programming question, whats it all mean

[JRush311]

So im in the mountains for the weekend and I realized how little I understand programming these pagers/radios to receive ,
I can make them work just fine but I have some questions

I am in Sugar Mountain NC in Avery County I programmed in the BEECH MOUNTAIN tower and the LINVILLE tower (closest)
My question is what will this allow me to hear? I usally run TG MONITOR so I can hear all talkgroups
Its relatively quiet so I decided to add a tower 20 miles away in Watauga County the "BOONE" tower

simulcast is confusing and Im even hearing caldwell county come across my original 2 towers that are nearby
Im just not sure what the extra towers will allow?
can someone break it down into terms I can understand

when Avery County sheriff (where I am) keys up , whgat towers carry it?
what will the 3rd tower 20 miles away add??

 

[RaleighGuy]

I suggest you take a look at the link below to an excellent map showing towers and approximate coverage areas. Start by looking at towers 2-7, Beech Mountain and 2-56, Linville. Not being from the area I can't be more help, but hopefully someone who is in the area will comment.

NC VIPER SITES 2019 - Google My Maps

 

[JRush311]

yes sir I looked at that site I do have both towers programmed in and noticed I was hearing the neighboring county police come through
so I added another tower at boone thinking i could hear "more"
just unsure what towers carry what and what adding a tower would do

 

[kc4wsd]

Not sure how familiar you are with the VIPER system, so . . .

When a user has a radio on a particular channel (talkgroup), and that user is in range of the site you are monitoring, you will hear the radio traffic that user hears. Since towers (sites) cover geographic areas that aren't confined to city or county boundaries, you will hear various users that may not be limited to what you *want* to hear. Programming talkgroups into a scan list will narrow down what you hear, but leaving it as a "Wildcard" will allow you to hear all traffic on the site that has a user on that talkgroup ("channel").

Hope that (and what N1GAW said) helped.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Bill28227]

I suggest you take a look at the link below to an excellent map showing towers and approximate coverage areas.

NC VIPER SITES 2019 - Google My Maps

WOW, is that map nice!

 

[JRush311]

so im listening this morning, first thing I notice is im locked to the linville tower which is different than the tower I was on yesterday the beecg mountain tower.
and now IM hearing Mitchell County sheriff

 

[IcomIcR20]

when Avery County sheriff (where I am) keys up , whgat towers carry it?

I am not sure if Avery County SO actually uses VIPER. Have you heard them yet? There may be a patch. Last time I was up that way I remember hearing Beech Mountain PD on VIPER, but not the sheriff but that was a while back. Be sure to check the VHF frequencies up there as that is where a lot of the activity is.

Neighboring Watauga County doesn't use VIPER that I am aware of. And Ashe county's only VIPER traffic is a patch to their VHF frequency.

 

[wncrescue]

All avery county agencies use vhf primarily, some secondary comms on viper. The reason you are hearing Caldwell county on Linville tower is that it looks straight down on Caldwell, as well as burke county. If you are interested do a vhf search for sugar mountain, they have a repeater and especially on weekends the ski patrol is hopping

 

[bbeam]

WOW, is that map nice!

I agree...excellent map. Thank you for providing.