First Energy in Frederick County?

[IQ_imbalance]

Had the power go out this AM and started thinking might be a good time to try and get the First Energy talkgroups programmed in. Has anyone successfully done this lately (most of the First Energy posts on here are dated)? Looking around the 151-153MHz area I'm not seeing much of a control signal on VHF unless my RTLSDR is WAY off freq.
Thanks!

 

[mtindor]

There are few Maryland sites in the DB:

FirstEnergy Trunking System, Various, Multi-State

FirstEnergy Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

As far as programming talkgroups, there aren't that many known (and likely aren't that many overall). It would probably be best to program in whatever is of interest that is in the DB and then add a Group Wildcard (GRE / Whistler) or enable ID Search (Uniden).

Depending upon the RTL that you have, it could be significantly off -- some of the much older dongles simply don't have a 0.5 ppm TXCO and many of them run so hot that they drift wildly until warmed up.

Instead of tuning to a specific frequency, tune to the center of any actual signals you find -- and then if it's P25 and you're using DSDPlus or Unitrunker, the site info should pop up.

And if you are just using Unitrunker and an RTL, and you think the RTL might be "off", then run SDR# and look around the band and find known signals and see how far off it is. If you don't have DSDPLus, that's a good thing to use when sleuthing out things like that.

Mike

 

[maus92]

Interesting - so you are not seeing any control channels in that range? These systems are designed for mobile on-street coverage, but not necessarily up to public safety standards in terms of percentage of area covered. You might have to go mobile with the RTL and a notebook computer to find a signal....

 

[IQ_imbalance]

I might be looking for a needle in the haystack...the public safety control channels are easy to pick out because they're pretty continuous. If the utility stuff is more sporadic I might just miss it. I'm seeing plenty of what I think is pager traffic at least.....

There might be a weak signal near 152.240MHz, but it might be QRM.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

Update: looks like a quick p25 signal around 152MHz....

 

[maus92]

Yup, a P25 control channel is pretty easy to pick out when within receiving range.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

Yup, a P25 control channel is pretty easy to pick out when within receiving range.

slightly off topic, but I see you've got both the SDS100 and 200. I'm thinking about investing in one or the other (probably the 100 since i'd like to be portable)...how difficult is it to program one w/ the info available on radioreference? If you know the control channel(s) and TG, is it pretty easy to punch those in?
Thanks!

 

[maus92]

slightly off topic, but I see you've got both the SDS100 and 200. I'm thinking about investing in one or the other (probably the 100 since i'd like to be portable)...how difficult is it to program one w/ the info available on radioreference? If you know the control channel(s) and TG, is it pretty easy to punch those in?
Thanks!

These radios are better programmed using the software included with the radio. The software uses RadioReference data, and runs on natively on Windows machines - or PC emulators for Macs and Linux. RRDB entries for Maryland are usually very accurate. Programming them by hand is extremely complex and time-consuming.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

Ah, that's what i was wondering. OK, thanks!

 

[BM82557]

In Berkeley County WV I receive sites

1.9 Great Cacapon (Sideling Hill ) Washington County MD cc of 151.8500
1.33 Middletown Frederick County MD cc of 152.2400
1.35 Glengary Berkeley County WV cc of 153.1250
1.46 Damascus Montgomery County MD cc of 153.2300
1.45 Cascade Washington County MD cc of 153.6950
1.6 McConnellsburg Fulton County PA cc of 173.2750
1.8 Clear Spring Washington County MD cc of 173.3750

along with others in VA and WV that are further away from your location.

 

[Dispatcher308]

Have this system programmed in both my 396 XT and my 436 and receive the system fine when in the area, system has good coverage throughout Western MD. There isn't a whole lot of chatter at times. As was stated above 152.240 is the Frederick control channel.