Listening to Wayne/Oakland Counties

[bkirk3434]

Now that Oakland County FDs have been unencrypted for a while, I have tried to pair a few with my northern Wayne County talkgroups. I put them on the Wayne County Tower (2/6) and pick up all of the Wayne County talk but only random Oakland County talk. For example, I will here a tone out and several transmissions from Novi FD and then nothing.

Is there a more efficient way to be able to listen to these two counties together? I have no problem doing it with Wayne/Washtenaw.

 

[Enforcer52]

Have you tried programming the Oakland County tower? Sounds like the Oakland Tower is not always affiliating with the Wayne tower.

 

[bkirk3434]

Have you tried programming the Oakland County tower? Sounds like the Oakland Tower is not always affiliating with the Wayne tower.

Yes, it does not pick up anything in Wayne County.

 

[Enforcer52]

When you program in Oakland County does it then pickup all the traffic in Oakland County? If so you will need to have both systems programmed in separately.

Adjoining counties don't always set up to affiliate the towers full time with each other, I have the same issue where I live so have to have both towers programmed in the scanner, otherwise I will only hear individual units when they are close to the county line on the other tower.

 

[drdispatch]

If you tell us what scanner you're using, someone here would be able to offer tips on how best to program it to listen to both counties.

 

[ffexpCP]

This is a over simplification, but

Most OC TGs can roam to other sites. Some cannot roam off the OC simulcast. So there may be some than can be heard on other sites, but these are most likely going to be neighboring communities.

Please note - just because a physical tower location may be in OC, it does not mean it is a part of the OC simulcast. But there are some physical tower locations that contain both RF systems.

Very few non-OC TGs are allowed on OC simulcast since there are very few resources available for non-tdma capable radios and/or talkgroups.

So unfortunately, it can be tricky to scan both. You'll be playing the odds or scanning inefficiently between sites.

 

[Golay]

...Most OC TGs can roam to other sites. Some cannot roam off the OC simulcast. So there may be some than can be heard on other sites, but these are most likely going to be neighboring communities ...

When you say some cannot roam, do you mean if they were to wander out of range, MPSCS would not pick up and relay them back?

 

[ffexpCP]

When you say some cannot roam, do you mean if they were to wander out of range, MPSCS would not pick up and relay them back?

Correct.

 

[Hit_Factor]

....

So unfortunately, it can be tricky to scan both. You'll be playing the odds or scanning inefficiently between sites.

Use multiple scanners, I would use G4s.

 

[drdispatch]

If you have a Uniden SDS-series scanner (which perform better on simulcast cells), you can scan the Oakland County and West Wayne simulcast cells, and program the talkgroups for each county that you want. Then split them into 2 different departments, one for Oakland, one for Wayne. Assign the departments each a Quick Key, and that should work.