MARCS IP - 800 vs. 700 Mhz sites - whats the difference (ie. will certain agencies be only on one vs the other)

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dizwiz

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Reprogramming my GRE PSR-500. At one time (2012) probably had 98% of ohio PD/Fire programmed into it. Anyways, Im trying to keep up with all the changes.

So I want to ask about 800 vs. 700 Mhz sites.

Can the same user (ex. OSP) be sometimes using an 800 Mhz site (if they are nearer to it) vs. a 700 Mhz site.

Or will certain users (ex. OSP) ALWAYS be on the 700 Mhz site and never the 800 Mhz site (even if they are nearer to the 800 Mhz site).

An answer to this question will clarify this for me and if I have to repeat talkgroup ID's in my memory limited GRE PSR-500.
 

KD8HMJ

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Jul 24, 2008
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dublin ohio
i monitor the highway patrol everyday and have never heard or have known them to be on anything except the 700mhz sites.
 

phask

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KZZV - SE Ohio
They can be on ANY of the voice channels, 700 - 800 makes no difference.

The controller at the site will cycle through all the available channels. Over a perioed of time they all will have about the same usuage.
 

northernsummit

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Your GRE PSR-500 should support control channel only scanning. You should just use that and define the TGs that interest you and call it a day? The short answer to your question is (as said above) all voice channels are in play regardless of the user or TG.

The only time I've ever seen channels "preferred" is in mixed mode smartnet sites that allocated certain channels to analog vs. digital carrier.

Some of the MARCS sites are strictly 800mhz, some are strictly 700mhz, some are a mix because they re-deployed voice channels from the original MARCS system as they migrated everyone over to MARCS-IP and this gave them greater overall site capacity. The actual frequencies in use for the voice channels should be irrelevant unless you're using a real old 800mhz only P25 Phase 1 capable scanner like the Uniden 796D. That scanner would only work for 800mhz transmissions.
 

wa8pyr

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Reprogramming my GRE PSR-500. At one time (2012) probably had 98% of ohio PD/Fire programmed into it. Anyways, Im trying to keep up with all the changes.

So I want to ask about 800 vs. 700 Mhz sites.

Can the same user (ex. OSP) be sometimes using an 800 Mhz site (if they are nearer to it) vs. a 700 Mhz site.

Or will certain users (ex. OSP) ALWAYS be on the 700 Mhz site and never the 800 Mhz site (even if they are nearer to the 800 Mhz site).

An answer to this question will clarify this for me and if I have to repeat talkgroup ID's in my memory limited GRE PSR-500.

While it's entirely possible (and in the metro areas likely) that some users will only show up on the 800 MHz simulcast sites owned by the cities and counties, it's safe to assume that any user could pop up on any site at any time. I've heard OSP units and other state agencies on both 700 and 800 MHz sites.

To be one the safe side, it's best to put all sites for a given area in your radio. Assuming you use V-Folders for specific areas of the state, you can limit your programming to only the specific area in question.

My favorite files (and/or V-Folders) are based on the Highway Patrol districts, and all the sites within a district are included in the file for that district. I travel quite a bit so it works nicely; all I have to do is select the Favorite file or V-Folder for the district I'm in.
 
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