Montgomery county pa

[stefano225]

I'm using a radio shack pro 97 and I programmed montgomery county Mot frequencies WEST and EAST but I'm only hearing regions 3,4,5, .I live in dresher 19025.Any reasons why i'm not picking up regions 1,2 kind of new to trunking .

 

[HM1529]

If you're hearing the Fire Regions, you don't have a Pro-97.

The Pro-97 scanner does not decode digital audio. The Fire Region talkgroups are digital.
So, something isn't adding up.


From Dresher (that's in Horsham Twp, right?), you probably won't even be able to pick up a signal from the West Zone. The West signal starts to fade out between Norristown and Conshy. If you can't get a signal from the West system, then you won't hear the Fire Regions on that system (1 and 2). Fire Regions 3 and 4 are actually carried on both the East and West systems due to coverage issues so, if you can hear Fire Regions 4/5/6, you should also hear 3.

 

[stefano225]

montgomerry pa

Thank you for the reply now it all makes sense Dresher is closer to Abington and Willow Grove I kind had a feeling that distance was the issue but I wasnt sure.I locked out fire because i can not hear them on my pro 97 since its not a digital scanner but I can pickup fire dispatch on old frequency they are in use and EMS dispatch and talk.Thanks again.
By region I meant this http://scan-pa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=28&sid=5cfce74d1eed3881c1dd81b5521e923a

 

[bumkin1216]

I live right down the street from you in Glenside (Abington Twp) and I can not pick up fire regions 1 or 2 (or any of the West system for that matter) on either my Pro-97 or Pro-2096. However, for some strange reason (and maybe someone a lot smarter then I can explain), I can pick up the West system on my Pro-96 at about 25% to 40%. As Ben pointed out though – the Pro-97 cannot decode digital signals but can be programmed for most of the local police truck groups and the event channels.

PS: Ben, Dresher is in Fort Washington between Oreland and Abington, not all that for from Horsham.

 

[stefano225]

Do you guys think that if I use an outdoor antenna I can be able to pick up west side system .What I had in mind is something like this http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...Type/Scanner/HAM&fbc=1&parentPage=family any ideas?

 

[scanjunkie]

If you are using a PRO-97 an outside antenna would most likely work for you, but beware of front end overload on the local stuff. You may have to set the ATT on the local stuff. There a few conventional repeaters that re-broadcast the digital stuff if you want to hear them.
158.85000 - CSQ - Fire Region 5 Rebroadcast, From Elkins Park FC
154.20500 - 136.5 PL Fire Region 6 rebroadcast, From Oreland FC
156.07500 - 136.5 PL Fire Region 5 Rebroadcast, From Horsham & Willow Grove FC's

Plus there are the simplex fireground stuff...you have to be fairly close to the incident to pick these up.
867.21250 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 1
867.47500 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 2
867.61250 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 3
868.20000 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 4
868.42500 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 5
868.47500 - 136.5 PL - Fireground 6
868.50000 - 136.5 PL - Fire Police (Local)
866.45000 - 136.5 PL - PSCL 1 (Public Safety Coord. Local 1)
866.51250 - 136.5 PL - PSCL 2 (Public Safety Coord. Local 2)

Soon 154.1300 East Fire Dispatch will be going away and replaced with a new high band freq. In the not too distant future all Eastern Fire and EMS dispatches will occur over that one freq. The same is being done in the west (158.355, 136.5PL). At that point the dispatch freqs will be broadcast county wide and you will be able to hear some of the west zone activity.

 

[Q-ball]

since i have only recently started monitoring medevac freqs....is it just, or is there jst not much action on them at all, sometimes it seems like hours can go by with nothing, but i guess if they are in flight, its a pretty serious situation, or trauma...i believe, pennstar has two birds stationed at wings field correct? according to their webpage.

 

[scanjunkie]

Q-ball, once the chopper is in flight from the scene you won't hear too much. Usually a notification to the hospital or something like that and then that's about it. You will hear dispatches and misc comms on their channels. Communication with the Fire Company on the ground is usually done on PSCL1 or PSCL2. These are low powered 800MHz simplex channels. You have to be pretty close to them to hear it. You can pick up the helos fairly well because of the fact that they are in the air, but ground comms may be limited.

 

[ctrabs74]

since i have only recently started monitoring medevac freqs....is it just, or is there jst not much action on them at all, sometimes it seems like hours can go by with nothing, but i guess if they are in flight, its a pretty serious situation, or trauma...i believe, pennstar has two birds stationed at wings field correct? according to their webpage.

Correct. PennSTAR #1 and #6 are stationed at Wings Field. PS6, IIRC, is primarily an inter-facility ship used in partnership with Temple University Hospital (this was formerly contracted out to University Medevac; I think it was Medevac 8 based in NE Philly or somewhere like that).

 

[Q-ball]

Thanks, i hardly ever hear any radio traffic from brandywine skyflight...(red choppers right?)....but i heard something the other night about pennstar from nazareth, odds are that bird wasnt answering a call in the philly area or suburbs was it, wouldnt ps6 or ps1 handle that?..oh well....who knows.

 

[ctrabs74]

Thanks, i hardly ever hear any radio traffic from brandywine skyflight...(red choppers right?)....but i heard something the other night about pennstar from nazareth, odds are that bird wasnt answering a call in the philly area or suburbs was it, wouldnt ps6 or ps1 handle that?..oh well....who knows.

Sky Flight Care (aka SkyCare) only has one bird that's based at Brandywine Hospital in Caln, Chester County. I'm not sure where in MontCo you are, but I don't think SkyCare goes too far east into MontCo (though they were 3rd due after a recent MVA in Worcester Twp, MontCo).

Most of their MontCo flights are in the Pottstown area, which is odd, since Medevac 3 is based over at Limerick Airport yet SkyCare usually ends up as first-due in Pottstown.

Their transmitters are at BWH and I think they have one licensed in Philadelphia somewhere, but don't quote me on it. The UHF repeater carrys both base and ship traffic.

 

[HM1529]

Sky Flight Care (aka SkyCare) only has one bird that's based at Brandywine Hospital in Caln, Chester County. I'm not sure where in MontCo you are, but I don't think SkyCare goes too far east into MontCo (though they were 3rd due after a recent MVA in Worcester Twp, MontCo).

Most of their MontCo flights are in the Pottstown area, which is odd, since Medevac 3 is based over at Limerick Airport yet SkyCare usually ends up as first-due in Pottstown.

Their transmitters are at BWH and I think they have one licensed in Philadelphia somewhere, but don't quote me on it. The UHF repeater carrys both base and ship traffic.

The UHF repeater has one transmitter location on the license...Brandywine Hospital.

You can hear the repeater loud and clear in the Norristown area and east of there.

SkyCare gets over this way every now and then is PennSTAR, Medevac, or JeffStat is unavailable. We landed them once or twice last year in my area.

SkyCare was supposed to put a second ship in to service at the Pottstowm Municipal Airport...not sure where that stands. I was at the airport several times last year and when I asked the FBO about it, the guy told me that as far as he knew, the helo would still be there at some point. I've never heard anything more on that, though.

For Q-Ball:
PennSTAR 3 is based in Nazareth at a hangar next to the Northampton Co. 911 Center.
Some pix here: http://www.nc911.org/html/pictures.html

 

[Q-ball]

Hey thanks for that link to those pics, they were fantastic.

 

[Q-ball]

Hey for the heck of it, did anyone notice last night, on the southeast portion of montgomery county,pa dispatch...it seemed likeafter 10pm, things were disorganized...i heard a dispatcher assign a call to a limerick car on the southeast TG...also heard montgomery twp and north wales on southeast also....on top of that, i understand the purpose of the "data channel"..which is for 27/29 info so the main channel doesnt get tied up...but last night i heard cars replying to county on it.meaning calls were being distributed to east cars and they were responding back on that channel also...anyone know anything..event 9 was also busy last night...Ben you usually know the scoop.

 

[CommJunkie]

Anyone know if they are planning to move EMS Dispatch to a VHF frequency?

 

[scanjunkie]

Anyone know if they are planning to move EMS Dispatch to a VHF frequency?

Eventually, yes!

 

[scanjunkie]

Hey for the heck of it, did anyone notice last night, on the southeast portion of montgomery county,pa dispatch...it seemed likeafter 10pm, things were disorganized....

That happens from time to time. It is actually a scanner issue, not a county radio issue. The calls are going out over the correct TGs on the county end, the scanner just gets confused, or gets goofy info from the signals it receives and can't interpret them properly.