Bcd996t & Armer

[jpjohn]

Hi:

I'm looking for opinions/ideas on how those with the BCD996T have the ARMER system set up in their radio. In my head I've got the site thing down and the talkgroups down.

Of particular interest is the GPS capability and what others are using for site locations/coordinates. Are you just using the ones our of the RR Database? What range do you have set up? Anything else that would be helpful?

Hopefully those who are regular listeners to this system can help with this.

Thanks,

 

[jsauer1343]

I just entered the control channels and the talk groups associated with them and it seems to be working fine for hennepin county...Im new at this so this may not even be what you were asking

 

[UPMan]

Not a listener to ARMER from here, but some GPS tips:

1) Use mapping software to plot each site's location (I use both Maps and Streets and Delorme for this with about equal results).
2) If you are unfamiliar with a particular site's coverage area (might not be a perfect circle due to topography or intentional transmit directionality), just draw a "appropriate sized" circle around each site. For the Texas DPS system, I did this by using circles that just "touched" the adjascent site(s)' circles (usually 25 miles, but some are less).
3) Transfer the knowledge you developed doing 1) and 2) into specific programming instructions for the scanner (Lat/Lon/Range for each site).

That should keep you busy for quite a while (but much of this was done for the 996 preload, and is in the BCD996T_Lat-Lon Wiki Page; info could have change or been added since then...it has been over a year).

 

[hobbyhoser175]

I don't know if this matters when setting up the 996 for GPS, but most of the ARMER systems are simulcast systems. Example: Metro 101 system has two towers, one in downtown Saint Paul and one in downdown Minneapolis (10 miles apart), so I'm not really sure if you want to put in coordinates from Saint Paul or Minneapolis or somewhere in between and increase the radius. I don't have a 996 so I cannot speak from experience but it may make a difference.