows, might want to get one. Allot smaller to carry around than an XTS2500.

JASII · Jun 13, 2016

ScanWI said:
I would love to get together with others from the Minnesota Area, I will be up the weekend after the 4th. I do have the BCD536HP with DMR upgrade along with DSD+ setups for trunking. ETC....

So, when are you here? Is it Saturday and Sunday, July 9-10, 2016? Is there any certain part of the Minnesota area that you are in? Even if only a few of us are able to do this, I think that there would be a benefit to everybody because information could be shared.

ScanWI · Jun 13, 2016

I will be in Isanti, MN Friday night late through Sunday Night. I can easily head down to the Minneapolis area. Sunday would probably be best for me.

JASII · Jun 13, 2016

https://www.davannis.com/locations/

Pick a time and a Davanni's and I will see if they have a room, etc. Will you be heading east after the meeting? If so, a location like Woodbury might be very appropriate. By then, I should have a better feel for how the Unication G5 will work on ARMER. Maybe I could even program in some WISCOM or conventional Saint Croix County channels to see if I can receive them. Would Woodbury work for you? If so, what time? I Sort of like 6 PM. That way people have there other activities out of the way, they can get some chow, talk radios, and then head home if they have to work the next day.

https://www.davannis.com/location/woodbury/

ScanWI · Jun 14, 2016

Woodbury would work fine for me, I would be heading back to WI around then.

JASII said:
Maybe I could even program in some WISCOM or conventional Saint Croix County channels to see if I can receive them

No need to program the WISCOM channels, I would be curious on how it works on the ARMER system though.

SCPD · Jun 14, 2016

JASII said:
https://www.davannis.com/locations/

Pick a time and a Davanni's and I will see if they have a room, etc. Will you be heading east after the meeting? If so, a location like Woodbury might be very appropriate. By then, I should have a better feel for how the Unication G5 will work on ARMER. Maybe I could even program in some WISCOM or conventional Saint Croix County channels to see if I can receive them. Would Woodbury work for you? If so, what time? I Sort of like 6 PM. That way people have there other activities out of the way, they can get some chow, talk radios, and then head home if they have to work the next day.

https://www.davannis.com/location/woodbury/

Davanni's!!!. The cheese bread is the best.

JASII · Jun 14, 2016

The website shows that they open at 10 AM. I will contact them sometime after that and see if their meeting room is available.

anthonymodrow · Jun 15, 2016

I will follow this too

Sent via Tapatalk on Note 4

JASII · Jun 15, 2016

This is a go for Sunday,July 10, 2016 from 5 PM to 7 PM at the Woodbury Davanni's.

Checking Interest For A Radio Monitor Meeting

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