WX4JCW

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
3,408
Location
Stow, Ohio
2/27/24

Seems every agency in Northern Ohio is complaining of coverage and audio quality issues on MARCS. Never heard so many radio checks in one day. 🤦‍♂️
ive been noticing my error rate go up lately here so there may be tower issues
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
Here is a list of FCC license applications and construction notifications from between 1/1/2023 and now. Some of these sites are new sites that have been confirmed online. Some are new sites that have not been confirmed online. Most are new licenses adding additional frequencies to existing sites (and likely in many cases replacing 700 mhz sites with 800 mhz freqs).

WRZZ242
Berlin Ohio (Holmes Co) - Site 2.75
new site - confirmed online
851.15
851.6375
852.6375
856.075
857.7125
858.7625
859.7625

WRZV779
Green Co Ohio Simulcast - Site 1.12
adding 700 mhz freqs - freqs already confirmed as being added to site, and reflected in the DB
773.63125
774.63125
774.88125

WRYA981
Higginsport OH (Brown Co) - Site 1.43
added 800 mhz freqs
851.4875
852.7000
852.9375
853.4625
853.975
855.7125

WRWM398
Gallipolis OH (Gallia Co) - Site 3.40
added 800 mhz freqs
853.0875
853.6625
853.8625
856.4875
856.9375
857.2375

WRWM396
Portland / Coolville / Reedsville OH (Meigs Co) - Site 3.56
added 800 mhz freqs
852.1875
853.300
853.500
853.975
858.9875
859.9875

WRWG534
Apple Grove / Crown City OH (Gallia Co) - Site 3.39
added 800 mhz freqs
857.0875
858.725
859.2375
859.475

WRWF767
Holgate / Florida OH (Henry Co) - Site 2.46
added 800 mhz freqs
852.5875
853.600
853.825
855.2375
857.0125

WPQG952
Athalia / Crown City OH (Lawrence) - Site 3.49
added 800 mhz freqs
852.175
852.5625
852.95
858.7125
859.2625
859.4875

WRWE984
Huntington WV (Wayne) - Site 3.51
added 800 mhz freqs
851.65
852.9125
853.725
858.0875
859.4375
859.7125

WRZZ245
Fredericksburg OH (Wayne Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
852.3375
852.7125
853.6375
857.75
858.475
859.725

WRVN667
Greenup KY (Greenup Co) - Site 3.42
added 800 mhz freqs
851.0375
851.25
852.45
853.25
855.9875
856.4625

WRVN666
Shawnee Fire Tower / Rome OH (Meigs Co) - Site 3.71
added 800 mhz freqs
851.0625
852.4125
853.5875
856.4375
857.4625
857.7625

WRVE568
Maysville / Aberdeen OH (Brown Co) - Site 1.44
added 800 mhz freqs
851.05
851.275
851.6375
852.100
852.775
853.0875

WQTD255
Gift Ridge / Manchester OH (Adams) - Site 1.38
added 800 mhz freqs
852.325
853.200
853.55
853.925
857.075
858.0125
859.9375

WRVE758
Blue Creek OH (Adams Co) - Site 1.37
added 800 mhz freqs
851.95
852.800
853.175
853.4875
853.75
858.7375

WRVB791
Hicksville OH (Defiance Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
771.60625
771.61875

WRYW902
Napoleon OH (Henry Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
852.8125
853.0375
853.375
853.700
853.9375
858.9875
859.7375
859.9875

If you are in one of these areas and are able to monitor search for a new site that isn't confirmed online, or are able to monitor an existing site that likely has some frequency updates, please do so. Best results would be monitoring with DSDplus or some trunking software that will tell you all of the active frequencies / peers / peer CCs / etc.

It would be great to be able to get the most recent, up to date information for all of these sites to update the DB.
 
Last edited:

iceman977th

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Dec 25, 2009
Messages
398
Location
Catlettsburg, KY
That explains why the Lawrence feed has been quiet lately. I'm still seeing some traffic on the Coal Grove site on 700 though, but nothing out of the control channels. Going to dig further into these licenses and see what I can find (only frequencies I'm listing are what I assume to be control channels. Will update further.

Mike
 

Jphila20

Retired LE. Honor our Fallen.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Messages
371
Location
Southern Lorain County, Ohio
I pulled up the Wooster Site 002-041 and looked at the peers using Unitrunker to see if the WRZZ245 Fredericksburg OH (Wayne Co) would show up. Nothing yet. I'll check periodically.
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
Has there been applications to the FCC yet since the towers are being built?
Haven't seen anything worth noting. Where are there new towers? I would expect existing sites to be used along with new sites, existing being Shalersville, NEOMED and Kent. I see where the new towers are being built. Hard to tell about licensing. Might have enough freqs on existing Portage towers to use a part of the simulcast. Not necessarily sure if there will be any new freqs. But I guess the towers need to be built first. If I see anything in FCC licensing I'll be sure to post it.
 

85chevy4x4

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Messages
94
Haven't seen anything worth noting. Where are there new towers? I would expect existing sites to be used along with new sites, existing being Shalersville, NEOMED and Kent. I see where the new towers are being built. Hard to tell about licensing. Might have enough freqs on existing Portage towers to use a part of the simulcast. Not necessarily sure if there will be any new freqs. But I guess the towers need to be built first. If I see anything in FCC licensing I'll be sure to post it.
New towers will be in Garretsville, Deerfield and Suffield. The Garretsville and Deerfield towers should help immensely with the coverage issues in those ends of the county
 

wa8pyr

Technischer Guru
Staff member
Lead Database Admin
Joined
Sep 22, 2002
Messages
7,184
Location
Ohio
Here is a list of FCC license applications and construction notifications from between 1/1/2023 and now. Some of these sites are new sites that have been confirmed online. Some are new sites that have not been confirmed online. Most are new licenses adding additional frequencies to existing sites (and likely in many cases replacing 700 mhz sites with 800 mhz freqs).

If you are in one of these areas and are able to monitor search for a new site that isn't confirmed online, or are able to monitor an existing site that likely has some frequency updates, please do so. Best results would be monitoring with DSDplus or some trunking software that will tell you all of the active frequencies / peers / peer CCs / etc.

It would be great to be able to get the most recent, up to date information for all of these sites to update the DB.

One thing to check would be if any of the new 800 MHz frequencies are already in use as known control channels at other sites. If MARCS is planning to replace 700 MHz frequencies with 800 MHz frequencies to improve coverage (and thus change around control channels), there's a chance they'll reuse existing control channels as much as possible, to minimize the need to reprogram every radio in the state.
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
One thing to check would be if any of the new 800 MHz frequencies are already in use as known control channels at other sites. If MARCS is planning to replace 700 MHz frequencies with 800 MHz frequencies to improve coverage (and thus change around control channels), there's a chance they'll reuse existing control channels as much as possible, to minimize the need to reprogram every radio in the state.

Five of the listed sites have 3 freqs that are CCs elsewhere, one site has 2 freqs that are CCs elsewhere, and three sites have 1 freq that is a CC elsewhere. Huntington license has no 800 mhz freqs that are CC's elsewhere. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean much, since I'm sure there are some out of date sites in the DB with regard to CCs, I'd guess at least a few but probably less than a handful.

And I'm only referring those sites that are existing sites with brand new 800 mhz licenses. I'm not referring to new sites that just came online or that will be coming online in the future.
 

amcferrin90

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
288
Location
Pickerington, OH
Five of the listed sites have 3 freqs that are CCs elsewhere, one site has 2 freqs that are CCs elsewhere, and three sites have 1 freq that is a CC elsewhere. Huntington license has no 800 mhz freqs that are CC's elsewhere. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean much, since I'm sure there are some out of date sites in the DB with regard to CCs, I'd guess at least a few but probably less than a handful.

And I'm only referring those sites that are existing sites with brand new 800 mhz licenses. I'm not referring to new sites that just came online or that will be coming online in the future.
I would guess that they will roll out simulcast like they did in Licking Co. The simulcast "site" would be a new site number with new frequencies. Once access is turned on it would show up as a neighbor to the single sites and probably coexist for some time. I was up there the other day. Terrain is a definite problem with coverage there.
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
I would guess that they will roll out simulcast like they did in Licking Co. The simulcast "site" would be a new site number with new frequencies. Once access is turned on it would show up as a neighbor to the single sites and probably coexist for some time. I was up there the other day. Terrain is a definite problem with coverage there.
huh? Rolling out a simulcast where ?
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
Mm. B
Oh snaps did I say that? Cat's out of the bag.
whatever man. Sounds like you’ve been drinking. Maybe one of those locations I listed is going to be part of some simulcast, but most of those are standalone sites with at least two of them already proven to just switch to 800 MHz control channels from 700 MHz, none of them licenses. I posted our multisite licenses.

But it’s not unreasonable for anybody to think that some county in Ohio is going to switch to Sam cast at some point because Entities are getting on MARCS all the time
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
Here is a list of FCC license applications and construction notifications from between 1/1/2023 and now. Some of these sites are new sites that have been confirmed online. Some are new sites that have not been confirmed online. Most are new licenses adding additional frequencies to existing sites (and likely in many cases replacing 700 mhz sites with 800 mhz freqs).

WRZZ242
Berlin Ohio (Holmes Co) - Site 2.75
new site - confirmed online
851.15
851.6375
852.6375
856.075
857.7125
858.7625
859.7625

WRZV779
Green Co Ohio Simulcast - Site 1.12
adding 700 mhz freqs - freqs already confirmed as being added to site, and reflected in the DB
773.63125
774.63125
774.88125

WRYA981
Higginsport OH (Brown Co) - Site 1.43
added 800 mhz freqs
851.4875
852.7000
852.9375
853.4625
853.975
855.7125

WRWM398
Gallipolis OH (Gallia Co) - Site 3.40
added 800 mhz freqs
853.0875
853.6625
853.8625
856.4875
856.9375
857.2375

WRWM396
Portland / Coolville / Reedsville OH (Meigs Co) - Site 3.56
added 800 mhz freqs
852.1875
853.300
853.500
853.975
858.9875
859.9875

WRWG534
Apple Grove / Crown City OH (Gallia Co) - Site 3.39
added 800 mhz freqs
857.0875
858.725
859.2375
859.475

WRWF767
Holgate / Florida OH (Henry Co) - Site 2.46
added 800 mhz freqs
852.5875
853.600
853.825
855.2375
857.0125

WPQG952
Athalia / Crown City OH (Lawrence) - Site 3.49
added 800 mhz freqs
852.175
852.5625
852.95
858.7125
859.2625
859.4875

WRWE984
Huntington WV (Wayne) - Site 3.51
added 800 mhz freqs
851.65
852.9125
853.725
858.0875
859.4375
859.7125

WRZZ245
Fredericksburg OH (Wayne Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
852.3375
852.7125
853.6375
857.75
858.475
859.725

WRVN667
Greenup KY (Greenup Co) - Site 3.42
added 800 mhz freqs
851.0375
851.25
852.45
853.25
855.9875
856.4625

WRVN666
Shawnee Fire Tower / Rome OH (Meigs Co) - Site 3.71
added 800 mhz freqs
851.0625
852.4125
853.5875
856.4375
857.4625
857.7625

WRVE568
Maysville / Aberdeen OH (Brown Co) - Site 1.44
added 800 mhz freqs
851.05
851.275
851.6375
852.100
852.775
853.0875

WQTD255
Gift Ridge / Manchester OH (Adams) - Site 1.38
added 800 mhz freqs
852.325
853.200
853.55
853.925
857.075
858.0125
859.9375

WRVE758
Blue Creek OH (Adams Co) - Site 1.37
added 800 mhz freqs
851.95
852.800
853.175
853.4875
853.75
858.7375

WRVB791
Hicksville OH (Defiance Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
771.60625
771.61875

WRYW902
Napoleon OH (Henry Co)
new site - NOT CONFIRMED ONLINE YET
852.8125
853.0375
853.375
853.700
853.9375
858.9875
859.7375
859.9875

If you are in one of these areas and are able to monitor search for a new site that isn't confirmed online, or are able to monitor an existing site that likely has some frequency updates, please do so. Best results would be monitoring with DSDplus or some trunking software that will tell you all of the active frequencies / peers / peer CCs / etc.

It would be great to be able to get the most recent, up to date information for all of these sites to update the DB.

A user (who has only submitted one other item thus far), has submitted that 11 of these sites have switched to completely 800 mhz. Those would be some big changes. And I am not going to make the changes to the DB unless I can get further confirmation from people in these areas.

If you are within range of one or more of the site listed in my previous post (where you can see all the new licensed frequencies for the sites), specifically the sites listed below, I'd appreciate it if you would confirm whether or not they are still on 700 mhz. Easy enough to determine by just checking what the current control channel is. Even easier if you are running SDR software like DSDPlus or Unitrunker or DSD-FME or SDRTrunk. If you are in one of these areas, please take a moment to check on any of these sites within your listening range.

Blue Creek
Gift Ridge
Higginsport
Aberdeen
Apple Grove
Gallipolis
Greenup
Athalia
Huntington
Portland
Shawnee Fire

Thank you,

Mike
 

mtindor

OH/WV DB Admin
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
10,952
Location
Carroll Co OH / EN90LN
It has been reported that the frequency lineup on these sites has been changed, including control channels. If you live in one of these areas and/or monitor one of these sites, please check and confirm that one of the freqs for each site below is an active control channel. If it is, update your scanners and please report here or in a submission to the MARCS DB that the new control channels are in use.

1.37 Blue Creek OH (Adams Co)
858.7375
853.75

1.38 Gift Ridge / Manchester OH (Adams)
859.9375
858.0125

1.43 Higginsport OH (Brown Co)
855.7125
853.975

1.44 Maysville / Aberdeen OH (Brown Co)
853.0875
852.775

3.39 Apple Grove / Crown City OH (Gallia Co)
859.475
859.2375

3.40 Gallipolis OH (Gallia Co)
confirmed
857.2375
856.9375

3.42 Greenup KY (Greenup Co)
856.4625
855.9875

3.49 Athalia / Crown City OH (Lawrence)
859.4875
859.2625

3.51 Huntington WV (Wayne)
confirmed
859.7125
859.4375

3.56 Portland / Coolville / Reedsville OH (Meigs Co)
859.9875
858.9875

3.71 Shawnee Fire Tower / Rome OH (Meigs Co)
857.7625
857.4625
 
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