APX APX 6000 UHF Conventional inquiry

[umairmoh]

Greetings good people,

A friend of mine has been asking me to post a question here to get some knowledge. He picked up an APX6000-UHF has programmed his local HAM frequencies as well as local Fire Departments that still operate UHF to listen to radio traffic where he lives. He is able to hit one of the 2 FDs. The one he can hear is further away from his place of residence and the FD that is close to his place, he is unable to hear, despite having the tones and frequency set properly.

Any insight or reason(s) on this with the folks know the APX would greatly be appreciated.

p.s. The unit has ASTRO and can do trunking (I am not familiar w/ the system, so apologies in advance). I told him to stay out of trouble so trouble can stay out of his way if he has no idea what to do or risk a big boo boo.

 

[natedawg1604]

It would really help if you posted the exact agency your friend is trying to monitor.

 

[umairmoh]

Let me nudge him and get back to you with the details.

Cheers!

 

[umairmoh]

So he is able to hear the following that is further away from his house:



However, he is NOT able to hear the following, which is closer to where he lives:




If it helps any, this is in Houston, Texas

 

[KevinC]

So he is able to hear the following that is further away from his house:

View attachment 131435

However, he is NOT able to hear the following, which is closer to where he lives:


View attachment 131436

If it helps any, this is in Houston, Texas

Are you sure 460.250 isn’t all NXDN now?

 

[umairmoh]

Are you sure 460.250 isn’t all NXDN now?

Good question, it might be. He used R.R. to plug in the frequency. I know in Fort Bend, where I live there were very few FDs using VHF and just recently R.R. updated showing the few FDs have migrated to P25.

 

[umairmoh]

I was just thinking, these APX UHF only version are only good for GMRS and HAM bands pretty much in a nutshell. Just speaking my mind.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

If he's trying to hear Houston Fire, I think they're mostly all on the Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN)

 

[KevinC]

If he's trying to hear Houston Fire, I think they're mostly all on the Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN)

It’s not HFD.

 

[WRTF671]

I was just thinking, these APX UHF only version are only good for GMRS and HAM bands pretty much in a nutshell. Just speaking my mind.

I'm starting to feel the same way. I have an SRX 2200 that I've come to the conclusion is the worlds most expensive GMRS radio... All the HAMs in my area seem to be on VHF and the public safety is either VHF or R2.

As far as your friend's issue, it's possible they've gone digital or perhaps theres an issue in the codeplug. Double check DPL and Rx freq just to be sure.

 

[natedawg1604]

Your friend really needs to buy a scanner, it looks like a bunch of related frequencies used by this agency are NXDN conventional, the one in question could be as well, but not yet updated in the DB.

So tell your friend to start saving up for the SDS 100 or 200, he will at minimum need the NXDN upgrade and probably DMR as well. Alternatively he could get a few RTL SDR dongles and DSD+ Fastlane, this option requires a computer but is a lot cheaper.

 

[KevinC]

Are you sure 460.250 isn’t all NXDN now?

Just heard it an analog.

 

[EWC_BDN]

If he's just monitoring, can't he just have it as instead. Then he would hear it if it was NXDN (hear but not understand it ofc)

 

[N4KVE]

I was just thinking, these APX UHF only version are only good for GMRS and HAM bands pretty much in a nutshell. Just speaking my mind.

Isn’t there a whole Fed Gov’t band at the bottom of the UHF 1 split? I used to monitor 415.7 when AF1 came to town.

 

[GTR8000]

Isn’t there a whole Fed Gov’t band at the bottom of the UHF 1 split? I used to monitor 415.7 when AF1 came to town.

380-420 is military/federal.