NJICS/ 700 Reception

[KC2GVX]

Until yesterday or so I have been monitoring the NJICS 700 MHz system on the Bordentown simulcast in Ocean County. I notice today (and earlier in the week) I am no longer receiving anything. Please let me know if something changed.
Thanks!

 

[GTR8000]

Yes, something changed. The recent changes in Ocean County at the Toms River subsite have been discussed in the main NJICS thread, and the updates were made to the database several days ago. Please refer to the database for the details.

 

[rr60]

The answer you are looking for is likely in the NJICS thread.

New Jersey Interoperability Communication System (NJICS)

Hello, i’m looking for information on the NJICS forum regarding Atlantic Health EMS. When I am in the Jackson area of New Jersey, I am hearing Atlantic EMS units speaking with dispatch which is coming off the Bordentown simulcast site. I know they have paramedic units that are based out of...

forums.radioreference.com

or look at site list, see 56, the new Tom’s River, Bass River site

New Jersey Interoperability Communications System (NJICS) Trunking System, Statewide, Multi-State

New Jersey Interoperability Communications System (NJICS) Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[kd2pm]

Until yesterday or so I have been monitoring the NJICS 700 MHz system on the Bordentown simulcast in Ocean County. I notice today (and earlier in the week) I am no longer receiving anything. Please let me know if something changed.
Thanks!

Its starting to become if not weekly, daily where changes are going to be made. The Toms River Cell now consists of Toms River, Chatsworth, Bass River and Warren Grove. Eventually the Bordentown cell will consist of Cranbury, Millstone, Bordentown and Princeton. ASR sites will be moving into simulcast cells. The old larger cells that covered more of the state will be smaller to allow for new cells and new sites. The old days of 4.1 and 3 zones is a thing of the past. Not great for people that love to scan wide areas.

 

[GTR8000]

The old days of 4.1 and 3 zones is a thing of the past. Not great for people that love to scan wide areas.

True, but it could also be argued that the consolidation of a number of ASR's is making the NJICS more scannable. Pretty soon all of Monmouth County (except for Millstone) will be its own cell, the consolidation of 3 of the 4 Morris County ASR's, etc. Anyone within the coverage area of the newly formed cells will no longer have to choose which ASR to scan, and will ultimately have more traffic to listen to across a wider area. It'll obviously never match the 3 cell super wide area of the 4.1 system, but it's better than it was in many respects.

 

[kd2pm]

True, but it could also be argued that the consolidation of a number of ASR's is making the NJICS more scannable. Pretty soon all of Monmouth County (except for Millstone) will be its own cell, the consolidation of 3 of the 4 Morris County ASR's, etc. Anyone within the coverage area of the newly formed cells will no longer have to choose which ASR to scan, and will ultimately have more traffic to listen to across a wider area. It'll obviously never match the 3 cell super wide area of the 4.1 system, but it's better than it was in many respects.

This is also true. Rather than having to scan multiple ASR's and perhaps miss out, scanning a cell or 2 is easier than a bunch of ASR's. The fortunate ones are the ones that live in the overlap of the cells and can get more bang for their buck. Best I will get eventually is the Bordentown Cell. With Princeton moving from Hunterdon Cell to Bordentown Cell, thats less coverage area for me to listen to.

 

[APX8000]

Overlapping coverage is an understatement....I can literally lock West Orange, Morris, Union and Passaic simulcasts from certain areas. The system is coming along nicely.

 

[rr60]

I will chime in, like a fine wine, as NJICS ages, it only gets better. I just hope that it will be kept in great shape as time passes. Going to take time, money and people.

I receive sites from Passaic and West Orange and Union County to North, Morris and Hunterdon, South to Bordentown and Freehold over to Wall and Monmouth and everything in between that.

When tropo is around (soon) all of the South sites come in. NJICS is good. Kudos.

 

[evilgriff]

I am in western Morris County , and have lost all of my digital reception recently. SDS 100. I was already in a place where it was impossible to get the State Police, now I can't even get local areas except for analog. Scanner appears to be working normally, the dispaly shows the correct info, just no more reception.

I think I had one tower that did simulcast from where I live, and I think it went offline.

 

[GTR8000]

Where exactly in western Morris? Make sure you have the latest updates for both systems in your scanner. There have been quite a few changes over the past few months with NJICS realigning sites, and Morris switching over from UHF to 700 MHz.

There are two NJICS sites you should be able to receive: Site 58 simulcast with subsites in Netcong and Jefferson, or Site 32 in Washington Twsp.



The county's 700 cell has numerous subsites, so you ought to be in range of at least one.

 

[evilgriff]

Hackettstown. I could get Morris County before, never NJ State Police. I updated sentinel. Updated Scanner, including firmware update. Morris county is dead. I am on the other side of the hill from Netcong, not sure what tower I originally picked up from, but still have no digital reception. Scanner says data, P25 while scanning, but doesn't lock on anything.

Is there anyplace in Sentinel I should check? I wonder if the Sentinel database has made the appropriate changes if necessary.

 

[GTR8000]

Scan only the 700 MHz site for Morris. No public safety is left on the UHF site.

 

[evilgriff]

I receive VHF from Warren County. Compared frequency in Sentinel from Washington to RR, it's a match. RR has no listing for Netcong for me to compare it to. but I have 773.05260 and 774.031250, 774.281250 and 774.531250.

I'm not sure which of these two sites I had before, but the one I had could not do the state police. Now I can't get either. I will take the unit for a drive and see if it works at another location.

Seems like on the RR database it says NAC 293 for most things, mine say 390 for most including Netcong and Washington. Don't know if that matters.

 

[trentbob]

I am in Pennsylvania right across and just south of Trenton along the Delaware River. I'm on the edge of the reception area for Bordentown.

I only listen to two talk groups from Troop C, 10 comm Marine dispatch and 1 comm which is police helicopter dispatch better known as division call.

I've made all the appropriate changes even though the control channel is the same but was having some reception issues when I shouldn't have been.

I use the SDS 100 and 200. At first I thought of putting the NAC on search but what really works is globally putting on ignore NAC and it was night and day, five bars, consistent data indicator and great reception for the 2 talk groups I listen to.

 

[GTR8000]

I receive VHF from Warren County. Compared frequency in Sentinel from Washington to RR, it's a match. RR has no listing for Netcong for me to compare it to. but I have 773.05260 and 774.031250, 774.281250 and 774.531250.

I'm not sure which of these two sites I had before, but the one I had could not do the state police. Now I can't get either. I will take the unit for a drive and see if it works at another location.

Seems like on the RR database it says NAC 293 for most things, mine say 390 for most including Netcong and Washington. Don't know if that matters.

It seems like you didn't read my posts. I told you to update Sentinel and exactly which sites to try scanning. Even provided maps showing the nearest tower locations. Can't help you until you make sure to be using the latest version of the database, which it doesn't appear that you are.

 

[evilgriff]

Database says its updated. I did that plus a firmware update first. Oh well.

 

[GTR8000]

Yeah, that's not the latest list. You have sites listed that are no longer valid, and you're missing the newest sites. Is that a Favorites List you're referencing, or the full database? Something doesn't add up. I suggest that you take a look at the NJICS system in the database, where all of the sites are listed. Then do another Update Master Database (HPDB) in Sentinel. Note that if you already have the NJICS in a Favorites List, that does not get updated with the database update, you have to delete your old list and append the system again.

 

[kd2pm]

Definitely not right. Still has Cranbury and there is no NYC at Penn Station.

 

[rr60]

Database says its updated. I did that plus a firmware update first. Oh well.View attachment 142418

YouTube is your friend. Plenty of how to update SentIntel Database SD100. Good luck!

 

[GTR8000]

Definitely not right. Still has Cranbury and there is no NYC at Penn Station.

Yeah, his list shows a ton of ASR's that no longer exist, plus it's missing all of the new and realigned cells. Gotta be a few years old just going by the fact that most of the NAC are still 390 on is list, those were changed quite some time ago.

He's either a) not updating the HPDB correctly or b) doesn't realize that an HPDB updates doesn't update anything already in a favorites list

If you don't see this at the bottom of Sentinel, then you don't have the latest updates. And if you created a favorite list for NJICS, then you need to delete that and start over by appending the system again.