Franklin county

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bluesteel

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For anyone that's interested, FC made a small change on Monday that doesn't affect reception, but once you listen, you'll know what you're listening to.

At the insistence of Jerry Jones, the Sheriff, LAW1 and LAW2 were isolated. LAW1 should now only contain the Sheriff's Office and LAW2 will consist of the municipal agencies. This went over like a lead balloon, but he's the Sheriff.
 

NCFire11

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For anyone that's interested, FC made a small change on Monday that doesn't affect reception, but once you listen, you'll know what you're listening to.

At the insistence of Jerry Jones, the Sheriff, LAW1 and LAW2 were isolated. LAW1 should now only contain the Sheriff's Office and LAW2 will consist of the municipal agencies. This went over like a lead balloon, but he's the Sheriff.

This is correct.
 

NC91

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Has anyone had any better/worse luck lately? Seems my reception has gotten worse lately but that's 100% subjective.
 

murrayustud

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I'm in North Raleigh & get the control channel just great but none of the scanners receive anything, but control channel from Youngsville 90% with antenna up about 60 feet. I've given up on this system.
 

OldFisherman

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Just wondering what happened to delay the switchover for Fire and EMS on January 3'rd - still getting great signals on my old scanners, so much better than listening to the Sheriffs now on digital. Also, haven't heard any system testing for at least 2 weeks now, is the new system all signed off and this is as good as it gets?

Charles, if you go back to my last posting, you'll see that at least in my area, southwestern Franklin County, the big antennas don't work any more as good as the little duckie antennas. For some reason I have to find 'sweet spots' to get decent reception. Being off 2 feet or more and I get nothing - can't explain it but that's the way it is. With your 996xt base station, I'd try some coax to a duckie type antenna and move it around. It's not fun to find one of the sweet spots since you never know when a transmission is in progress. Good luck!

I'm waiting for the software update on my 396xt, that will be interesting. Will report on what difference it makes when it's available.

Stan
 

murrayustud

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Just wondering what happened to delay the switchover for Fire and EMS on January 3'rd - still getting great signals on my old scanners, so much better than listening to the Sheriffs now on digital. Also, haven't heard any system testing for at least 2 weeks now, is the new system all signed off and this is as good as it gets?

Charles, if you go back to my last posting, you'll see that at least in my area, southwestern Franklin County, the big antennas don't work any more as good as the little duckie antennas. For some reason I have to find 'sweet spots' to get decent reception. Being off 2 feet or more and I get nothing - can't explain it but that's the way it is. With your 996xt base station, I'd try some coax to a duckie type antenna and move it around. It's not fun to find one of the sweet spots since you never know when a transmission is in progress. Good luck!

I'm waiting for the software update on my 396xt, that will be interesting. Will report on what difference it makes when it's available.

Stan

Even though I'm way over in North Raleigh you think a duck or small antenna would work?
 

OldFisherman

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Charles, first let me say that yesterday while at lunch at Bojangles in Louisburg, there was a guy with a radio on his belt and I could hear enough to know it was from dispatch - I later asked if he was part of Fire or EMS and he said yes. I did ask why they didn't switch to digital on the 3'rd, he just said the system was still being tested.

Ok, now your going to think the Old Fisherman fell off the boat and drank too much salt water for what I did to get decent reception - may or may not work where you live. The first thing to note is that I get 5 bars for signal strength no matter where I move the scanner, so that indication doesn't mean anything.

After going through the huge antenna and then 2 different yagis that at one time worked perfectly (more or less), something changed big time after weeks of hearing 'testing 1 2 3 4 5, 5 4 3 2 1'. Those antennas now sit in my shop not connected since they just don't work as good as the little duckie antenna.

I needed at least 2 'sweet spots' for listening, one in my house and one in my shop. What I did was take the 396XT, attach a small recorder to it and then let it sit in a spot for for an hour or so. Needless to say this is sure not efficient but after a few days I had a 'sweet spot' in the house and one in my shop - it's tough when there are no transmissions long enough to find where it works good. Finally got those spots but I needed one more next to where I sit at night and watch TV. I had a coax cable right there that I used to use for an outdoor 2/440 antenna so I ended up putting a duckie antenna on that one and let it hang over my wooden porch, maybe 2' above the ground. Took a while but I found a 'sweet spot' and now I can listen when relaxing at night. Have no idea if it would work at your location. If you do try it you may need to mount the duckie on some sort of metal to act as a ground plane - in my case I don't need it.

With any luck the system will be fixed so us on the fringes don't have to go through this - don't know what else to suggest you try unless you can borrow one of those GRE-500 scanners with the rssi meter. That would quickly tell if a good signal spot may be a 'sweet spot' and save a lot of testing. It may be worth just waiting for Harris to fix their problems, but it has been a while since they started this digital stuff back in September. Would be great if someone knew what Harris is planning next.
 

murrayustud

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i've tried it all, rubber ducks, beams, verticals, etc, different scanners, Pro 96, pro 2096, bcd996xt, several others & not so much as one transmission received. Can get the control channel with no problem. I've tried from lots of different locations in north Raleigh, now I'm throwing in the towel & going to get an XTS3000 P25 Motorola radio (or XTL mobile) and try that.
 

NCFire11

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Are you getting TGID hits atleast? If not make sure you have all 4 frequencies entered as 3 of the 4 are used as CCs, so you need them even if your scanner does CC only.

I find this strange as I monitor with absolutely 0 problems, aside from a garbled transmission every so often, but that is probably from the transmitting radio. I use a PRO197 with a VHF telescoping antenna I picked up from RS in Louisburg.
 

jsncrso

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i've tried it all, rubber ducks, beams, verticals, etc, different scanners, Pro 96, pro 2096, bcd996xt, several others & not so much as one transmission received. Can get the control channel with no problem. I've tried from lots of different locations in north Raleigh, now I'm throwing in the towel & going to get an XTS3000 P25 Motorola radio (or XTL mobile) and try that.

You need a yagi antenna pointed at one of the antennas (as to block signal from the other antennas). The low cost DSPs and one way nature of scanners do not play well with simulcast distortion so reception from only one antenna is a must if you want to get a crystal clear signal.
 

murrayustud

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I have a 5 element beam tuned for around 154mhz with a 5mhz bandwidth I'll try that next, thanks for the info.
 

OldFisherman

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Wish you luck on the yagi, sure can't hurt if you're not getting anything. My experience with the yagi was great at first then Harris changed something and it basically didn't receive good anymore. Sure can't explain it but that's a fact.

For what it's worth, did the Uniden firmware update on my 396XT and boy, did they hit a home run on this one! Almost all of the garbling is gone big time and even the voices are clearer. What hasn't changed are my 'sweet spots', still have to use the duckie only in certain hot spots to get good reception.

In the last week I've heard a lot of 'tone testing' from Harris and once I heard them say, 'Ok, now let's go to Franklinton' where one of the towers is located. As far as scanning goes, I haven't seen any change at all. Sometimes I wonder if the basic design of this system in Franklin County is not what it should be and another tower is needed. Anyway, good luck with the yagi and the Motorola radio when you get it - keep us informed!
 

reconrider8

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For what its worth im listening to the sys fine on my pro 106 on an austin spectra. Seems to me like car to dispatch is clear but dispatch to car is crappy thats on 101 but its just the opposite on 102.
 

murrayustud

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Interesting Recon rider, I'm in northern fringe of Raleigh just off us 1, I've tried 5 different scanners, 3 different beams, 3 verticals, a rubber duck, my Austin spectra on my Honda accord and not so much as one transmission although I do get the control channel well. I've ordered a motorola xts3000 and will try that next if that fails I'll just call it not monitorable from my area and throw in the towel, from what I hear no one is happy with the system performance anyway
 

reconrider8

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Idk how much you get out or what not but i was up at the racetrack when i was hearing it and it was showing solid signal all the way up to rheasville substation which is prob 5 or so miles up from the track
 

NCFire11

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What i have noticed is that TGIDs 2101-2199 are used in order as the patching TG. when it gets to 2199 it resets back to 2101.
 

Smallfry

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Franklin County

I am not sure if everyone here is aware, but with the Franklin County system you have to have a LID for your radio before you can access or "listen" to it. No one can just go out and buy a radio and access that system.....
 

trumpetman

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I am not sure if everyone here is aware, but with the Franklin County system you have to have a LID for your radio before you can access or "listen" to it. No one can just go out and buy a radio and access that system.....

As is the case with any other trunked radio system, it's a built-in security feature. Scanners do not require a valid ID to monitor the system. There are also ways around monitoring the system passively with a commercial radio without the ability to transmit. The only way to transmit would be to go the route you mention, and get a legitimate radio ID to access the system from whoever manages the system (easier said than done in most cases).
 

KE4ZNR

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As is the case with any other trunked radio system, it's a built-in security feature. Scanners do not require a valid ID to monitor the system. There are also ways around monitoring the system passively with a commercial radio without the ability to transmit. The only way to transmit would be to go the route you mention, and get a legitimate radio ID to access the system from whoever manages the system (easier said than done in most cases).

Yep. With all due respect smallfry this forum is primarily frequented by
"passive" hobbyists who use scanners to monitor radio systems such as
Franklin County. A LID is not required to monitor with a scanner.
I know you meant well Smallfry but in this case your information was a little off the mark.
Happy Monitoring
Marshall KE4ZNR
 
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