How to program Ohio MARCS-IP

[dbsar]

How to program Ohio MARCS-IP

I have a Uniden BCD396XT that program with FreeScan, and want to explore anything I can listen to on Ohio MARCS-IP. So how do I program it...I already monitor my local stuff with one site programed in (Greene County Simulcast).

Can I program in more that one site per system (or quick key I guess I should say). I’d like to assign quick key #1 and call it MARCS IP then program in several sites or towers from neighboring counties. Then I’d do ID Search and see what I can hear. Should each site get a quick key too?

Another question is I’d like to be able to monitor cities like Col & Cinn. I know that’s too far for line of site where I live, but is there a way to do that with the MARCS system?

I don’t totally understand the system and hope my questions are not too dumb. Any info on programming would be helpful.


Thanks.

 

[jasonk]

You can only monitor the sites within range of your location. Yes - you can include every single control channel from the system - so that when you travel you will always be on a tower. Depending on the TG's you program in ....you may or may not pick up the county you are in. While it is a statewide system - most radios will only affiliate with a local tower or system ....sometimes they can roam to an adjoining site - depending on alot of factors. So see my example below.

Xenia Fire Dispatch - Defaulted to the Greene Co Simulcast - but may roam on Clark, Warren, Montgomery towers if needed (Location, System Load)

So a person who is only scanning the Warren County Simulcast may occasionally hear Xenia Fire if they have those TG's enabled - or they are in Open Scan Mode.

A person in Franklin county will NEVER hear Xenia Fire on MARCS IP

Some TG's are considered STATEWIDE .....alot of the interop channels. So if Someone in Cleveland Keys up on it - a radio in Greene County who may be monitoring that channel in their scan bank - will receive it - therefore you will hear it on your scanner as well .....

Hope I have answered some of your question.

Jason K

How to program Ohio MARCS-IP

I have a Uniden BCD396XT that program with FreeScan, and want to explore anything I can listen to on Ohio MARCS-IP. So how do I program it...I already monitor my local stuff with one site programed in (Greene County Simulcast).

Can I program in more that one site per system (or quick key I guess I should say). I’d like to assign quick key #1 and call it MARCS IP then program in several sites or towers from neighboring counties. Then I’d do ID Search and see what I can hear. Should each site get a quick key too?

Another question is I’d like to be able to monitor cities like Col & Cinn. I know that’s too far for line of site where I live, but is there a way to do that with the MARCS system?

I don’t totally understand the system and hope my questions are not too dumb. Any info on programming would be helpful.


Thanks.

 

[SCPD]

specific range

Jason,That was a great answer, something I had thought but you explained it so almost anyone can grasp it. As a listener since Bearcat crystals through 396XT and many others, this IP and whole Marcs thing has me spinning my head. Good to know some departments will only be heard in a specific area, different than what I thought would happen.So they have limted the range on a department so it wont really overlap county limits TOO far, unlike the old days of VHF where the signal went many counties away.

 

[Joets185]

.

A person in Franklin county will NEVER hear Xenia Fire on MARCS IP


Jason K

Jason,

Does this hold true for all out of area radios as well? Say, for example, a radio from Xenia Fire was in Columbus....I was scanning the Columbus site, with the Xenia Dispatch TG enabled....and the radio was keyed up. Would it affiliate with the Columbus site and connect with Xenia Dispatch, thus allowing me to hear it, or would it just remain unaffiliated while out of the local area?


Joe

 

[teufler]

If you program in the search mode, any talk group should show up on any tower. The 396xt, you willrun out of group space fast. But if you leave the search id rather than scan id, you should hear any group that access a topwer you can receive.

 

[budevans]

Jason,

Does this hold true for all out of area radios as well? Say, for example, a radio from Xenia Fire was in Columbus....I was scanning the Columbus site, with the Xenia Dispatch TG enabled....and the radio was keyed up. Would it affiliate with the Columbus site and connect with Xenia Dispatch, thus allowing me to hear it, or would it just remain unaffiliated while out of the local area?


Joe

MARCS/MARCS-IP are state wide systems. Yes, while the Xenia (subscriber) radio is in Columbus, that radio's TG's traffic would be heard on the Columbus site.

 

[wa8pyr]

MARCS/MARCS-IP are state wide systems. Yes, while the Xenia (subscriber) radio is in Columbus, that radio's TG's traffic would be heard on the Columbus site.

This is only true if the Xenia Fire talkgroup is permitted to roam outside Greene County. In reality, very few Greene County talkgroups can roam outside Greene or the surrounding counties (and I don't think XFD is one of them). The sheriff dispatch talkgroup is one of the few.

The same goes for any talkgroups on the system; the sites they can roam to is dependent upon not only system-level settings, but also certain settings in the radio itself.

 

[jasonk]

Jason,

Does this hold true for all out of area radios as well? Say, for example, a radio from Xenia Fire was in Columbus....I was scanning the Columbus site, with the Xenia Dispatch TG enabled....and the radio was keyed up. Would it affiliate with the Columbus site and connect with Xenia Dispatch, thus allowing me to hear it, or would it just remain unaffiliated while out of the local area?


Joe

Joe

The XFD-DISP TG is not allowed to roam more than 1 tower away from our Home system. So I can monitor and transmit on the XFD-DISP TG in say Fayette County - as it is considered a neighbor site ....but Franklin County will not allow that TG to transmit or receive. So I could use the TG in Warren, montgomery, Clinton, Butler, Clark, fayette counties.

Now we do have all the statewide TG's loaded .....and these are good to roam on the entire system ... these are designed for the major Mutual aid - or when working with an agency from outside of the area ...

If all TG's were allowed to roam in Franklin County - imagine the frequencies tied up when theres a big Chiefs meeting in town ....everyone scanning their home TG's .... would quickly overload the franklin County System.

Jason

 

[Joets185]

Thanks, that clears it up for me. Tom, I sorta figured there were multiple configurations for affiliation, and that only makes sense. I appreciate the info guys.

Joe

 

[CVPI4Ever]

Sorry for the necro-thread but its about MARCS as well I am running in to with FreeScan. I had my Uniden scanner programmed by someone else, and I noticed Ohio State University was put as Mot Type II/P25 and its also put in down the list as P25 Standard (Digital XT). Should I delete one and keep the other? If so, which?

 

[W8RMH]

OSU switched to Ohio MARCS-IP (P25 Standard) a year or so ago. Their Motorola Type II system was shut down after they moved to MARCS-IP . This is why you should learn to program your scanner yourself, as things change.