Fort Worth Regional Radio System help needed

I can hear everything I should be able to on the Fort Worth Regional Radio System with exception to Northeast Tarrant (Site 3). Scanner is up-to-date on firmware v1.11.17 and database is current.

As I already said, I can hear plenty on the other departments. NRHW combined dispatch comes thru, Arlington, TC Sherriff, Medstar etc etc come thru fine, but NOTHING in N.E. Tarrant.... I am right smack in the middle of it and have previously been able to hear fine.

Thanks in advance

Better to ask in the TX forum (click the red triangle in the top right corner of your post and ask a moderator to move it).

There is also a local yahoogroup (dfwscan) that is specific to the DFW area that might give even better/faster response.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dfwscan/info

Thank you!

Moved per OP request.

If you're able to, try taking a drive(specifically north or south several miles for the Netco site, since there are 3 essentially along a north/south line) with the scanner and see if you're able to hear the system. Also, try listening to only Netco/site 3, and not all of the other ones. Assuming you have everything programmed correctly, it is probably a simulcast problem, where the scanner is getting confused because it's receiving the signal from several locations. Most of the Uniden and Whistler scanners just don't work well on simulcast systems without yagi antennas and frequent and frustrating scanner relocations.

The Northeast System (Site 3) should be set up as a separate Favorites List and the only agencies you need to program on that list are Netcom(Keller,Southlake,Colleyville), Bedford, Grapevine and Euless. You won't hear any other agencies on that site, and you should not have any other sites active on that Favorites list. I am in NRH and have never had a problem receiving this site.

It might be a silly question. But, why can't I hear Johnson County in Irving and Irving in Johnson County. I have the Location setting set.

Generally speaking, Irving talkgroups are only simulcast on the Irving frequencies/site and Johnson County talkgroups are only simulcast on the Johnson County frequencies/site. Same goes for Arlington and Grand Prairie. There are exceptions, but that's it in a nutshell.

rgv1971 said:

It might be a silly question. But, why can't I hear Johnson County in Irving and Irving in Johnson County. I have the Location setting set.

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Quick question, does anyone else hear bits and chunks of Fort Worth Fire's dispatch cut off at times? Sometimes I'll hear just the Mapsco grid or just the address and everything after that is normally said. Very frustrating since I'd like to hear what they're dispatching.. could this be programming issue on my end or my location between sites or is this a Locution issue or even how they format call types?

It's your location between two sites. I get my best reception of the system, where I live in Ponder, just outside of Denton while driving around. Try a directional antenna pointed at one of the sites.

Every once and a while, you will hear the locution give the message of "refer to MDC for address", it's just trying to get through multiple calls at once. But It sounds like you are having a location issue.

jasday said:

It's your location between two sites. I get my best reception of the system, where I live in Ponder, just outside of Denton while driving around. Try a directional antenna pointed at one of the sites.

Every once and a while, you will hear the locution give the message of "refer to MDC for address", it's just trying to get through multiple calls at once. But It sounds like you are having a location issue.

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That would make since. I am in North East Fort Worth between Hurst and Fort Worth Station 27, so could me being in between the NETCOM sites and whatever the closest Fort Worth site be the issue for me?

Also, I notice a lot of people posting shootings and other things that are normally PD related on IPN a lot from Fort Worth, is there certain channels that are unencrypted for Fort Worth PD or is this stuff that is commonly heard over the MedStar, FWPD, FWFD channel? When they cite the channel they hear it on, its sometimes cited as "Central Patrol" or whatever division it occurs in.

It's interference from the Fort Worth sites. The only way a NETCOM tower would be hearing FW radios, is if a NETCOM radio was on a FW TGID. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that, but I'm 99% sure about that. You're just in a bad spot where several towers are overloading your scanner. You have to be able to isolate one particular tower, or be in a area where one tower is primarily being heard.

There are several channel of FWPD that are unencrypted. Citizens on Patrol, Events, some others I think, but it's not very many. Where all of that traffic would be heard, would be from Medstar, FWFD or their inter agency channel. For the guys that run IPN, I would almost bet that they are just using the beat maps from FWPD. The interagency channel is just used between the dispatch centers for communications.

Fort Worth Fire Dept. is on Layer 2. Layer 2 is broadcast on 4 different towers, the signal from each tower is reaching your scanner at a slightly different time. This is simulcast distortion, the scanner is not sophisticated enough to combine the signals, so it gets choppy. The Netcom tower does not broadcast the same signal so that is not your interference. Click on the Layer 2 call sign in the database until you see the tower locations, then try to isolate/shield your antenna from the sites farthest from your location. I can sometimes do this with my hand to improve the signal on a handheld.