Ghost Frequency? Uniden scanner not finding frequency with desired communications.

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SpectralContent

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I work on the grounds maintenance crew at a golf course that extensively uses radios to coordinate activities. Due to my low seniority, the course would not provide a radio to me. Being extremely curious about the inner logistics of the radio system, I decided to do some research to see if I could still listen in on the chatter with a mobile scanner (Uniden BCT15X & BCT75XLT).
To find the frequencies they operated on, I first I looked up the FCC licenses the golf club had registered. They had 4 in the 450mHz range and 2 in 819mHz. So i plugged those into my scanners and listened to see what I heard. Instantly I heard the clubhouse employees talking to one another along with another frequency that is solely used to control the DTMF-operated irrigation systems. However, I could not pick up the grounds crew chatter. Even when I was standing right next to a person transmitting on the grounds crew channel, my scanner picked up nothing. I then tried the Close Call feature to see if it was on a completely different frequency, but that yielded the same results.
The golf club utilizes Motorola HT 750s and HT 1250 LSs with stock Motorola UHF antennas. What puzzled me even more was the fact that the grounds crew supervisor's name was listed as the FCC contact for the 819mHz channels while the 2 radios types they use are only rated up to 512mHz.

Would there be any factors that would prevent my scanners from picking up the certain audio from a certain frequency the grounds crew transmits on? Is it some setting in the scanner that can be changed? There must be something I'm missing here. Unfortunatly, I would not simply be able to go and ask as a 3rd party contractor sets up the radio system so my supervisors would likely have no clue themselves about the info I am trying to find.
Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!
 

BC_Scan

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Short answer is no , nothing really preventing this unless you have previously searched and locked out certain freqs, as to why you cant hear that one channel ??, It could be there is a repeater , but close call should do it , first try and determine how many channels the facility uses, ie: chan 1 Grounds chan 2 Golf Pro, chan 3 Lessons etc, whatever the layout is , I know when I have had a ht in my hands and close call on scanner on other hand sometimes it has not picked up so sometimes trying to capture from another angle is in order, it is unusual you are missing out on conversations as you have put everything that is on license, I have seen situations where radio shop put in their own simplex license or other as an extra channel that is not reflected on the license. Keep trying these are analog radios so no digital to worry about, and also 4 freq chan mean 16 channels with different ctcss/dcs combinations. Is it at all possible grounds crew radios came from somewhere else or a different license ?
 

pinballwiz86

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Get yourself a cheap frequency counter off e-bay. Next time they key up--the frequency shall be yours.

Also, if you're standing next to someone while they transmit, odds are you will hear nothing. They are desensing your scanner. Stand further back, and try again.

Odds are they are using a frequency that your scanner cannot pick up.
 

KE5MC

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Both HTs you mentioned can operate outside the frequency range you found. FCC license grants are a good starting point, but not the last word. A close look at the radio's manufactures label with a more complete model number will help pin down the range to look in.

Mike
 

SpectralContent

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Short answer is no , nothing really preventing this unless you have previously searched and locked out certain freqs, as to why you cant hear that one channel ??, It could be there is a repeater , but close call should do it , first try and determine how many channels the facility uses, ie: chan 1 Grounds chan 2 Golf Pro, chan 3 Lessons etc, whatever the layout is , I know when I have had a ht in my hands and close call on scanner on other hand sometimes it has not picked up so sometimes trying to capture from another angle is in order, it is unusual you are missing out on conversations as you have put everything that is on license, I have seen situations where radio shop put in their own simplex license or other as an extra channel that is not reflected on the license. Keep trying these are analog radios so no digital to worry about, and also 4 freq chan mean 16 channels with different ctcss/dcs combinations. Is it at all possible grounds crew radios came from somewhere else or a different license ?

Is there a way to identify the DCS/CTCSS combo? I notice on the channel dial that they are on channel 2 it looks like (most of the radios have the number print worn off. I wonder if my scanner is picking up the channel one DCS/CTCSS and not the one for the second channel.
 
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