Norman Trunk

[hcary1]

I think I'm running into a problem on the Norman Trunk. From OKC I can get 858.9875 when doing a normal scan, but I don't pick up anything in trunk mode.

Is this frequency not trunked?

Thanks!

 

[n5bew1]

Hi Ken here in Norman. First do you have all 10 freqs for the Norman system programed in your scanner? Also what kind of scanner do you have and where are you in OKC? You might be in a fringe area and in a bad spot. Thanks Ken

 

[fast2okc]

858.9875 is not part of the City of Norman Trunked system. It is part of the Norman site of the State System. Which system are you trying to monitor and what frequencies do you have programmed?

--FAST 2

 

[hcary1]

I'm trying to monitor Norman Police and Fire. I'm near Western and I-44. I believe I have the correct freqs and ID's(See below). I'm using a Uniden Bearcat Trunktracker III BC780XLT. All freq's are trunked and the scanner is in trunk mode.

856.7625
856.9625
857.7625
857.9625
858.7625
858.9625
859.7625
859.9625
860.7625
860.9625


016016 Norman Police
016048 Norman PD A
016080 Norman PD B
016112 Norman PD C
016144 Norman PD D
016208 Norman PD Invest
016240 Norman PD Invest
016336 Norman Emerg Res
016464 Norman Super
019216 Norman Fire DC
019472 Norman Fire Comn
019504 Norman Fire Comn
020816 OU PD
020848 OU PD2

 

[n5bew1]

Hello again ...sounds like you are up north I-44 and Western you may have problems unless you have a good outside antenna. I have a BC-780xlt in my mobile and I start losing the signals mobile north of I-40. Between say I-240 and I-40 there are lots of dead spots. I use 5 Dbd gain cellphone antenna on my van roof. I know on the east side of Norman I have problems getting the OHP OKC site in my driveway. Also I didn't even notice the Norman site OHP freq in your first post but your ok on your Norman list. Ken

 

[fast2okc]

Norman

When you put the scanner in trunk mode, does it lock on a control channel and scan for ID's?

If you put the scanner in normal scanning mode (not trunked), do you pick up the control channel?

If not, you may need to do something to improve your reception. An outside antenna will help a lot, since 800MHz frequencies do not carry as well as the old VHF frequencies.

Sometimes just moving the scanner around the room will change what you can receive.

--FAST2

As for 858.9875MHz, the state site in Norman has better range than the city of Norman site. I believe it's on top of the energy building at OU.

 

[n5bew1]

The Norman system has 2 sites they share the rooftop of the OU energy center with the state system which is right at 180 feet above ground. Norman's other simalcast site is at NE 108th and about Rock Creek road
next to Falls-Lakeview school. They have about a 200 ft tower there. I also feel the OHP system must run more transmitter power than Norman.
Ken

 

[hcary1]

I've got my scanner at my office near Integris Baptist. I've got a low loss cable running 7 floors to the roof where I've attached a Radio Shack Outdoor VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna. It picks up the 800 band like crap. I should be picking up Norman, OHP and Edmond with no problem. Could I have the wrong antenna? It it because I don't have discone?

I'm at least 350 feet off the ground.


Thanks

 

[n5bew1]

Hello Ken here again with another question how many feet of coax and exactly what kind of coax do you have? An antenna with some gain on 800 mhz would be nice. The radio shack antenna may only be tuned or designed for VHF and UHF freqs only and may be let than effecient on trunking freqs. Also 800 mhz cell phone sites close by could be causing a problem desensing your scanner. If you can capture a trunking data channel long enough to turn on the attenuation and that improves the signal on the date channel then you have interference from a cell phone site. Turning on the attenuation on the systems in question may help you out. If you turn the attenuation on and the date channel goes away then you need more signal. I am wandering what the attenuation per hundred feet is on the coax your using. best regards Ken

 

[hcary1]

Thanks. I'm using around 250-390 feet of RG-8.

This is Motorola 2 800, right?

 

[n5bew1]

Hello again I think I am begining to see the problem. The long coax run is
is probably attenuating all of you signals. For example a good rg-8 type coax is 9913 by belden at 800 mhz the loss in signal per 100 ft of coax is about 8.0 decibels and that is for a good rg-8 at higher freqencies. Rg-213 coax which is a military grade stuff the loss is about 13.0 decibels per 100 feet. In the worst case scenario 390 ft of rg-213 your loss is about 50 decibels. What does that mean? You may as well not even have that antenna hooked to your scanner. Just 3 decibel loss is 1/2 of your signal. That is reciprical on transmit and receive. If you transmited 100 watts with a 3 decibel loss in the coax you will get only 50 to the antenna. A mag mount cell phone antenna on a metal file cabinet next to your scanner may be more use to you. Hope this has been some help. Good luck Ken