Montgomery County

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dotwhy

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Been using scanners for 30 years and they are now paper weights. Just purchased BCD436HP to continue monitoring but Montgomery county just switched to the 700mhz system. I have updated sentinel and downloaded to scanner and still not receiving any communication?? Any help would be appreciated, not sure what to do at this point
 

hiegtx

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Been using scanners for 30 years and they are now paper weights. Just purchased BCD436HP to continue monitoring but Montgomery county just switched to the 700mhz system. I have updated sentinel and downloaded to scanner and still not receiving any communication?? Any help would be appreciated, not sure what to do at this point
At present, the database for your state system, ISICS, does not show a site in Montgomery County, nor any Montgomery County specific talkgroups. There are some groups of state agencies that note the division or district includes your county, but nothing specifically as dedicated to Montgomery. Of course, since the switchover (as noted in this post)

I'm not seeing any new 700MHz licenses for your county. But they are using licenses issued to the state, not an individual city or county; those would not show up as specific to your county. Looking at comments in another thread in the Iowa forum, I see this post:

If the frequency noted is a control channel for the site(s) in your county, you can plug that into a new system, created in Sentinel, and possibly work from there. This page, also in the other thread, has the range of talkgroup IDs expected to be used in your county. Other posts in that thread suggest that the switch was made only a little over a week ago, so probably nothing has been submitted to the database yet.

If you are familiar with the location of one of the sites in your county (I notes indicating three), then you might be able to drive close enough to it for Close Call on your 436HP to snag at least the control frequency for you. Or, just do a search in that band.

Someone in your state, I'm sure, would be more familiar (than I am) with how the site, or sites, might be set up.

Good luck
 

autovon

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Try 774.80625 as a possible Montgomery County site. Also program the next closest county sites. I don't know how your particular scanner works, but if you can program those sites, and let the radio search, it should pick up whatever traffic your radio hears. Assuming you can hear a site. They are using talkgroups in the 45001-45025 range at the current time. That range does go higher for more TGs.
 

dotwhy

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Thanks, steep learning curve going from manual program analog scanner to BCD436HP, once I figure out how to input that Frequency I will give it a try. Frustration level high!
 

baker50021

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Been a few years since I did anything with Uniden, I'm running Whistler now. According to Radio Reference these two sites should be covering your area:
CorningAdams, IA773.55625773.80625a774.05625a774.30625c
AtlanticCass, IA769.69375769.94375a770.19375a770.44375c
Program these sites and make sure they are set to search as opposed to scan
 

hiegtx

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Try this file I threw together.

Been a few years since I did anything with Uniden, I'm running Whistler now. According to Radio Reference these two sites should be covering your area:
CorningAdams, IA773.55625773.80625a774.05625a774.30625c

AtlanticCass, IA769.69375769.94375a770.19375a770.44375c
Program these sites and make sure they are set to search as opposed to scan
I included the sites that baker50021 suggested.
Try 774.80625 as a possible Montgomery County site. Also program the next closest county sites. I don't know how your particular scanner works, but if you can program those sites, and let the radio search, it should pick up whatever traffic your radio hears. Assuming you can hear a site. They are using talkgroups in the 45001-45025 range at the current time. That range does go higher for more TGs.
I also created a site for Montgomery County, using the frequency that autovon suggested. If that is the control channel being used, then you should hear whatever talkgroups are in use your county. Note the talkgroup range expected for use in your county.
Thanks, steep learning curve going from manual program analog scanner to BCD436HP, once I figure out how to input that Frequency I will give it a try. Frustration level high!
The attached file is an *.hpe file. It is zipped, because the *.hpe file extention cannot be attached to a post here on RadioReference. Save the compressed file, dotwhy.zip, to your PC at an easy to find location on your PC. I use one of the Download folders, though some people use the Desktop. Use Windows Explorer to extract the dotwhy.hpe file, or a zip file utility such as 7-Zip.

Once you have the dotwhy.hpe file extracted, you can import that into Sentinel. In Sentinel, select Import from hpe file from the drop down File menu in Sentinel.
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Sentinel will ask which Favorites list to import to.
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I would suggest create a new list instead of one you might already have.

Once you've done that, you can either review the contents in the main Sentinel window, or select Edit Favorites list, and select the new list you created. That will pull it up in the Favorites Editor window, where you can get a better look.

For your Statewide System, ISICS, I included the assigned talkgroups for Cass County, as well as the Statewide Interop frequencies, Region 4 Interop talkgroups, and Department of Public Safety Area B. Those regional interop talkgroups show to cover your county (Montgomery).

The ISICS system is set for ID Search, so you should hear everything being carried on the three sites I included. Some might be agencies you are not interested in, like Public Works and Utilities. You can lock them out even they if they are not programmed.

If you seem to be hearing talkgruops from your county (those in the TGID 45001-45025 range), then you might want to set up a Discovery session. You would set up the session to monitor only the Montgomery site (presuming you are hearing something there). Discovery will hold on that site, and if set correctly, wil capture any talkgroups active, as well as up to 600 seconds (ten minutes) of recorded audio for each TGID found. You can then play that audio for each talkgroup, which will let you hear a collection of conversations on it. That gives you more information as to who is using that TGID, or what agebcy or department is using it. I would suggest that you try this on a normal weekday. If it were run nights (especially late nights), or on a weekend, there might not be enough activity to be of use.

Step by step setup and running instructions can be found on the Easier to Read manual page.
 

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dotwhy

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Thanks for all the info and the manual is mich easier than the paper one. Still not hearing any broadcast from Red Oak which was very active before they changed over, so I know I am missing something to allow me to hear them.
 

hiegtx

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Thanks for all the info and the manual is mich easier than the paper one. Still not hearing any broadcast from Red Oak which was very active before they changed over, so I know I am missing something to allow me to hear them.
Make sure that, after you imported that hpe file, you set your Profile to both Download, & Monitor that new list., and that you wrote it to the scanner set to be monitored.

Try these steps & see what you get.

First, hit the CHAN (channel) button along the bottom of the keypad.
Now, enter the frequency 774.80625 that autovon posted earlier.
After entering the frequency, do not press the E(enter) key.
Instead, press CHAN again.
That causes the scanner to hold only on that one frequency. If that is the control frequency, for the possible Montgomery County site (which I created in the *.hpe file), you should hear a constant signal, sort of a rumbling noise that some have compared to an idling diesel engine. If you don't here that, then it is not being used as a control channel. (While I have no idea where they might have put up the new site, I doubt you are out of range. However, make sure your squelch is not to high. A 2 or 3 works well for most people.)

If you do hear that rumbling, but still are not getting any active transmissions, then maybe the new site is still in test mode, not actively carrying radio traffic.

For the other two sites in the file, try something different.

Press the Menu key
Scroll down to Analyze & press Enter to select.
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Under Analyze, Select System Status
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After selecting System Status, you'll get a screen asking for the System's name.
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Use the scroll knob to select each letter of the name, and the arrow keys to move the cursor to the right so that you can input the next letter.

Generally, you don't have to enter all of the letters of the system's name. Enter he first letter or two, then press Enter.
On your screen will be all systems that start with that letter (or letters) that you entered.
Scroll to and select the ISICS system & press Enter.

The next screen will show the Sites that are programmed for the system.
Scroll to & select the Adams site.

You'll get a screen that looks somewhat like the next screenshot. (I'm using my 536HP for the screenshots, since it is connected to my PC for logging via ProScan. While the display on your 436HP will be somewhat different, it will show the same basic information.)
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That's one of my local sites. The column over the S is the strength of the signal I'm getting. The Q is the 'quality' of the signal, and A represents the activity on the site. In the upper right corner, you also see another indication of signal strength.

If you are getting none of that type of information from the Adams site, it is not in range for you.

After you've seen an indication of whether you can, or cannot, receive the Adams site, then press the Function key plus the System key to resume scanning.

Press Menu again, and scroll down to Analyze.
This time, again select your system, but then choose the Cass site instead of Adams.

Once again, if you can receive the system, you'll see the indicators of signal strength, quality, and activity. If, again, you get none of that, then the Cass site is also out of range.

At some point, you will need to, somehow, get the frequencies used for the Montgomery site. If you know where the new tower was built, like a new structure built, or a new set of antennas installed on an existing site, you might be able to find them either with Close Call, or by doing a search of the 700MHz band. (You can try the band search from home, but if you can actually determine the site location, a stronger signal would help confirm you are seeing the correct ones.) You can also manually scan up or down from the frequency entered directly (774.80625) at the start of tis post.

Once either you, or someone close enough to hear the site, can determine the correct frequencies, then you can enter them into the Montgomery site and hopefully monitor successfully.
 

dotwhy

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Steve, your a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for all you have done. I have downloaded and extracted the hpe file and have it loaded on my scanner, and I have confirmed it is there. When I go to analyze and input system, If I type I for iowa it comes up with Iowa state wide interoperability, Under that I analyze Montgomery and have great signal and strength, have tried all other letters and am not able to see cass or adams listed anywhere. I think I said earlier I am receiving all but Red Oak PD and I live in town.
 
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hiegtx

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Steve, your a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for all you have done. I have downloaded and extracted the hpe file and have it loaded on my scanner, and I have confirmed it is there. When I go to analyze and input system, If I type I for iowa it comes up with Iowa state wide interoperability, Under that I analyze Montgomery and have great signal and strength, have tried all other letters and am not able to see cass or adams listed anywhere. I think I said earlier I am receiving all but Red Oak PD and I live in town.
I got ahead of myself. Their names on the ISICS database page are Atlantic & Corning, respectively. You should be able to 'find' them by pressing an A (should find Atlantic), then re-run & press a C, for Corning. (I got you off the correct track by referencing the county names for those two sites instead of the sites name.) Try System status again, and see if you can get a signal from either.

You are receiving other agencies in your county, just not Red Oak?
If that is the case, either they are not yet using the system (unlikely, since you heard they were making the move, and are no longer hearing them on their conventional channels). Watch your display when hearing other agencies. When it stops on a talkgroup, you would see only the TGID if it was a talkgroup that is not programmed, but was 'found' by ID Search. Just below that TGID, in small letters, you should see the name of the site you are hearing them on.

Another possibility is that they may be using encryption. ( I hope I'm wrong.) The Uniden scanners normally just skip over an encrypted transmission.

I would suggest running a Discovery session. Go to Discovery in the scanner menu. You'll choose the system (ISICS) and the site similarly to the same way you do in System Status. Follow the prompts on screen to set up the session. (Use the the Trunking Discovery option). Follow the step by step instructions on the Easier to Read manuals page.

Let that run as long as you can, preferably on a normal weekday, when there should be more activity. When you want to stop, be sure & press Function then System to exit Discovery. That saves the results.

Now, connect your scanner to your PC using the USB cable that came with it. Put the scanner into Mass Storage Mode.

Open Sentinel.

Under the Tools drop down menu, choose Discovery Log Viewer.
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That gets you to the Discovery window.
Click the small icon I have highlighted in the next screenshot.
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That will download the details of the session you just ran onto your PC, where you can view the results in Sentinel (You can view the log on the scanner, but on the PC, you get a much better picture of what was found.)
Once you've downloaded the results to your PC, then you can view them. Choose your results from the left side pane of the wimdow.

Here's a session (one of several) that I've run:
85457

This is a new sub-system of a larger one in my area. There are some talkgroups in use that are not in the database as yet. When you look at the results, you can see which talkgroups were picked up. If it was already in the database, it's flagged as 'known'. If not, then it's labeled as 'New'.

The hits count shows how many times that talkgroup came up. The "Duration" column is how many seconds of conversations have been saved. (You set the maximum when initiating the session in the scanner; 600 seconds, ten minutes, is the max.)

Hit the "Play" symbol in the upper left corner, and you'll hear everything recorded for that talkgroup in the session. It will play start to finish, not stopping at the end of each sound bite. By listening to a string of conversations on a single talkgroup, you may be able to get a good idea of how it is being used, whether a dispatch channel for law enforcement or a fire department, or some other departmnet or agency in your area.

If you see a talkgroup with a number of "hits", but little or no recorded audio, that TGID may well be encrypted.

Any talkgroups that you can identify, be sure and submit the details so that the system can be updated. For the site itself, when running System Status, you would see the system and Site ID, along with the WACN & site NAC. Include those details in your submission for the site.
 

dotwhy

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I am now receiving Red Oak PD traffic. They are using talk group 45002. I also believe Montgomery County sheriff is using TG 43901. Not sure to do with this information so others can locate or if more information is required. 85550
 

hiegtx

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I am now receiving Red Oak PD traffic. They are using talk group 45002. I also believe Montgomery County sheriff is using TG 43901. Not sure to do with this information so others can locate or if more information is required. View attachment 85550
Start Sentinel
Select Edit Favorites List by either selecting that option from the drop down Edit menu,or clicking on the Edit Favorites List icon. That's the one that resembles a star with a pencil on it, just under the w for the View drop down menu.
85566
Choose the list to edit, the one I posted for you.

That opens the Favorites List Editor.

In the Editor, select the ISICS system.
Click on the Tab labeled as Departments in the right side pane.
85568

Click that Green cross to Add a department
Name the new Department whatever you want. For illustration purposes, just to keep it simple, I'll label it as Montgomery County.
Once you've named the new Department, click on it so that you can edit it.
Click on the Green cross to add a talkgroup.
85569

Here, I've added Red Oak PD based on your description, including the text tag, talkgroup ID, and the Service Type. I also added an alert color to let you know that ID is active. Save your changes when exiting the editor.After writing the revised list to your scanner, you will see Red Oak PD instead of just the talkgroup's number, 4502.

TGID 43901 shows on the database page for the ISICS to be assigned to the Mills County for law enforcement dispatch. Probably, one of their units was either in your county, or Cass or Adams, on official business, or was in a corner of Mills County where they had a better signal on one of the three sites that were programmed. I've added the Mills County talkgroups so that their talkgroups text tags will show up. Or, you can set the Mills County department to Avoid so that they will not come up. I did not enter the Mills County site, although it can be included if you want.

When you have time, run Systems Status on the Montgomery County site. That will let you see the system ID, the Site number (for the ISICS system), and Site NAC. (See my screenshot in this post as an example of what the System Status screen should show. The database admin for your area would include that information.)

Then, submit that information to the database.
On the Database page for ISICS, click on the Submit button.
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In the text box that comes up:
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Include the talkgroup you found for Red Oak PD, and the details for the Montgomery County site. Include the control channel frequency, 774.80625, the details from the System Status screen as well.

Attached is the file with the revisions I've mentioned. But try to follow the steps I've listed to edit your list yourself. Once you've done it a few times, it will begin to make sense, as you learn more of what you can do.
 

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