Programming Zones for Morris County Trunk, etc.

[ScannerSky]

Hey all,

I know I have asked this question before, but I can't seem to find the thread where I posted it or the answer I was looking for. I have a Pro-106 digital trunking scanner that I listen to the Morris County Trunking System on. I only have Zone 1 Primary Control channels programmed into the scanner - I live in Mendham which is right around where Zone 1 covers. I keep the scanner in my car and usually have pretty good reception, however, I would like to know if there is a way to program all the zones in the scanner so if I travel a bit farther from my home, I will still be able to listen. A couple days ago, I was traveling into Bernardsville which is the next town over from Mendham (it is also a different County, Somerset County) but close enough that I would expect to get some reception. I was wrong, though - I had absolutely no trunking signal in Bernardsvile, which is like 10 minutes from Mendham. I am not sure whether this is because I didn't have the other zones programmed in or because it is a different county, but since it is so close to Mendham, I would expect to hear something. I usually only listen to my "Favorites" scanlist, so I am not sure what a good way to program the different zones would be. Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Also, did anyone see the update to the Morris County database? Morris County, New Jersey (NJ) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference - it says that CenCom-2 West switched over to County Trunking system, but I am not sure what they mean by that since the frequency is still the same at 155.265.

Last but not least, has anyone ever heard Chester Fire on MUN FD 1? It seems that whenever there is a fire call in Chester, I never hear any units sign on. From my understanding, Chester Fire is supposed to be on MUN FD 1 (at least from what I have read on here).

Sorry for the really long post!! Have a great weekend!

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[W2SJW]

I would put the CC's for all 4 sites in & set the multi-site option to 'ROAM', and then set the thresholds for 'Hi' to 95 & 'Lo' to 80. That will allow the scanner to automatically drop the the CC of the site that you are no longer able to hear & find the next strongest.

If you stay in one spot for a long time, switch the multi-site back to 'Stationary'. It will find the strongest site it can hear & stay there...

 

[08GMC4X4]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.304 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Same question, but I have the 396xt. Also, how could I do this with njsp? To be able to drive south and pick up the different site locations. Instead of scanning all the different sites or manually changing them.

 

[ScannerSky]

I would put the CC's for all 4 sites in & set the multi-site option to 'ROAM', and then set the thresholds for 'Hi' to 95 & 'Lo' to 80. That will allow the scanner to automatically drop the the CC of the site that you are no longer able to hear & find the next strongest.

If you stay in one spot for a long time, switch the multi-site back to 'Stationary'. It will find the strongest site it can hear & stay there...

So I should program all of the 4 zones Primary CC's in the scanner or all of the frequencies for each zone? Also, I program with Win500, so if I set it to "Stationary" since I usually stay around town most of the time, there is an option that says "Check all CC's in every Scan-mode pass". Should I check this option? Just to confirm, the only time I will want to turn "Roam" on is when I am traveling around the County, right? Otherwise, when I am in town, just leave it set to "Stationary"?

Thanks so much for your help!!!

 

[W2SJW]

08GMC4X4 - The only way to get the 396XT to stay on one particular site ONLY on a multi-site system is to wait for the scanner to stop on a CC for the specific site, and then long-press the HOLD button. It will then lock onto just that site & continue to listen for all available talkgroups in your scan lists. If you grab my FreeScan file here in my signature, you can see how I have the NJSP set up. I DO NOT use the intellirepeater sites at all, and most users should not have to either...

ScannerSky - Put JUST the CC's for all 4 sites into the scanner, not all the frequencies. Don't use the 'Check all' option unless you want the scanner to keep looking to see what other of the three zones it can hear (and possibly lead to missed transmissions). Only use 'ROAM' when traveling.

When the NJSP Cherryville site used to carry all traffic for 'B' & 'C', I would set my NJSP programming to 'Stationary' with the 'Check all' option. Now, I have a 396XT & it will continually check all sites in order unless I hold on a specific one (and the Cherryville site no longer carries Troop-C anyway).

 

[ScannerSky]

So program just the primary CC's for each zone - gotcha thank you!!
I will keep it set to stationary unless I travel out of town - I don't consider driving around town "traveling" so I will keep it set to Stationary driving in town.

 

[ScannerSky]

Update: I programmed all of the PRIMARY CC's for all four (4) zones in Morris County's Trunking System into my "Systems Frequencies" list on Win500 and just uploaded it to my Pro-106. It is set to "Stationary" right now as I will probably not be going out of my town soon. If I leave my town, I will make a point of setting it to "Roam". Is there an easy way to change the option on my scanner to "Roam" from "Stationary" without having to use my computer's software?

Thanks so much! So far it actually seems like I may be getting better reception!! (could just be what I hope and not actually better reception but whatever lol)

 

[Highpockets]

Update: I programmed all of the PRIMARY CC's into my "Systems Frequencies" list on Win500 and just uploaded it to my Pro-106. It is set to "Stationary" right now as I will probably not be going out of my town soon. If I leave my town, I will make a point of setting it to "Roam". Is there an easy way to change the option on my scanner to "Roam" from "Stationary" without having to use my computer's software?

Thanks so much! So far it actually seems like I may be getting better reception!! (could just be what I hope and not actually better reception but whatever lol)

Put one setup with Roam in a V-Folder and one on Stationary in another, just load the V-Folder you need when you want to change it.

 

[ScannerSky]

Put one setup with Roam in a V-Folder and one on Stationary in another, just load the V-Folder you need when you want to change it.

That is a good idea however I really only scan my "Favorites" list so it would be difficult to do this...wouldn't it? Or is it easy to do? Also what exactly is a V-Folder?

 

[Highpockets]

That is a good idea however I really only scan my "Favorites" list so it would be difficult to do this...wouldn't it? Or is it easy to do? Also what exactly is a V-Folder?

I don't know the reason for just scanning your favorites list, make up two setups of what you want to listen to and put them in a seperate V-Folder. Look in the Utah Win500 Guide, it explains the Folders. You can figure a way to do it to make it simple.

WIN500 - UtahRadio

 

[ScannerSky]

Put one setup with Roam in a V-Folder and one on Stationary in another, just load the V-Folder you need when you want to change it.

I scan using my favorites because that is really the only things I want to listen to - I have a couple talkgroups that is all I want to listen to 99.99 % of the time. My question now is if I programmed my scanner's control frequencies the right way - I have all of the Primary CC's in my System's Frequency list (I programmed through Win500) and I set it to "Stationary". So the only other way to set it to "Roam" easily is to create a new scanlist with the talkgroups I want to listen to (like the one's in my Favorites list) and set that specific scanlist to "Roam"? Thanks!

P.S. - I checked out the link and read about V-Folders - I still don't really get what they are or how they would benefit me other than I remember I could load preprogrammed frequencies into my scanner when I first got it which didn't work out so well lol

 

[Highpockets]

I scan using my favorites because that is really the only things I want to listen to - I have a couple talkgroups that is all I want to listen to 99.99 % of the time. My question now is if I programmed my scanner's control frequencies the right way - I have all of the Primary CC's in my System's Frequency list (I programmed through Win500) and I set it to "Stationary". So the only other way to set it to "Roam" easily is to create a new scanlist with the talkgroups I want to listen to (like the one's in my Favorites list) and set that specific scanlist to "Roam"? Thanks!

P.S. - I checked out the link and read about V-Folders - I still don't really get what they are or how they would benefit me other than I remember I could load preprogrammed frequencies into my scanner when I first got it which didn't work out so well lol

What ever works for you. I have V-Folders for 8 Counties, one in each Folder, when I enter a new County, I load that Folder by hitting Func, Prog, Load (up-down arrow keys to pick a file (county)) and hit load again and I'm setup for that County.

 

[ScannerSky]

Update # 2 - I put only Zone 1's control channels (primary ones in red) in the system freq. list like I had it programmed as before and it seems that I get better reception that way. Zone 1 covers Chester, Randolph, Dover, Netcong, & Morristown. If I go farther than these towns anyway I probably won't be listening to my scanner so it won't really matter. I never go to Boonton or Jefferson, Washington Township, or Chatham, so it wouldn't really make sense to program the other zones in since Zone 1 is for sure the strongest I would get around here. I like keeping things simple!

I really appreciate all of the help I got on here!!! Thank you again!

 

[APEXNext]

Does anyone know what are the 4 towns that the towers are located in? I am looking to label my scanner zones by the tower locations. Thanks

 

[RocketNJ]

two of the 4 zones are simulcast, meaning they transmit off multiple towers simultaneously.

Label as follows:

Zone 1 South
Zone 2 North
Zone 3 Washington Twp
Zone 4 Long Hill.

 

[APEXNext]

Thanks RocketNJ, but do you know where Zone 1 and Zone 2 towers are located? I just would like to label it that way. Thanks

 

[W2SJW]

Zone 1 & 2 have multiple towers in each zone transmitting simultaneously - it's best to just label them as 'North' & 'South'...

 

[APX8000]

Thanks RocketNJ, but do you know where Zone 1 and Zone 2 towers are located? I just would like to label it that way. Thanks

Zone 1 South is a simulcast from 4 different towers located in Randolph, Dover, Netcong and Morristown.

Zone 2 North is a simulcast from 3 different towers located in Boonton, Kinnelon and Jefferson.

Zone 3 is a stand-alone intellirepeater in Washingon Township.

Zone 4 is a stand-alone intellirepeater in Long Hill Township.

All of the talkgroups on Zone 1 are also on Zone 2, vice versa. You will not hear all talkgroups on Zone 3 and 4, only the talkgroup that a radio affiliates to when it is in that area and locks on to that control channel.

Last but not least, has anyone ever heard Chester Fire on MUN FD 1? It seems that whenever there is a fire call in Chester, I never hear any units sign on. From my understanding, Chester Fire is supposed to be on MUN FD 1 (at least from what I have read on here).

I hear Chester FD on "MUN FD 1" all the time. Do you have the right TG programmed in? It should be 34416. The talkgroup is actually labeled "FIRE RESP F1" in the radio by the way.

 

[RocketNJ]

Zone 1 South is a simulcast from 4 different towers located in Randolph, Dover, Netcong and Morristown.

You forgot a site in Zone 1.

I told ScannerSky to just call it South and North as the display on the scanner doesn't have enough alpha characters available to fit five town's names in the display.

 

[APEXNext]

e911god THANKS for the info. That is what I was looking for...