Mason County- Analog or Digital?

[N8RKY]

I am about to buy a new scanner and I was under the impression that all Mason Co Fire/Rescue units were using digital trunked radios. I just read on another website that they use analog radios (trunked?) and am not sure what type of scanner I will need to get. I live in southern Mason County and am mainly interested in monitoring the Leon VFD and the Flatrock Fire/Rescue stations.
I was thinking that I would need something along the lines of a PRO-197 or a Uniden 996XT, but if I can get by with something like a PRO-163 it will save me a couple hundred bucks.
Anybody out there with any enlightening info? It would be much appreciated.
Bill

 

[OldDeadOne]

Looks like those are analog,but in my opinion I would buy either the Pro 197 or the 996XT,you would be future proofing yourself in case they do go digital,plus the added benefit of hearing WVIRP stuff as well. Look here: Mason County, West Virginia (WV) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[wvscanner]

I would get a digital, I have a few traffic with EOS in that area that will require a digital scanner.

 

[N8RKY]

I agree with you guys but I am still confused... I know I saw a different list of our local frequencies and they all had a 25 in their type or description, so I guess I ASSumed it was the APCO-25 which is digital trunking, isn't it? I guess I'll have to give them a call and find out for sure, but I really didn't want to call them. I was talking to the Asst.Chief of the local VFD and he said they had recently made a change... maybe it wasn't to digital after all. I am sure RR's frequency database is up to date.

 

[ab8sn]

Mason Co.

I am about to buy a new scanner and I was under the impression that all Mason Co Fire/Rescue units were using digital trunked radios. I just read on another website that they use analog radios (trunked?) and am not sure what type of scanner I will need to get. I live in southern Mason County and am mainly interested in monitoring the Leon VFD and the Flatrock Fire/Rescue stations.
I was thinking that I would need something along the lines of a PRO-197 or a Uniden 996XT, but if I can get by with something like a PRO-163 it will save me a couple hundred bucks.
Anybody out there with any enlightening info? It would be much appreciated.
Bill

Hey Bill

Nice to meet you and welcome to the WV forum. I do not live close at all to Mason Co. but the last time I heard activity from Mason Co. from the Putnam/Cabell Co. areas they were using UHF, however about 2 months ago I was hearing Mason Co. OES doing some radio tests on the WVIRP. As the other two fellows stated above, it would not hurt to go ahead and purchase a digital scanner just in case they make the switch. The Mason Co. database should be up-to-date though.

Hope this helps some

73s

Chad

 

[mike_s104]

P25 can be trunked or conventional. DNR (or whatever they are called now) use P25 conventional VHF radios as well as P25 trunked WVIRP radios.

Today, I would not ever buy an analog radio. Like everyone else said, spend the extra money and get a good digital scanner that will server you well for many years instead of buy a cheap analog and possibly not be able to use it in 2-3 years.

 

[N8RKY]

Thanks Chad and ab8sn...
I am thinking about maybe getting a PRO-163 now and later getting a PRO-197 when the price goes down a little more... not decided yet.
I am a little concerned about the ability to upgrade the firmware in the PRO-163. Some have said that Radio Shak has told them that they no longer support these upgrades in this model. I'll have to check into this more.
How do you guys like the PRO-197?

Bill (N8RKY)

 

[ab8sn]

How do you guys like the PRO-197?

Bill (N8RKY)

Bill I love my PRO 197. I also have 2 PRO 106s and a GRE PSR 500 which is the exact same radio only the handheld version and I love them to. I use WIN500 and the programming cable to program them all via my laptop.

They all have great sensitivity (sometimes a little too much), a fast scan speed, and good audio from the speaker. I bought my other 106 and my 197 during the last Radio Shack sale at the beginning of January. If you purchase a 197 you will not be disappointed.

73s

Chad

 

[fredva]

Bill - I believe the Mason County Sheriff's Dept. has digital radios, or is in the process of getting digital radios. However, they are currently still talking a lot on the analog UHF system. Either they haven't fully transitioned to the digital radios, or they only use the digital system on a limited basis. I do not know what type of digital system they have - whether it is part of the WVIRP system or something else.

As for the Flatrock and Leon FDs - my personal expectation is for them to stay primarily analog for years to come. There is a PowerPoint presentation on the Mason County 911 web site which talks about the need to "reband" the county's analog radio system by 2013 to meet a federal mandate. The fact that the county is making the effort to reband the existing analog system is a pretty good indication that they will continue using it for awhile. The fire departments will have to buy new analog radios that are compatible with the rebanding. In fact I know at least one of the other fire departments in the county has already purchased a new set of analog radios that will work with the rebanded system.

I'm pretty sure the cost of buying expensive digital radios is an incentive for many volunteer fire departments to stay analog for awhile.

Radio Shack happens to have the Pro-197 on sale for $70 off through tomorrow. Just FYI. If a digital scanner doesn't fit into your budget right now, you might consider getting a used analog scanner (from ebay, for example) rather than buy a new scanner now and then another new one later. Just a suggestion. It would probably be best to get a relatively modern scanner that supports rebanding.

How far south in the county are you? I'm not sure that people living close to the Cabell County line would be able to pick up Leon and Flatrock.

You might want to check out the web site at Mason County Office of Emergency Services for more information on the county's radio system.

 

[N8RKY]

Thanks Mike,
I live less than 5 miles from Leon and probably 10-12 miles from Flatrock, but since I live on the river, I have hills between both stations. My main concern is to be able to listen to them as they come by the house (on the highway).
I just pulled my old Uniden Bearcat 855XLT out of mothballs and hooked it up to my IMAX 2000. I am getting fair reception on the emergency frequencies, but I haven't heard any traffic from the Leon VFD tonight. That is a good thing because any calls they respond to are to people around here that I might know.
I plan on hooking the scanner up to my 2 meter antenna pretty soon... it should work better than the 2000. I plan on getting a scanner antenna if this 2 meter setup doesn't work well.
Oh, thanks for the Mason Co 911 link... I'll check it out in a bit.
T ake care...
Bill (N8RKY)

 

[fredva]

You're welcome.

On some Mondays, the 911 center will set off Leon's pagers on 453.875 around 6 or 6:30 PM to remind the firefighters of a department meeting. If you hear that, you should be in good shape. However, they may not set off the pagers every week though. Same deal with Flatrock, except their meetings are on Thursday evenings.

I remember reading a few months ago in the Register that Leon was supposed to get a new radio repeater to improve communication in that area. But I don't have any more details on that.

 

[N8RKY]

Mike... do you live in Mason County?
Bill

 

[mtindor]

Bill - I believe the Mason County Sheriff's Dept. has digital radios, or is in the process of getting digital radios. However, they are currently still talking a lot on the analog UHF system. Either they haven't fully transitioned to the digital radios, or they only use the digital system on a limited basis. I do not know what type of digital system they have - whether it is part of the WVIRP system or something else.

According to the WQKQ202 license for Mason Co Sheriff, the freq would be 453.4875 and the emission would be MotoTRBO.

If someone lives within earshot of Mason Co and can monitor 453.4875 with a digital scanner, they'll probably be able to tell fairly quickly whether it is MotoTRBO or P25. One is going to decode, the other is not.

Mike

 

[N8RKY]

I saw that digital freq in today's database update... looks like I can forget about getting an analog-only scanner. I would be very interested to know if that new freq is P25 or not. Thanks for the heads-up guys.

 

[N8RKY]

By the way... kudos to the Database guys for the update...
Keep up the good work!

 

[fredva]

Hi Bill - I used to live in Mason County and have relatives still living there. I live in Virginia now, but try to keep up with what is going on in Mason County. I set up and also listen to the live streaming scanner feed for Mason County for example.

If the sheriff's dept. is in fact using MotoTRBO, then even a digital scanner won't do you any good to listen to them.

I'll echo Bill and say "Thanks" for the database updates.

 

[mtindor]

I'll echo Bill and say "Thanks" for the database updates.

And I'll say thanks to the swell guy that provided us with the updated info

Mike

 

[N8RKY]

I just called the Mason County Sheriff's Dept and talked to one of the deputies. He doesn't know what P25 is but he does know that they will be all-digital by 2014. I'll try to find out more about it later.
Also, it appears that all radio traffic that was formerly on 453.050 has moved to 453.200. This would consolidate all Law Enforcement traffic from the Western, Southern, and Northern parts of the county on to one frequency. I will continue to monitor this to be absolutely certain before I inform the Database guys.
That's all I have for now. I may call the 911 center Monday if I can find the telephone number. Don't laugh... I need to find the non-emergency number.

 

[OldDeadOne]

I just called the Mason County Sheriff's Dept and talked to one of the deputies. He doesn't know what P25 is but he does know that they will be all-digital by 2014. I'll try to find out more about it later.
Also, it appears that all radio traffic that was formerly on 453.050 has moved to 453.200. This would consolidate all Law Enforcement traffic from the Western, Southern, and Northern parts of the county on to one frequency. I will continue to monitor this to be absolutely certain before I inform the Database guys.
That's all I have for now. I may call the 911 center Monday if I can find the telephone number. Don't laugh... I need to find the non-emergency number.

That's pretty bold calling a sheriff's department and asking about what frequencies they use(unless you are a LEO),they might think that's suspicious.

 

[N8RKY]

Called the Sheriff's Dept

That's pretty bold calling a sheriff's department and asking about what frequencies they use(unless you are a LEO),they might think that's suspicious.

No, I don't think it was a bold move... I'm not doing anything illegal by using a scanner. Actually, the deputy was quite friendly... I told him I liked to listen to them and we talked a bit and had a good laugh. No problems here.