Bayfield WI

[JASII]

A group of us are in Bayfield County WI this weekend. I checked the database here and didn't see a conventional VHF Sheriff Main listed. Is all of Bayfield County on WISCOM now?

 

[box23]

Bayfield County law enforcement is primarily dispatched on WISCOM. The previous conventional analog system is maintained for use as needed.

EMS and Fire are primarily dispatched on analog. Nearly all agencies have access to WISCOM and many use it regularly.

 

[JASII]

How is WISCOM coverage from the various sites throughout Bayfield County? We stayed at some cabins near Pub and Grub, Washburn WI and the reception on my Unication G5 was spotty, at best. Granted, the Unication G5 only has an internal VHF antenna, but I am still curious to see what others experience has been listening to WISCOM in this area.

PubnGrub

www.pubngrub.net

 

[Pat]

We vacation near Iron River each summer, and I haven't noticed any reception issues on the west side of the county. The Iron River tower seems to have a huge footprint, and I can receive the Port Wing and Brule sites in that area as well. I haven't noticed any reception issues on the east side of the county, but we generally just travel through there on day trips so I honestly haven't paid a lot of attention. I'd think that location should be in the coverage area of the Washburn site, but maybe that site was having issues.

 

[box23]

No matter which device you are using you need a decent VHF antenna to monitor WISCOM. I use a wideband Motorola VHF antenna on my G2 and it nearly mirrors the coverage of portable radios on the system. In some cases due to RSSI threshold values, the G2 will be happily receiving a weaker signal next to a portable radio that is attempting to roam when no better site exists.

The external OEM antenna performed much better in my testing than the internal G5 antenna based on reports from others, but it is not adequate for monitoring the system in any reliable capacity. In addition, remember WISCOM was built to a 95/95 mobile standard. I have been in a number of locations where portable coverage is non-existent but a mobile has no issue.

I can't speak to that location specifically but geography plays a very big role with coverage in this part of the State. There is a reason the County maintains a 12 site conventional system.

 

[JASII]

...I can't speak to that location specifically but geography plays a very big role with coverage in this part of the State. There is a reason the County maintains a 12 site conventional system.

Holy smokes! Did I read that right, twelve sites conventional? Wow, yes, that speaks volumes. There must be times when guys can't make contact on WISCOM on their portable and have to either:

-Return to the squad, or

-Switch to conventional

Or, am I way off base here?

 

[radio241]

Most, if not all, of the 11 LG tower sites were in use before the switch to WISCOM. The LG channel is primarily used for paging, and fire/EMS response. Not all fire and EMS agencies are fully equipped with WISCOM capable radios.