Montco East and West Groups

[butlerjx]

I own a BC296D Undien Scanner
I have a question on both groups. I can hear fine the East group but on the West group in comes in broken up or not at all.
The other qustion is when listening to lets say Lansdale Freq. on Convention
Scanning I can this fine but not in the West Group.

 

[scanjunkie]

It sounds to me that you are more in the Eastern Zone which is why you are picking that up fine. That would also explain why the west is broken up. You may want to try a better antenna more specifically designed for 800MHz.
It all depends on your location as to how well you will pick up each zone. I live in the far western part of the county and pick up both zones fine...East is a little scatchy but monitorable. But if I go to the far eastern part of the county I can't pick up the west at all. It's goofy!!
By "lansdale conventional frequency" do you mean 800MHz or other?? If it's 800 then you may pick it up conventionally just fine, depending on the strength of the signal on that frequency,however, how you pick it up when trunking all depends on how well you are receiving the control channel. If it is other conventional frequs then it is most likely just a stronger signal than the 800.

Hope this helps!!

 

[butlerjx]

You are correct in saying ,I am more in the eastern Part of the county. As the other remain questions.
1) What suggestions would you give for an antenna more specifically designed for 800MHz? I own an Uniden Bc296D

2) The Conventional Feq. I was speaking about was a 155 number not 800

3) But on the other hand when I owned a Radio Shack Pro-64 that cannot trunk, I was able to hear at least a small part of the conversation in 800 Feq

 

[scanjunkie]

You can try the Radio Shack 800MHz antenna...but that may not even do it. You may need an antenna on the roof of your house to get the west.

Do you have that 155 frequ programmed in correctly...not as a trunked frequ, etc??

Again, on the 800's it depends on where you are and which way the wind is blowing (so to speak). The 800's that you were getting some traffic on just may carry better than the others in the system...

Good luck!!
Mark

 

[butlerjx]

Mark, I believe on what you are saying about the West to East thing, because I have gone west and heard East okay.
Okay, I would like to throw this out to everyone
WHY can a person in the east side of county not hear the west side, but on the flip side if you live or go west in the county you hear both sides.
Does anyone else have the same problem.

 

[dwlind]

No west zone here either !!

WHY can a person in the east side of county not hear the west side, but on the flip side if you live or go west in the county you hear both sides.
Does anyone else have the same problem.

I live in Willow Grove in the east zone and I can't pick up anthing on the west zone control channels. Completly deaf.

Doug

 

[TechTwo]

Hello

If you check out

http://www.montcopa.org/eoc/EDS/Default.htm

click radio project
click site maps

there is a map that shows locations of all the towers.

according to the FAQ, you should be able to hear both zones on all towers, I wonder if this has been disabled because of the East Zone Digital Fire testing that is going on now?

I live and work in the West zone and don't get into the East zone too often, has this just started?

Michael

 

[butlerjx]

Mike,
To answer on question about how this just started I am not really sure. On which tower where you referring to about being disabled.

 

[TechTwo]

I am thinking that they are only testing Fire in the East Zone, they might not want to have West Zone transmissions on the East Zone towers. Just a guess. I think that if this is the case, when the Fire testing is done, the system should go back to normal.

Michael

 

[scanjunkie]

Actually, they are two separate systems operating on different frequencies. The way you hear the system now is the way it will be heard when testing is done. The talkgroups used for the East system will ONLY be heard on the East system and vice-versa. There are some TG's that will be broadcast on both systems...EMS, Sheriff, TAC, and some countywide channels. Fire Dispatch East and West will have their own separate TG's and then there will be 6 ops TG's that will be utilized by the 6 corresponding regions.
The reason you can hear the East system in the west and not the other way around is mainly due to geograpphic issues. The western end of Montco has a better line of sight to the East towers than the east does to the west. Also, the East is much more developed with a lot more industry, not to mention WGNAS, that cause a lot of interference.
The only solution is probably a 800MHz antenna mounted on a really high tower!!

Take care!!