Need help programming Mass State Police Bristol County

[bobruzzo]

I am having trouble understanding how to program the Mass State Police Troop "D" system (and a little more) so it works correctly. Using Sentinel and SDS200. What I do have programmed SEEMS to be working. I just appended from the Sentinel database to my FAV list the "Bristol/Plymouth county" frequencies and the talkgroups that appear in the attached picture. So that part works fine. Radio is in SCAN mode for TGs. So I am receiving Mass Stae PD Troop D fine. HOWEVER if I set radio to SEARCH TG's I get a lot of UNKNOWNs come up, but the TGID is still showing. So apparently radio is receiving TG's OTHER than the ones I programmed (in the picture).
It is very difficult to figure out exactly WHAT to pick from the Sentinel database for appending to my favorites list. What do I need to append to FL so those UNKNOWNs will display properly? See the picture named "3" which shows what I have in fav list. I seem to be missing somethings here.
What do I pick out and append to FL so radio will identify these UNKNOWNs and then I probably can set radio back to SCAN TGID. In other words I would like to hear those other TG's but I dont know what to look for in the database. What I am trying to say is I would like to receive the Mass State Police Troop D (which I am at this point) along with the many other TGID's that show up while radio is in SEARCHING mode of TG's. I just don't know what to pick from the Sentinel database to do this.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

I am having trouble understanding how to program the Mass State Police Troop "D" system (and a little more) so it works correctly. Using Sentinel and SDS200. What I do have programmed SEEMS to be working. I just appended from the Sentinel database to my FAV list the "Bristol/Plymouth county" frequencies and the talkgroups that appear in the attached picture. So that part works fine. Radio is in SCAN mode for TGs. So I am receiving Mass Stae PD Troop D fine. HOWEVER if I set radio to SEARCH TG's I get a lot of UNKNOWNs come up, but the TGID is still showing. So apparently radio is receiving TG's OTHER than the ones I programmed (in the picture).
It is very difficult to figure out exactly WHAT to pick from the Sentinel database for appending to my favorites list. What do I need to append to FL so those UNKNOWNs will display properly? See the picture named "3" which shows what I have in fav list. I seem to be missing somethings here.
What do I pick out and append to FL so radio will identify these UNKNOWNs and then I probably can set radio back to SCAN TGID. In other words I would like to hear those other TG's but I dont know what to look for in the database. What I am trying to say is I would like to receive the Mass State Police Troop D (which I am at this point) along with the many other TGID's that show up while radio is in SEARCHING mode of TG's. I just don't know what to pick from the Sentinel database to do this.

I have this on my 996P2 for just Troop D... That's all I want to have for zone 3.

You need to Scan the IDs not Search them.... When you Scan you will just get the IDs you have loaded...When you Search ID's it will give you

everything on the trunk... On my 15X I search zone 3 but Ive locked out the techs who run encryption and some odd duck stuff that seems to be P25...Its most likly the SP tech shop too.

Don't own A SDS200 but it ( I'm Pretty sure) functions the same way as all other Uniden Scanners.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

I have this on my 996P2 for just Troop D... That's all I want to have for zone 3.

You need to Scan the IDs not Search them.... When you Scan you will just get the IDs you have loaded...When you Search ID's it will give you

everything on the trunk... On my 15X I search zone 3 but Ive locked out the techs who run encryption and some odd duck stuff that seems to be P25...Its most likly the SP tech shop too.

Don't own A SDS200 but it ( I'm Pretty sure) functions the same way as all other Uniden Scanners.

Peter N1EXA

OK I think what I was trying to say is what TALK GROUPS go with WHICH FREQUENCIES......in other words I just have programmed the 8 Bristol/Plymouth county frequencies. And along with that I just programmed a bunch of talkgroups that are in the vicinity of Bristol/Plymouth counties. And I set radio to SCAN the TGs. It seems to be picking up and identifying all the TG's I entered. Even though some TG's are on Cape Cod, which is NOT Bristol/Plymouth counties!!! Thats what makes this confusing. I would think I would need the FREQUENCIES of the Cape Cod system to receive those Cape Cod talk groups. I wish the databases were set up where they were a little easier to decide what to pick. But I seem to be all set for now. I have the BCT15 and the BCD996p2 also. Great radios.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

OK I think what I was trying to say is what TALK GROUPS go with WHICH FREQUENCIES......in other words I just have programmed the 8 Bristol/Plymouth county frequencies. And along with that I just programmed a bunch of talkgroups that are in the vicinity of Bristol/Plymouth counties. And I set radio to SCAN the TGs. It seems to be picking up and identifying all the TG's I entered. Even though some TG's are on Cape Cod, which is NOT Bristol/Plymouth counties!!! Thats what makes this confusing. I would think I would need the FREQUENCIES of the Cape Cod system to receive those Cape Cod talk groups. I wish the databases were set up where they were a little easier to decide what to pick. But I seem to be all set for now. I have the BCT15 and the BCD996p2 also. Great radios.

Zone 3 has traffic from Zone 4 on it so you will get Cape Traffic.... All the frequencies are used so multiple conversations can go on at the same time.. Trunking radios are smart they pick and choose open Frequencies that's why you need a control channel to control all the radios's. ( You need all the frequencies loaded !)

You will also find troop H in Boston Patched onto zone 3 which is possibly zone 1 and 5 in the Boston area. Zone 3 covers a large area south
of Boston down to the cape and over to the RI boarder.... I also find when needed the MBTA Police show up on zone 3 time to time along with
Bapern but not all the time.

I live in Bristol county so Zone3 is my main site but I also monitor zone 4 too to get Troop D on the cape if there not patched into zone 3.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

Zone 3 has traffic from Zone 4 on it so you will get Cape Traffic.... All the frequencies are used so multiple conversations can go on at the same time.. Trunking radios are smart they pick and choose open Frequencies that's why you need a control channel to control all the radios's. ( You need all the frequencies loaded !)

You will also find troop H in Boston Patched onto zone 3 which is possibly zone 1 and 5 in the Boston area. Zone 3 covers a large area south
of Boston down to the cape and over to the RI boarder.... I also find when needed the MBTA Police show up on zone 3 time to time along with
Bapern but not all the time.

I live in Bristol county so Zone3 is my main site but I also monitor zone 4 too to get Troop D on the cape if there not patched into zone 3.

Peter N1EXA

OK So in addition to the Bristol/Plymouth county frequencies, I should append to my FL the Boston freqs, Upper and Mid Cape, Outer Cape/Wellfleet. etc? Not sure how do do this....does each site need its own QK? Or can I just append the whole thing into one favorite?

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

OK So in addition to the Bristol/Plymouth county frequencies, I should append to my FL the Boston freqs, Upper and Mid Cape, Outer Cape/Wellfleet. etc? Not sure how do do this....does each site need its own QK? Or can I just append the whole thing into one favorite?

Well
I have the 15x and a few 996s so Im in the freescan world not in Sentinal but what I did was each zone is a quick key so if i have 5 zones and I drive through the state I turn on the zone im in....if im in Taunton im in zone 3 then I drive to boston I shut off zone 3 around Avon and turn on 1 and 5 .

Your over in Rhode Island looking into MASS looking at all these systems in their zones not traveling through them but you still have to have
each one as A quick key assigned as a moto smart net 2 system with each ones 8-10 trunking frequencies along with the roaming control channel
the thing is" yes " you need to sort out all those talk groups...But if you just want Troop D then just put those in for zones 3 and 4 and such. D is
not in say Zone 1 and 5 that would be say H group in Boston and yes H will Show up in Zone 3 but not Zone 4.

I daunting but pretty cool once you have it all sorted out.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

Well
I have the 15x and a few 996s so Im in the freescan world not in Sentinal but what I did was each zone is a quick key so if i have 5 zones and I drive through the state I turn on the zone im in....if im in Taunton im in zone 3 then I drive to boston I shut off zone 3 around Avon and turn on 1 and 5 .

Your over in Rhode Island looking into MASS looking at all these systems in their zones not traveling through them but you still have to have
each one as A quick key assigned as a moto smart net 2 system with each ones 8-10 trunking frequencies along with the roaming control channel
the thing is" yes " you need to sort out all those talk groups...But if you just want Troop D then just put those in for zones 3 and 4 and such. D is
not in say Zone 1 and 5 that would be say H group in Boston and yes H will Show up in Zone 3 but not Zone 4.

I daunting but pretty cool once you have it all sorted out.

Peter N1EXA

Yes VERY daunting! But I think I have it sorted out for the most part. I am just waiting for a new yagi to arrive next week. I plotted a waypoint on Google maps from my location to Copicut Hill where one of the Mass State PD towers is. It is almost due east of my location. I am trying to receive Mass St Pd with less static. I am receiving it now on a mobile mag mount for 800mhz. Its mounted on a ground plane up on second floor gutter right outside my room. I get pretty good results hearing RISCON here in RI. But Mass St Pd comes in crackly but listenable. I am hoping a directional antenna will pull the signal in quieter. And at the same time still receive RISCONs 4 zones. I put together a small heavy walled PVC mast for the yagi. It's a little over 5.5 feet high. And it doesn't bend hardly at all due to thick walls in pipe and short sections. I plan to mount the yagi on the top of it and hose clamp it to the gutter spout outside my window. It will just clear roof line. I am limited with antenna space except for the back of garage where I already have tall masts for the antennas for my BCT15x & BCD996p2. I am hoping with the yagi and the very short coax run, my reception of Mass State PD will improve. I am going to use Lmr-240 for coax.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

Yes VERY daunting! But I think I have it sorted out for the most part. I am just waiting for a new yagi to arrive next week. I plotted a waypoint on Google maps from my location to Copicut Hill where one of the Mass State PD towers is. It is almost due east of my location. I am trying to receive Mass St Pd with less static. I am receiving it now on a mobile mag mount for 800mhz. Its mounted on a ground plane up on second floor gutter right outside my room. I get pretty good results hearing RISCON here in RI. But Mass St Pd comes in crackly but listenable. I am hoping a directional antenna will pull the signal in quieter. And at the same time still receive RISCONs 4 zones. I put together a small heavy walled PVC mast for the yagi. It's a little over 5.5 feet high. And it doesn't bend hardly at all due to thick walls in pipe and short sections. I plan to mount the yagi on the top of it and hose clamp it to the gutter spout outside my window. It will just clear roof line. I am limited with antenna space except for the back of garage where I already have tall masts for the antennas for my BCT15x & BCD996p2. I am hoping with the yagi and the very short coax run, my reception of Mass State PD will improve. I am going to use Lmr-240 for coax.

I tried to get RISCON East here in New Bedford and I can just get the control channel very weak so Ill assume im on the back side and the antenna's only face into RI . I was getting the Bristol Police on VHF Hi with DMR but that signal
too seems to be turned down or they changed the antenna pattern because there on the edge now.

Im only a few miles.. infact from my second floor window to the north I can See Acushnet Tower for Zone 3 and it bombs in here even with no antenna hooked up to the 15x or the 996.

So I hope that Yagi improves your reception.

The only drawback is with these radios you can only listen to 1 conversation at a time on the trunk system. Thats
why the 15X scans the whole zone and my 996p2 scan just troop D. Whats interesting is I have a 996T in the living
room and that has a Trunk Meter....Basically its a line with markers and shows you how many different conversations
are going on at the same time on the system...Don't see that option on my 15X or 996xt or 996P2...

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

I tried to get RISCON East here in New Bedford and I can just get the control channel very weak so Ill assume im on the back side and the antenna's only face into RI . I was getting the Bristol Police on VHF Hi with DMR but that signal
too seems to be turned down or they changed the antenna pattern because there on the edge now.

Im only a few miles.. infact from my second floor window to the north I can See Acushnet Tower for Zone 3 and it bombs in here even with no antenna hooked up to the 15x or the 996.

So I hope that Yagi improves your reception.

The only drawback is with these radios you can only listen to 1 conversation at a time on the trunk system. Thats
why the 15X scans the whole zone and my 996p2 scan just troop D. Whats interesting is I have a 996T in the living
room and that has a Trunk Meter....Basically its a line with markers and shows you how many different conversations
are going on at the same time on the system...Don't see that option on my 15X or 996xt or 996P2...

Peter N1EXA

I used to be able to pick up Mass state PD earlier last year using a vhf homebrew vertical dipole on a 20' bamboo pole leaning up against house! I had the system programmed in my Radio Shack Pro 2055 and one day after I set up this vhf dipole, it was mainly for monitoring aircraft, I pressed the bank button the Mass State PD was on and it scanned and signals were GOOD! I didnt believe at first but for a non resonant antenna for 800 mhz it was working! But I noticed slowly from Jan 2019 on the signal started getting weaker and weaker till it was more noise than signal. Don't know if the system reduced power or what. But for a while I wasnt able to hear it so I deleted it from radio. Recently I tried again using my 800 mhz mag mount up on roof. I can receive it but lots of crackly static along with transmission but still readable. I am hoping yagi improves things. But I have a 100' hill right due east of my neighborhood so thats not helping.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

I used to be able to pick up Mass state PD earlier last year using a vhf homebrew vertical dipole on a 20' bamboo pole leaning up against house! I had the system programmed in my Radio Shack Pro 2055 and one day after I set up this vhf dipole, it was mainly for monitoring aircraft, I pressed the bank button the Mass State PD was on and it scanned and signals were GOOD! I didnt believe at first but for a non resonant antenna for 800 mhz it was working! But I noticed slowly from Jan 2019 on the signal started getting weaker and weaker till it was more noise than signal. Don't know if the system reduced power or what. But for a while I wasnt able to hear it so I deleted it from radio. Recently I tried again using my 800 mhz mag mount up on roof. I can receive it but lots of crackly static along with transmission but still readable. I am hoping yagi improves things. But I have a 100' hill right due east of my neighborhood so thats not helping.

How good are you Recieving the Bristol County Sheriff Analog Smart Net if you have that loaded in... Is it the same as Zone 3 in signal ?

They are not on the State system they have their own .

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

How good are you Recieving the Bristol County Sheriff Analog Smart Net if you have that loaded in... Is it the same as Zone 3 in signal ?

They are not on the State system they have their own .

Peter N1EXA

I have that system in my other 2 scanners and some freqs are full scale and others weak.....

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

I have that system in my other 2 scanners and some freqs are full scale and others weak.....

Sounds correct because there are mutiple sites across the county for that department.
Some reason your Attleboro Zone 3 site is awful for you - Thats your closest one then would be Acushnet MA.
Well- See if the Yagi does some imrovement for you.. Sounds like I would have to do the same to get Riscon East.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

I have that system in my other 2 scanners and some freqs are full scale and others weak.....

Sorry I re checked my scanner and apparently the Bristol County Fire group varies in strength, depends on frequency....but the Sheriff Net doesn't come in at all. I forgot to check it when I programmed it....cant even hear control freq so I deleted it. I will test out yagi next week when it comes in. First test out Attleboro site, then if still a problem I will check Acushnet site. I looked at map and Acushnet is further away to the east so not sure that one will work but I will check 'em out. I was out looking at where yagi is going to be mounted and I saw a couple brown HORNETS right near where I have to attach mast to gutter!!! DAMN! Luckily I had a new can of 12' spray wasp/hornet killer. I shot the whole can all over, and waited. I went out there later with long painters pole, extended it and whacked the corner trim where I saw bees. I whacked it real hard a few times and saw no activity. I am hoping the spray killed 'em all. Seems there was nest right inside the corner piece of vinyl siding, at top of the vertical siding piece is a gap. Thats where bees were going in. But I got the spray to go right in that gap and wash down inside. I will go out and hit the area again later today with pole. Antenna and new coax supposed to arrive MONDAY so I am planning on setting yagi up early Tuesday morning.

 

[bobruzzo]

Well
I have the 15x and a few 996s so Im in the freescan world not in Sentinal but what I did was each zone is a quick key so if i have 5 zones and I drive through the state I turn on the zone im in....if im in Taunton im in zone 3 then I drive to boston I shut off zone 3 around Avon and turn on 1 and 5 .

Your over in Rhode Island looking into MASS looking at all these systems in their zones not traveling through them but you still have to have
each one as A quick key assigned as a moto smart net 2 system with each ones 8-10 trunking frequencies along with the roaming control channel
the thing is" yes " you need to sort out all those talk groups...But if you just want Troop D then just put those in for zones 3 and 4 and such. D is
not in say Zone 1 and 5 that would be say H group in Boston and yes H will Show up in Zone 3 but not Zone 4.

I daunting but pretty cool once you have it all sorted out.

Peter N1EXA

OK I was assessing the situation for programming Mass State PD.......Since I can only receive the control channels for Bristol/Plymouth counties, Can I just append the talk groups in surrounding areas? So even though the outer Cape has a frequency site, obviously I can't hear that control channel(s) where I live...however I did include the talk groups from way out there and can hear Truro police on the Bristol/Plymouth site freqs. I hear Provincetown too. Not sure if I put in some Boston talk groups if they would come in over the Bristol/Plymouth site though. I didnt see the point of adding all those extra sites (freqs) for other areas since I can't receive them from here anyway. But there is a chance those distant TG's may be heard over the Bristol/Plymouth site.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

OK I was assessing the situation for programming Mass State PD.......Since I can only receive the control channels for Bristol/Plymouth counties, Can I just append the talk groups in surrounding areas? So even though the outer Cape has a frequency site, obviously I can't hear that control channel(s) where I live...however I did include the talk groups from way out there and can hear Truro police on the Bristol/Plymouth site freqs. I hear Provincetown too. Not sure if I put in some Boston talk groups if they would come in over the Bristol/Plymouth site though. I didnt see the point of adding all those extra sites (freqs) for other areas since I can't receive them from here anyway. But there is a chance those distant TG's may be heard over the Bristol/Plymouth site.

Yes- You are going to get many of the Cape police and fire on zone 3 and putting zone 4's talk groups on zone 3 will sort out
what your hearing .
As for Boston on Zone 3 You will get troop H , The HOC highway ops center , The prison transports and the environmental police
Ive also heard the state parks department and remember the SP Special ops and Events talk groups...Yes this zone is packed.

These are all patched over from other talk group because many of the states vehicles jump from zone to zone and there is overlay.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

Yes- You are going to get many of the Cape police and fire on zone 3 and putting zone 4's talk groups on zone 3 will sort out
what your hearing .
As for Boston on Zone 3 You will get troop H , The HOC highway ops center , The prison transports and the environmental police
Ive also heard the state parks department and remember the SP Special ops and Events talk groups...Yes this zone is packed.

These are all patched over from other talk group because many of the states vehicles jump from zone to zone and there is overlay.

Peter N1EXA

OK I just want to be sure what I am doing here. So In addition to the site frequencies for just Bristol/Plymouth county I also appended the (see photo's 11 & 22 below) following departments (TG's). I am not sure how well these are sorted or which ones will/won't work. I am not familiar with these agencies in Mass so I just picked the talk groups I ASSUMED would be listenable on Bristol/Plymouth site. I could always go back and start over if you can suggest a better set of TG's than what I have in the 2 pictures.

 

[KEWB-N1EXA]

You have it pretty much covered.
Ill assume this is in the Sentinal world ? Don't use it myself i'm in the Freescan World and Chicken pecking
in the Talk groups.

Id let it free run in Search and see what numbers you get. But what you picked out is most of them.

I also saw your comment on another topic that your using a Discone... That's not going to work on 800 Mhz for
long distance due to the radiation angle at high Frequency so the Yagi you ordered should resolve the 800 Mhz range issue.

Peter N1EXA

 

[bobruzzo]

You have it pretty much covered.
Ill assume this is in the Sentinal world ? Don't use it myself i'm in the Freescan World and Chicken pecking
in the Talk groups.

Id let it free run in Search and see what numbers you get. But what you picked out is most of them.

I also saw your comment on another topic that your using a Discone... That's not going to work on 800 Mhz for
long distance due to the radiation angle at high Frequency so the Yagi you ordered should resolve the 800 Mhz range issue.

Peter N1EXA

Yes I am a little concerned that the yagi will work fine on Mass St PD but my RISCON north, south and Prov zones will suffer due to yagi pointing away from those areas. The omni directional mag mount for 800 mhz picks them up very well. Thats the antenna I am currently using on my SDS200. The mag mount performs very well. But my reception of Mass ST PD is scratchy. So I am thinking with that yagi that may clear up the Mass St PD reception. But my RISCON signal strength may go down....but who knows? I may still pick up the RISCON sites off side of beam well enough to get a good decode. The Discone is on my BCD996P2 which is scanning the P25 US Navy marine freqs and the US Navy base at Newport RI. And I have an OMNI X way up high for my BCT15X which is used for all conventional stuff. So I have 3 scanners going. I still use FREESCAN for the 996 and 15x. I use Sentinel for the SDS200. I am trying to learn Proscan too.