Need a little help w/WS-1040

[gseam]

Hey all,
I am fairly new to this, but have done some homework. Purchased a WS-1040, as well as a premium membership and PSREedit500. I had no problem importing the data/frequencies I wanted and putting them in the scan lists I wanted. I do have a few questions however. When I try to import stuff for the statewide VIPER system, how do I know what all tower sites to import? I know I don't need them all, but for example, If I am listening on one of our medevac channels, I might hear a lot, or I might miss a lot of transmissions (work for one of the companies and I know we have a lot more going on than I frequently can hear). I am not sure if its hitting towers I don't have programmed or what the deal is. I also have our local LE (Wayne County, NC), but I hear absolutely nothing on there (it is a simulcast system?). Like I said, I didn't have any problems with the software, but I need a little help getting it tightened up and working a little better please. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hiegtx]

Hey all,
I am fairly new to this, but have done some homework. Purchased a WS-1040, as well as a premium membership and PSREedit500. I had no problem importing the data/frequencies I wanted and putting them in the scan lists I wanted. I do have a few questions however. When I try to import stuff for the statewide VIPER system, how do I know what all tower sites to import? I know I don't need them all, but for example, If I am listening on one of our medevac channels, I might hear a lot, or I might miss a lot of transmissions (work for one of the companies and I know we have a lot more going on than I frequently can hear). I am not sure if its hitting towers I don't have programmed or what the deal is. I also have our local LE (Wayne County, NC), but I hear absolutely nothing on there (it is a simulcast system?). Like I said, I didn't have any problems with the software, but I need a little help getting it tightened up and working a little better please. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi gseam
Welcome to Radio Reference.

When importing information for VIPER, you do see a large number of sites. Generally, you should only import sites that are in range, not on the other side of the state. So you'd want your home county, and perhaps the counties surrounding yours. Often, though, those sites have a name that is unfamiliar. Some might be named for the county, or city, where they are located. But others may be named for a local landmark or road that is unfamiliar to you.

The sites that you see in PSREdit500 are in the same order as they appear in the RadioReference database.


To simplify matters for you,, try this:
Here's a partial screenshot of VIPER from the RRDB.


So, when looking at the database page, click on the column heading for County (highlighted in the next screenshot).



As you can see, the sites are now sorted by the name of the county where they are located. While that won't change the order of what you see in the software, it still lets you know where the sites are, so that you can pick the ones you need. Stick with the ones local to you, as mentioned before, those in your own county, and maybe the counties right next to you. For the sites you pick, you can import just the control channels (along with the talkgroups you want to monitor).

For your specific county, Wayne, I see a small number of Fire or EMS on VIPER, but most of everything else is on the Wayne County system. And, as noted in the database, both sites are Simulcast. As you've probably already seen in other posts, Simulcast Distortion can be a problem for most scanners. Here's a map of the locations for the Simulcast 11 site:


There is no map for the other site (Simulcast 1) as there is no FCC license data linked to it.

I see that some of the cities in your county, as well as the county itself, have some conventional frequencies listsed. Whether any of these are active, or maybe linked to one of the trunked systems (VIPER or Wayne County) is something that someone located in or near your county might be able to answer. Quite often, either though the agency is using a trunked system, they keep their old frequencies as a backup, in case the trunked system is down for some reason.

If you want to seek input from others potentially in your area, do not create a new thread. Instead, ask that this one be moved to the North Carolina forum. Click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum. Someone in the area would be more likely to see it there.

 

[gseam]

Thanks for all the input I appreciate it