Park County Colorado - P25 system - WIN500 - Problem

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newton500

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I picked up a Pro-106, uploaded the frequencies I've had in my desktop version of this scanner (which are for Jefferson County, Colorado) and everything worked fine.

I built a new list, new template, in WIN500 for the Pro-106, using the Radio Reference database for Park County, Colorado (that's the system I want in this Pro-106).

I get nothing.

Observations:

There are 4 sites for Park County, Colorado shown in the Radio Reference database (two are the same location, but different control and alternate control frequencies). Only three sites come over to the radio.

All the other settings, from the General on across in the Win500 menus, I set the same as Jefferson County, Colorado (which works fine in the Pro-106, as mentioned above).

Under the Win500 "Trunking Tables" option, there is nothing in the fields of the Park County system (in the Jefferson County file, there are some frequencies and offsets listed).

I know the Park County system works and is working because I can monitor it with a Iphone app. So there is traffic on this system.

Any ideas?
 

Spitfire8520

I might be completely clueless! =)
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This sounds more like a Colorado specific question, so getting this moved to the Colorado Radio Discussion Forum might get you more help with the Park County aspect. If you would like to do that, click on the to the top right of your post (or the icon in this reply). Otherwise, you can leave it it here if you want more general help on programming.

There are 4 sites for Park County, Colorado shown in the Radio Reference database (two are the same location, but different control and alternate control frequencies). Only three sites come over to the radio.

If you have Site 4-020 (Badger Mountain) programmed, get rid of it. Zone 4 is exclusive to El Paso County users only and therefore you will never hear Park County if your scanner locks onto this site.

Under the Win500 "Trunking Tables" option, there is nothing in the fields of the Park County system (in the Jefferson County file, there are some frequencies and offsets listed).

This shouldn't matter as long as you have the Type set to P25 AUTO. Trunking Tables are mostly for older Motorola trunking systems. The Colorado DTRS automatically broadcasts the tables that your scanner will use to calculate voice frequencies.

Any ideas?

You might want to look at the Site Map to figure out what Site you want to program for your Pro-106. Using TUNE and entering the control channels might help figure out what you can receive well. Site 1-054 (Bailey) is closest to Conifer, so you might want to try that first. You will have to keep in mind that the geography might make some of these sites hard to receive.

You probably want to consider some of the sites in the surrounding counties (that is not Zone 4), especially if you are not receiving any of the Park County sites. Site 1-002 (Riley Peak) in Jefferson County, immediately south of Conifer, would be a good choice if you can get it. Site 6-050 (Methodist Mountain) in Chaffee County also appears to get Park County a decent amount. It should be noted that any site may occasionally miss traffic if Park County units are not affiliating with it.
 

newton500

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First off, I messaged the administrators of RR to move my post. Thanks for that suggestion.

I think I learned something about trunking that I didn't understand before, at least trunking in Colorado with the DTRS.

Since I only had Jefferson County programmed in my desktop unit and I never had any trouble with the dataset I downloaded into it from RR, I just assumed that if I did the same thing for Park County with my PRO-106, things would be dandy.

I didn't realize that I could use any state site I am with in range of to pick up traffic. I thought that I had to use sites in Park County.

Now I get it. It's the talk groups that determine the traffic, the sites determine my reach and range for hearing those talk groups.

I live in Conifer but I work all around Park County at times (I'm a reporter). I wanted to be able to have a portable to use around the county when I was out on assignments.

Yes, I added Riley Peak and Methodist Mountain to my table and it's working fine (I suspect sitting here in Conifer, I'm getting the transmission from Riley Peak (Riley Peak is in my desktop unit for Jefferson County).

And I expect that as I move through the county, the transmission will come from Bailey and Sacramento Creek (I work out of Bailey and need this at work, instead of relying on streaming over the internet).

Thanks bunches for this. You not only pinpointed my problem, you managed to teach me something.
 

Spitfire8520

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I didn't realize that I could use any state site I am with in range of to pick up traffic. I thought that I had to use sites in Park County.

Now I get it. It's the talk groups that determine the traffic, the sites determine my reach and range for hearing those talk groups.

The need for the site to be in Park County is partially correct, as is the thought that any site part of the same system (State of Colorado DTRS) can carry the voice traffic for anyone. There is a whole Affiliation process that needs to happen for your scanner to hear a talkgroup.

Actual radios will work (almost) anywhere in the state because they go through a process of affiliating to a talkgroup on a site. The basics are that the radio logs onto the system on a specific site with a talkgroup it wants. The system will then route the voice traffic to and from that site to allow the radio to function.

Scanners don't affiliate to systems, so they generally don't work statewide (unless a user happens to be listening). They basically eavesdrop on the site and wait to see if a talkgroup is used. If the talkgroup doesn't show up, it won't know better and will continue to try to listen in even if nothing is there. If a radio is not affiliated to a talkgroup, the site will not broadcast that talkgroup since it knows no one (official) listening.

If you want to listen to a specific talkgroup for a specific location, you will want to try your best to find a site that provides coverage for that location. Sites within a county is more likely to carry traffic for that county around the clock then those on the edges or outside of that county, hence my last sentence of my previous reply.

Colorado's geography is very unique and allows for quite a few sites that has very large footprints of coverage. In general, any site with a lot of frequencies associated with it (1-008 Lookout Mountain, 1-006 Squaw Mountain, etc) tend to carry more diverse traffic than those with not as many frequencies (3-032 Betasso, etc).

I also hope that you did not remove Site 1-045 Badger Mountain (not the same as Site 4-020) as I would expect that to provide coverage for a large part of Park County. There's a bit of politics that go into how the radio system works. While Badger Mountain looks like a duplicate, they are both unique sites. One is owned by the State, the other is owned by El Paso County. The State site allows everyone (except El Paso County) and the El Paso County site allows only El Paso County (exception being CSP).
 

newton500

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May 30, 2012
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Conifer
No, I did not remove Site 1-045 (Badger Mountain). And as soon as I added Riley Peak, I could hear everything. I'll be taking the radio into Park County Monday 7-28 and should be able to test if I'm having any problems with the other sites. I should be able to get coverage all along 285 west/south of Conifer, which is what I need.

Thanks again.
 
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