Question concerning Chas Co vs state

Hello

Seems like this is has been asked before and I'm asking again, just came thru Charleston the other day heading upstate 17 to 26.

In my G-5 I have one zone totally for chas Co...site-10, for the most part was able to hear what I wanted but have questions relating to the other sites aslo listed as chas co.

Site-11, 12, and 13 when I look us the call sign it comes up as chas co.

Now I understand that site-9, 58, and 59 is state also the call sign comes up to the state and would fall under palmetto...correct?

Thank you .

ocn29rsc

S

I'm not exactly sure I understand your question. But I'll try to offer an explanation of how these agencies and sites relate.

It's probably best to think of the Charleston Co sites (1-10, 1-11 1-12 and 1-13) as separate trunked radio system. However, there are a few talkgroups (notably SCHP Troop 6 Charleston Dispatch) that are carried on all sites (across the county and state"systems") most of the time. The only reason these sites are listed under the Palmetto 800 database page is because the Charleston County "system" is tied to the Palmetto 800 system at its core (and thus shares a system ID). It's a technical distinction, but it is important and it is what causes us to list the systems together. The Beaufort County system site 1-63) is similar in this regard.

Sites 1-9, 1-58 and 1-59 are "full fledged" Palmetto 800 sites just like all others. They are not tied to the Charleston County "system".

I don't have a Unication receiver, but from a traditional scanner's programming point of view, it's necessary to program sites 1-10, 11, 12 and 13 as a separate system because it carries a different set of talkgroups (Charleston Co) that other sites will not carry. Therefore, you don't want multi-site or roaming features the scanners use to lock onto one site - you'll miss the traffic carried on the other "system". So, for example, from downtown on the Peninsula, to hear all public safety traffic, you'll need to monitor both site 1-9 and 1-10 simultaneously. If your scanner locks on to one site or the other, you'll miss traffic.

Hope that helps.

1-10, 1-11, 1-12 and 1-13 get me my fire and ems whe driving through there, but my other interest is in SC DPS hwy.

So that is where 1-9, 1-58 and 1-59 come in correct?

Thanks.

That's correct. 1-10/11/12/13 give you (most) Charleston county agencies. 1-9/58/59 give you (most) state and other county agencies.

You need to enter them as separate systems in a scanner and set the scanner to scan both systems simultanously (not to roam between them).

There are exceptions to any situation, and there are exceptions in this one. For example. TG 9611 SCHP Charleston Dispatch, is often carried on both systems, based on my limited monitoring. Is it always carried on the County sites? I can't say that for sure. So it's best to program both the County and State system tn ensure you hear it consistently. There may be some county talkgroups that appear on the state system from time to time also. Since I don't live there, I can't say for sure which talkgroups or what circumstances.

And my use of the word "system" is questionable. It's all the same big system, Palmetto 800 .But the Charleston County sites listed above are essentially operated a separate "system."

Charleston, Florence and other Counties are SUB Systems of the Palmetto 800. They converted to run off of the State Core, and do have full interchangeability when needed. Primary County traffic is on the sites 110 through 113, but they can run on the surrounding sites as well with a few TGs that are Statewide Roaming as is the case with ALL Counties using the system. State traffic is primarily on the 109, 158, and 159 sites, but can and will use ANY site.

Florence, Anderson and Sumter are slightly different than Charleston and Beuafort. Whereas Charleston and Beaufort own, manage and maintain their own infrastructure that is tied to Palmetto 800, the other counties (to a greater or lesser degree) allow Palmetto 800 manage and maintain the infrastructure. Thus, they share the system and their infrastructure with other agencies (state agencies, mostly). Whereas Charleston and Beaufort don't share as much.

It's all a matter of degrees and details which aren't necessarily important from a scanner's point of view.

OP using a Unication pager will be somewhat limited given that it only scans one "system" at a time. You'll have to decide if you want to focus on county agencies and hope for SCHP/DPS traffic to be carried on the county sites, or scan the state sites and do without most of the county agencies.

Made a pass through Charleston over the weekend and added hwy patrol Tg9611 to my list for chas co on my G-5 pager and worked just fine.