Need help with Baltimore county talk groups

[magic1]

Hope someone can help me. I have a bearcat scanner. I'm trying to monitor Baltimore County police. I feel like everything is programmed correctly but I do not pick up any transmissions for Precint 3 (pikesville). I hear calls for every other precint. Does anyone know if Pikesville is somehow encrypted? I dont see how the scanner could not pick up this one specific talk group 9603. My understanding is that on a trunked system the entire county shares the same set of frequencies. Is their something unique about the Pikesville precint?

 

[tvengr]

Pikesville is precinct 4. Franklin is precinct 3. 9603 is the proper TGID for Pikesville Ops. While waiting, I am hearing traffic on the Pikesville talkgroup. Do you possibly have Pikesville locked out or avoided?

 

[magic1]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I had the precinct numbers reversed but its talk group 9603 that I am not picking up. I have nothing locked out. The fact that you are hearing traffic is good to know. Any other ideas would be appreciated. I can't think of anything else to try. I have the scanner set for ID search so it should pick up all talk groups even if they are explicitly programmed (which they are). I hear a lot of traffic from Essex, Towson, Woodlawn, Franklin, etc.. but zero out of Pikesville

 

[n1nlr]

Shot in the dark but could you be on the wrong site North vs. South and no radio from Pikesville is registered there?

Not that it helps too much but I did fire up unitrunker and I see activity on tg 9603 on the south site.

 

[magic1]

I was wondering if pikesville was considered north or south as it seems to be right in the middle. I thought perhaps there was another control channel that wasn't listed on radio reference. I'll keep tweaking things and see if something happens . Thanks for your input

 

[tvengr]

I always use the south site. The fire east division talkgroups are on the south site only.

 

[Bugkiller]

Where are you? What type of scanner you have?

 

[magic1]

Where are you? What type of scanner you have?

I have a bearcat bcd325p2. I'm scanning both the north and south control channels and I am close to pikesville.

 

[tvengr]

I have a lot of simulcast issues with the Baltimore County system with every scanner except the SDS100 and SDS200. I am in the Monkton area of northern Baltimore County. At my location, the BCD396XT, BCD996XT, BCD325P2, BCD996P2, BCD436HP, and BCD536 HP all have a very difficult time receiving the south site even though I have plenty of signal strength. The SDS100 and SDS200 work perfectly. I find that you miss a lot of both fire and police activity using the north site. There is a good chance that your scanner is not receiving anything on the south site due to simulcast even though it is programmed. Turn off the north site and see what you get using the south site alone.. Also, set your squelch at 2.

 

[Bugkiller]

In the past I also had problems listening to both Woodlawn and pikesville with my 996P2. Once I got the sds 100 and 200, I have no problems. I have been listening on the 996P2 since I read your post, have not heard a thing. Maybe you should think about a radio upgrade.

 

[maus92]

Baltimore County's system has been notorious wrt simulcast issues / LSM.

 

[magic1]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've locked out the north side and I am now hearing at least an occasional pikesville transmission. I wish I would have checked this forum before I bought the Bearcat. Sounds like the SDS would have been a better choice. I guess my other option would be to move to Parkville or Essex. There's a lot of activity out there.