WS1040: Ohio MARCS

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craigakagravy

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I'm having trouble receiving transmissions from defiance van wert and Paulding counties. I hear bits and pieces. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Watched videos and read over and over. Anyone out there that can help?
 

belvdr

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Likely a simulcast issue, like I had with my Uniden 436 on MARCS. You may need to upgrade to something that can handle it
 

Volfirefighter

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From the RR description, those are all three single-site systems, not simulcast. The WS1040 should do fine. What antenna do you have? What signal strength are you getting?
 

craigakagravy

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From the RR description, those are all three single-site systems, not simulcast. The WS1040 should do fine. What antenna do you have? What signal strength are you getting?
I am using an Omni directional and am receiving full strength on all different bands. But for some reason I hear dispatch and car, but it cuts off and don't hear the whole transmission. I've programmed it as conventional, as p25 auto and manual. It's weird☹️
 

Volfirefighter

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I am using an Omni directional and am receiving full strength on all different bands. But for some reason I hear dispatch and car, but it cuts off and don't hear the whole transmission. I've programmed it as conventional, as p25 auto and manual. It's weird☹️

Try adding a delay under the talk groups that are giving you trouble
 

budevans

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I'm having trouble receiving transmissions from defiance van wert and Paulding counties. I hear bits and pieces. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Watched videos and read over and over. Anyone out there that can help?
craigakagravy,
I have a couple of questions?

1. Where are you located? I see that Defiance, Paulding and Van Wert are each roughly 20 miles apart. With Defiance being the northern most, Paulding in the middle and Van Wert the southern most. Also note that the range for each of those sites are listed at 15 miles.

2. Since these are MARCS-IP sites, they should be programmed as P25 Trunk Systems with the Type set as P25 Auto. So you should not use conventional or manual. Being P25 Trunk Systems you have to have the following programmed. Control Channels for each site. Talk Groups for each site. It would be prudent to have (Wild Card) Talk Group Search entered to hear Talk Groups not listed in the RR database.
 

craigakagravy

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On my old Uniden Bearcat desktop scanner I can now only hear the Dispatcher for the City of Defiance Police; none of the officers in the field come through. They switched their portables within the last couple of weeks. A former officer who is a friend said they switched to MARCS radios. I am NOT a technically inclined woman, however I want to purchase an upgraded scanner that will still allow me to listen to all the local agencies that I have for years but ALSO allow me to pick up transmissions on these new systems. How do I know what to purchase??
I have recently purchased a whistler 1040 and am still having trouble picking up defiance. They did go digital along with Paulding county also. I know the highway patrol has been that way for quite some time too. I can't even pick them up. I'm not sure if frequencies are not correct on here or what???? I'm so confused. I hope you will figure it out. If you do please let me know also. Thanks and good luck.
 

craigakagravy

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I'm so confused. Only picking up bits and pieces of transmissions. Not sure what the deal is. I'm programming control channels and all other freqs under p25 auto. I am wanting to hear van wert post, paulding county and city, and defiance post, city, and county. Paulding and defiance city jus t
 

craigakagravy

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I am in Paulding county. I have had no problem picking up anything when it was fm. Soon as things went digital I lost them. I am hearing bits and pieces like I said. I hear the car and dispatch from Paulding county, but the transmission just drops and then I hear nothing. It's bizarre. I've added all the CC's and entered all other freqs on the list too. I'm really not sure what is going on.
 

budevans

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New to my Whistler scanner. Hearing digital on/off can't seem to receive transmissions correctly. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
How are you programming your scanner? Are you using software or directly in the radio by hand?
If you are using software, what software are you using?
 

craigakagravy

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How are you programming your scanner? Are you using software or directly in the radio by hand?
If you are using software, what software are you using?
Just manually programming. Using control freqs and secondaries. Using talkroup id's.
 

budevans

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Just manually programming. Using control freqs and secondaries. Using talkroup id's.
Well I've never programmed a Trunk System by hand. I've always used a software package on my computer, which takes you through the process step by step. Based on what you are reporting I believe that it's likely that you don't have the scanner programmed properly.

Here are the basic steps that need to be done to create a Trunk System.
1. Create a TSYS Object.
2. Give the TSYS Object an Alpha Tag (name) such as Defiance
3. Select the Type (of system) in this case P25 Auto
4. Enter the System Frequencies (Control and Alt Control freqs)
5.Create/Enter the Talk Group Objects: Alpha Tag, Group Type (Group or Private), Group or Radio ID (TG#, RID# or Wildcard), Enter Delay Time, LED Color, Assign a Scan List number.
The above (5) has to be done for each Talk Group.

If you haven't done the above steps, then you haven't created a Trunk System.
Note, there are other settings, some optional that also should be set.
I've attached a picture that shows what a Trunk System setup looks like.
MARCS-IPexample.png
 
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budevans

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wa8pyr

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A couple more items. The above pictured software (WIN500) is no longer available. But a very similar software PSREdit500 is still available for purchase online. Besides the software you would need a Programming cable. If you didn't get one with your scanner, I believe that Whistler still has them for sale on their website.

Here's a link to the Users Manual. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1420/2702/files/WS1040_Manual_05A14.pdf?14709532190415081729

Win500 is still available, no mention on the web page otherwise:

Win500: WS1040, WS1065, PSR-500, PSR-600, PRO-651, PRO-652, PRO-106, PRO-197, PSR-310, PSR-410 Scanner Software for Data Management, Monitoring, and Control
 

budevans

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mule1075

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hardsuit

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Craigakagravy - try Programming the Entire listing for Paulding county, but only adding Service Type you are Interested in (Police, Fire EMS), and adding ALL Sites and All Department you are Interested in but Omitting the Trash , like Animal Control and Sanitation.
I have my 1080 scanner Programed by County then by City.
 
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