Houston pd fire/ems coverage range?
- Thread starter racing1
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Best bet is probably to aim a yagi towards Houston. This would of course presume base station use. I have seen a few Houston City talkgroups being pulled up through the MoCo or roamer sites, but nothing one could depend upon for full-time monitoring. Just the occasional affiliation.
A SOLID (good antenna, coax, etc) high quality mobile install should still receive either the COH phase 1 or phase 2 sites, especially in the south and south east parts of the county...portable not so much. The northern and far corners of Montgomery County would probably be a far reach though.
A SOLID (good antenna, coax, etc) high quality mobile install should still receive either the COH phase 1 or phase 2 sites, especially in the south and south east parts of the county...portable not so much. The northern and far corners of Montgomery County would probably be a far reach though.
Techholder88
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I have great luck with Houston PD in Montgomery County TX but I live on the south part so your experience may vary. My BCD536HP scanner in my truck has trouble receiving it unless I'm on I-45 (could be an antenna issue) but my Harris gear picks it up no problem. Even my handheld picks it up when its listening to the right site. Houston PD is on the TXWARN RFSS site 3 and their talkgroups are much more common on the simulcast sites (Site ID 1-4) in P25 Phase 2 TDMA than the others. Site ID 5 broadcasts the MA talkgroups in P25 Phase 1 and this can be listened to all the time reliably. I haven't heard Houston PD on the Montgomery County simulcast site. If you just want the fire tone-outs it can be listened to on the UHF side (462.95000 & 460.57500) I cant remember which one off the top of my head.
I live in the fm 2978 /fm1488 area so I don't know how far "south" you are from me.
Link for the yagi antenna? I listen to 800mhz mainly.
Techholder88
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Not terribly far, I’m off 2978 and woodlands parkway, only about 5 miles but I still am able to hear the Houston PD talkgroups in that area with my Harris gear. My scanner tends to ignore the talkgroups but I think if I had a better antenna and line of sight I would be able to hear what I wanted to hear on the scanner side.
What site are you listening on?
Techholder88
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RFSS ID 3 Site 2 (Northwest Simulcast) works very well but it only uses P25 Phase 2 TDMA talkgroups.
RFSS ID Site 5 (General Government Services Simulcast) only carries the Mutual Aid talkgroups in P25 phase 1.
I will use both of these towers depending on which equipment I am using. The northwest site is closer but the general government services site has a range of 30 miles with a good line of sight. (I’m assuming they put it on top of a tall building downtown but I’m not entirely sure where to look it’s address up). If I have 800 MHz only equipment this is the site I use for it but if I have TDMA capable gear, the other sites (1-4) work better.
If you have a p25 phase 2 scanner you will have more luck with the northwest site but if you have a phase 1 only scanner you will have to use site 5.
The mutual aid phase 1 talkgroups are a Simulcast of the phase 2 TDMA talkgroups so you will not be missing any audio if you are limited by that.
RFSS ID Site 5 (General Government Services Simulcast) only carries the Mutual Aid talkgroups in P25 phase 1.
I will use both of these towers depending on which equipment I am using. The northwest site is closer but the general government services site has a range of 30 miles with a good line of sight. (I’m assuming they put it on top of a tall building downtown but I’m not entirely sure where to look it’s address up). If I have 800 MHz only equipment this is the site I use for it but if I have TDMA capable gear, the other sites (1-4) work better.
If you have a p25 phase 2 scanner you will have more luck with the northwest site but if you have a phase 1 only scanner you will have to use site 5.
The mutual aid phase 1 talkgroups are a Simulcast of the phase 2 TDMA talkgroups so you will not be missing any audio if you are limited by that.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Phonetone-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Got this for the RasPi/OP25 rig. 20 bux. Definitely tightened up my 800 meg RX. Add an SMA to N-Type pigtail and you're golden.
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