Arc396 and Sacramento,Ca and San Mateo,Ca

Status
Not open for further replies.

amsatnetg

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
18
Hello,

When I set up police or fire for sacramento,california and also San Mateo,Ca with arc396 it creates two systems, one for city and one for county. In the case of San Mateo I think it set up 5 or 6 systems. My question is do I need to use both city and county for sacramento? And on san mateo do I need all of the information on the left column checked or only one checked?

I have posted a couple of screen shots.
 

Attachments

  • SanMateoScanner.JPG
    SanMateoScanner.JPG
    68.7 KB · Views: 142
  • Sacramento.JPG
    Sacramento.JPG
    67 KB · Views: 148

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Sacramento TRS

amsatnetg said:
My question is do I need to use both city and county for sacramento?
I can't answer your question directly, but I can give you a little more insight into Sacramento's TRS. They really do have 2 systems, so there are 2 active control channels at any one moment. Most TGs are transmitted in duplicate, one on each system. However, there are some TGs which are only on one of the two systems; so if you want one of those, you'd have to monitor that specific system.

The TG IDs do not "interfere" with each other. In other words, any given TG ID will be the same user/agency on either system. This feature allows me to lock out or unlock any given control channel at any moment and change systems (or listen to both).
 

amsatnetg

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
18
gmclam said:
I can't answer your question directly, but I can give you a little more insight into Sacramento's TRS. They really do have 2 systems, so there are 2 active control channels at any one moment. Most TGs are transmitted in duplicate, one on each system. However, there are some TGs which are only on one of the two systems; so if you want one of those, you'd have to monitor that specific system.

The TG IDs do not "interfere" with each other. In other words, any given TG ID will be the same user/agency on either system. This feature allows me to lock out or unlock any given control channel at any moment and change systems (or listen to both).

So are you saying that if I had all of the control channels together for city and county, that I would be able to pick up any TG ID when in ID SEARCH Mode for that Group?(obviously I would only be able to "see" up to 200 TG ID's due to the uniden limits. It is all very confusing.

Also I never hear anything from the North Sacramento side or North Highlands/Antelope area. Although I pick up Citrus Heights perfectly. I am using a BCD396T with an 800 MHZ Yaggi Antenna on a 10' mast in Elk Grove. I have got to wonder if I am programming improperly.
 

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Sacramento TRS

amsatnetg said:
So are you saying that if I had all of the control channels together for city and county, that I would be able to pick up any TG ID when in ID SEARCH Mode for that Group?(obviously I would only be able to "see" up to 200 TG ID's due to the uniden limits. It is all very confusing.
I believe that "ID SEARCH" mode in a Uniden is the same as an "OPEN" bank in a GRE scanner; in which case it will stop for any TG. Perhaps someone with Uniden knowledge can chime in. In CLOSED mode (GRE term) it only picks up the TGs programmed and not locked out. In addition, my PRO-97s can only store 150 TGs per bank, so you should do just fine with 200.

Also I never hear anything from the North Sacramento side or North Highlands/Antelope area. Although I pick up Citrus Heights perfectly. I am using a BCD396T with an 800 MHZ Yaggi Antenna on a 10' mast in Elk Grove. I have got to wonder if I am programming improperly.
North Sacramento is City PD, typically channel 1 (TG ID 60304). North Highlands/Antelope area would be Sacramento Sheriff, typically channel 1 (TG ID 61552). Keep in mind Sacramento Sheriff dispatches calls via computer, not voice. If you're picking up Citrus Heights PD, then you should get anything else on the TRS. I'm in Fair Oaks and pick up lots of traffic from Elk Grove PD, as well as the others.
 

amsatnetg

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
18
gmclam said:
I believe that "ID SEARCH" mode in a Uniden is the same as an "OPEN" bank in a GRE scanner; in which case it will stop for any TG. Perhaps someone with Uniden knowledge can chime in. In CLOSED mode (GRE term) it only picks up the TGs programmed and not locked out. In addition, my PRO-97s can only store 150 TGs per bank, so you should do just fine with 200.

North Sacramento is City PD, typically channel 1 (TG ID 60304). North Highlands/Antelope area would be Sacramento Sheriff, typically channel 1 (TG ID 61552). Keep in mind Sacramento Sheriff dispatches calls via computer, not voice. If you're picking up Citrus Heights PD, then you should get anything else on the TRS. I'm in Fair Oaks and pick up lots of traffic from Elk Grove PD, as well as the others.
Yes on the "ID SEARCH" mode which I simply enable by pressing scan button when it is searching through a "system" or previously known as a "bank" it will switch between "ID SEARCH" or "ID SCAN". Opened or closed like you said. I was able to pick up the garbage man on what is listed as Sac Police system when in "ID SEARCH". Does that seem like I have something wrong there, or should I be able to hear the garbage man under Sac Police system?

Also I did not realize that the Sac Sheriff dispatches calls via computer, and my brothers on the job with them. You learned me something new today. Thank you.
 

gmclam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Sacramento TRS

amsatnetg said:
Yes on the "ID SEARCH" mode which I simply enable by pressing scan button when it is searching through a "system" or previously known as a "bank" it will switch between "ID SEARCH" or "ID SCAN". Opened or closed like you said. I was able to pick up the garbage man on what is listed as Sac Police system when in "ID SEARCH". Does that seem like I have something wrong there, or should I be able to hear the garbage man under Sac Police system?
On a GRE brand scanner, when the bank of a trunked system is OPEN, you hear all talkgroups on the system. I believe this is the same for "ID search" mode of Uniden scanners. On a GRE brand scanner, the user must program in the IDs they want to hear and set the bank to CLOSED. I'm sure you will also have to program the TGs you want to hear, but I am not sure of the term for what you need to do which is equivalent to closing the bank.

The Sacramento TRS has lots of agencies all on the same system; public works, water treatment, regional transit, highway maintenance, and lots more. Unless you only listen late at night when most of the agencies are not at work, it is fairly necessary to program TGs and "close the bank" if you only want to hear police & fire.
 

amsatnetg

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2008
Messages
18
gmclam said:
On a GRE brand scanner, when the bank of a trunked system is OPEN, you hear all talkgroups on the system. I believe this is the same for "ID search" mode of Uniden scanners. On a GRE brand scanner, the user must program in the IDs they want to hear and set the bank to CLOSED. I'm sure you will also have to program the TGs you want to hear, but I am not sure of the term for what you need to do which is equivalent to closing the bank.

The Sacramento TRS has lots of agencies all on the same system; public works, water treatment, regional transit, highway maintenance, and lots more. Unless you only listen late at night when most of the agencies are not at work, it is fairly necessary to program TGs and "close the bank" if you only want to hear police & fire.
Right. I understand what you mean. A closed bank on the uniden is when you press the scan button and it will switch the screen from id search to id scan. That is the difference between opened and closed on gre. It is somewhat of an art to be able to get it just right. I drive all over california and like to know what is going on around me. So I have alot of work to do to make it work the way that I want to in several areas.

Thank you for the help,
 

pmsar35

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
48
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
amsatnetg said:
Hello,

When I set up police or fire for sacramento,california and also San Mateo,Ca with arc396 it creates two systems, one for city and one for county. In the case of San Mateo I think it set up 5 or 6 systems. My question is do I need to use both city and county for sacramento? And on san mateo do I need all of the information on the left column checked or only one checked?

I have posted a couple of screen shots.

For San Mateo County it really depends where you're doing your monitoring from...from my in-laws' place near highway 92 and El Camino Real, I only need the South Zone control channels.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top