Central Ohio area MARCS programming?

[pyrman64]

Greetings,

I've been listening to scanners since my great uncle & I used to use his shortwave radio to listen to the local constabulary back in the `70s. Once I saved up enough paper route $$$, I bought a 4-channel/crystal Teaberry hand-held (in 1979) and I've been hooked.....ermmm......upgrading ever since. Up until recently, programming hasn't really been an issue, even using FreeSCAN (v2.10). Thanks to W8RMH, I was able to put the COIRS and hear the NW Franklin Co FDs.

Now to get to the point, I have a few queries about programming the updated MARCS stuff into a BCD996XT.....

1- Do I need to know the APCO band plan? {position/freq/spacing} If so, where can I find this info?

2- Do I need to know/input each "site/Name" for Franklin County? (ie: Columbus City, Columbus MARCS, Franklin County, Bixby, Discovery, etc.)

3- Is there anything else I need to program/know?


Thanks for looking......

 

[W8RMH]

1 - The band plan will be programmed into the radio by the control channel, nothing to do on your part.

2 - To hear Columbus units, MECC, and Westerville Fire you will need the Columbus City site. For any county and suburban units you will need the Franklin County site. For state agencies and OSU you will need the Columbus MARCS site. If you were near Grove City or Groveport you would want the Discovery or Bixby sites.

3 - In each site set the P25 Threshold to Manual and number 8.

Depending on your location you may have issues on the city site with Simulcast Digital Distortion. If you have issues with garbled speech and signals breaking up try less antenna, a dual band amateur antenna may help. You can also get a Yagi antenna and aim it toward the Polaris Station 33 water tower.

This is all I can think of at the moment there are several threads for Columbus Switchover and the MARCS Sticky in the Ohio Forum which you may want to read.

 

[pyrman64]

W8RMH,

Thank you again for your assistance....it's greatly appreciated!

 

[pyrman64]

ok...follow up question

The CRAA/airports - City, county or state site? My SWAG is city - am I correct?

 

[W8RMH]

ok...follow up question

The CRAA/airports - City, county or state site? My SWAG is city - am I correct?

City I believe, but it could be all three. I recently received advise from a reliable source that it may be wise to include all three sites on everything due to roaming. I will be updating my scanners on my off days this week.

 

[wa8pyr]

ok...follow up question

The CRAA/airports - City, county or state site? My SWAG is city - am I correct?

All of the above. CRAA has facilities over much of the county and can roam. Ditto for the Sheriff and the agencies they dispatch for.