Portage County MARCS Aurora PD/Fire Question

[amanaman1]

Agreed on programming, but I thank the OP as this motivated me to isolate Kent, Neomed and Shalersville, and I was amazed at what I heard when I dialed off the simulcasts for a day.

I never used the summit simulcast on my Portage list until trying to troubleshoot this Aurora issue, but I did notice I get PCSO, Streetsboro/Windham, and a few others via the summit simulcast but yeah, there is quite a lot going on that's not in the simulcast. At least now I know I can still listen to PCSO when I'm mobile in the far corners of summit county.

 

[tvengr]

I see that you have only 1 control channel capable frequency programmed for each site. You should program all of the control capable frequencies for each site. If the Shalersville site rotates to an alternate control channel frequency, you will not be able to receive the site. If you still cannot receive the Shalersville site, try programming all of the frequencies for the site in case the control channel frequency has changed. How many of the frequencies do you have programmed in the WS1065?

 

[amanaman1]

No I totally understand about the control frequencies rotating and did have all the capable frequencies listed in each respective site, but I was troubleshooting and forgot to put them back in, but still have the same issue when they are all in there anyway. The Whistler only has the three currently active portage county control channels at the moment as well. I will put them all back in but the shalersville site is still active on the 1065.

 

[tvengr]

Does the frequency for the Shalersville site in the WS1065 match the frequency in the SDS?

 

[amanaman1]

Yep

 

[tvengr]

You may want to consider changing antennas on the SDS scanners. For the SDS100 use the REM-820S antenna. It has a much higher gain than the stock antenna for the 700 and 800 MHz frequencies used by the MARCS system. For the SDS200, use the REM-830B antenna. They work OK for UHF and not all that well for VHF. I am able to receive 700/800 MHz systems using the REM-820S on my SDS100 that I could not receive using the stock antenna.

 

[rcid1971]

I never used the summit simulcast on my Portage list until trying to troubleshoot this Aurora issue, but I did notice I get PCSO, Streetsboro/Windham, and a few others via the summit simulcast but yeah, there is quite a lot going on that's not in the simulcast. At least now I know I can still listen to PCSO when I'm mobile in the far corners of summit county.

I've heard PCSO on Elyria and Castalia sites quite often when working in Ottawa County.

 

[amanaman1]

You may want to consider changing antennas on the SDS scanners. For the SDS100 use the REM-820S antenna. It has a much higher gain than the stock antenna for the 700 and 800 MHz frequencies used by the MARCS system. For the SDS200, use the REM-830B antenna. They work OK for UHF and not all that well for VHF. I am able to receive 700/800 MHz systems using the REM-820S on my SDS100 that I could not receive using the stock antenna.

I'm actually already using the Remtronix 820 (nice antenna) on the SDS100 and a Diamond D130J 30' up on the 200. I did go mobile this afternoon and took both the SDS radios with me. Once I got about 1-2 miles north of my house towards Shalersville, I started receiving the Shalersville tower (and Aurora Fire) on both SDS radios! So, as I suspected it appears to be a range issue but for whatever reason my Whistler still receives everything with the cheap telescoping antenna from inside the house. Go figure. You'd think it would be the other way around. Maybe I've got a weird Bermuda triangle thing happening around my house that only affects the SDS units and that particular frequency for some reason. Dunno. Such is my life anyway as I can never have "normal" problems! I appreciate you looking into it for me though!

 

[amanaman1]

I've heard PCSO on Elyria and Castalia sites quite often when working in Ottawa County.

Oh wow that's pretty cool. I was in Richfield this afternoon and listening to PCSO on the summit site. Never knew they were on the simulcast before so I learned something useful!

 

[tvengr]

One other thing to check: Do you see ATT on the scanner screen? You may have accidentally turned on the attenuator.

 

[amanaman1]

Nope

 

[amanaman1]

I can still get Aurora from my house via the Summit simulcast so it's all good, folks. It's just a weird issue but I appreciate everyone's input!