That is weird. You will always need coverage for the control channel because you never know where a subscriber will be requesting a channel grant. Huge safety issue. Some else is amiss.
I live in the western part of Spotsy about 3 miles from the Orange County line. I’m picking up both Spotsy and Orange with no issues. Even hearing the Madison SO on the Orange system. Maybe the issue some were having was a one day thing. Who knows. For now, everything appears to be working normally.
I have reception issues on two 700 MHz systems on certain days (including today), depending on the weather. One is being monitored from outside its service area, the other is know to have limited coverage at my location (in a wooded area.) Bottom line is if you are monitoring from a location with marginal coverage, the weather can make a difference.