Moving to Galveston County

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FlashSWT

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Hey guys, after two years of scanning in Williamson County I have accepted a new job and am moving to Galveston County. I'll be living in Texas City but working all over, from the island up to League City.

Checking the RR Database it looks like most everything (but not all) I'll need to hear in on STARNET. I'm used to WilCo's Type II Smartnet system with a single set of frequencies where I can hear any unit anywhere in the county. With the SmartZone system I am aware that I will only hear TalkGroups that have a radio affiliated to that particular site.

My big question is: let's say I'm driving from the island up to League City. Am I right in assuming I'll have to switch to the different sites (019 Galveston, 018 Texas City, 005 Dickinson, 022 League City) manually as I'm driving up I-45? (I think I've read that a Uniden 996 w/ GPS could automatically make this switch for me, but I don't have one of those.)

Additionally for those in the area, is it unusual to hear Galveston units on the Texas City, Dickinson or League City sites? Will I have to get used to only hearing the city or county units in my immediate area compared to how right now I can hear every unit in Williamson County, no matter where I am in the county.

Thanks!
.
 

W5TWX

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I don't know the answers to your questions, but good luck to you in your new job. It's been great visiting with you here in the Round Rock area!

Take care,
R.G.
 

225Texas

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I never have a problem going from one site to another. Program only the primary and secondary (alternate) frequencies together in one bank. Then put all the talkgroups you want to listen to. When I'm in Huntsville (Walker County) I can still hear all the Harris County talkgroups I have in the scanner.
 

FlashSWT

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225, OK so if I program all the CC's for every site in the county into a single bank, you're saying the signal from the Galveston site will be so weak by the time I drive into Texas City that the scanner will automatically rescan for an active CC and switch sites?
 

225Texas

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That has been my experience. Per example, if I keep my scanner on Waller County's talkgroup in Hempstead and travel east to Tomball I never miss anything. Crystal clear with the right 800MHz antenna. If I'm in Tomball and listening to HCSO D-5 on the Tomball site and travel to Downtown Houston, I still hear everything. Good luck.
 

rattlerbb01

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What kind of scanner do you have? With my Pro-96, I can track a talkgroup across almost every site without changing banks simply by having every control channel programmed correctly into that bank. It will scan every frequency for a Control channel. But with my BC785D, it will lock into the first control channel in bank channel order. So if a weak signal still carries from a tower 20 miles away on say, Channel 202, then the strong signal from say, channel 215, won't be tracked unless I lock out channel 202. Did I confuse you enough there!?
 

225Texas

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I got a Pro-97. Exactly what rattlerbb01 said is what I was trying to explain. Thanks!
 

FlashSWT

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Alright, finally got down here. Man this rain sucks for moving! There aren't any live scanner feeds available for Galveston County are there? (I don't start work until Wednesday.)
 

scanfan03

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FlashSWT said:
Alright, finally got down here. Man this rain sucks for moving! There aren't any live scanner feeds available for Galveston County are there? (I don't start work until Wednesday.)

Have you flooded yet?

Also there is another group of scanheads for the houston area in yahoo groups. It is called HoustonScan.
 

225Texas

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Over in Cypress, those back roads (Becker, FM. 2920) were flooded. Scanfan03, have you been busy?
 

225Texas

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I didn't get out of the office until the rain started to slow down. THP units went crazy, and some of them started to help the county with 10-50 calls.
 

FlashSWT

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Finally got into the office and I've got a RS PRO-91 to work with. A slight upgrade from the PRO-90 I had at the previous job.

Anyways, checking the Database against the programming this thing is way off. I've fixed all the banks for Starnet down here, but they've still got a bank programmed for the "Old Galveston" system which doesn't appear to be listed in the database any longer. Does anyone have the frequencies for the old Galveston TRS before they merged with Starnet?

EDIT: I found an old list on the Yahoo HoustonScan group but it is dated 2001. If there is nothing newer I'm good. This Starnet system realy emphasizes the need for a scanner with text tags, lots of IDs compared to Williamson County!
.
 
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SCPD

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Actually, the PRO-91 is a downgrade from the PRO-90 - which is comparable to a BC235XLT.
-rick
 

FlashSWT

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Greeeeeat. Figures with my luck. Apparently we have approval for 4 new scanners (2 base/2 handhelds) but with three of us in the department I'll probably get stuck with this one.
.
 

motorola_otaku

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If you're shopping for scanners, try to get something with control channel-only capability. It makes listening to things on the Starnet system much easier.

Anywho, to answer your earlier question, the Texas City site carries most every agency in Galveston County, including the City of Galveston (I know for a fact that Fire is on there 99.99% of the time, so I would assume PD is as well).. EXCEPT for League City. To get League City PD and Fire, you'll have to monitor the site in their city. The new Friendswood talkgroups are popping up on the Pearland site, which has excellent coverge from the Clear Lake area through Dickinson.
 

FlashSWT

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We'll want to get a digital capable scanner so it looks like it'll either be the RS 20/96 pair or the new Unidens 996/396.

I also joined the HoustonScan group. Should I be getting my StarNet updates from there or does the RR database stay pretty much in sync with Myles list?
.
 
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