Morgan County Interference

[jimmnn]

911 surcharge to rise 20 cents
By DAN BARKER
Times Staff Writer


Ultimately, there may be even more expenses for the center as Federal Communication Commission rules on narrow band frequencies come into effect. Morgan County's Law II frequency is already seeing significant interference from a Boulder agency on portable radios -- something the FCC had warned would happen as new technology came on line.

Newer 800 MHz systems allow for narrower bands to broadcast, but can interfere with older systems or vice versa. The Boulder agency's frequency and interference is perfectly legal, and the communications center will be forced to try to solve the problem with a crystal filter at a cost of $500, Monsees said.

It will take a month or so for that to be set up. In the meantime, officers can use the east tactical frequency which is "nice and clear," she said.

This is, in essence, a way for the FCC to push for adoption of 800 MHz systems, and the center will have to look at changing, Monsees said.

The Law I frequency is another matter. Countless hours have gone into trying to trace just what is interfering with it in the Fort Morgan area. Unfortunately, it is sporadic and without a pattern and hard to identify. It comes down to a process of elimination, she said.

An immediate solution for this problem is to install another receiver at the Morgan County Justice Center, which the company the center works with will loan until next year, Monsees said.

 

[SAR923]

I don't understand this story. I was in Morgan County for about five days in July. Assuming that the Law 1 frequency is 151.01 and tha Law 2 frequency is 155.01, I never heard any interference in the time I was there. I'm baffled by the idea that an 800 mHz portable radio in Boulder could have any effect on a VHF frequency in Ft. Morgan. What agency is this supposed to be in Boulder County. To my knowledge, there is no law or fire agency on 800 mHz in Boulder County.

As to the problem with alleged interference with Law 1, Longmont PD's tac 2 is 151.025, close enough to 155.01 that I guess you could get some bleed over if the system wasn't properly aligned. Still the whole story doesn't make sense and the issue of 800 makes even less sense since the State system is the only one in the area using 800. :?:

 

[scanlist]

Actually Morgan Law 1 is 155.010 and 2 is 151.010. Longmont's 151.025 coverage is quite limited to cause grief for Morgan County however Teller County is on the same frequency with, of all things, the same PL as Longmont (156.7). Teller comes in very strong in central Weld county so I would bet it's really Teller that is the potential co-channel problem.

Also Arvada has a second telemetry repeater on 159.1875 which is close enough to 159.195 which I understand is the repeater input freq for one of Morgan's law channels.

On 155.010 I receive POCSAG paging on a regular basis up here, verified with several scanners and a Motorola MT1000, and beleive it is one of the old Colorado Springs PD freqs from way back being used for city paging. The signal is varys from moderate to fairly strong depending on the usual distant signal conditions.

 

[Halfpint]

*My* `take' on this is... Just *where* the *heck* were these people who are complaining 5 to 10 years ago!? (*Heck*! One could even say *20 years* ago!) Stuff like this has been around quite a while. *Well before* the `re-farming' over to `super-narrow'. A *large* part of the `blame' can be dropped squarely on the `shoulders' of the `so-called' `coordinators' with another fairly large portion also on the `shoulders' of whomever it is/was setting up the various agencie's systems. (I *suppose* that it could also be argued that the switch over to the DTRS has made this a tad bit more `visible' but, that doesn't mean that it is something `new'.)

What makes this whole `affair' even more `pitiful?' is that the *scanning community* has both known about all the various `conflicts' *and* has both `talked' about it *and* some have made the offer to help either stop or eliminate them and has been turned down! In a typical display of arrogance we have been told that `they are "professionals" and `know?' what we are doing' and `you are rank amateurs and don't know what you are talking about'. The other `line' that we've kept getting was that `scanners aren't the same as our `professional?' equipment and the `professional?' equipment is `made?' to `handle?' it'. While it is true that scanners *are* different than `two-way radio equipment' it *isn't* true that the difference(s) are such that we scannists cannot tell when there are things occuring that can be or are problems either actually happening or just waiting to happen. (Another current example of this NIH, Not Invented Here, syndrome is the current `storm' brewing around BPL and the interference that it can cause. {FROWN!} In the case of BPL we see both NIH *and* the `worship of mammon' rearing their ugly `heads'. [Which is *not* to `say' that it was only one or the other that has been the case with situations like the current situation we've got now. {GRIMMACE!}]) All of which makes the `line', "We're from the Goverment and we're here to help you." all that much more scary and worrisome.

Now this *doesn't* mean that I don't find these conflicts worrisome and a possible `major **** up' in the making. I do. I just wish that instead of petty bickering, `hiding', and scare-mongering there would be more cooperation among *all* `parties' and `resources'. After all... *All* of us have more than just a passing interest in seeing that there are `proper' and `reliable' communications despite what *some* `think?'.

Just an `Olde Fart's' 2¢ worth. {WAN GRIN!}

 

[SAR923]

Scanlist,

Thanks for the correct frequencies. I didn't know which one was correct for Law 1. From your explanation, it seems pretty clear what the source of any interference is from and it sure doesn't sound like 800 is the problem. I can't understand why it would take "years" to track this down by Morgan County. The whole story still doesn't make sense to me, especially since I never heard any interference when I was there nor any complaints of interference by the dispatchers or anyone in the field. Plus, I'd still like to know what this Boulder County agency is that supposed to be causing interference with their portables. :shock: