Nevada Highway Patrol. I-80/US-95. Is this FreeSCAN programming correct??

[amoking]

Hello All,

See my FreeSCAN sheet attached. I did my homework on this the best I can. I'm going from California to Idaho soon and wanted to listen to NV Highway Patrol. I'll be going E-80 to N-95 at Winnemucca. I believe that I have selected the correct repeaters (EDW) but the Nevada DPS (GRP) has a lot of talk groups (TGID) in there. I removed the Elko and Las Vegas stuff. Are the 'patches' used or needed? Using a 996P2.

Is an 800mhz antenna still the way to go here or is a longer VHF whip better due to the distances between repeaters?

Thanks in advance.

 

[markclark]

My experience in northwest Nevada is the patches aren't necessary to monitor NHP. You have to get the local repeaters right. There are many fill-in sites that can be ignored as the higher elevation sites provide adequate monitoring coverage. In the Reno area program the Washoe county system.

 

[amoking]

My experience in northwest Nevada is the patches aren't necessary to monitor NHP. You have to get the local repeaters right. There are many fill-in sites that can be ignored as the higher elevation sites provide adequate monitoring coverage. In the Reno area program the Washoe county system.

What is the purpose of the patches opposed to the repeaters?

 

[737mech]

In my opinion the patches are rarely used and why markclark stated that. He's trying to minimize your programming to enhance your scanning experience. I'd agree in southern Nevada the patches are rarely used. The purpose is to allow inter-agency comms. Ie rural FD to NHP or Mercy Air Flight. Patches also are used for NHP to NHP county to county say for example a patrol from Clark County to a Guy in Nye County. But Like I said I can't report they are used very often.

 

[gmclam]

Is an 800mhz antenna still the way to go here or is a longer VHF whip better due to the distances between repeaters?

Distance between repeaters and longer antenna are two separate issues. While most stuff is now on 700/800MHz, there is plenty of VHF high band. I'd use an antenna that's at least designed for those bands. To get the best reception, you should be using an antenna external to your vehicle. Using a portable antenna inside the vehicle is not ideal.

When monitoring Washoe (or Clark) counties, there is a ton of traffic. And a lot of it is boring. But out in the boonies, I like to hear "everything" I can. That road flagging crew could be the one thing you should hear to avoid the area. When in those areas, I'd search each tower site and employ wild cards (Uniden ID Search) so as to not miss something. Then lock out things you do hear that you don't want to hear again.

 

[amoking]

Distance between repeaters and longer antenna are two separate issues. While most stuff is now on 700/800MHz, there is plenty of VHF high band. I'd use an antenna that's at least designed for those bands. To get the best reception, you should be using an antenna external to your vehicle. Using a portable antenna inside the vehicle is not ideal.

When monitoring Washoe (or Clark) counties, there is a ton of traffic. And a lot of it is boring. But out in the boonies, I like to hear "everything" I can. That road flagging crew could be the one thing you should hear to avoid the area. When in those areas, I'd search each tower site and employ wild cards (Uniden ID Search) so as to not miss something. Then lock out things you do hear that you don't want to hear again.

I've found here in CA that my 40mhz whip sometimes picks up 800 stuff better than a dedicated Laird 800 or Larsen triband when out in the more remote areas. That was the basis for my inquiry.

 

[es93546]

Hello All,

See my FreeSCAN sheet attached. I did my homework on this the best I can. I'm going from California to Idaho soon and wanted to listen to NV Highway Patrol. I'll be going E-80 to N-95 at Winnemucca. I believe that I have selected the correct repeaters (EDW) but the Nevada DPS (GRP) has a lot of talk groups (TGID) in there. I removed the Elko and Las Vegas stuff. Are the 'patches' used or needed? Using a 996P2.

Is an 800mhz antenna still the way to go here or is a longer VHF whip better due to the distances between repeaters?

Thanks in advance.

For 850 MHz a full wave antenna is around 13", so increased length would not, theoretically at least, do any good. I'm not sure why amoking's 40 MHz whip would increase reception of 850 MHz signals, but if it works for him, who cares about theory?

 

[amoking]

Can anyone advise if I need to set up quick keys for each EDW? I tried to set the Main EDC to my #2 quick key and it defaulted all EDWs to 2 as well

 

[737mech]

Can anyone advise if I need to set up quick keys for each EDW? I tried to set the Main EDC to my #2 quick key and it defaulted all EDWs to 2 as well

Yes if you want to narrow down the list of sites you want to scan and improve scan speed then assign each edw site a different quick key. Check your EDC quick key setting it might be "By Site" that's why you had them all go to that one key.

 

[amoking]

Yes if you want to narrow down the list of sites you want to scan and improve scan speed then assign each edw site a different quick key.

Right now I'm at 9 EDWs plus the 'NV DPS' GRP. I don't think I need the 'NV DPS' per se. I want my CHPs in Quick Key 1 and NVs in Quick Key 2 with the secondary quick keys for NV going to each EDW. It this doable with NV's system?

 

[Hutchmoney14]

Amoking could export for Freescan file and attach it here?