Newbie Questions - Johnson County, KS

[KF0LOT]

Hello! Future HAM here. Looking for people in JoCo KS that I can bounce questions off of.

Currently on Baofeng UV5R and can pick up local club (W0ERH) frequency no issues but other frequencies such as public works, law enforcement, hospitals, etc are hit and miss. I've got CHIRP and programmed the tones and what have yous but a lot of the time I'm just receiving static (I'll occasionally pick up voices). Hoping it's just because my new antenna hasn't come in yet and I'm still rocking this rubber ducky but I'm getting Club members crystal clear mobile transmissions from distances much further than some of these other places.

Wondering what I'm doing wrong if anything. Any help (even from outside JOCO) would be appreciated!

 

[WA0CBW]

Most of the public safety traffic in Johnson county is on the Johnson county P25 digital simulcast trunk system. Your radio can't decode the P25 transmissions. You would need a recent scanner for that. The JoCo system is part of the MARRS network of 7 area P25 simulcast digital systems. See the Radio Reference data base for more detail. There are several wide area ham repeaters that you should be able to receive with your radio. There are also two wide area digital systems, DMR and Fusion neither of which your radio will receive. If you have any other questions I would be happy to answer them.
Bill -
Trustee W0ERH

 

[KF0LOT]

Hey Bill!

Thanks for the info. I wondered if the MAARS system was digital or not. Thank you for your reply. I will look into getting a new Kenwood or the like to pick up those digital P25 transmissions. I appreciate your help!

Thank you!!