Good Evening I recently purchased a home patrol 2 and scan ozaukee county law enforcement in Wisconsin. I am trying to scan North shore police and fire in Wisconsin. I only live 15 miles from that area and i have the range set to 30 miles, but for some reason its not able to scan North Shore. I even went on sentienel software and downloaded the north shore police and fire database and its not working. Any help would be great.
finnbar,
Which antenna are you using on the HP-2? Just the one that came with it? Or have you bought a better antenna, or are using an external (roof-mounted)?
North Shore appears to be using this system:
Wisconsin Public Safety Network (WiPSN) Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
Are you trying to listen to that system, or are you using the conventional frequencies listed on the Milwaukee County database
page?
Setting the range on your HP-2 to 30 miles won't help if, in fact, you are not getting a strong enough signal for the scanner to receive. If you are trying to listen to North Shore on the trunked system I linked, using the original antenna the scanner came with, you may not be able to hear them, As cities & counties switch to new digital systems, the FCC is encouraging them to pay attention to the transmit antennas' coverage pattern. Instead of sending a strong signal out in every direction, they are focusing the antennas to direct coverage towards their jurisdictional area. If that is the case here, then even though you are within 15 miles, you may still be out of range.
As an example, here in my area, before they went to a P25 system, I could easily receive the Grand Prairie police & fire on their old system. GP is the next city west on me in Dallas County, and I'm within 5 miles of their city limits, and less than ten from their closest tower site, But, as part of their conversion to P25, they notified the FCC that they would mount their antennas lower on the masts, use less power, and tilt the antenna to focus on the areas within the Grand Prairie city limits, I can't hear them from home. However, not long after they switched over to the P25 system, I had occasion to go to a store in that city. While in the city, I had no trouble hearing them. But coming back home, I lost the signal a little over two miles outside of the city limits.
I presume that the North Shore area is on the Milwaukee County simulcast. You can see a map of the tower sites
here. I would suggest that after making sure that you have the trunked system programmed, and not just the conventional channels, that you make sure your HP-2 has a charged set of batteries, and take a drive over to near one of the sites on the map I linked. If you then start hearing North Shore radio traffic, that would confirm that you are not getting a good enough signal at home to hear them.
You might also have your thread moved to the Wisconsin state forum. Maybe someone in the area will see your post there, and can give you more local input on what to try. To do that, do
not create a new thread. Instead, click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum.
