Big Bear Sheriff Programming - PSR800

[BoboPinky]

Not sure if this should be here, or in the GRE / PSR forum.

I'm trying to program up a scan list in my PSR800 for use in Big Bear (Big Bear Lake, CA) this coming weekend. (I live in WLA and have all the usual stuff programmed for this location)

Anyway, all I really want is to listen to the SO (SBSO) for Big Bear. Using the programming software (GRE / PSR800), I am able to select the Talkgroup (San Bernardino County 08) / Talkgroup 8 - MTN - 1 (Twinpeaks station 5 / Big Bear Station 6/16 Dispatch.

The "Sites" is listed as "Simulcast", and I have this selected to import (this seems odd, "simulcast"?)

When I try to create the scanlist (my scanner / software), it tells me, "no site selected", and will not import the talkgroups.

I would think I'd need Bertha Peak and or Onyx Peak as the site, but these are not options, even looking at other San Bernardino trunked systems i.e. San Bernardino County 01, 02, 03, etc.

Any ideas on how to program in SBSO for Big Bear?

Thanks in advance.

 

[markclark]

I use ARC 500 for my programming software. But all programming programs probably require you to select at least one system site, then associate the talkgroups with that system site. If you don't select at least one radio site you cannot download from the database.

Try this: Open your software, go to RR database download utility, select SB Co Mountain System 8, then select the talkgroups you want to import.

After you finish the download make sure the talkgroups are assigned to a scanlist, then associate the talkgroups with the trunking system site, which is Mountain System 8 in this case. That should work, if it doesn't, send me a PM.

 

[BoboPinky]

When I try to create the scanlist (my scanner / software), it tells me, "no site selected", and will not import the talkgroups.

Well, gotta love that GRE software...

So, it would tell me, "no site selected... you need to have at least one site... do you want to go back and select a site? YES / NO"

So, I figure, it knows better than me, so I would click YES and then go back and try to figure out what site I needed, and why it was not including it even though I had the one and only site offered selected.

So, just for fun I clicked NO. No, I don't want to go back and select a site. Well guess what? It plugged in the site (I confirmed the site freqs by looking at the RR for this) "San Benardino - Simulcast" and populated the 12 freqs, site opts "moto II", etc. and all of the Talkgroups are in there too.

I'm a bit far from San Bernardino / Big Bear until Friday, so I guess I really won't know until then.

Just really frustrating that the software would kick out a message telling you that you’ve got to have a “site”, and would you like to go back and add one, while the whole time you really do, if you can out smart the software.

Yet another reason that I feel the GRE800, and any current scanner really is more of a toy than a tool. Maybe someday we’ll have a durable (hardware) radio with some debugged software to go with it?

 

[jlanfn]

...The "Sites" is listed as "Simulcast", and I have this selected to import (this seems odd, "simulcast"?)

I think there is some confusion over the use of the word "site." In many SmartZone and P25 systems, people use the word "site" to denote a first-level subdivision of the system. Many people also use the word "site" to denote an individual fixed transmitter location. Sometimes a SmartZone/P25 "site" corresponds to an individual fixed transmitter "site," and sometimes it does not, as in the case of a simulcast SmartZone/P25 "site." To avoid this confuson, some have called it a SmartZone/P25 "cell" made up of multiple simulcast fixed transmitter "sites."

For System 8, as for all Motorola SmartNet simulcast systems, there is no single fixed transmitter "site." San Bernardino System 8 has the Bertha, Onyx, Heaps, Strawberry, and Keller fixed transmitter sites among others. It is not possible or reasonable to list all of these in the RR database "site" name. Calling it "Simulcast" is a reasonable choice because it fits within the space provided, is not redundant, and lets the user know there are more than one simulcast fixed transmitter sites.

 

[f40ph]

Another way to look at this is to consider the entire 8-system one "site" as far as your scanner is concerned. Since they simulcast everything across the mountain tops and all of the hilltops use the same freqs, your scanner will never know that it "roamed" into range of Bertha vs Keller Pk etc.