OKWIN Reception

[dm1313]

I'm in northern LeFlore County. I just got a Pro-197, connected to a discone antenna, and am in the process of trying to figure everything out. I'm using the trial version of Win500 and I've got a lot of conventional frequencies loaded and also the ARWIN System for the Fort Smith and Fayetteville areas. These all seem to be working alright and reception is good.

I imported some of the OKWIN systems and talkgroups, Muskogee Co., OHP Troops D and C, etc., but I don't hear anything at all. I have no problem hearing the conventional frequencies for Muskogee County Sheriff or the OHP Troops, but I have no idea what...if anything...is wrong. Should I be able to receive anything here?

 

[Freqed]

If you enter the Control channel in your radio then manually go to it you should hear a buzz sound only on that freq, and also be able ot get a signal strength indication on it. 800Mhz doesn't carry as much as conventiona freqs do. Also if you click on the site name of a system in the database you will get a page that looks like this: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?siteId=18537 and shows you the coverage area of that sites tower.

 

[N5TWB]

Since none of the counties surrounding LeFlore County have an analog OKWIN site, you won't receive anything on that system unless you take your scanner with you to those other areas you've programmed. Your likely first hope won't arrive until a (very) large pot of money is allocated to put the McAlester OHP troop on the system. The Troop D talkgroups are on the system for future use.

The OKWIN P25 site in Gore/Sequoyah County, linked above by Freqed, is your closest possibility but it looks to me like the coverage doesn't reach LeFlore County.

You say you're getting AWIN coverage from AR so you know you can properly program a system and that the scanner works properly. You may have to be satisfied with that.

 

[dm1313]

Thanks...that clears it up. Not hearing any data on any of the control channels though. I thought that I could pick up something since I can receive from the AWIN sites at Mountainburg and Westfork even though their coverage map doesn't extend to here.

So, it basically boils down to funding and location.

Thanks again.

 

[mshadwick]

See if you can hear this site.
Muskogee Site Details (Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network (OKWIN) Motorola)

 

[dm1313]

See if you can hear this site.
Muskogee Site Details (Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network (OKWIN) Motorola)

Not hearing anything from Muskogee.

 

[BenBrewing]

I have similar issue here in Mannford in Creek County. My GRECOM PSR-800 is very poor at receiving Trunked signal here in Mannford but works like a champ in Tulsa city. I think I have a setting wrong but I've combed through the AGC and Attenuation settings with no luck. I've even recently had the scanner repaired and the solder joints on the BNC antenna connector re-flowed by G&G Communications in New York. Can anyone please advise??

 

[N5TWB]

I have similar issue here in Mannford in Creek County. My GRECOM PSR-800 is very poor at receiving Trunked signal here in Mannford but works like a champ in Tulsa city. I think I have a setting wrong but I've combed through the AGC and Attenuation settings with no luck. I've even recently had the scanner repaired and the solder joints on the BNC antenna connector re-flowed by G&G Communications in New York. Can anyone please advise??

What sites and control channels are you using when operating from home? When you open the receiver on just the control channel(s), what do you observe for signal strength? Is the control signal/buzzing sound continuous or intermittent? What are you using for an antenna and coax cable combination?

Sorry for all questions. I just think this info will help lead to an answer for you.

 

[BenBrewing]

That's ok, I appreciate the detail so I don't mind the questions.

For Mannford it's talkgroup 62512, not sure of control channel, I'm getting maybe a bar or two of signal but no Trunk lock when here in Creek county. I took it to work today nearby the Tulsa airport and it worked great. I picked up Creek County, Mannford, Tulsa County as well as OHP B and was even receiving on the drive home down 412/64 westbound and past Sand Springs it would no longer capture Trunk lock.

For antenna I am using both the rubber duck that came with radio and another longer one (unsure of model and type at this moment). Sometimes, not very often, the radio will get a trunk signal in my house when set by a bed lamp with antenna positioned just right. That's what made me think it was a connector issue so I had G&G reflow the solder but I still have the same issue in my house/outside my house but it works fine in Tulsa city.

How would I access the control channel? I'm suspecting for some weird reason I may not be on the local towers OKWIN as it receives local VHF just fine.

 

[B2man]

In the SE area of OK, you'll need to set up another trunk system in your software for P25... (in my scanner, I call the P25 System OKWIN and the Motorola analog system OKDPS). You'll need to enter that system's control channels as well which are different from the Motorola Analog system. There are different talkgroups for P25 VS Motorola. I put a wildcard (*) for each system in case you don't have a particular agency listed by their talkgroup.You can reference OK Trunking Systems in Radio Reference and check out the P25 (8 counties) listings... Admore, Lawton, Muskogee, McAlister, etc. is on that P25 system. Also... if you set up the analog Motorola System, be sure to enter the rebanding information and select "custom" trunking tables. I use ARC500 Pro

 

[BenBrewing]

I wonder if in Creek County the OKWIN sites rebranded and I have the wrong control signal on there and perhaps that's why I don't have OKWIN reception in Creek County. I'm at my desk at Spartan College near the Tulsa airport and my scanner is picking up OKWIN just fine in Tulsa city.

 

[plaws]

There are different talkgroups for P25 VS Motorola. I put a wildcard (*) for each system in case you don't have a particular agency listed by their talkgroup.

What? Look carefully at


OKWIN -- Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network Project 25 Trunking System, Varies, Oklahoma - Scanner Frequencies
and
OKWIN -- Oklahoma Wireless Interoperability Network Trunking System, Various, Oklahoma - Scanner Frequencies


Look at, say, SMA 1A. On the Type II sites, it's listed as 31760 (decimal) while on the P25 sites, it's listed as 1985 (decimal). Now, move your eyes one column to the right. On both, it's listed as 7c1 (hexadecimal). The "difference" is in how scanners render talkgroup IDs. It's the same number. Multiply 1985 by 16 and what do you get? If you convert all those numbers to binary, you'll see the bigger number has 4 zeroes at the end. Those are the status bits that Uniden (or someone) evidently thought were part of the talkgroup ID. In fact, if you convert 31760 to hex, you actually get 7C10 because, again, status bits.

The talkgroups are all the same whether the OKWIN site is P25 or Type II, only the depiction changes. I don't know about the Whistler stuff, but the Unidens will display talkgroups in hex if you tell them to.

 

[nd5y]

I wonder if in Creek County the OKWIN sites rebranded and I have the wrong control signal on there and perhaps that's why I don't have OKWIN reception in Creek County. I'm at my desk at Spartan College near the Tulsa airport and my scanner is picking up OKWIN just fine in Tulsa city.

The database could be wrong.
There could be missing frequencies or control channels that aren't labeld in the database.
Look up the FCC license data for sites in your county.
Program all the frequencies in conventional mode and see if you hear any control channels.
See if they match what is in the database.

 

[B2man]

Excellent breakdown plaws... I've never had that explained that well before. In order for my "GRECOM PSR-600 (Whistler, these days) can differentiate the two, was for each system, P25 digital, and Motorola analog to be entered in the scanner software as two distinctive systems... then in the talk groups page of ARC-500, I select either one or the other that I named OKWIN and OKDPS applicable to that talkgroup with the characteristics for one or the other, like rebanding on the motorola system with custom T-Tables. While traveling through the state, I seamlessly receive Troop A groups, then as I get near Ardmore, or I-40 and Henretta I receive the P25 traffic without any manipulation of the scanner. As you know, the GRECOMS are object oriented and the same objects can be assigned to multiple lists. I just select my "out of area" list and I hear them when I get there. I also have conventional frequencies assigned to my "out of area" list so OHP low band, or local agencies come through as well. This is handy when they're [OHP] using the aircraft and clocking traffic communicating with the troopers on the ground on Low Band.

I'd like to get more familiar with the Unidens to see if they can operate the same way.

 

[N5TWB]

I wonder if in Creek County the OKWIN sites rebranded and I have the wrong control signal on there and perhaps that's why I don't have OKWIN reception in Creek County. I'm at my desk at Spartan College near the Tulsa airport and my scanner is picking up OKWIN just fine in Tulsa city.

The database could be wrong.
There could be missing frequencies or control channels that aren't labeld in the database.
Look up the FCC license data for sites in your county.
Program all the frequencies in conventional mode and see if you hear any control channels.
See if they match what is in the database.

The Creek County site is Kellyville and it has been re-banded. As ND5Y notes, the basic FCC license data is the absolutely correct info on the frequencies in use. The last two items mentioned are what I was recommending, also, for checking signal strength of the control channel at a location, like your home. This is really the only way to evaluate your situation and equipment.

 

[BenBrewing]

Ok, again on the way home with my Grecom PSR-800 I had it set on Mannford PD's trunk channel when I left Spartan by the airport and it had a trunk lock all the way until I crested the hill at the Creek/Tulsa County line. I live within 1.5 miles of the tower located at county line along highway 51 and I believe it's owned by Castle and leased by AT&T.

I'm still trying to figure out this scanner and identify the control channel but it's quite a learning curve at times for me. I'm also looking for the FCC database to find the most recent data on this local OKWIN branding.

 

[BenBrewing]

From the best that I can tell it looks like Creek County OKWIN in Kellyville has 2 freq's in my list:

852.162500
852.712500
How do I tell which is the control freq?

 

[nd5y]

According to the FCC license for that site WQEN877 (OKLAHOMA, STATE OF) FCC Callsign Details it should have
851.175
851.5375
851.8875
852.1625
852.7125
853.4875
853.9625
Program all of them.
The one with the constant digital noise is the control channel but sometimes the control channels rotates to the others.

 

[BenBrewing]

With the PSR800 being an object oriented scanner I've no idea how to enter in a specific frequency.

 

[N5TWB]

Ok, again on the way home with my Grecom PSR-800 I had it set on Mannford PD's trunk channel when I left Spartan by the airport and it had a trunk lock all the way until I crested the hill at the Creek/Tulsa County line. I live within 1.5 miles of the tower located at county line along highway 51 and I believe it's owned by Castle and leased by AT&T.

I'm still trying to figure out this scanner and identify the control channel but it's quite a learning curve at times for me. I'm also looking for the FCC database to find the most recent data on this local OKWIN branding.

I'm not certain what that tower has to do with the discussion at hand. I agree with your statement about object-oriented scanning having a learning curve. I guess that's why I don't own one. Sorry I can't be more specific with advice on your scanner. I hope you've checked out the wiki article on that model here.