Steveradio
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Send me a private message, will let ya know prefer not to say here
Berks County - Proposed 700/800mhz Digital Trunked Radio System
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The Reiffon FD is also using their analog 155.79 pl 156.7 for tac comms. Topton FD may soon be linking the new system to their 154.295 pl 91.5 crossband link. I'm surprised that the Berks County jail comms are not encrypted. I work at Boscov's in security and I would let the other guards know if there were reports of shoplifters in the area of our stores or anything the PD would report as suspicious in the area. We are very disappointed that due to the encryption this and other issues of value to us are no longer available. I don't think the powers to be understand all the extra eyes and ears they have squelched by going to full time encryption - but that's there loss and the criminals gain.
Rich Kramer - N3VMY -KAG 0096
Rich Kramer - N3VMY -KAG 0096
I noticed in RR in Berks County, the 700 tac channels show the same freq for tac 3 and tac 12. My guess is that the tac 3 freq is wrong. Maybe someone could enlighten me on that one. TIA.
Rich Kramer
Rich Kramer
I just went back and looked at the county radio comms manual where I pulled those simplex channels from and both tac 3 and tac 12 have the same frequency listed. I completely overlooked that when I updated the database or I would not have listed them separately. Now, is it a typo in the manual or should they really be the same...that is something to which I do not know the answer.
Can it be cross referenced with the ULS
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bgottschallberks
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention. There are actually problems greater than those noted by Mr. Kramer. The list in the SOP was erroneously not updated after a resort of these frequencies.
This will be updated in a future version of the SOP but in the meantime...
The correct list as programmed in the fleet is:
BERKS 7TAC1 769.00625
BERKS 7TAC2 769.01875
BERKS 7TAC3 769.03125
BERKS 7TAC4 769.04375
BERKS 7TAC5 769.05625
BERKS 7TAC6 769.06875
BERKS 7TAC7 774.93125
BERKS 7TAC8 774.94375
BERKS 7TAC9 774.95625
BERKS 7TAC10 774.96875
BERKS 7TAC11 774.98125
BERKS 7TAC12 774.99375
Guys; I'm going to check with a PD and FD officer I know; they might be able to check on the new radios what's what. Thanks for the reply.
Rich Kramer
Rich Kramer
Thanks Brian; I can now program into my 436; I kind of thought it might be 769.????.
Rich Kramer
Rich Kramer
Brian, when the interop patches are up and running to the 8tacs, will they be simulcasted county wide ? Or only selected on the closest tower to the incident.
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bgottschallberks
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The 8Tacs (and in fact all interops) are licensed for countywide simulcast operation.
Thanks!
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HELP
I dont know why, but I have a terrible time hearing anything on this system. I have purchased 3 radios now and they just cut in and out on the transmissions. I do not know what to do. I changed to an aftermarket antenna and no help. I went to an outdoor antenna on a pole and still cuts in and out. What would I be doing wrong, or do the fire and ems companies also have problems hearing this system? I have a GRE PSR-800, a uniden BCD536HP and now a Whistler ws1080. I know the whistler is the same as the GRE, but I thought maybe with its newer firmware it would be better.
I dont know why, but I have a terrible time hearing anything on this system. I have purchased 3 radios now and they just cut in and out on the transmissions. I do not know what to do. I changed to an aftermarket antenna and no help. I went to an outdoor antenna on a pole and still cuts in and out. What would I be doing wrong, or do the fire and ems companies also have problems hearing this system? I have a GRE PSR-800, a uniden BCD536HP and now a Whistler ws1080. I know the whistler is the same as the GRE, but I thought maybe with its newer firmware it would be better.
All the online streams I have heard all sound the same as what you describe.
I have heard a few field users complain about the same thing on their portables , but it is the nature of digital with this areas terrain.
I have a 13 element yagi pointed directly at a tower that is 1/4 miles from my house , on the MontCo system, and my scanner goes underwater all the time.
Even my xts -2500 and APX 6000 portables will do the same thing , using the same antenna.
It's like your digital cable TV. It either works or if there is any interruption in that data , it doesn't.
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I have heard a few field users complain about the same thing on their portables , but it is the nature of digital with this areas terrain.
I have a 13 element yagi pointed directly at a tower that is 1/4 miles from my house , on the MontCo system, and my scanner goes underwater all the time.
Even my xts -2500 and APX 6000 portables will do the same thing , using the same antenna.
It's like your digital cable TV. It either works or if there is any interruption in that data , it doesn't.
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I don't know with the PSR or Whistler radio's, but with my 536, I had to set the threshold to manual and play with the threshold settings for this system. I finally settled on manual 9 for the North system and manual 7 for the South system and I am now able to hear things a little more clearly. When I used Auto 8, both simulcast sites were very difficult to copy to say the least. Hope this helps..
Not sure how that translates over to the GRE and Whistler. They have a threshold setting of a high and low. You can enter a value of 1 to 99 in them. I have it set to 75 low and 95 high. I use a Yagi base antenna and it seems to be better, but no where near what I was expecting. I thought it would the digital would be much better. To me its way worse than anything we had before. I can hear a fire chief from 30 miles away like he is in the next room. But a fire down the street from the house is not understandable. It has to me my location. When I take the radio to my girlfriends house it works perfect with a portable antenna. I thought this system was going to solve all the problems with dead spots.
bgottschallberks
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What are you pointing the Yagi at?
I've noticed with MontCo simulcast, with pointed directly at the closest tower, turning on my attenuator helps.
Now for the disclaimer ......Keep in mind that the actual radios will perform better than a wide band scanner. The system was designed for Moto equipment.
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Now for the disclaimer ......Keep in mind that the actual radios will perform better than a wide band scanner. The system was designed for Moto equipment.
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I am not sure where the closest tower is, but I live in mertztown and by a compass Reading in south west of me so I pointed it south west.
If you look at the DPS website, download the SOP's. There is a map that shows the tower locations on it.
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bgottschallberks
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I think you would be much better with an omni. Not knowing the beamwidth of your Yagi, it seems that you could be likely threading the needle between towers. Also, you would be getting nothing that is N cell only if you are pointing south. I would only use a Yagi if I was significantly outside the county or if I had a known donor site that I could shoot (and I was not worried about not getting signals coming off the other site that the tower is not a part of).
Also, what Yagi are you using? Is it freq matched for the channels on the system? If there is nothing wrong with your receiver, and you have a proper antenna, I would be shocked to hear that in Metztown you are not getting reliable coverage outdoors.
I have not met anyone with a GRE that works.
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