Fauquier/ Culpeper/ rappahannock

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fredva

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This license page shows the location of the four Fauquier towers: FCC Callsign WQZT737 (FAUQUIER SHERIFFS OFFICE COMMUNICATIONS)

By the way, in a simulcast system, a "site" is not a single physical location. It's a collection of transmitters that share the same frequencies. So there's one Fauquier site, but that site consists of four towers in different parts of the county. All four towers will broadcast on the same frequency at the same time.
 

FQ1100

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Does anyone know that a 996P2 will work with this Fauquier system? I have a 996XT that worked fine with the Moto system, but of course now I hear nothing but with the old RR program. I can see full bars and if I turn off scan and step through, I hear dig noise. The STARS still works. I can't see spending the loot on the Uniden.
Since u say u live out in the Orlean area u are picking your full signal up from the tower in Linden it's on freezeland rd I know u don't wanna spend the money and such but TBH in order to listen to this system and literally everywhere else because this is the standard for radios now aka P25 phase 1/2 you need to spend the 1 time purchase money and buy a updated radio I highly recommend a Unication G5 it's way smaller then the uniden and picks up just as clear and with a new radio you can listen to all 3 counties on the system Fauquier Culpeper Rappahannock at the same time from anywhere in the 3 counties. And currently the Unication G4 which works on all P25 systems is currently on sale for $540 from rays pager sales if u were to go ahead a buy a Unication I'll happily program it for you for free.
 

fredva

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The Unications are great receivers for simulcast systems. But just for full disclosure, they cannot monitor two trunking systems at the same time. For example, you can't monitor Culpeper/Fauquier/Rappahannock and STARS at the same time. That's just something people need to be aware of before making a purchase. DogT mentioned monitoring STARS on the 996XT.
 

DogT

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You know, I just can't remember if it was multicast/simulcast or what. I was mostly involved in checking out the repeater sites after Moto did their work. I certainly wasn't involved in setting it up. I can tell you, which may not be proper to reveal, but the PI's had repeaters on Hogback (skyline drive), Merrifield, Independent Hill, Suitland (they called it Southern Md), I got to lots of sites around the country including VT (Killington), SC, TN, and lots of other places mostly in the Mid Atlantic area. The PI's had maybe 2000 inspectors, where the FBI has maybe 20000 inspectors. But there was more than enough work for the 5 to 8 of us in the radio section to work across the country including PR, VI, HI and AK. I don't know why, but they sent me to Fairbanks once. I really didn't do anything up there except make sure the base station worked right. I did do a lot of work on the base stations which were desktop Astro Spectras in the Inspector offices and they all linked back via internet to ops center in Dallas and Dulles. I worked at Dulles. I'm sure since 2005 it's changed a lot. But everything on the PI channels was encrypted so there's no use trying to listen to that. I wasn't able to unless I took a portable home just to monitor. I've probably told you more than anyone needs to know.

At this point, I think my best option is the SDR, I'm very good at following instructions and I have ham friends that can help me.
Dave - N3DT

Thanks for all the info. We'll be around. And I'm actually in Hume, which is about equidistant from all those towers.
 

dsj3

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Does anyone know that a 996P2 will work with this Fauquier system? I have a 996XT that worked fine with the Moto system, but of course now I hear nothing but with the old RR program. I can see full bars and if I turn off scan and step through, I hear dig noise. The STARS still works. I can't see spending the loot on the Uniden.
 

dsj3

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I have a 996P2 and it does work on the new P2 System in Fauquier County “BUT” like many P2 systems the audio can be choppy at times which can make listening frustrating. Also if you live well outside of Warrenton you may need a good external antenna as the range on the 996P2 isn’t the best on P2 systems. I also invested in the SDS 100 and 200 and it was well worth the investment. Very big difference in reception and audio. Those radios were specifically made for P2 and they make a huge difference.
 

fredva

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I also invested in the SDS 100 and 200 and it was well worth the investment. Very big difference in reception and audio. Those radios were specifically made for P2 and they make a huge difference.

Those radios were made to handle LSM simulcast. A simulcast system can be Phase 1 or Phase 2. For example, the Stafford system that came online around 2011 was a Phase 1 simulcast system, and difficult for scanners to receive. If it weren't for simulcast, a 996P2 would presumably be able to handle a Phase 2 system. But it wasn't made to be compatible with simulcast.
 

dsj3

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I have a 996P2 and it does work on the new P2 System in Fauquier County “BUT” like many P2 (simulcast) systems the audio can be choppy at times which can make listening frustrating. Also if you live well outside of Warrenton you may need a good external antenna as the range on the 996P2 isn’t the best on P2 (simulcast) systems. I also invested in the SDS 100 and 200 and it was well worth the investment. Very big difference in reception and audio. Those radios were specifically made for P2 (simulcast) and they make a huge difference.
Those radios were made to handle LSM simulcast. A simulcast system can be Phase 1 or Phase 2. For example, the Stafford system that came online around 2011 was a Phase 1 simulcast system, and difficult for scanners to receive. If it weren't for simulcast, a 996P2 would presumably be able to handle a Phase 2 system. But it wasn't made to be compatible with simulcast.
Correct. I’m sorry. I meant to clarify (simulcast) in my response earlier. The 996P2 does work on P2 (simulcast) but again, the audio can be choppy. It’s not terrible but not exactly good either. Sometimes it’s fine and sometimes it’s annoying. Using a paper clip or a basic vhf hi/low antenna seems to lesson the choppy audio. I should have exchanged it for a second SDS 200 but I didn’t want to spend the additional $250.
 

maus92

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Correct. I’m sorry. I meant to clarify (simulcast) in my response earlier. The 996P2 does work on P2 (simulcast) but again, the audio can be choppy. It’s not terrible but not exactly good either. Sometimes it’s fine and sometimes it’s annoying. Using a paper clip or a basic vhf hi/low antenna seems to lesson the choppy audio. I should have exchanged it for a second SDS 200 but I didn’t want to spend the additional $250.
You will find it is location dependent, as it the receiver's location with respect to the simulcast subsites. Sometimes, little tricks like paperclip antennas will work by reducing RSSI, but others using that same radio will have no luck with that "solution" - because each receive location is unique (even within the same structure.) The 996P2 does OK with P25 multicast sites because they are standalone sites that have no subsites that transmit interfering signalling.
 

dhmann1811

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Can someone advise where the towers are located for this system? I’m located in Spotsy and I’m trying to determine the closest one and the location.
thanks!
 

dhmann1811

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Got it; I’m tracking now. Thanks for the info. I think the closest one to me is in Lignum off of Jacobs Ford Rd.
 

ervfc288

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I have been experimenting with op25 using an RTLSDR dongle on Ubunutu. Results have been kind of ok. Occasionally the audio is really good with just a simple uhf antenna stuck to the window, other times the audio sounds distorted. I think its a fine tuning issue. It appears to be tracking the trunked system properly. I am tinkering with it as I have time. If anyone has any pointers, please let me know.

Thanks,

Jason
 

dtscho

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This morning I saw a radio affiliating on (I believe) 3401, 3402, and 3403. No voice transmissions. Judging by the talkgroup numbering pattern, these are probably Rappahannock Schools talkgroups. (Fauquier school buses were confirmed yesterday on 1402.)

Dave

3401 was confirmed this afternoon as Rappahannock school buses. The talkgroup has been added to the database.

Dave
 

DogT

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If I use Freescan to edit my old BCD996XT F/R/C and go into the 'Trunk Freqs' for the (M82C group) and change the frequencies to the new ones listed in the current F/R/C database, do I keep the 'Trunked System Setup' as 'Mot Type II/P25'? Then I would have to go into each 'GRP' and renumber and rename the talkgroups. Or would it work just as well to do 'ID Scan' but then I would not be able to easily lock out a group, like the landfill or schoolbusses easily?

Also trying to understand. The control channels just transmit control data, or do they actually transmit P25 audio info also or where does the actual 'audio data' come from? I can hear 852.850 strong and continual this morning but I have no clue where it's coming from, most likely Linden, it's not that far away. I could easily make a wideband 800MHz 'cheap' yagi from #12 CU and PVC.

Also what does 'Class' mean in the tower list, like #6 is listed as MO and 1 is listed as FB (mobile and fixed base?) but why would the MO have a fixed location, I look on the map and #6 appears to be at the top of a tree covered mt. I see nothing there. #1 on Freezland Rd, I can see the tower there on the map. Maybe MO is just the center of a general location? I notice the TX power is lower.

Going to get my second shot in Culpeper today. Hope I don't get the 'lethargy' from it for a couple days.
 

dtscho

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I added talkgroup 1507 to the database yesterday. Pretty confident it's Fauquier Environmental Services - they mentioned "Marshall" and "Markham" (which are the names of two of the county's disposal sites), and talked about how full "tanks" were. The sites were being polled just before 7 AM, which is when the disposal sites open to the public.

Dave
 
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