Looking for help with CHP frequencies, N Cal, and 4 surrounding counties, SDS-100

[Mongoosmike]

I am looking for help from someone, that is familiar with the CHP channels in SF, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Dublin, and Pleasanton.
I have all color channels, (gold, Bronze, etc), programmed in Sentinel, as well as most all their frequencies listed selected to scan. I only hear a rare call that comes from Alameda, Dublin and East Bay, and that is only maybe 1 or 2 calls in a day, and even when I am visiting in the East Bay, I still only hear a rare call in that area, around Dublin and Alameda, Oakland areas. They are MUCH more busier than that i'm sure. I don't hear any CHP calls from my side of the bay, in SF, or San Mateo County, which is 7 miles south of SF. I have a Remtronics REM-820S antenna that works great. Hopefully the Sentinel file will help determine if I am missing any channel selections that might be the reason that I am not getting all channels. I appreciate any help that can be provided. Thank you.

 

[RaleighGuy]

I am looking for help from someone, that is familiar with the CHP channels in SF, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Dublin, and Pleasanton.
I have all color channels, (gold, Bronze, etc), programmed in Sentinel, as well as most all their frequencies listed selected to scan. I only hear a rare call that comes from Alameda, Dublin and East Bay, and that is only maybe 1 or 2 calls in a day, and even when I am visiting in the East Bay, I still only hear a rare call in that area, around Dublin and Alameda, Oakland areas. They are MUCH more busier than that i'm sure. I don't hear any CHP calls from my side of the bay, in SF, or San Mateo County, which is 7 miles south of SF. I have a Remtronics REM-820S antenna that works great. Hopefully the Sentinel file will help determine if I am missing any channel selections that might be the reason that I am not getting all channels. I appreciate any help that can be provided. Thank you.

This would be a great question for the California forum, since the rest of the country really doesn't listen to the CHP. Just click on REPORT in the bottom left corner of your post and ask the mods to move it. Please don't start a new post as double posting is not allowed in the forums.

Good luck finding your answer.

 

[markclark]

I am looking for help from someone, that is familiar with the CHP channels in SF, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Dublin, and Pleasanton.
I have all color channels, (gold, Bronze, etc), programmed in Sentinel, as well as most all their frequencies listed selected to scan. I only hear a rare call that comes from Alameda, Dublin and East Bay, and that is only maybe 1 or 2 calls in a day, and even when I am visiting in the East Bay, I still only hear a rare call in that area, around Dublin and Alameda, Oakland areas. They are MUCH more busier than that i'm sure. I don't hear any CHP calls from my side of the bay, in SF, or San Mateo County, which is 7 miles south of SF. I have a Remtronics REM-820S antenna that works great. Hopefully the Sentinel file will help determine if I am missing any channel selections that might be the reason that I am not getting all channels. I appreciate any help that can be provided. Thank you.

You won't receive much of anything on low band with that antenna. You need an antenna designed for low band which is about 6 ft at 42 Mhz for a quarter wave antenna. Equally important is a large ground plane needed for low band. Low band is very unforgiving of short antennas. Good low band scanner antennas are hard to find these days. However, many commercial low band specific antennas are available. You may possibly receive the base frequency of your local office with your antenna, but nothing else.

Since you're only visiting, you are limited to the equipment you brought for the duration of your visit.

 

[Mongoosmike]

Hi and thank you for the information. I actually have good reception with the antenna, and especially with the proximity of the freeway from where I live, near SFO. I do also get the infrequent CHP calls but I think some of the problem is the programmed channels, and I may not have all the channels selected in Sentinel. I realize that CHP in the past was low band and I heard most of the calls, when I had a xtal scanner, then I was getting much more when I upgraded to the Pro-92 way back when. Now the CHP also uses some higher vhf bands, but for the most part, they are still using the same low band frequencies they were using in the early days. Now most PD, CHP and other agencies are on the newer P_25 digital systems, but I think some of the low bands may not be on the same digital system, or they may be simulcast with another segment of the departments. As I mentioned, I receive a few CHP calls from Dublin, (26 miles), Alameda, and Oakland, (21 miles), which are across the bay, and even the car to car on CHP, but they are sparilgly, could be due to locations in hilss and so forth, but I should be getting more channels here close by, so seems like it is possibly in the programming. I did send the favorite lis in my last post, so maybe someone can look at that and advise if there are some frequencies that I have overlooked. so the Remtronics antenna is working quite well on the SDS-100. I can hear car to car in my area all the way to Redwood City 7 cities south of me, 18 miles.
Thank s again for the help.

 

[markclark]

Hi and thank you for the information. I actually have good reception with the antenna, and especially with the proximity of the freeway from where I live, near SFO. I do also get the infrequent CHP calls but I think some of the problem is the programmed channels, and I may not have all the channels selected in Sentinel. I realize that CHP in the past was low band and I heard most of the calls, when I had a xtal scanner, then I was getting much more when I upgraded to the Pro-92 way back when. Now the CHP also uses some higher vhf bands, but for the most part, they are still using the same low band frequencies they were using in the early days. Now most PD, CHP and other agencies are on the newer P_25 digital systems, but I think some of the low bands may not be on the same digital system, or they may be simulcast with another segment of the departments. As I mentioned, I receive a few CHP calls from Dublin, (26 miles), Alameda, and Oakland, (21 miles), which are across the bay, and even the car to car on CHP, but they are sparilgly, could be due to locations in hilss and so forth, but I should be getting more channels here close by, so seems like it is possibly in the programming. I did send the favorite lis in my last post, so maybe someone can look at that and advise if there are some frequencies that I have overlooked. so the Remtronics antenna is working quite well on the SDS-100. I can hear car to car in my area all the way to Redwood City 7 cities south of me, 18 miles.
Thank s again for the help.

If you like listening to CHP you should consider installing a dedicated low band antenna. With your current set up you're missing a lot of traffic. It all depends how important listening tp CHP is to you. In my case, I have four commercial low band radios and about 5-6 low band antennas, but hey, I'm a low band freak!

 

[officer_415]

It's very difficult to receive CHP with a handheld scanner inside a car or building. If you're outside, with decent line of sight to the transmitter, you should hear everything on the base frequencies below (the others are mostly portable-to-mobile and mobile-to-base).

Like @markclark said, you'll need a roof-mounted low band antenna if you want to reliably receive CHP throughout their patrol areas.

42.080	WNUH521	B	103.5 PL	AMB2 GAT B	Amber 2 - Base - Redwood City (91)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.620	WNUH520	B	131.8 PL	AQA GAT B	Aqua - Base - Hayward (25)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.120	WNWH830	B	131.8 PL	BRZ GAT B	Bronze - Base - Oakland (96)	FM	Law Dispatch
44.800	WNVM905	B	103.5 PL	EMR4 GAT B	Emerald 4 - Base - Santa Rosa (17)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.420	WPHM437	B	103.5 PL	GRP2 GAT B	Grape 2 - Base - Napa (21)	FM	Law Dispatch
44.940	WNUH520	B	114.8 PL	KHA GAT B	Khaki - Base - Dublin (118)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.920	WNVK354	B	103.5 PL	MRN2 GAT B	Maroon 2 - Base - Contra Costa (19)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.440	WNVK355	B	131.8 PL	PNK GAT B	Pink - Base - San Francisco (32)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.500	WNVM903	B	103.5 PL	RBY2 GAT B	Ruby 2 - Base - San Jose (24)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.600	WNUH519	B	131.8 PL	TRQ GAT B	Turquoise - Base - Solano (22)	FM	Law Dispatch
42.160	WPBV813	B	131.8 PL	VLT GAT B	Violet - Base - Marin (34)	FM	Law Dispatch

 

[Oakland_Tower]

I was listening to CHP here in the Fremont area quite a bit over the weekend and it was almost non stop traffic. 42.62 and 44.94 are simulcast with active transmitters on Sunol and I believe Allison (above Milpitas). I have no problem on my Uniden 996xt with the telescopic antenna inside the house, but again, the transmitters are on the hill above me. As mentioned prior, low band on a portable is tough.

 

[Mongoosmike]

Thank you both for the information and help. Like I said in my post, I DO receive some CHP calls that are in Dublin, Alameda in the east bay, on the 42/44.000 frequency bands, 21 and 23 miles from my location in South San Francisco, with the SDS-100 and the Remtronics antenna., just not anything in San Mateo county. I will go through sentinel and check the frequencies in the database and make sure that the list that you provided are actually programmed in the scanner. Like I mentioned before, I do have many repeater frequencie channels set to listen to but I amnot familiar with those as to whether or not they affect the receiving of the listed channels, or if they serve another purpose for the CHP. It would be nice if older scanners, like my Pro-92 would still receive the same low band frequencies that the CHP were on back in the 90's, that they still use now. But being on the P-25 digital systems changes that altogether. I read smomewhere that some of the older frequencies in low band and VHF from some agencies can still be received if they aren't on the t P-25 systems. I will send more info if I find anything that was not programmed in the scanner. Thank you both again again for your help. The list will help me a lot to make sure I selected those channels in Sentinel, or not.

 

[Benkasey]

I use a DSD 100 with a telescopic antenna (Comet?). I get quite a bit of CHP traffic with the antenna collapsed, and more with it extended full length, 6 ft. Reception is good in my house and outside. There is no reception inside my car. A couple of observations:

* Use a seperate Favorites scan group just for CHP. You'll miss traffic if the scanner is tasked with scanning too many frequencies in a scan cycle. I have Favorites for each subject, like local PD, CHP, Rail, Air, Marine, etc.

* CHP activity volume varies by time of day and day of week. Sometimes things are really slow, and sometimes it is bang bang rapid fire. If something breaks, like a high speed chase, I lock on to that channel so I can follow the ongoing developments. Some chases last an hour or more, multiple cars, CHP copter, etc.

* High crime areas are going to have more activity than low crime areas. Stolen cars, Stolen plates. Joy ride speeding. Fleeing getaway robbers.

 

[Mongoosmike]

Thank you for that info. I have heard some sporatic CHP chases across the bay in Dublin, Alameda and Pleasanton on 580, from home in SSf, 30 miles away. So channels for that area seem to be received, (occasionally), where I don't hear any local CHP in San Mateo County area, (SF, Redwood City). I have gone in Sentinal initially, and turned on ALL the law dispatch and l;aw talk on, as well as lot of the repeaters, but I read in one of the posts that the repeaters usually send the info to the local main channels. so I will turn off all repeaters and focus on the two lists of frequencies that were posted earlier and make sure those are allowed in my setup. I wish that I could us my old PRO-92 just fro CHP, that would wok out great. I am a little confused about seeing some the low-band all show FM or FMN, and not P-25, where the 700 Mhz band shows P-25. Just curious if the low band is not digital, and if they could be received on the PRO-92? The entire system is really confusing to say the least since I don't understand all the variables in the entire P-25 and digital and groups. I never did program the PRO-92 for CHP so I would have to find the instructions for it if I even wanted to try. My first scanner was the Bearcat Four-Six, 6 channel crystal hand held. I had CHP north, (SF) , and South, Redwood City. I also had San Bruno primary PD and Tac 1, and South San Francisco PD primary and tac 1.
It's sitting on the kitchen floor collcecting dust in the original box. lol

 

[officer_415]

Just curious if the low band is not digital, and if they could be received on the PRO-92?

Low band is analog, the Pro-92 should be able to receive it fine. As stated previously, the antenna is going to make the biggest difference.

 

[Mongoosmike]

Hi and thank you for the info.
I hope the channels in the 40 Mhz are analog and I might be able to hear the CHP then.
Will have to find a decent BNC mount antenna for the PRO-92 then to try the frequencies out.
But, if a proper antenna doesn't pull in the channels, then I am out the money for the antenna.

 

[Mongoosmike]

I did a search and found an antenna that sounds like a good one, the Watson wsma-881. and some say it works for upper bands well too.But I only found it at what appears to be UK vendors, and for much more cost at scanner master. $40+ is not a bargain. and ebay is questionable.

 

[Icanhearit]

Living near the Oakland Airport, my SDS100 gets 1 or 2 CHP chats per minutes on average (varies) with Remtronics REM-842. My BCT15X roughly get triples the amount talk (using flat leaf TV antenna). They are from Oakland, Alameda, San Mateo and SF.

 

[mmckenna]

I did a search and found an antenna that sounds like a good one, the Watson wsma-881. and some say it works for upper bands well too.But I only found it at what appears to be UK vendors, and for much more cost at scanner master. $40+ is not a bargain. and ebay is questionable.

A 16" tall antenna isn't going to be a good performer on low band.
There's a really good reason CHP doesn't use low band portables, it's because they suck. The reason they suck is that because the radio chassis does not even come close to providing an efficient ground plane. The antennas suck because it's difficult to make a usable low band portable antenna.
At 42MHz, a quarter wave antenna is going to be around 67 inches long. You can't cram 67 inches of antenna into a 16 inch package and expect it to work well.

As for the 25-1900MHz claims of that antenna, remember that a paperclip will work, but it requires a very strong signal.

Don't waste your money on that antenna, it's not going to help.

If you want any sort of decent low band performance, get either a dedicated mobile low band antenna for your car, or a tuned low band antenna for your home. If you look at military low band radios, you'll see a big long tape antenna, even then, they don't work well.

 

[Elpablo]

As I have seen discussed on this forum many times, if you're want to listen to multiple bands, with an antenna not specifically designed for a particular band, there will be some compromise. That being said, I can usually get the Amber and Ruby with my SDS100 using a Remtronics antenna while visiting in Mt. View and Los Gatos, however, the signal isn't the clearest. The east bay signals seem to be much stronger (Aqua and Khaki) than those in the south bay. Make sure to check your CTCSSS tones are all correct if you're using them. I had that problem once, never again. Best of luck to you.

 

[radiochuck]

Okay, I'll be the one to ask. Does anyone have a particular mobile antenna they'd recommend for the CHP 39-45 MHz repeaters?

I'd love to find something that doesn't have to be permanently mounted, but will provide good gain in that band.

I thought about trying a mag mount CB antenna with a SO-239 to SMA male adapter and see what I get. Even if not the perfect solution, it'll probably provide much better results. I used to have an old Tram multi-band antenna that worked fairly well.

 

[mmckenna]

Okay, I'll be the one to ask. Does anyone have a particular mobile antenna they'd recommend for the CHP 39-45 MHz repeaters?

I'd love to find something that doesn't have to be permanently mounted, but will provide good gain in that band.

I thought about trying a mag mount CB antenna with a SO-239 to SMA male adapter and see what I get. Even if not the perfect solution, it'll probably provide much better results. I used to have an old Tram multi-band antenna that worked fairly well.

Larsen NMO-40
You can get NMO magnetic mounts with SMA connectors on the end.

Larsen NMO40C VHF Low Band 40-50 MHz 1/4 Wave Mobile Radio Antenna NMO Mount

Low Band VHF 40-50 MHz Base Load Mobile Antenna

theantennafarm.com

or

Low Band VHF 40-47 MHz Mobile Antenna with NMO Mounting PCTEL Maxrad MLB4000

Low Band VHF 40-47 MHz Mobile Antenna with NMO Mounting

theantennafarm.com

Larsen NMOMMRDSSMA NMO Magnetic Antenna Mount with SMA Male Connector Installed

Magnetic Mount For use with NMO style antennas, 12' RG-58/U, SMA Male Connector Installed

theantennafarm.com

 

[radiochuck]

Larsen NMO-40
You can get NMO magnetic mounts with SMA connectors on the end.

Larsen NMO40C VHF Low Band 40-50 MHz 1/4 Wave Mobile Radio Antenna NMO Mount

Low Band VHF 40-50 MHz Base Load Mobile Antenna

theantennafarm.com

or

Low Band VHF 40-47 MHz Mobile Antenna with NMO Mounting PCTEL Maxrad MLB4000

Low Band VHF 40-47 MHz Mobile Antenna with NMO Mounting

theantennafarm.com

Larsen NMOMMRDSSMA NMO Magnetic Antenna Mount with SMA Male Connector Installed

Magnetic Mount For use with NMO style antennas, 12' RG-58/U, SMA Male Connector Installed

theantennafarm.com

That is GREAT info! Thank you @mmckenna

 

[mmckenna]

That is GREAT info! Thank you @mmckenna

You can't go wrong with Larsen.

For what it's worth, the CB antenna might work "well enough". If you have one handy, try it out. It'll work much better than the stock antenna on most scanners. No, it's not tuned for low band, but neither are the rubber duckie antennas that most are using.