ALMR on Home Patrol

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juneau

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Hi group;

I have been up and running with a uniden home patrol for a little over a month and am pleased with it's performance on ALMR with one exception, the scan speed on the system seems very slow compared to the conventional channels. I have all 6 local sites programmed with the control and all op channels (about 34 channels) that scan in about 8 seconds and 250 conventional channels that scan in 3 seconds. Do I have the ALMR system set up wrong? I have good signal strength on all the sites control channels from almost everywhere in Juneau. Any input would be appreciated.

Also anyone know who uses the call signs FISHER (1-10) on the IC talkgroups for radio checks once a month?

Thanks
matt
 

aps_ak

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Matt,

I can't give you a HP specific answer, but this is what helped me with entering ALMR in.

First off, you only need control channels. The system/scanner does the rest. I wouldn't imagine the Juneau area having more than 6-7 control channels. When I first started playing with digital and ALMR, I broke the system up by state locations with how it showed up in the database. However, then looking at the database closer, I noticed that a lot of CC and alt CC's repeat throughout the system. So, I put them all in excel, sorted them by number, eliminated repeating frequencies - and boom, who system is down to about 35 channels. I then drove around anchorage/valley area and found which channels were the strongest/receiving. Right now, my Anchorage ALMR part only has about 6 frequencies and scans rather fast - and still receives traffic from over 100 miles out. Again, never laid my hands on a HP, and I did this with my RS-106.

The only time I listened to the IC channel here was during a fire along Turnagain arm..they used that channel. Never heard any radio checks.
 

juneau

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ALMR system

First off thanks for the reply!

Ok, let me get this straight, I only need to program the control channels and all the system traffic comes over these channels? What are the other channels for? I thought that the control channel assigns the portable a operating channel and handles all the data tgid's uid's ect. Maybe I don't understand the system very well.

Any input would be great!
Matt
 

aps_ak

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First off thanks for the reply!

What are the other channels for? I thought that the control channel assigns the portable a operating channel and handles all the data tgid's uid's ect. Maybe I don't understand the system very well.

Any input would be great!
Matt

No problem..it's nice to see some more AK people in this forum..this place is usually slow.

The other channels are "voice channels". The control channel assigns a voice channel for the data when it comes through. In turn, these voice channels ("other channels") do NOT need to be programmed into your scanner for the control channel to know they are there. Again, I use a different scanner but can't imagine it being different on HP.

Only issue I can forsee is the CC's changing frequencies, but I doubt that will happen. The system with work regardless of you having the VC's programmed, it will only have more channels to scan if you do.
 

aps_ak

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Partially. In my neck of the woods, 98% of Soldotna AST traffic is encrypted, including dispatch. That covers the entire Kenai Peninsula. In the valley, Mat-Com is only partially encrypted. Main dispatch channel can go either way- I've heard it in the clear, and it's currently encrypted. Funny, because the NCIC channel, where sensitive info is relayed has been in the clear. Also, it seems like fewer users on those talk groups are encrypted vs. Soldotna. Maybe some some Fairbanks folks will chime in on here, but last time I was up there, it was pretty heavily encrypted as well.
 
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