"New" Palmetto 800 Site 2-91

[evan]

Site 2-91 with CC 772.46875 is being listed as a neighboring site by the Lexington Simulcast site.
The only FCC license I see listed with this frequency is in Union. See ULS License - Trunked Public Safety 700 MHz License - WRPW598 - SC DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION (DTO) - Locations Summary
(Note the radioreference FCC database is down so I had to search in the actual FCC ULS database which is less user friendly)
Can anyone in the Union area see if they can hear a CC on this frequency? I am a little surprised that a Union County site would be a neighbor to a Lexington County site.

 

[mrat1234]

Even I helped work the Irmo okra strut Friday and Saturday night. we operated on LCSD 4 Roam (24510). When I looked to see what site my radio was on i saw it was on "site 65". Upon further looking to where site 65 was I found it was long mountain in Oconee county. Maybe skip was really good last night but I don't know. As you said their is a new 5 channel site in southern union county with a fcc license of WRPW598. Its used to improve coverage in the lower part of the county as union county is in the process of moving all agencies to palmetto 800. Chester is doing the same by adding 2 sites.

 

[KMG54]

Northern Pickens county here, going to fire up DSD+FL and see what I hear

 

[KMG54]

Flatlined here, no signal.

 

[evan]

Site (1) 65 is a site in downtown Columbia, the purpose of which has never been very clear. I've never seen any voice traffic on it, and I have always assumed it is used for testing. Perhaps it can be used as a temporary site for special events? Or maybe roam talkgroups are "allowed" to use it? The Control Channel is 853.75. I haven't included it in the database because it will cause all kind of problems for programming since virtually no talkgroups affiliate with it. If you watch site activity in a control channel decoder, all you see is a bunch of "denials"

 

[mrat1234]

what's the channel/frequency lineup of the standalone cola site? I believe I found the FCC license for it is WPUR551.

 

[brian]

I can monitor the Union site 2-87 very well from my location. But I get nothing on 772.4675. This site 2-91 is listed as a neighbor to the Union site. It's possible that it's out of my monitoring range. Or maybe it's not yet on the air. I'm rarely closer to that area to get a signal. I imagine someone travelling down I-26 near Clinton might be able to receive it.

 

[mrat1234]

There is also a new site in Lancaster county in ember lane area with a fcc license of WRAM822 with a control channel of 854.6125 unknown of the site id. There is also a new site in St George in Dorchester county with a fcc license of WRCV230 unknown on control channel and site id. I was also briefly able to catch the control channels for the 700mhz statewide portable site while visiting Lexington but did not get the site id.

Union South *Possible new site 2-91*
FCC - WRPW598
771.56875
771.84375
772.14375
772.46875 - Control Channel
774.71875

ST George (Dorchester County)
FCC - WRCV230
851.2875
851.775
852.4875
853.0625
853.800
858.2125
859.2125
859.7625

Ember Lane (Lancaster County)
FCC - WRAM822
851.1875
852.7875
854.1375
851.975
853.7375
856.9625
854.6125 - Control Channel

Statewide Portable Site (SOW)
FCC - WPTZ777
773.58125
773.83125
774.08125
774.33125
774.58125 - Control Channel
774.83125 - Control Channel

 

[evan]

what's the channel/frequency lineup of the standalone cola site? I believe I found the FCC license for it is WPUR551.

Yes that is the correct callsign. 853.75 is CC, 853.45 is alternate CC.

 

[mrat1234]

Even could you also verify the Richland and Lexington county simulcast sites as well as the Harbison and Simpson sites control channels as well as their alternate control channels I don't believe there correct. Mainly the Lexington county and Simson sites

 

[evan]

Even could you also verify the Richland and Lexington county simulcast sites as well as the Harbison and Simpson sites control channels as well as their alternate control channels I don't believe there correct. Mainly the Lexington county and Simson sites

The CCs for Lexington and Richland are accurate. I cannot monitor Simpson from my location.

 

[mrat1234]

Is anyone aware of any changes coming to the SC forestry radios/communications. Over the past few weeks "Pee Dee 71" has been doing radio checks on SC Forestry 800 (27827).

Forestry Commission Roam/SC Forestry Commission Group Calls Live

27827 Group Calls Live

www.broadcastify.com

 

[mrat1234]

Is anyone able to hear SCHP Troop 4 and the Fairfield county sheriff's office? I haven't been able to hear them for a couple days. I usually hear them off the Simson (Fairfield) site. I have checked and the control channel is still 853.6625 so that didn't change. I also checked the talkgroups and everything else but no luck.

 

[mrat1234]

Hi all im still unable to hear the Fairfield county sheriff and schp troop 4. I confirmed that the Simpson site control channel is still 853.6625. I found that if I scan the Simpson site conventially im able to hear schp troop 1 and 4 as well as coulumbia-richland fire but still not able to hear the Fairfield county sheriff or Winnsboro dps. If I scan the Simpson site trunked then i hear nothing.

 

[evan]

Hi all im still unable to hear the Fairfield county sheriff and schp troop 4. I confirmed that the Simpson site control channel is still 853.6625. I found that if I scan the Simpson site conventially im able to hear schp troop 1 and 4 as well as coulumbia-richland fire but still not able to hear the Fairfield county sheriff or Winnsboro dps. If I scan the Simpson site trunked then i hear nothing.

Not sure what the issues are on your end, but Fairfield SO is still on Palm800, unencrypted.

 

[RoundCube803]

i think Richland County should move to decrypted general broadcast, and keep their November/India/Delta etc. encrypted, I mean they’re on on patrol live every weekend.

 

[mrat1234]

I still don't know what the problem was but I replaced my antenna and wiped my scanner and reprogrammed it. Now Im getting Fairfield loud and clear. On the Columbia site (Site 65) I believe it may be a backup site in the event the surrounding sites go down for some reason. Although if I put my agency issued radio on LCSD 4 it will connect to (Site 65) if I use the site scan button. What I find strange is the official name for (Site 65) is (Palmetto Center) but in all of my agency's radios it is labeled (Site 65) so who knows.

 

[brian]

I recall back in the earlier days of Palmetto 800, well before simulcast was a thing, the primary site that covered the downtown Columbia area was called Palmetto Center. I believe this name referred to the name of the building it was housed in. A quick google search didn't turn up any obvious results about a building with that name in Columbia, so I suspect that building is called something else now.

I seem to recall that the Palmetto Center site got grouped with the other sites in Richland County (I recall Eastover, and there must have been on in the Northeast part of the county that I can't remember the name of) to form the Richland Simulcast site. However, I think there's also a tower for the Lexington site at that same location, or maybe there was. I just looked, and both the Richland Simulcast (2-40) and Lexington Simulcast (2-32) have sites located at 1426 Main Street. Looks like that's now an apartment or student housing building now.

FCC license WPUR551, which appears to be the license that covers Site 1-65 and 853.750, is also located at 1426 Main Street. So that's three different "sites" at the same location.

From a channel utilization standpoint, I see the logic in having both the Lexington site and Richland site having a co-located tower in the downtown Columbia area. It prevents all Richland County talkgroups from being transmitted throughout Lexington County, and it prevents all Lexington County talkgroups from being transmitted throughout Richland County. And both counties have coverage in the downtown Columbia area. But the purpose for Site 1-65 seems to still be a mystery.

 

[GamecockSJ]

I would assume that site is for the state agencies/USC in a SHTF scenario. If traffic was heavy downtown state agencies could be pushed off to site 65 and RCSD etc keep using the simulcast.

Palmetto Center was SCANA’s HQ, now the Hub student apartment building.

 

[brian]

You may be correct. But technically, I'm not sure how a subscriber radio is "steered" to a particular site. The subscriber radio itself has the intelligence that determines which site it affiliates to. I guess the system could force de-affiliation from the site the radios are currently affiliated to and the radios would search for another site to try.