Napa, County, California Scanning

[CityNewsSupport]

Hello all I am in Napa County, Ca 3 or 4 days a week Up & Down the Valley I also grew up there from 1988 to 2006! The issue I have expiranced since the early 1990's is Napa County Fire/ Cal Fire has a weak broadcast and or bad signal on 154.41500 Calfire LNU East is also not Strong I have used a bunch of scanners over the years including my "Trusty" Crystal Chip Scanner in 1990 But the signal has always sucked!

 

[K4EET]

Hello all I am in Napa County, Ca 3 or 4 days a week Up & Down the Valley I also grew up there from 1988 to 2006! The issue I have expiranced since the early 1990's is Napa County Fire/ Cal Fire has a weak broadcast and or bad signal on 154.41500 Calfire LNU East is also not Strong I have used a bunch of scanners over the years including my "Trusty" Crystal Chip Scanner in 1990 But the signal has always sucked!

Not sure what you are looking for (if anything). You don't say if this is mobile or fixed scanning, what scanners you have used, what antenna(s) you have used, how far away from the transmitter site(s) you are, etc. Everything is relative to a specific system design and mobile applications are infinitely more complicated to analyze. Sooooooo... Help us out here...

 

[CityNewsSupport]

Not sure what you are looking for (if anything). You don't say if this is mobile or fixed scanning, what scanners you have used, what antenna(s) you have used, how far away from the transmitter site(s) you are, etc. Everything is relative to a specific system design and mobile applications are infinitely more complicated to analyze. Sooooooo... Help us out here...

Ok so the deal is I have been tuning into this channel for many years with mobile & base scanners At this moment I am Scanning Mobile with a Uniden BCD 996 P2 With a Larson Tri Band NMO Antenna. Even near their mane Transmitter the Signal is Scratchy and weak! Not sure if other Napa Valley Scanner users have the same issue?

 

[K4EET]

So are you listening to Napa County Sheriff, Fire and EMS as shown here:

Napa County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Napa County, California (CA)

www.radioreference.com

When is the last time you checked your programming against the system to be sure nothing has changed?

Now I do not have a Uniden BCD996P2 scanner so I cannot speak to that.

For the "Larson Tri Band NMO Antenna," do you know what the model number is?

When you say "Even near their mane Transmitter the Signal is Scratchy and weak!" How many miles is "near" and which received frequency(ies) are we specifically talking about? What is the terrain like between your vehicle and their main transmitter site when the signal is scratchy? Is it flat, rolling, mountainous, etc.? Would you say it was Line Of Sight (LOS) from your vehicle's antenna to the main transmitter site's antennas?

Hopefully we will have some Uniden BCD996P2 scanner owners join us here as well as some folks from the Napa County, CA area. If we cannot get some Napa County, CA scanner users to join us, you should ask the moderators to move this thread to the California forum for more focused participation.

 

[ramal121]

Napa County Fire, as is Cal Fire, has several conventional repeaters scattered about. Which repeater they use depends on where the action happens to be. There is no main transmitter.

 

[K4EET]

Napa County Fire, as is Cal Fire, has several conventional repeaters scattered about. Which repeater they use depends on where the action happens to be. There is no main transmitter.

Thanks for the information. That is what I am trying to do. The whole scenario needs to be nailed down in order to figure out what is or is not going on.

 

[CityNewsSupport]

Thanks for the information. That is what I am trying to do. The whole scenario needs to be nailed down in order to figure out what is or is not going on.

Sorry for the Delay Guys! Ramal121 is correct on this the Signal is way better in the area of the used Repeater. This was verified at a Structure fire last week. Thanks Guys for the Reply's

 

[CityNewsSupport]

Question About Conventional Radio Systems! Napa County Sheriff & Napa City Police Share A Common Law Channel Known As "Napa One" 155.4300 Last Thursday 7/9/2020 Racist Broadcasts were broadcast by an Unknown Actor! The local "News" Outlet Stated the radio system was hacked! Is Hacked the correct description or is somebody transmitting over a Stolen or Home brew Police Radio? We did post the audio on our YouTube channel Warning it is Racially Graphic! I do seem to remember the same incident happening in the 1990's Prior to location tracking of handhelds & in car radios by Dispatch. the Broadcast sounds computer generated! I caught it on our Scanners External recorder while working Napa & Sonoma Counties That Day.

 

[K4EET]

Sorry for the Delay Guys! Ramal121 is correct on this the Signal is way better in the area of the used Repeater. This was verified at a Structure fire last week. Thanks Guys for the Reply's

It is always nice to know that the radio waves are actually behaving according to propagation theory, i.e. as it relates to how far the transmitter site is from the receiver. Mission accomplished! (or is it Mystery Solved?)

 

[K4EET]

Question About Conventional Radio Systems! Napa County Sheriff & Napa City Police Share A Common Law Channel Known As "Napa One" 155.4300 Last Thursday 7/9/2020 Racist Broadcasts were broadcast by an Unknown Actor! The local "News" Outlet Stated the radio system was hacked! Is Hacked the correct description or is somebody transmitting over a Stolen or Home brew Police Radio? We did post the audio on our YouTube channel Warning it is Racially Graphic! I do seem to remember the same incident happening in the 1990's Prior to location tracking of handhelds & in car radios by Dispatch. the Broadcast sounds computer generated! I caught it on our Scanners External recorder while working Napa & Sonoma Counties That Day.

For a conventional VHF radio system in the clear (not encrypted), a $26 VHF/UHF Baofeng HT could have transmitted that...

 

[CityNewsSupport]

For a conventional VHF radio system in the clear (not encrypted), a $26 VHF/UHF Baofeng HT could have transmitted that...

I See I remember seeing the Baofeng Radios on Amazon! I hope this does not become a Trend Last thing we need is more Encrypted Channels! Is it Possible the FCC or Investigators can track this person down?

 

[K4EET]

I See I remember seeing the Baofeng Radios on Amazon! I hope this does not become a Trend Last thing we need is more Encrypted Channels! Is it Possible the FCC or Investigators can track this person down?

FCC field technicians can very easily track people like this down. The difficult part is collecting the necessary evidence, building the case and prosecuting the individual. That takes time...

 

[gmclam]

I have no issues monitoring Napa County, including Cal Fire, from the east side of Sacramento County. I find it interesting that often when travelling I'll get worse reception on a channel when I am "in the neighborhood" than I do from home many miles away. The only thing I can't get from here are fireground and non-repeated fire tac channels.

For several months now there has been periodic transmission of music on one of the county channels. Sometimes a warning message is sent, but not always. What you heard seems like an extension of that.

 

[K4EET]

<snip> For several months now there has been periodic transmission of music on one of the county channels. <snip>

That is very unfortunate indeed. Somebody or more than one person are not only "playing with fire" they are also endangering lives. That is why the FCC's Enforcement Bureau (EB) levies such steep fines in these cases. Their personnel have very sophisticated equipment to quickly pinpoint these perpetrators and collect evidence. They have an awesome website with lots of information that is worth taking a look at. It is:

Enforcement

www.fcc.gov

 

[CityNewsSupport]

Question About Conventional Radio Systems! Napa County Sheriff & Napa City Police Share A Common Law Channel Known As "Napa One" 155.4300 Last Thursday 7/9/2020 Racist Broadcasts were broadcast by an Unknown Actor! The local "News" Outlet Stated the radio system was hacked! Is Hacked the correct description or is somebody transmitting over a Stolen or Home brew Police Radio? We did post the audio on our YouTube channel Warning it is Racially Graphic! I do seem to remember the same incident happening in the 1990's Prior to location tracking of handhelds & in car radios by Dispatch. the Broadcast sounds computer generated! I caught it on our Scanners External recorder while working Napa & Sonoma Counties That Day.

Napa Police & Napa Sheriff Still Using " Sheriff Blue A Tac Channel" For Countywide Police Primary!