MARCS-IP ("New MARCS") Site and Talkgroup Discussion

[gtaman]

Possibly sewers and drains.

I have not checked for UHF DMR activity in a long time. I honestly forgot about it.

I know they were mixed with using both systems years ago.

 

[SirScottyM]

OK help.... Will this work to beat the simulcast issues? I live in N. Olmsted, Cuyahoga County. Cuyahoga County is a simulcast area. Next county over is Lorain, where they have a SINGLE TRANSMITTER wihy a different control channel than what they do in Cuyahoga County. Am I correct in my assumption, that connecting to this tower will not have any simulcast issues? Now if that Cleveland system would only do the same thing....

 

[RT48]

I also live in North Olmsted. When I bought my SDS 100, I started receiving far more traffic than I had previously with my BCD 436.

 

[Bswartz95]

I also live in North Olmsted. When I bought my SDS 100, I started receiving far more traffic than I had previously with my BCD 436.

I live on the near west side of Cleveland, and I cannot pick up the Lorain County system. It’s weird because I can pick up Lake County and Summit County, but not Lorain. I too have an sds100.

 

[Swipesy]

OK help.... Will this work to beat the simulcast issues? I live in N. Olmsted, Cuyahoga County. Cuyahoga County is a simulcast area. Next county over is Lorain, where they have a SINGLE TRANSMITTER wihy a different control channel than what they do in Cuyahoga County. Am I correct in my assumption, that connecting to this tower will not have any simulcast issues? Now if that Cleveland system would only do the same thing....

Your question is not totally clear to me what you what to listen to so I will give you these general answers.
1. Lorain has two MARCS towers - Elyria and Grafton
2. If you are trying to receive Cuyahoga MARCS Talkgroups on Lorain Towers the answer is maybe. In order to receive Cuyahoga TG on a Lorain Tower the Cuyahoga TG has to affiliate with the Lorain tower(s). I have never seen an affiliation list so the only way to find out is to lockout Cuyahoga MARCS Towers and enable the two Lorain County towers. What is certain is that very few Cuyahoga TG's will affiliate on Lorain Towers.
3. The opposite is true also - some Lorain MARCS Tgs may affiliate with Cuyahoga Towers.

 

[Jphila20]

I live on the near west side of Cleveland, and I cannot pick up the Lorain County system. It’s weird because I can pick up Lake County and Summit County, but not Lorain. I too have an sds100.

May sound like a dumb question. Are you putting in the control channels for the Lorain County sites or using the Cuyahoga site? You will occasionally hear Lorain traffic if the Lorain radio locks on to the Cuyahoga site. Example: If a Columbus OSP radio is in the Cleveland area and is set to a Columbus Talk group you will hear the Columbus traffic. Once the Columbus radio leaves the area you will no longer hear it. The system only transmits to radios set to a specific talk group with in any site the system see them.
In order for me to receive Cleveland radio traffic, MARCS or GCRCN, I have to lock in to the Cuyahoga Site.

 

[Bswartz95]

May sound like a dumb question. Are you putting in the control channels for the Lorain County sites or using the Cuyahoga site? You will occasionally hear Lorain traffic if the Lorain radio locks on to the Cuyahoga site. Example: If a Columbus OSP radio is in the Cleveland area and is set to a Columbus Talk group you will hear the Columbus traffic. Once the Columbus radio leaves the area you will no longer hear it. The system only transmits to radios set to a specific talk group with in any site the system see them.
In order for me to receive Cleveland radio traffic, MARCS or GCRCN, I have to lock in to the Cuyahoga Site.

I tried to pick up the Lorain tower. One late evening, standing outside, it came in and I heard Lorain fire. Have never heard Lorain from within my house.

I’ve heard Avon PD a handful of times on the Cuyahoga site, but not often.

I can pick up lake county and summit county MARCS sites with no problems.

I can’t get Medina either. Surprisingly, they don’t use the Parma tower even though they use the same network.

 

[Jphila20]

I tried to pick up the Lorain tower. One late evening, standing outside, it came in and I heard Lorain fire. Have never heard Lorain from within my house.

I’ve heard Avon PD a handful of times on the Cuyahoga site, but not often.

I can pick up lake county and summit county MARCS sites with no problems.

I can’t get Medina either. Surprisingly, they don’t use the Parma tower even though they use the same network.

What scanner are you using and are you using the original antenna? I may have miss that part.
You should be getting from site 002-001 - N. Ridgeville, Post 47, Avon and Brunswick with no issue. For home I use Unitrunker with 3 SDR's and Lorain, Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit and Portage from site 002-001.

 

[Bswartz95]

What scanner are you using and are you using the original antenna? I may have miss that part.
You should be getting from site 002-001 - N. Ridgeville, Post 47, Avon and Brunswick with no issue. For home I use Unitrunker with 3 SDR's and Lorain, Cuyahoga, Medina, Summit and Portage from site 002-001.

I have an SDS 100 with a Remtronix antenna. I don’t think Medina and Lorain (city) use MARCS towers. I think they have their own systems. Parma uses the same system as Medina, but from what I’ve seen, Medina doesn’t really use the Parma site.

 

[mtindor]

New MARCS tower license submitted for Scioto Co

38.80994, -82.96436
ULS Application - PubSafty/SpecEmer/PubSaftyNtlPlan,806-817/851-862MHz,Trunked - 0011670490 - OHIO, STATE OF - Locations Summary

851.1125
851.225
851.325
851.4625
851.6625
857.9875
858.0375
859.4625

 

[Jphila20]

I have an SDS 100 with a Remtronix antenna. I don’t think Medina and Lorain (city) use MARCS towers. I think they have their own systems. Parma uses the same system as Medina, but from what I’ve seen, Medina doesn’t really use the Parma site.View attachment 187842

Parma and Medina both have their own system and don't over lap. Parma is still phase 1 where Medina is phase 2. I can't get Lorain City either. Both the City and County have their own systems. I don't know of anything in the works for that to change.

 

[Chronic]

This was in a local paper today .
Lorain County

Radio controversy back on the air after Commissioners vote to end CCI tower lease

Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, said Tuesday's vote to terminate a lease agreement between the board and Cleveland Communications Inc., or CCI, for space on a radio tower outside the Lorain County 911 dispatch center at 225 Burns Road, Elyria. was "merely a procedural item."

chroniclet.com

 

[Nasby]

This was in a local paper today .
Lorain County

Radio controversy back on the air after Commissioners vote to end CCI tower lease

Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, said Tuesday's vote to terminate a lease agreement between the board and Cleveland Communications Inc., or CCI, for space on a radio tower outside the Lorain County 911 dispatch center at 225 Burns Road, Elyria. was "merely a procedural item."

chroniclet.com

This county is the laughingstock of the radio world.

 

[Chronic]

This county is the laughingstock of the radio world.

Much more than just the radio world

 

[BuddyJackson120]

I’m going to guess this is the wrong place to ask this, and I’m sorry in advance if it is, but I’m not sure where else to ask this without kicking the proverbial hornets nest if my hands are tied to two options.

Besides the obvious Motorola and Avtec, what other dispatch consoles are allowed on MARCS? I’m just trying to save my agency some money and want to know our options.

 

[wa8pyr]

I’m going to guess this is the wrong place to ask this, and I’m sorry in advance if it is, but I’m not sure where else to ask this without kicking the proverbial hornets nest if my hands are tied to two options.

Besides the obvious Motorola and Avtec, what other dispatch consoles are allowed on MARCS? I’m just trying to save my agency some money and want to know our options.

You really need to get with MARCS on these questions, but in a nutshell….

If you’re connecting with RF control stations (ie the system just sees the console as subscriber radios) you can use anything you want. You’ll need one control station per talkgroup.

If you want a direct connection, you’re likely stuck with Motorola. All other console brands can only connect through an ISSI gateway, which MARCS doesn’t have, so you would have to purchase both ends of the gateway; that could raise the price higher than you want to pay. And, direct connection may be limited to only certain types of entities. There’s also the monthly fees for the network connection, which amounts to a lot; control stations would be cheaper.

Overall, the control station method is probably cheaper.

 

[BuddyJackson120]

You really need to get with MARCS on these questions, but in a nutshell….

If you’re connecting with RF control stations (ie the system just sees the console as subscriber radios) you can use anything you want. You’ll need one control station per talkgroup.

If you want a direct connection, you’re likely stuck with Motorola. All other console brands can only connect through an ISSI gateway, which MARCS doesn’t have, so you would have to purchase both ends of the gateway; that could raise the price higher than you want to pay. And, direct connection may be limited to only certain types of entities. There’s also the monthly fees for the network connection, which amounts to a lot; control stations would be cheaper.

Overall, the control station method is probably cheaper.

Thanks, Tom, for the reply. I know I’ll need to get with MARCS and a dealer to make it happen, I just don’t want to be pigeonholed. As they say, knowledge is power… (at least that’s what I think they say).

Thanks again!

 

[dryfb]

Thanks, Tom, for the reply. I know I’ll need to get with MARCS and a dealer to make it happen, I just don’t want to be pigeonholed. As they say, knowledge is power… (at least that’s what I think they say).

Thanks again!

I think I know what agency you're looking for, small world lol. For dealers, I know Vasu in Mansfield and Avon do MARCS stuff, no Motorola, but I think they have Zetron and definitely Telex if you go the control station route. They also do have customers in the area, Fostoria FD and probably PD, and I *think* Carey PD and maybe FD use them.

Radio Hospital also used to have a location in Findlay, and they currently advertise selling APX series radios so maybe they could help for Motorola, but afaik, they only have the Lima location now.

 

[N8WCP]

I’m going to guess this is the wrong place to ask this, and I’m sorry in advance if it is, but I’m not sure where else to ask this without kicking the proverbial hornets nest if my hands are tied to two options.

Besides the obvious Motorola and Avtec, what other dispatch consoles are allowed on MARCS? I’m just trying to save my agency some money and want to know our options.

The system only supports network consoles from Motorola. You can use any wireless console since they use a radio to access the system and not a direct network connection. For another manufacture's network console to work on MARCS would require a Console Subsystem Interface (CSSI).

 

[BuddyJackson120]

I think I know what agency you're looking for, small world lol.

Uh oh… should I be scared? lol

Radio Hospital also used to have a location in Findlay, and they currently advertise selling APX series radios so maybe they could help for Motorola, but afaik, they only have the Lima location now.

I know they still do a lot of work for agencies within the county, and they still have a ”storefront” on Tiffin Ave. in Findlay, but I rarely see any vehicles there when I pass.