Maryland FIRST 700mhz TRS

[boatbod]

Has anyone has any success in programming FiRST into a Unication?

I am looking for advice as to what sites to program as the person I am programming the Unication for travels around the entire state.
Also does one have anything documenting talkgroups roam state wide and which ones are site specific?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

I have our local simulcast site programmed on my G5 for fire alerting and tac channel monitoring. Due to the way the pager works, you are probably going to have to program different knob positions to different sites, otherwise it is not going to roam properly.

 

[maus92]

Mine seems to work acceptably with all sites programmed. A problem could theoretically arise when the radio is locked onto an adjacent site that does not carry the traffic you want to hear. The Unications are not like scanners that will rotate through sites looking for the target tg activity. It remains on a single site until its control channel is lost, then looks for the next receivable control channel. In practice, I'm usually able to hear geographically appropriate state agencies.

When I first programmed the G5, I had the system split into Zones: Z1, Z3 and Z5. But since Z3 is ridiculously large in terms of geography and number of sites, I decided that I would program all Zones and sites as one system. If I lived in a county that used FIRST for its PS comms, I would probably only program sites that normally carry my jurisdiction's traffic. You can have multiple versions of a single system on the G5, organized by Unication zones and knob positions. There are 8 knob position per Unication zone. I'm not sure of the number of Unication zones you can have per radio, but I have about 30 so far.

 

[chrisb480]

While were on this topic, newbie here, who is trying to figure out the FIRST system with my G5. I have recently programmed a few jurisdictions into my G5 using the imported data in the G5 PPS. Yes, I imported all 255 frequencies in a "FIRST" bank under the P25 trunked system with 41 sites. Though I am receiving the desired TGID, I am also picking up some random 7000 series. For example, in my Cecil County Bank I am picking up their dispatch, however, it is interrupted my a 7303 number saying God knows what. Switch over to Dorchester and I get the same thing. What am I doing wrong?

 

[maus92]

While were on this topic, newbie here, who is trying to figure out the FIRST system with my G5. I have recently programmed a few jurisdictions into my G5 using the imported data in the G5 PPS. Yes, I imported all 255 frequencies in a "FIRST" bank under the P25 trunked system with 41 sites. Though I am receiving the desired TGID, I am also picking up some random 7000 series. For example, in my Cecil County Bank I am picking up their dispatch, however, it is interrupted my a 7303 number saying God knows what. Switch over to Dorchester and I get the same thing. What am I doing wrong?

7303 is the MSP North East Barrack.

Did you use the radio reference import feature?

If you post your programming, I'll look it over - they are not easy to program, especially for beginners.

 

[chrisb480]

Yes I did import, PM sent.

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

Seems that Caroline Detention Center is now active on 12016. First time seeing the talkgroup and 7 radio id's that I haven't logged before.

 

[maus92]

Looks like Zone 5 (not including Montgomery) is back up. Sitting at the Wendys at 301 & 50, the cch is strong, so it also looks like the Bowie tower site is up. The Calvert and Charles simulcast sites are reporting as Valid and Active. No traffic observed.

 

[IStebleton]

Does anyone happen to have a site map for all of the FIRST system? I understand that the Alleghany and Garrett sites are on state licenses and don't have the locations listed.

 

[LordDonkey]

This is all the info I have for Garrett.

GC Simulcast TX	769.40625
GC Simulcast TX	770.43125
GC Simulcast TX	774.03125
GC Simulcast TX	774.30625 (Control)
GC Simulcast TX	774.80625 (Backup Control)
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	769.15625
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	769.90625
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	770.19375
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	770.45625 (Control)
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	773.55625 (Backup Control, Voice)

This image came from here, frequency data also: First Substantial Service Showing for State of Maryland 700 MHz License - WPTZ805

 

[maus92]

I can now receive the PG simulcast on Bestgate Road in Annapolis which is new - but for practical purposes, its signal begins to deteriorate east of Davidsonville Road. Clearly the Bowie tower site is now operational.

 

[maus92]

This is all the info I have for Garrett.View attachment 98988

GC Simulcast TX	769.40625
GC Simulcast TX	770.43125
GC Simulcast TX	774.03125
GC Simulcast TX	774.30625 (Control)
GC Simulcast TX	774.80625 (Backup Control)
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	769.15625
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	769.90625
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	770.19375
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	770.45625 (Control)
Garrett County ASR (Table Rock?) TX	773.55625 (Backup Control, Voice)

View attachment 98990
This image came from here, frequency data also: First Substantial Service Showing for State of Maryland 700 MHz License - WPTZ805

I wonder if they have slapped up the new tower site at LaVale yet?

 

[ezdropper]

I'm receiving FIRST on several of the Knoxville ASR site frequencies in several locations in PG and Anne Arundel counties. According to the database they are out in Washington county, but I'm getting them like they're local.

 

[maus92]

I'm receiving FIRST on several of the Knoxville ASR site frequencies in several locations in PG and Anne Arundel counties. According to the database they are out in Washington county, but I'm getting them like they're local.

Can you be more specific about which frequencies? Two of them are not so far from PG: one in AACo, and the other in Charles Co.

 

[KB9ERX]

Looks like Zone 5 (not including Montgomery) is back up. Sitting at the Wendys at 301 & 50, the cch is strong, so it also looks like the Bowie tower site is up. The Calvert and Charles simulcast sites are reporting as Valid and Active. No traffic observed.

I just checked and the St. Mary's site is back up. Unable to get Bethune from here, but will check tomorrow as available.

 

[maus92]

I just checked and the St. Mary's site is back up. Unable to get Bethune from here, but will check tomorrow as available.

Nice Bridge ASR is up; Bethune ASR and St. Mary's were too far from LaPlata, but they did show up as Peers to Charles.

 

[IStebleton]

MD FIRST P25 Site Map

Thank you to @LordDonkey for sending me that PDF, it helped me a lot be able to locate the tower sites!

I'm not sure what all you guys will see, but here is my gift to the scanner community. I was able to map out all of the sites for Alleghany, Garrett, and I think 1 or 2 in Washington Counties. I am not sure exactly sure which tower belongs to which site in the database, but I figure you would know more than me about the Maryland FIRST system. Over the next several days/weeks I will try to add any more sites that are missing in the RadioReference map.

 

[LordDonkey]

@IStebleton the Blooming Rose site isn't in the correct location. You have the pin on the little Verizon cell site. The FiRST site is at the intersection of Blooming Rose Road and Noah Frazee Road.

 

[IStebleton]

@IStebleton the Blooming Rose site isn't in the correct location. You have the pin on the little Verizon cell site. The FiRST site is at the intersection of Blooming Rose Road and Noah Frazee Road.

View attachment 99002

Updated

 

[LordDonkey]

The Grantsville site location is on the County Roads Garage tower at 39.688337, -79.092127.

 

[maus92]

So now that the Bowie tower site is up (as a member of the Prince Georges Simulcast site,) I can now receive it in my office in Annapolis. The PG site was receivable with good quality to about the I-97 exit off of US50 when mobile; if I was using a gain antenna (or one specifically tuned to 700, I'm sure the reception would have been extended a bit further, minus the loss due to terrain shadowing.