Orange County Trunking Noise - Questions

[Trooper1]

I need some help in understanding what is causing occasional noise that sounds like jackhammers and machine gun fire on some of the channels that are programmed into a Radio Shack Pro 2067 to listen to Orange County Fire Agencies.

Here are the channels as programmed and listed by number so that you can see which ones are causing noise.

OC Countywide Site 001

01) 851.0625
02) 855.7125 Noise
03) 856.2125 Noise
04) 856.4625
05) 856.7125 Control Ch
06) 856.9625
07) 857.2125
08) 857.4625 Control Ch
09) 857.7125
10) 857.9625
11) 858.2125
12) 858.4625
13) 858.7125
14) 858.9625
15) 859.2125
16) 859.4625
17) 859.7125
18) 859.9625 Noise
19) 860.2125 Noise
20) 860.4625 Noise
21) 860.7125
22) 860.9625

I am operating in the closed mode with a group of IDs. The first channel to make noise is always #2 followed by #3 then 20,19,18, 17 in reverse order. Each time I rush to to the scanner to L/O the noisy channels until the noise stops - then unlock and scan again. Is this a known issue and if so is there something that I can do to stop the machine gun fire on the scanner?

Much thanks to anyone who can help me quiet things down on this system.

T1

 

[brandon]

I suspect your either hearing digital transmissions (on the analogue scanner) or your near a mobile phone tower and getting overload (sometimes sound like machine guns!)

 

[Trooper1]

The closest cell tower is about three blocks away.

 

[RadioDaze]

It looks like what you did is enter all of the channels for Site 001 (Countywide) into your control channel list. You should just enter the 2 control channels, and the talkgroups for the stations you want to monitor. (This is helpful: Easier to Read Pro-92/A/B/2067 Scanner Manual )

The control channel(s) will assign the radio traffic to different channels, often right in the middle of a conversation. But any one of those channels might suddenly get used for digital traffic as Brandon stated, and then you would get that sound. You will occasionally get an encrypted transmission on the same channel as well, and you'll probably be able to tell when you hear it. If you listen to one single channel for a length of time, i.e. 855.7125, you will probably hear all the different modes eventually. Your scanner should use the control channel to follow the talkgroup(s) you want to hear as they jump from channel to channel. It will be done on the fly, so you don't need all the channels entered. Your scanner will calculate the current channel for you.

I had a map of the different sites and which cities they cover. I'll try to find it and post it. It will give you an idea of which control channels you want to use. From LA, you're going to have mixed results, due to the distance, but if you have some elevation, you'll probably pick up traffic. But if you have spotty reception of the control channel, it will be a problem.

 

[SCPD]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; SPH-M900 Build/ECLAIR) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

So that's what it is. Before I purchased a trunking scanner I had a Uniden Sportcat that also covered 800 MHz non-trunked. I'd get the same jackhammer/machine gun noise. Now I know it's digital communications. I still get this occassionally on my Radio Shack PRO-97. I simply lock out the offending TG.

 

[Eng74]

For the PRO-92/2067 you have to enter all of the channels not just the control channels. GRE's did not have CC only tell the PRO-93/2053 came out. I never had good luck with the 92/2067 on the Orange County system. Maybe try the ATT on the channels with the noise.

 

[RadioDaze]

Oh, wow, I didn't realize that. My apologies.

Maybe it's time for Trooper to throw some more $$ into this bottomless pit of a hobby. He's entitled to listen to LAPD, at any rate.

 

[JoeyC]

It doesn't even sound as if the OP has the system programmed as a trunked system and is listening to this group of frequencies as conventional channels.

 

[Eng74]

I would say it is time to upgrade. The 92/2067 is 10 years old and there are much better radios out now and when the rebanding hits OC the 2067 will not track it. It will be good for EDACS, LTR, and non-trucked non-digital scanning.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Yeah I would say upgrade to a new tunking/P25 digital scanner. I have the Uniden BCD 396/996 XT scanners and I have no trouble with any of the trunking site for Orange County. Plus I am able to pickup any of the digital talkroups within any of these sites.

 

[Trooper1]

All 22 channels are programmed in in the exact order as listed. All channels are set to "MO" mode. All IDs are correct. System is set to closed mode. It is definitely trunking and working correctly most of the time and quietly except for when certain channels begin to Jackhammer. The jackhammering doesn't last long - but it is definitely annoying and requires channel L/O until gone. I live in the real O.C. so line of sight is no issue. I did purchase a 396xt handheld and am still trying to figure the D**M thing out. Programmed it off of RR with FreeScan software for OC. Makes more noises than Pro2067 from IDs that seem to birdie. Need to L/O the unwanted IDs on it. As I said - still learning it. My skills are good with Pro2067/92 type scanners that allow easy manual programming. So, I have a few of these Pro2067s and would still like to use them for OC scanning if possible. If there is a real solution to the jackhammer noise issue, I certainly am wanting to try it.

T1

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Sounds like you have it on ID Search. You need to have the scanner set on ID Scan. On ID Scan the scanner only scans the ID's that are programmed. You are probably hearing all the encrypted PD talkgroups that you need to make sure you are not picking up those talkgroups.

 

[Trooper1]

Do you know the procedure off hand to check to see if it is set to ID Search or ID scan? Or, how do you set to ID scan?

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Hit the menu button
click on Program System
Click on the selected system you want to edit
Click on edit sys option
Click on ID Scan/Search

Make you click on ID Scan and then that should fix the problem

 

[Trooper1]

The noise problem has been solved. The cause appeared to be related to these three IDs:

40000 ANIMAL CNTRL - Dsp
40032 ANIMAL CNTRL – North TAC
40064 ANIMAL CNTRL – South TAC

Each time that the scanner was overcome with the jackhammer noise - one of these IDs would be present. I L/O all three and now the scanner is quiet and allowing me to listen to fire calls without the interference. Not sure what the issue is with these IDs. Digital??? Also noticed that I have not heard anything on Red-1 50720 on this Pro2067 system setup. Is a digital scanner needed for Red-1?

Thanks to all who answered and offered help!

T1

 

[RadioDaze]

Yes, Animal Control is digital. (And yet, the animals themselves are still analog... go figure.)
Red Channel is also digital. In any event, you would have to listen for quite a while even with a digital scanner to hear anything, since traffic is light on that channel.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Throw those old Radio Shack analog scanners out and use them as an anchor. Buy the newest and latest fully digital trunking scanner and you will be happy. You will be-able to listen to all of the analog + all of the digital talkgroups except for the digital talkgroups that are encrypted and there are several of them on the Orange County system. But there are alot of digital talkgroups that are still open and enjoyable to listen too. By the way the last couple of days the RED channel talkgroups has been busy.

The monkeys must have been let loose from the Orange County Mens Jail. Its probably been over-crowded. Budget cut-backs.

 

[oracavon]

FYI, on the OC system, all 4-digit TG numbers are analog, and all 5-digit TG numbers are digital.

Most of the digital channels are encrypted, except for things like Animal Control, Lifeguards, Maintenance crews, municipal channels, etc. The few digital law enforcement channels which aren't encrypted are Red, Sheriff's transport, and a few "intercom" talk groups. Law enforcement also uses the analog Tan and AirCall talk groups on occasion. Slim pickings, but they're worth monitoring.

 

[Trooper1]

Oracavon - thanks for the heads up on 4 digit / 5 digit IDs. I will use the Pro2067 to just listen the 4 digit IDs. That now is working well since removing the 5 digit ID offenders!

As I previously said - I purchased a 396xt and programmed OC in it directly off of RR database. It is currently too noisy to listen to at the moment with phantom talkgroups crackling in like razor blades. Also need to understand how it uses banks for programming.

 

[Eng74]

Oracavon - thanks for the heads up on 4 digit / 5 digit IDs. I will use the Pro2067 to just listen the 4 digit IDs. That now is working well since removing the 5 digit ID offenders!

As I previously said - I purchased a 396xt and programmed OC in it directly off of RR database. It is currently too noisy to listen to at the moment with phantom talkgroups crackling in like razor blades. Also need to understand how it uses banks for programming.

Are you in id scan or id search? if it is in search you will get any talk group not just the ones you have programmed. Are you programming with software to program or by hand?