Novice Needs Help ....

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dusty037

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I am listening to Washington County but can't pick up the smaller agencies like Farmington, Prairie Grove, or Lincoln, or even Sheriffs office. Using BCD325P2 in ID Search mode. Can anyone help? Thanks.
 

03msc

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I am listening to Washington County but can't pick up the smaller agencies like Farmington, Prairie Grove, or Lincoln, or even Sheriffs office. Using BCD325P2 in ID Search mode. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Do you mean you are monitoring them in ID Search mode on the AWIN system?

If the database for Washington County is correct, those smaller agencies are using conventional FM and not the P25 digital AWIN system.

Are you monitoring their conventional frequencies and not hearing anything?
 

dusty037

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Novice ....

Yes, I am monitoring ARWIN in ID Search mode, but have also set up a conventional system to try to pick up the smaller towns without hearing any. I asked a local police officer (Prairie Grove) what frequency they used and was told they were part of a system that pooled their frequencies, so I have to wonder if the RR database is up-to-date.
 

hiegtx

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Yes, I am monitoring ARWIN in ID Search mode, but have also set up a conventional system to try to pick up the smaller towns without hearing any. I asked a local police officer (Prairie Grove) what frequency they used and was told they were part of a system that pooled their frequencies, so I have to wonder if the RR database is up-to-date.
Looking at the database page for Washington County, I see this system as well: Washington County Dept. of Emergency Management Trunking System, Fayetteville, Arkansas - Scanner Frequencies
The comments are "Used by most Public Safety Agencies in the County."

There is only one talkgroup ID listed in the database, but if multiple agencies are using this, I suspect that no one has identified & submitted other talkgroups that are in use. Are you using "ID Search on only the AWIN system? Or, have you also programmed this system & are listening to it in ID Search mode?
 

03msc

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Just remember that other system, with all of the unidentified TGs and such, is a Passport system and not P25.

And it's AWIN - Arkansas Wireless Information Network - not ARWIN.
 
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dusty037

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I have set up the Emergency Management system but never hear anything on it. The scanner just runs through the list of agencies with a 2-second pause on each one. I just tried visiting FCC. gov for Washington County licensees but couldn't navigate their site to find them.
 

dusty037

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By the way, I have the Emergency Management system set up as a LTR using ID Search. I hear nothing on it, although AWIN is very active on its system.
 

03msc

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It's an LTR Passport system (per the database, at least) and I'm not sure but that may make a difference in how it's programmed. In fact, a search yielded "no scanner can track a Passport system" posts in many places, but I am not sure if that is still accurate. I do know that LTR Passport is different than just a regular LTR system.

Hopefully someone else will come along and confirm this or correct it.

EDIT: Per the wiki on this website, the 325P2 will track LTR Standard only, among many other types.
 

hiegtx

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It's an LTR Passport system (per the database, at least) and I'm not sure but that may make a difference in how it's programmed. In fact, a search yielded "no scanner can track a Passport system" posts in many places, but I am not sure if that is still accurate. I do know that LTR Passport is different than just a regular LTR system.

Hopefully someone else will come along and confirm this or correct it.

EDIT: Per the wiki on this website, the 325P2 will track LTR Standard only, among many other types.
You're correct in that no scanner will track a Passport system. However, one of the air medical companies here in the DFW metro area (CareFlite) used to use a passport system. While I could not trunk track it, entering the frequencies as conventional channels allowed me to keep track of what was going on. Just use a channel delay of one second or less, so that the scanner does not get hung up on the data bursts.

Looking at the system, it appears that each town has it's own site, so on the Prairie Grove site, I suspect that you would hear, primarily, only transmissions from that town, You won't see talkgroups, so that might be a little harder to follow a specific conversation, but it does work.
 

dusty037

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Thanks to all for your expert help. Any further comments are welcome, but I guess I'll just stick to AWIN for now and try to wade through FCC.gov for conventional frequencies for the Emergency Management system. Regards all.
 

wbloss

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Thanks to all for your expert help. Any further comments are welcome, but I guess I'll just stick to AWIN for now and try to wade through FCC.gov for conventional frequencies for the Emergency Management system. Regards all.

A couple of suggestions - when the band is up I do hear activity on the individual frequencies of the Wash Co Emergency Management Passport system from my location in Joplin MO. You CAN monitor the individual frequencies listed, but not "track" it and/or see individual Talkgroup usage. You will hear what is going on.

And RR has done much of the work of wading thru the FCC data. On the Wash Co RR page:

Washington County, Arkansas (AR) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
click the FCC License Tab and click "All license in Wash Co", then click any red boxes that are turned off, adding things like public safety conventional etc. Then you can look in alphabetical order for what you want. Kinda handy.

w
 

INDY72

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There is no scanner that can track an PassPORT LTR system. If you have an discriminator tapped scanner, you can feed that into software and log data on the system that way. (Get LCNs, TGIDs, monitor activity) If you also have another scanner running to monitor the audio, it is then easy to ID usage for the TGIDs. Trunked Radio Decoders - The RadioReference Wiki


Here is how to monitor an PassPORT LTR system: Program all frequencies in as conventional, with NO DELAY on ANY frequencies! There are data bursts every 2 to 4 seconds, so using an delay will cause your scanner to lock up on each freq uselessly forever and miss many comms. GRE made, Radio Shack sold PRO-96/PRO-2096 actually works very good, as there is a trick that can be used on PassPORT LTR systems that makes the data bursts almost non existent to bare minimum.
 

dusty037

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Yesterday I programmed the LTR Passport frequencies as conventional with no delay ... I have been receiving the local agencies since and am very happy. The only problem is that the signals are weak and I suspect my antenna is optimized for 700 - 800 MHz instead of the 400 MHz the local channels use. Would a Radio Shack center-loaded antenna work better? Thanks for your help.
 
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