Need some help w/ Monroe county trunked

[kyledooley]

I'm driving down to from Miami to key west this week. I'm in key largo right now and can't seem to hear a thing. I have a 396xt and have the system programmer with all the controls and the SO TGs i'm interested in. The problem is it I can't hear a thing.

If I hold on the control channel there is the usual cc audio but no tg IDs popping up. Sweep the same cc freq in search in cc only mode and it pops ids all day including the mcso dispatch I was wanting to hear in the first place.

The only odd thing I've noticed is an I'd that starts with either an I or an upsidedown !

I even initilized the radio.

I'm stumped.

Kyle

sorry about the odd spelling. I'm fat-fingering my iPod on this one.

 

[gcr33]

All the freq in the RR database are correct. The smartzone system has been rebanded. Note that this system is primarily digital. All law enforcement is APCO 25. The mini trans busses are analog. Make sure with the modulation setting is set to allow both. You will not not hear everything from one end to the other due to it being smartzoned. The SO Patrol 1 is the primary channel and you should hear numerous traffic stops and other calls. Most of the fire is on UHF but there is some use of the trunk system,

 

[kyledooley]

Thanks for the reply. I seem to be up to speed on it all. My xt is acting like the fleet map is off or something like that. I changed it from standard 8/900 to 800 splinter just to experiment and now it will track but still no audio. I'll keep playing. I'm definitely missing something.

I've been in Key Largo but moving down to Marathon so we'll see how it goes there.

Kyle

 

[Bote]

I took a trip down to the Keys right after they rebanded. On the way down it was dead quiet so I knew something was amiss. When I got down there I checked and reprogrammed both scanners with me per the listings in the database here and everything started chattering again. This was both a 996T and a PRO-197/GRE PSR-600 mobiles.

Monroe County fire is operating on the trunked system. I could tell because they had the digital mush-mouth on the UHF repeaters, while the dispatcher's wireline audio was clear on UHF. I imagine that if the volunteers have personal radios that they come in on the UHF inputs.

There's a bunch of stuff on the trunked system, including the water authority, the power company, the buses, and probably some other users.

There is also a series of UHF repeaters in the Keys that identifies with what sounds like an A.C.C. ham repeater controller, announcing the "Monroe County emergency management" system or similar. I have never heard them used by Humans, though, only the identifiers.

Don't forget about the marine channels. You are surrounded by water and sometimes you can hear some interesting comms.

Be sure you obey the speed limit through the Key deer refuge on Big Pine Key. They're not kidding around.

 

[kyledooley]

Bote:

Thanks for the reply.

What I seem to have found out is that this system will not track in control channel only mode. But if I put in all the channels in the system and let it classic trunktrack it works like a charm.

I had a couple of hours by the pool and just did a search from 851 to 854, let it lock on the strongest cc and track the freqs to make sure I wasn't missing any.

In the end, I'm guessing this system has some sort of curious base/offset combination for it not to play nicely in cc-only mode. Us city-folk all dependent on the techy toys... I had to get old-school on it to git r done.

Kyle

 

[sflmonitor]

I just ran across the same problem today. I have my 396xt programmed as per the RR database (via Freescan). I can't seem to get it to lock or even acknowledge the Key Largo cc. I actually pulled over right across from the Key Largo site and was able to hear the cc 852.600 MHz in conventional mode with my other scanner (396t). However, I can get intermittent transmissions from the Plantation Key site. So I'm still trying to figure out why the Key Largo site isn't working for me.

Do you guys happen to know if the "Site Type" on the 396xt has to be set to Mot 800MHz standard or Mot Custom/Reband? And if it needs to be in Mot Custom/Reband, what's the system band plan?

 

[sflmonitor]

***UPDATE***

OK, I think I just found the answer to my question. I erased and downloaded the Monroe County system again from the RR database with Freescan. This time it has the Site Type set to Mot Custom/Reband and the Band Plan is already there. My previous download didn't have these settings. I am listening to MCSO again.