RyanAC
Member
Hello All,
This is my first thread, though I've spent much time reading the forum and it has been very helpful. I have reread the wiki on trunking and searched the forum, but There is something I still don't understand about trunking as it applies to fleet net. I'll apologize in advance for the length of this post as I'm going to try to provide as much info on my setup as possible.
I'm running a 996XT with a WRX100 antenna. I have Ontario Provincial Government Zone 2 programmed as one system with Pembroke, Deep River and Bisset Creek towers programmed as the sites. I have one conventional system programmed for Renfrew County conventional channels. Since a recent trip to visit family, I have another separate system programmed for OPG Zone 3 with sites programmed for each tower between me and East Algoma, plus a conventional system for each region (generally as listed in the database) along the Highway 17 corridor; I left the Mattawa and North Bay sites, as well as my Nipissing District conventional system, turned on when I got home in hopes of occasionally picking up skip since I'm not too far from those towers. Both of my Motorola systems are in ID search mode.
No matter where I placed the scanner in my house, I could not get very reliable reception. It now lives, on a side table under a south-facing window, in the best spot I could find. Even there, reception for both Zone 2 and and the Renfrew conventional system were spotty (0-1 bar for the Pembroke tower at the end of its range and then only when the scanner could find the control channel, and 1-2 bars for the Deep River tower 5km away; I never could get the control channel for the Bisset Creek tower) at best. I had read in a thread that attenuating a nearby tower could help reception and so I attenuated Deep River; this helped marginally. Of course, I live in a small (5-10km) bubble where FM radio signal fades in and out on home stereos and brand new car radios at a whim and where vehicle-amped VHF radios have trouble receiving each other within LOS.
The other day I cut a section of lamp cord to about 3 feet, tied one stripped end to the curtain rod and the other to the end of the fully-extended antenna. This has worked very well: I now consistently get minimum 3 bars (usually more) on the Pembroke and Bisset Creek towers and minimum 4 on Deep River; the scanner is rarely quiet any more. Transmissions on 2OPS42, Renfrew District 1 and other TG's are evenly split between all the towers. I even get 3-4 bars consistently from the Mattawa tower and occasionally 1 bar from North Bay.
To the heart of the matter!
Now that I have a Zone 3 system with regular reception from the Mattawa tower, I receive Zone 2 TG's (particularly 2OPS42 and Renfrew District 1) as often from the Mattawa tower as I do from the Zone 2 towers. But I have not heard one transmission from 3OPS20 or any other TG's that should be within range of the Mattawa tower. Can anyone suggest a reason why this may be? I double-checked tonight that none of the groups or ID's on the Zone 3 system were locked-out.
Thanks,
Ryan
This is my first thread, though I've spent much time reading the forum and it has been very helpful. I have reread the wiki on trunking and searched the forum, but There is something I still don't understand about trunking as it applies to fleet net. I'll apologize in advance for the length of this post as I'm going to try to provide as much info on my setup as possible.
I'm running a 996XT with a WRX100 antenna. I have Ontario Provincial Government Zone 2 programmed as one system with Pembroke, Deep River and Bisset Creek towers programmed as the sites. I have one conventional system programmed for Renfrew County conventional channels. Since a recent trip to visit family, I have another separate system programmed for OPG Zone 3 with sites programmed for each tower between me and East Algoma, plus a conventional system for each region (generally as listed in the database) along the Highway 17 corridor; I left the Mattawa and North Bay sites, as well as my Nipissing District conventional system, turned on when I got home in hopes of occasionally picking up skip since I'm not too far from those towers. Both of my Motorola systems are in ID search mode.
No matter where I placed the scanner in my house, I could not get very reliable reception. It now lives, on a side table under a south-facing window, in the best spot I could find. Even there, reception for both Zone 2 and and the Renfrew conventional system were spotty (0-1 bar for the Pembroke tower at the end of its range and then only when the scanner could find the control channel, and 1-2 bars for the Deep River tower 5km away; I never could get the control channel for the Bisset Creek tower) at best. I had read in a thread that attenuating a nearby tower could help reception and so I attenuated Deep River; this helped marginally. Of course, I live in a small (5-10km) bubble where FM radio signal fades in and out on home stereos and brand new car radios at a whim and where vehicle-amped VHF radios have trouble receiving each other within LOS.
The other day I cut a section of lamp cord to about 3 feet, tied one stripped end to the curtain rod and the other to the end of the fully-extended antenna. This has worked very well: I now consistently get minimum 3 bars (usually more) on the Pembroke and Bisset Creek towers and minimum 4 on Deep River; the scanner is rarely quiet any more. Transmissions on 2OPS42, Renfrew District 1 and other TG's are evenly split between all the towers. I even get 3-4 bars consistently from the Mattawa tower and occasionally 1 bar from North Bay.
To the heart of the matter!
Now that I have a Zone 3 system with regular reception from the Mattawa tower, I receive Zone 2 TG's (particularly 2OPS42 and Renfrew District 1) as often from the Mattawa tower as I do from the Zone 2 towers. But I have not heard one transmission from 3OPS20 or any other TG's that should be within range of the Mattawa tower. Can anyone suggest a reason why this may be? I double-checked tonight that none of the groups or ID's on the Zone 3 system were locked-out.
Thanks,
Ryan