Belmont County P25 System

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RIDERFAN34

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Yes I have a question I programed my 1065 scanner to cover Belmont county Ohio which uses a p25 system I programed the 5 frequency it showed plus I even programed the id's I wanted to be scanned and I can't get anything to come across so I was wondering if it could be something I programed wrong or if I live to far from the tower to pick anything up cause it says a 25 mile radius
 

wa8pyr

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Yes I have a question I programed my 1065 scanner to cover Belmont county Ohio which uses a p25 system I programed the 5 frequency it showed plus I even programed the id's I wanted to be scanned and I can't get anything to come across so I was wondering if it could be something I programed wrong or if I live to far from the tower to pick anything up cause it says a 25 mile radius

My guess is that terrain is getting in the way. 25 miles is typical line-of-sight range under ideal conditions, but at higher frequencies like 800 MHz terrain plays a much bigger role.
 

drayd48

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Ha! 25 miles on 800 MHZ P25 typically putting out 100 watts. In your dreams. A scanner probably won't pick it up. The only way you will be able to pick it up that far away is to have a super good antenna or a trunking radio that picks up better than the scanner.
 

n8jsw

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If you are in Town of Camron you might have a issue cause I worked up on dry ridge and never was abel to hear Belmont county at all.
 

RIDERFAN34

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Yes I'm looking for anyone that has info on the Belmont county project 25 system cause I have it programed into my digital scanner but I'm only getting when they drop the tones for a call I can't seem to pick anything else up cause I know the law enforcement can't be monitored so I wasn't sure if the fire and ems sswitched over to encrypted as well or what could be the reason as to why the scanner pick up the individual tac channels
 

RayAir

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that system is AES encrypted and I'm pretty sure it's every TG.
 

RIDERFAN34

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See I've had people on here tell me that I could program the public safety channels for Belmont county Ohio on my digital scanner since it said the public safety channels were clear cause they were using digital to broadcast so that is why I was wondering as to why nothing was coming across the id channels I had programed for Belmont county into my scanner,
 

hiegtx

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See I've had people on here tell me that I could program the public safety channels for Belmont county Ohio on my digital scanner since it said the public safety channels were clear cause they were using digital to broadcast so that is why I was wondering as to why nothing was coming across the id channels I had programed for Belmont county into my scanner,
As was noted in your other thread, law enforcement in Belmont County shows to be fully encrypted, & hence not monitorable. However, Fire talkgroups are listed as simply D, Phase I digital, and would be monitorable unless they have also switched to encryption & no one had submitted updated information for the database.

I would suggest that you try the trunked system channels as conventional, not trunked, just to see if you can hear the system from your location. If you can hear voice traffic, as well as the control channel, then you should be able to track the system if entered correctly.

If Fire has also switched to fully encrypted, then submit that information to get the database updated.
 

n8jsw

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Belmont County Police is encrypted but the fire talk groups are not encrypted they are in the open. If you are down in between the hills in Town then you most likely wont pickup Belmont county system. I have worked out there and was never able to hear them out there and I was in the open and up on a hill.
 

wa8pyr

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Post from the previous duplicate thread have been moved to this thread which is more appropriately named.
 

wa8pyr

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Ha! 25 miles on 800 MHZ P25 typically putting out 100 watts. In your dreams. A scanner probably won't pick it up. The only way you will be able to pick it up that far away is to have a super good antenna or a trunking radio that picks up better than the scanner.

Actually I pick up 700/800 MHz sites that are 25 miles away regularly, but I'm on relatively flat ground. It just depends on terrain and antenna.

If the OP is indeed in Cameron WV, he's probably not going to hear anything at all from Belmont County, which is on the other side of the ridge. Mountain ridges do a dandy job of blocking signals, especially at 700/800 MHz.

I did go in and check the range; 25 miles is a bit too excessive and is probably a default holdover from the days when coordinates and ranges were first implemented. Database guidelines are that the range is to be set to cover the jurisdiction of interest only, so the range has been corrected to 17.5 miles which covers Belmont County and small parts of the adjacent counties.
 
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RIDERFAN34

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I dont actualy live in the town of Cameron about 7 miles from the intercetion of 88 and 250 in limestone im near the fort bealer gas plant so what everyone is saying or from what i read is that since i live that far out my ws 1065 digital scanner wont be able to pick up the belmont county p25 system cause i was told with that scanner that it would pick that system up
 

n8jsw

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Well if you hade a outside anteanna you might hear the fire not saying you will but I never did when I was working out there


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RIDERFAN34

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Scanner Frequency

But what I'm not getting is that even though I can't pick up Belmont county Ohio digital frequency I can pick up the marcs system for Jefferson Harrison and Monroe County Ohio and I live further away from them countries then I do Belmont county and to me that is confusing cause I would have thought those counties would be harder to pick up then it would Belmont county.
 

n8jsw

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Con you hear the cc which is 853.7000


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RIDERFAN34

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I have that channel programed into the scanner and it stops on that channel but nothing comes across but I have noticed in the bottom corner of the scanner where it shows the id it says 691 but according to this the system id for Belmont county system Id is 690
 

RIDERFAN34

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I took it to radio shack and had someone program it for me but he only did Belmont county Ohio Ohio county WV and Marshall County WV but he put the 853.700 as both digital and conditional but it comes across the convitional but I noticed where it says id it says system id 691 and it says here Belmont county system id is 690
 

Mylan

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Hi... The reason you are able to hear those MARCS sites is because they are not digital simulcast as is the Belmont Co system...
For example I can actually see a tower of Belmont Co from my location but when conditions are wrong, I cannot reliably receive anything from the Belmont Co System, just garbled bits and pieces and I'm talking less than 3 air miles.... When conditions are right I can hear all Belmont Co fire traffic perfectly fine... If you are not high upon a hill out there then your chances of receiving anything from that system are slim to none but the fact that you can hear Ohio MARCS tells me that is not the case... If you do indeed have a good line of sight to the west/northwest then an 800mhz tuned antenna pointed toward the nearest tower might be your best chance for being able to monitor Belmont County Fire during times of favorable conditions.....

I did a bit of research...
The closest Belmont Co tower to you is actually located in Marshall Co just off of Roberts Ridge near WV Rt 2.... The intersection of US Rt 250 and Middle Grave Creek Rd is very near to Beelers Station so I used that as my reference point since I dont know your exact location...... According to Google Earth that is a line of sight distance of only 10.21 Miles- well within normal reception range unless you are down in a creek bottom or otherwise located in a valley..... This "Moundsville" Tower is just north of being due west of the aforementioned intersection (at a heading of 280°) however the problem is that only 9.33 miles past that tower is their "Alledonia" Tower (19.47 air miles from Middle Grave & 250) The fact that these two towers are practically in a direct path from your location means that if you had an antenna pointed at Moundsville you would likely get some signal from Alledonia which would most likely cause simulcast distortion.... However, if you were to point your antenna at a 325° heading you would be aiming directly at their "Kirkwood" Tower which is a mere 14.81 miles from that intersection on US250... There might be a better chance to avoid simulcast distortion by aiming at Kirkwood as there are no other Belmont Co System tower sites in that general direction from you......

Here is my first suggestion to you:

Albeit it is much easier to do this with a portable radio having batteries than it is using a desktop radio with a long extension cord, you might want to manually tune your radio to 853.7 (press TUNE>853.7>ENT)and very slowly move it around different locations in your place watching the display at all times to see if your Whistler can pick up any signal at all which will help you gauge how successful your efforts may be... Radio waves can be really funny in that you can get no signal in one place and then move your radio five inches to the left and get a good enough signal for successful digital decode... At any rate if you were to do this, and you do get any signal, your radio's display will show you what % decode you are getting and if it' goes above a certain threshold you will actually hear the CC buzzsaw audio... You did not specify what actual MARCS sites you were hearing but if you are hearing the "Kirkwood" MARCS Site then I bet you will get at least something from Belmont Co (although now with MARCS IP we are talking 700 MHz vs. 800 MHz and I'm not an expert to know the difference in the two).....
For example in my house I really wanted to pick up the MARCS "Adena" tower but could get nothing at all so took my 106 portable all over the entire house and had success... I found that the only place in the entire house where I can receive it is in the 2nd floor bathroom sitting on the top of the bottom window sash just to the right of the window's lock.... I tried the attic, the other rooms on all floors, other windows, the roof even and that one spot is the only place I can get a continuous full decode on most days.........

Again, some days will be better or worse than others and if you do get a good decode at some point, atmospheric conditions will have the final say and that will be the deciding factor as to when you can and when you can not hear the system........ Without having an actual radio that is tuned to the Belmont Co Radio system anyone between Limestone and Beelers Station will probably never be able to receive that system 100% of the time no matter how much they spend in equipment... It sucks but this is the digital age in which we now live,,,

Edit: I reread your post where you said you were seeing 691-- You are looking at the wrong number, the system ID will be on the next screen right after the letters "SYS"and it will say 690... What you are seeing is the number right after the signal decode%
(on my1065 display it says: " 99% N691 W: BEE00 "
which I have no idea what any of that that means except for the decode percentage which is the thing you need to be looking at... and... for way better results manually tune in the frequency like I described above instead of scanning while you test signal.....

Ok I'm done talking your ear off now,,,Hope this helps a bit... If you need any other help I'd be glad to...
Good Luck.....
 

mtindor

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What you are seeing is the number right after the signal decode%
(on my1065 display it says: " 99% N691 W: BEE00 "
which I have no idea what any of that that means except for the decode percentage which is the thing you need to be looking at... and... for way better results manually tune in the frequency like I described above instead of scanning while you test signal.....

N691 would be NAC 691. Great job on the writeup for the OP. And I can't believe you managed to hold your tongue about Belmont Co and their encryption :)

Mike
 
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