MARCS Listening in Bowling Green, Ohio.

[Davey1]

This post is very specific to people that listen to MARCS in Bowling Green. I have a Whistler WS1065 that I use to listen to MARCS. I live near downtown Bowling Green and have extreme difficulty listening to the Bradner MARCS site. On rare occasions I hear the Toledo MARCS site, but that's only a small percentage of the time.

More than a year ago I had an outdoor multi-band antenna, purchased from Universal Radio that did not help. Now I've tried a couple mag mount antennas on a piece of sheet metal about 10 inches in diameter near a window with mixed results. I believe most of my problem lies in interference from nearby cell towers, but I can't prove this. My most recent attempt for better reception is to use an 800 mhz BNC rubber antenna attached to the radio with a 90 degree connector. I started this today and see some improvement.

If you're in Bowling Green, and listen to the Bradner MARCS site, what equipment do you use, and how well does it work? Thanks for any and all input.

 

[RandyKuff]

Did you look at the coverage for the Bradner site...
Not sure how far away you are from the edge of the coverage area...

Ohio MARCS-IP: Multi-Agency Radio Communications Site: Bradner

Ohio MARCS-IP: Multi-Agency Radio Communications Site: Bradner Details

www.radioreference.com

 

[Davey1]

I've made sure that I am within the coverage area. By at least a few miles.

 

[KQA726]

From the looks of the map, having the MARCS tower in Bradner, it doesn't service the western half of Wood County at all?

 

[ctpd845]

The range that's listed in the database for sites is a best guess by the admins on the coverage area of a specific site. So just because it shows your within the range does not mean that you will be able to receive that site. Coverage in the central and western parts of the county are very poor on MARCS, which is why the state is in the planning stages of adding a site. MARCS is partnering with Bowling Green to add this site and last I heard they were looking to add the site somewhere on the west side of Bowling Green.

 

[Davey1]

Agree with CTPD845. Funds have been allocated in the state budget for this new tower site in or near Bowling Green. In the news reported, it is said that Bowling Green Fire will be switching to MARCS when the new site is built. No time frame specified when this site will be started and or completed.

Also, concerning western Wood County coverage, the southwest is currently served by BGSU (Deshler) site, actually located in the northeast corner of Putnam County, and the northwest if currently served by the Neapolis (Swanton) site, actually located near the Lucas/Fulton county line.