What agency is on 453.525 MHz

[GTR8000]

Negative, all repeaters are active all of the time on alternating frequencies .425 and .525

Note that I'm not confirming that all of those sites are active, however they are all licensed. When they narrowbanded, they lost some coverage, so adding additional repeaters over the past 8 years makes sense. The repeater in Mahwah was confirmed years ago, and was removed from the license in 2017, which is when the additional repeaters were added and the toll plaza repeater was modified.

As far as heterodyne, modern repeaters are very good when it comes to timing, and so you may not hear any distortion, assuming you're in range of two repeaters on the same frequency. I know that the Hillburn repeater is licensed at fairly low power, so it's likely just for fill-in purposes.

Perhaps someone ought to take a road trip with a scanner that has attenuation enabled, and check both frequencies at those sites to see what's active and on what frequency.

 

[k2hz]

Interesting as I receive absolutely no heterodyne at all in northern Bergen County when listening to them. I would suspect if Tarrytown, Spring Valley, Sloatsburg, Hillburn, and Tuxedo were all simulcasting, I'd be hearing heterodyne in a least a few spots around the area. Is there some sort of selection process based upon which repeater is receiving mobiles the best?

Adjacent repeaters transmit on alternate frequencies and the mobiles scan both. It is a receiver voting system and mobile audio goes out over all sites in the zone. So, the mobile is always hearing the repeater with the best signal and the repeated audio is selected from the best receiver by the voting system. Mobile TX is 458.425 regardless of which frequency they are receiving.

 

[k2hz]

Not sure about Zone 1 but Zones 3 and 4 originally had sites at high locations off Thruway property. This was upgraded to sites on the right of way for primary coverage but the old sites remain as backup so which sites are active can sometimes change. All sites are licensed for both frequencies.

 

[W1KNE]

Interesting as I receive absolutely no heterodyne at all in northern Bergen County when listening to them. I would suspect if Tarrytown, Spring Valley, Sloatsburg, Hillburn, and Tuxedo were all simulcasting, I'd be hearing heterodyne in a least a few spots around the area. Is there some sort of selection process based upon which repeater is receiving mobiles the best?

If the transmitters are using GPS locked carriers, as is common on many simulcast systems, the carrier will be accurate to a degree that it is 100% non detectable by monitoring the audio.

 

[k2hz]

If the transmitters are using GPS locked carriers, as is common on many simulcast systems, the carrier will be accurate to a degree that it is 100% non detectable by monitoring the audio.

They are not using high stability or synchronization since, rather than true simucast, they depend on their alternate frequency arrangement along their right of way so a mobile always has a predominant signal from a single tower on one frequency or the other.

 

[KenMaltz]

I believe that since these transmissions are FM, you would not be hearing any heterodynes. FM reception of competing signals is based on capture ratio; whereby the receiver will "capture" or favor the strongest of two signals and ignore the weaker one. You will hear heterodynes on the VHF aircraft band when two stations transmit at the same time and frequency because the AM mode is used.

 

[Machria]

Great info in here, I always wondered how they communicated for such a long stretch..... Now if you smart guys could please tell me how to avoid the radar guns, I would appreciate it!!

 

[k2hz]

Great info in here, I always wondered how they communicated for such a long stretch..... Now if you smart guys could please tell me how to avoid the radar guns, I would appreciate it!!

I can't help with the speed guns but, with the challenges of snow season travel on the Thruway in Western NY coming soon, I want to remind everyone of available Broadcastify Thruway feeds. I provide the Zone 4 feed in association with Pebblebacon who does Zone 3. Our feeds include the 2 nearest Maintenance Section repeaters: Henrietta & Batavia for Zone 4, Manchster & Weedsport for Zone 3. The Maintenance repeaters are stand-alone on a unique frequency for each Section unlike the Zone-wide main line system. We scan these with priority for the Zone frequency.

New York State Thruway Authority - Buffalo Division Live Audio Feed

New York State Thruway Authority - Buffalo Division Live Audio Feed on Broadcastify.com

www.broadcastify.com

New York State Thruway Authority - Syracuse Division Live Audio Feed

New York State Thruway Authority - Syracuse Division Live Audio Feed on Broadcastify.com

www.broadcastify.com

 

[RadioNerd90]

Perhaps someone ought to take a road trip with a scanner that has attenuation enabled, and check both frequencies at those sites to see what's active and on what frequency.

As requested:

Spring Valley, 453.525
Hillburn, 453.525
Tuxedo, 453.525
Harriman, 453.425
New Paltz, 453.525

Sloatsburg does not exist from what I can tell. I didn't receive anything that looks like I was within walking distance of it and I couldn't see any sticks, dipoles or panels on either side of the highway or the pedestrian overpass that could be possible suspects. Just cellular stuff.

These were all verified twice both with a scanner with attenuation enabled, and on my Yaesu FT-8900R with no antenna which is perfect since it's true dual receieve. I stopped at each of the locations. This wasn't just a drive-by.

I'm going to check the Westchester sites another day.

 

[GTR8000]

Good stuff, thanks. Was Tuxedo transmitting on both frequencies, or just 525 when you checked again today? I thought @RadioDitch originally stated that you found both frequencies active at that site.

 

[RadioNerd90]

Good stuff, thanks. Was Tuxedo transmitting on both frequencies, or just 525 when you checked again today? I thought @RadioDitch originally stated that you found both frequencies active at that site.

Just 525. I had bumped the knob and didn't notice so both sides of the radio were on 525.

 

[GTR8000]

Just 525. I had bumped the knob and didn't notice so both sides of the radio were on 525.

Ah okay thanks for clarifying.

 

[KC2zZe]

It doesn't appear that the OP's comment about "New York" was clarified. The dispatcher (all at the NYSTA headquarters just off the Thruway in Albany) are referred to by the name of the Division they are covering. "New York" is for the Zone in question. Continuing up the line "Albany" is Zone 2's dispatcher, "Syracuse" Zone 3, and "Buffalo" Zone 4. "Headquarters" is the DSP Troop T desk supervisors, near the division dispatchers, overseeing the state troopers on each of the four zones. Any further questions...fire away.