New Arlington County TRS Talkgroups?

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OldsDoug

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Anybody have any updated information about the talkgroups for Arlington County's new system? I have it programmed into my BC-396 but have yet to hear anything that I know of... am in Gaithersburg MD and have had trouble in the past hearing the old system on the BC-796 in the house with an antenna in the attic... not sure if I'm out of range or what... haven't been over to Arlington since the new system went in service. I'm trying to winkle some system information for us via a friend who is an Arlington firefighter, but no luck yet. I plan to check my programming this weekend, but would be interested in any comments that anyone has.

Regards,

Doug
 

dtscho

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Doug,

The database has a very good listing of the talkgroups:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=5000

Can you hear the control channel (lately it's been 860.4375) from where you are? I suspect you may be too far away. I know when I was at a hotel in Bethesda last fall--on an upper floor--I had trouble copying both the analog and digital system.

Dave
 

OldsDoug

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Doug,

The database has a very good listing of the talkgroups:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=5000

Can you hear the control channel (lately it's been 860.4375) from where you are? I suspect you may be too far away. I know when I was at a hotel in Bethesda last fall--on an upper floor--I had trouble copying both the analog and digital system.

Dave

Hey Dave,

Good thought about trying to pick up the control channel, thanks, that never occurred to me - will try it when I get home tonight.

I suspect the talkgroups in the database are incorrect - I don't know much about this stuff, but they don't look like any other Motorola TG numbers I've ever seen... they appear to be just consecutive integers. I need to double-check, but I think I programmed those into my 396 and never heard anything... and I think I have the radio set to ID Search for Arlington... that's some other stuff I plan to check this weekend. Thanks again for the suggestion to try the control channel, that should tell me if I'm within range... that is _definitely_ questionable and needs to be checked before anything else!

Mods (and everyone) - I bozo'd and inadvertently put this under the breaking news area - sorry about that, feel free to move it and demote me / give me extra duty / whatever! :)

DK
 

fmon

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I suspect the talkgroups in the database are incorrect - I don't know much about this stuff, but they don't look like any other Motorola TG numbers I've ever seen... they appear to be just consecutive integers.
The system is P25 though works similar to Motorola, Talkgroups are available from 1 through 65535 .

Edit: Motorola has the same range but starts at 16 and each TG is a multiple of 16.
 
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OldsDoug

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The system is P25 though works similar to Motorola, Talkgroups are available from 1 through 65535 .

Edit: Motorola has the same range but starts at 16 and each TG is a multiple of 16.

Frank, thanks, I didn't know either of those...

Dave, I just tried to pick up the control channels only and no good... thanks for that idea - looks as if I must be out of range... will probably be making a jaunt over there on Sunday and will see if I can hear anything then, but still, it seems strange to me... only about 25 miles and I'm at a reasonable elevation...

Regards,

Doug
 

ka3jjz

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25 miles on an indoor antenna on an 800 Mhz P25 system? Almost certainly right on the edge, particularly with all the structures around you. Time for an antenna upgrade, I fear 73 Mike
 

OldsDoug

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Hi Mike, yeah, been thinking about that. I did try to pick up just the control channels as Dave suggested and nada... am possibly headed over there to my buddy's today and will take the radio with me and see what it does.

Apparently these 800-systems are low-power?

Thanks everybody.

DK
 

ka3jjz

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It may not necessarily be a question of power; the antennas might be turned to favor Arlington and reject other areas (Philadelphia's system is like that). Much more likely is the fact that if you're not high enough, the 800 Mhz signal must penetrate so many obstacles that you're losing before you even begin. In this case, height means hearing! I'll bet if you got your antenna up above the obstacles, you might have a somewhat better shot, although I think you're still in a murky distance for that system. 73 Mike
 
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