Anderson County Sheriff ???

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mully95

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What is going on with the Anderson county sheriff department Palmetto 800 (digital)? I haven't heard any traffic on there for several days. They are broadcasting on the conventional channel but it is low priority stuff.

Check my scanner settings etc... no dice. I'm getting HoneaPath and Belton on the same system but not Anderson.
 

brian

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I just updated the Palmetto P25 database page based on a submission from yesterday with a new talkgroup on that system for Anderson SO. Try 41000 on Palmetto P25.
 

CaptDuck

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Having Related Anderson SD, And. PD Project 25 problems.

To Start with, I did read the above post in this thread and update the info for the "Palmetto (Project 25)" from the RR database (just for Anderson County Talkgroups).

I'm having a related problem here in Anderson, SC. I was getting the And. Co. SD on the Palmetto 800 system and that stopped a day or two ago -- with no changes on my end.
About the same time, I noticed that on the Anderson, SC City PD Dispatch (on a conventional system at 155.5650 MHz) I was only getting the Dispatcher and nothing from the other side of the conversation.
I have made no changes to either the Palmatto 800 System for the And Sheriff or the Anderson conventional system.

I suspect the two are related and may now be on the Palmetto (Project 25) system.
I have it programmed in but I am not hearing anything from it.
I'm fairly new at this and don't know if I have done something wrong or if Palmetto (Project 25) is working.

On the Palmetto (Project 25) system in my Uniden BCD996T I have programed in the system as "Mot Type II/P25" using FreeSCAN. Is that the correct type?

I also have the Anderson Co. Simulcast "Site" (all 8 Frequencies) and the Six Mile (Site) then I have the recently updated "Anderson County Talkgroups" from the RR database. But am hearing NOTHING from this system.

So I'm now getting nothing from Anderson Co. Sheriff Dispatch and only the Dispatcher half of the Anderson City PD. Both of these are on the P25 system. I am thinking I don't have something right

Any suggestions or help in finding out exactly how to program the Palmetto (Project 25) will be greatly appreciated. I know the basics but may have some setting wrong. Something isn't right. I was getting the And Co Sheriff on Palmettto 800 and that stopped working on it's own (along with incoming to Anderson City PD Dispatcher.

Thanks
"Duck"
 

mully95

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I'm getting both City and Sheriff on P25. Basically in order to hear both sides of the conversation on City you must have them up and running on the P25 system. I don't use CVN channels anymore. As of yesterday I don't really need Palmetto 800 but need those to here HoneaPath, Belton, etc...


When I get more time I will send you my program that I got on my scanner and let you program it into your scanner. I use Freescan as well. It's been a while since I sent a file from Freescan so I can't remember exactly how to do it.

I had to install a antenna outside in order to pick the P25 system up clearly (not 100%) and I'm only 9 or so miles from the tower. The tower is at Anderson University from my understanding.
 
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brian

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Duck -

A couple of thoughts:

- don't worry about the "Six Mile" site. That's a name that for some unknown reason refers to a site near Mt. Pleasant, SC in Charleston County. It does not, as you would expect, refer to the Six Mile Mountain site in Pickens County. So you can delete those frequencies.

- there are 10 frequencies listed for the Anderson County site, not 8 as you indicated. Perhaps you have omitted the last two frequencies, which are listed on the next line in the database listing. Those, in red, are possible control channels. If you've missed those, you may not have programmed the active control channel, hence why you're not tracking the system. Confirm you have the 4 red frequencies programmed - 852.5750, 852.6000, 852.9625, 853.1625 - and step through them to make sure one of them is the active CC that you can receive from your location.
 

CaptDuck

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Anderson, SC (Centerville Area)
mully95, Thanks for the reply.

The FreeSCAN file is exactly what I need. I'm about 4.5 mi. from AC, in the Centerville Area and have a scanner antenna on pole about 40' high. So reception should be ok. I can get the Greenville site on P800 ok.

I'll send you and email thru RR with my email address, etc. so you can contact me easier.
If you need any help sending the file, let me know.

Thanks,
"Duck"
 

CaptDuck

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Brian, Thanks, you are correct, I did miss those 2 control frequencies in the database on the 2nd line.
And I have locked out the Six Mile site.

I did step thru the frequencies for the Anderson Simulcast P25 site and I am still not getting anything other than a little static, non enough to be a conversation.

On the last one, 853.16250 (control), it shows the Freq. and occasionally flashes And. PD, And Co SD and And. EMS at different times, along with the "SID:01D9h - 0162" for about 1/2 second, but I don't hear anything.

My other digital & Conv. systems are working including digital SCHP, etc on Palmetto 800.

Thanks,
"Duck"
 

brian

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If 853.1625 is showing the "SID:01D9h-" then that's the control channel. Change antennas or locations and see if you can get better reception of that frequency. I've heard others report that the signal from this site isn't that great, but I had good luck with it driving I-85 through Anderson County last weekend using a 3dB gain 800MHz antenna mobile.

You can't really compare performance on this system to the performance on Palmetto 800. According to the license there are 4 sites in this system: FCC Callsign WQJQ932 Details
Being in Centerville I think you'd have excellent reception based on the locations of the sites. Some experimentation is in order, I think.
 

CaptDuck

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Anderson, SC (Centerville Area)
Getting some P25 in Anderson but reception is not very good. The outdoor 40' high Radio Shack "Outdoor VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna" (20-176) doesn't seem to be as efficient as the "Magnet-mount mobile scanner antenna" (20-032) even indoors.

I know I'm not getting near the traffic I was getting on the And. PD & SD when they were CNV or Palm800.

The main settings in the FreeSCAN file which MULL95 sent me were the same and I did add one more Freq. which I found on the tower link that Brian posted, 852.6875 .

Do the EDACS and XT settings in FreeSCAN have any effect on a P25 System?

The closest tower to me is the #2 Tower on Manse Jolly Road at 4.8 mi. That is about a mile north of I-85 just off the Liberty Hwy (176). If you are on I-85 about about mile marker 22, it is only about 3/4 mile to tower #2.

So now I need to work on my reception and any suggestions for a wide range outside antenna that will pick up the mid 800 MHz band better and still get the lower Freq's. Anybody know of one right off?

I appreciate all the help from MULL95 & Brian.

Thanks,
"Duck"
----------------
BCD996T
 

LarrySC

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Dont want to make you mad but the 20-176 is not as good as a wet kite string. The 176 is a VHF/UHF antenna. The PL 259 connector is not rated above 600 MHz. If you used RG-58 then there would be no signal left at the scanner. A Scantenna, or a MAXRAD-MAXscan1000 on a base adp would be better and they also have a 5db gain 1/2wave over 1/2 wave over 1/4wave vertical. My best ant's want get the new sys. Plan to put up a large 800 Yagi this week. If you email me direct I will send you a photo. larryscan@charter.net Good Luck with your project.
 

brian

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Ditto what Larry says. The "Sputnik" 20-176 is pretty poor on 800. And with RG-58 feeding it it's just about worse than no antenna at all.

Based on your location, I'd say an 800MHz rubber duck antenna with some gain, like the RS 800 Antenna, would probably work fine. It's excellent on 800, good on UHF and fair on VHF. And it's only about $20, I'd try that first before doing something different with an outdoor antenna. I have three of these 800 ducks and swear by them.
 

mully95

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The reception I was getting with the 800 ducky antenna was basically useless in most areas of my house but did really well in the Anderson City limits. My house is about 9 miles from the tower give or take. Now with a 800 MHz antenna mounted 30' pointed at Anderson University I get good reception ( all bars showing) here at the house on P25 system which is EMS,Sheriff, and Anderson City PD. The Sheriff switching over to P25 was actually a good move in my favor. I leave the squelch at "0" and it comes in really well with just one system running and all others "locked out". If the squelch was left at lets say "4" or higher I don't get good reception on the P25. I had to (before the sheriff switched from Pal800) leave the squelch at "4" for that system to work correctly.

From my understanding the P25 tower is located and Anderson University..... the closer I get to that tower I get all bars showing on the reception on the scanner face with the 800 ducky.

I say the reception is good however it isn't perfect sometimes in which I think it's the scanner lacking the capabilities to decode the digital properly.

Here is my antenna http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_scanner.html#uhflp

50' of LMR 400 coax
 
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CaptDuck

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Anderson, SC (Centerville Area)
Antenna, connector & cable loss

Dont want to make you mad but the 20-176 is not as good as a wet kite string. The 176 is a VHF/UHF antenna. The PL 259 connector is not rated above 600 MHz. If you used RG-58 then there would be no signal left at the scanner. A Scantenna, or a MAXRAD-MAXscan1000 on a base adp would be better and they also have a 5db gain 1/2wave over 1/2 wave over 1/4wave vertical. My best ant's want get the new sys. Plan to put up a large 800 Yagi this week. If you email me direct I will send you a photo. larryscan@charter.net Good Luck with your project.

No problem. actually I have a 20' CB pole antenna on top of my house and I wasn't using it. When I got a Radio Shack Pro-2006 about 10 years ago, I put the 20-176 on top of it and used the same RG-58 cable & PL-259 connectors and put a PL-259 to BNC on the end at the scanner.

I guess that explains at lot about why the 20-032 is giving better reception at 800MHz inside than the 176 outside on the pole.. I've got a lot to learn -- never realized the connectors made some much difference. I knew the cable size does.
However, with all that loss, when I was using the Pro-2006 with the 176 same setup, I could get the Athens, GA police and Greenville/Clemson, etc very good but that was all less than 450 MHz. I'v e only had this BCD996T about a month and and still learning how to use it.

I saw this earlier today with some good info about connectors:
Coaxial Connectors

"Duck"
--------------------
BCD996T
 

KE4ZNR

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CaptDuck-

Worse case scenario I should be in Anderson in the next month or so visiting family (my father has a law firm downtown) and I should be able to help you out as I will have my Uniden BCD396XT and 996XT with me along with laptop and Freescan files. We can work on helping you get things squared away.
Marshall KE4ZNR
 
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