EPSCA Simulcast Versus Seattle Simulcast

[AuntBee09]

OK, so I was listening to Renton Police (from King County) on EPSCA Simulcast today when suddenly a unit says he's in a foot pursuit. The dispatcher relays the info then promptly closes the air.
Two or three minutes go by with silence... I thought to myself, "If this guy is in a foot chase, he would be calling out his location and units coming in to the area would be setting up a perimeter; so how come I'm not hearing anything?"
I take out my other scanner and switch it to Renton using Seattle Simulcast, which doesn't come in nearly as good as EPSCA (for my location). From that radio, I hear lots of chatter, but still nothing coming out of the other radio using EPSCA.
Both were on the exact same channel (the talkgroup was not trunked), but I was only picking up scratchy transmissions from Seattle, not EPSCA.
After the air was eventually reopened, I could then hear the same transitions from both simulcasts.

So does anyone know why this happened or have you had a common experience? It's an annoying thing to have happen and I'm curious to learn more about it...

Thanks!

 

[im800mhz]

Traffic will only appear on sites where it is needed. Apparently they didn't need EPSCA for the incident. The radios are smart enough to figure out what they need for coverage. Unfortunately the system wasn't designed with scanner freqs (freaks) in mind.

 

[AuntBee09]

Traffic will only appear on sites where it is needed. Apparently they didn't need EPSCA for the incident. The radios are smart enough to figure out what they need for coverage. Unfortunately the system wasn't designed with scanner freqs (freaks) in mind.

Wow, that is both interesting and disappointing. Thanks for the info!

 

[AtomicTaco]

Both were on the exact same channel (the talkgroup was not trunked)

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this...

See if you can get the KC/VC Simulcast (851.8125) as 99.9% of the time there will be a Renton unit affiliated with one of the KC/VC towers.

Fore more info on the locations of the KC TRS sites, see Paul's excellent map here.

 

[AuntBee09]

See if you can get the KC/VC Simulcast (851.8125) as 99.9% of the time there will be a Renton unit affiliated with one of the KC/VC towers.
Fore more info on the locations of the KC TRS sites, see Paul's excellent map here.

I'll try to do it with KC/VC, but i get terrible reception with it.

Thanks for the link to the map! But I have another question with that: I have found that the new port hills area of Bellevue gets very poor reception from EPSCA, but on the map, it says that there is an antenna right in the neighborhood; therefore, I conclude that how close you are to an site does not always correlate with great reception... right?

 

[AtomicTaco]

Thanks for the link to the map! But I have another question with that: I have found that the new port hills area of Bellevue gets very poor reception from EPSCA, but on the map, it says that there is an antenna right in the neighborhood; therefore, I conclude that how close you are to an site does not always correlate with great reception... right?

Time for one of the other experts to come in and explain it. I'd guess they don't transmit from all locations all the time. I went to the top of Squak Mtn, where there is supposed to be another KC/VC simulcast, but I didn't get a close call hit on 851.8125. And I was standing literally 6 feet from the tower (but probably 20 feet from the actual antenna) so I would've had to pick up a CC hit.

 

[cowboymike1971]

I'm here in Newcastle/Renton area right off I-405 on the hillside and to listen to EPSCA I have to listen to all the TG's using the KC/VC site freqs. The EPSCA sites get terrible reception here. Same with Seattle sites, They are very scratchy, very annoying to listen to. Yet there are some areas in my house where i can recieve Seattle site with my pro-97 and it comes in clear. So if i wish to listen to Bellevue or Redmond etc I have to do it using all the KC/VC Trunked freqs and site. Very odd being that its so close to both The eastside rea and Seattle....

 

[T68]

Newport Hills

For being on top of a hill, the Newport Hills area really does have crappy EPSCA coverage (especially if you get into a fight INSIDE the Newport Townhomes...)

The site map is probably showing the long rumored 3 channel fill-in site that is supposed to be installed at Newport Hills Elementary. No idea when it's going to be on the air.

For the most part, Bellevue is better covered by Seattle or KC/VC simulcast sites (at least, that's what my radios affiliates with most of the time, not EPSCA). Go Figure.

Brad/N7JGX
Whidbey Island, WA