Round Rock - Austin GATTRS / Tower Point Suggestion / Simulcast

[rvacs]

Hello All,
Ordered a new scanner HP-2 for my house in Round Rock.

I already know Williamson Co. is mostly Encrypted (BOO !!)
But will listen to Austin PD.

Question is when I get my unit I assume I use the Round Rock Simulcast Frequencies.
Any other suggestions to cut down on the Simulcast issues?
I live close to 45 Toll and Red Bud and the towers are more north toward Georgetown it looks like.

Any suggestions would be nice.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[hiegtx]

Hello All,
Ordered a new scanner HP-2 for my house in Round Rock.

I already know Williamson Co. is mostly Encrypted (BOO !!)
But will listen to Austin PD.

Question is when I get my unit I assume I use the Round Rock Simulcast Frequencies.
Any other suggestions to cut down on the Simulcast issues?
I live close to 45 Toll and Red Bud and the towers are more north toward Georgetown it looks like.

Any suggestions would be nice.

Thanks,
Rich

It looks like that, depending on your exact location (on a hill, or at least not 'down in a hole', you may be within range of Austin's Simulcast 2.
Simulcast 1 Site Details (Greater Austin/Travis Regional Radio System (GATRRS))

Also see Greater Austin/Travis Regional Radio System (GATRRS) Technical Details - The RadioReference Wiki

In Sentinel, you can edit the tower sites as needed, deleting those out of range. Of yourse, for a simulcast site, like Simulcast 1 or 2, and the Williamson County Simulcast, each of those "sites" encompass multiple towers.

I would suggest a better antenna than the stock one for your HP-2. If an external antenna is not an option, then you may want to consider something like the Radio Shack 800MHz antenna. That would require using the SMA->BNC connector that will come with the scanner (it's tucked inside a pocket in the cardboard that surrounds the unit, easy to overlook), and also a 90 degree right angle BNC adapter, so that the antenna is vertical with the HP-2 sitting on a desktop.

 

[TLF82]

If you are going to listen to anything in Travis county you will want to point to one of the sites in the county as those are mostly layer 3 talk groups and are not carried on anything outside of the sites inside of Travis.

The main site for Travis is located at Howard Lane and MOPAC. I would point that direction for Travis county.

 

[rvacs]

Great suggestions...thanks....I think the towers at Mopac and Howard Lane will be closer then the tower located North in Round Rock toward Georgetown.

 

[rbarker]

With the HP-2 you really don't have to make a lot of decisions; You put in your zip code and then you choose the range. The default is 20 miles, if you only really want your local area, then I suggest a range of like 5 miles, then you will just LOCK OUT Things that come up that you don't want to hear. You can just lock out for the day or you can permanently lock out. (my only caution here is be careful what you permanently lock out since it's hard to get it back) There are a lot of Williamson Co talkgroups that were previously encrypted and are changing to be un-encrypted. Mostly they are fire talkgroups around Hutto and West County.

 

[rvacs]

Thanks for the Info...
Hope someday Williamson Co. will drop the full encryption thing...

 

[rvacs]

So since most of Williamson Co. is encrypted. I guess the suggestion you all are suggesting overall is to point a Yagi or work for the tower at Howard Lane and Mopac.(That is about 10 miles from me..) And maybe set my range to 10 miles? (Is that the Simulcast 1 or 2)?

Reading info on GATTRS looks like I need the Simulcast 1 if I want the Austin PD. Because I am not sure they are on the Round Rock Tower.

Been listening and playing with range and not sure what to set up. Know that I want Austin PD.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[rbarker]

Mopac near Shoreline

The biggest tower by you is Mopac (tollway) and Shoreline. You bought your radio in March are you able to hear APD with it yet? again with the HP all you to is put in your zip code or you can put in the one near Wells Branch which is 78728 and the scanner will do the rest.

 

[TLF82]

So since most of Williamson Co. is encrypted. I guess the suggestion you all are suggesting overall is to point a Yagi or work for the tower at Howard Lane and Mopac.(That is about 10 miles from me..) And maybe set my range to 10 miles? (Is that the Simulcast 1 or 2)?

Reading info on GATTRS looks like I need the Simulcast 1 if I want the Austin PD. Because I am not sure they are on the Round Rock Tower.

Been listening and playing with range and not sure what to set up. Know that I want Austin PD.

Thanks for any and all help.

MOPAC/Howard Lane is Site 1. Being 10 miles away is no big deal. That site has some really good coverage. (Actually all the main sites have some really good coverage) All of the public safety in Travis county is limited to sites within Travis County.

WILCO Fire dispatch is in the clear now.

 

[rvacs]

So worried I am picking up too many towers for GATTRS - should I put in a zip by there and restrict the range? Again - for now just interested in getting best broadcast of Austin PD.

Thanks for ALL YOUR HELP - K5TLF and RBARKER

 

[TLF82]

More than happy to help!

I can't speak to that issue. Hopefully one of the other guys can or maybe ask in the scanning forum. I'm listening to the system via other methods.

 

[rbarker]

Wit the HP you really can't control towers. you just reduce the range start with just 1 mile

 

[rvacs]

Sentinel ?

I am not real good at Sentinel yet. But with Sentinel can I choose the Simulcast 1 only and make sure I am not using Simulcast 2 or the Round Rock Tower for GATTRS?

 

[rbarker]

That is a complicated question. You would have to lock out every tower but the simulcast 1, but i don't know why you would even want to do that. you just need to lock out the stuff you don't want to hear not the towers.

 

[rvacs]

Thanks rbarker !! Good idea.