Racom

[g5turbo81]

Hello all,

I am just getting into the programming of the RACOM freq's in my area ( Iowa City) and when I originally set them up, I heard plenty of communication from Polk Co to Des Moines, to Davenport...Now I'm not hearing anything. The location of my scanner or my antenna has not been changed since the initial set up. I'm wondering if they change site locations? Any one with some knowledge here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks-


Matt

 

[splash1]

Well I'm no expert, but I think the weather or atmospheric conditions may play a part in it . Also as I understand it .Say if Blackhawk co were to drop off an inmate at the prison in Coralville their patrol unit would use the tower in Johnson co, or say an EMS unit from the Quad city area were to bring a patient to the University you would then hear their traffic on the nearest Racom tower. Like I say I'm not an expert.
Some of the others on this site might be able to give a better explanation than I.

 

[Signal3and2]

You will only hear agencies that aren't normally using your tower (aka agencies outside your county), if they have a unit in your area, using your tower. If there are no vehicles or users from an outside agency in your area to use your tower, you probably won't hear anything other than normal local users. Sometimes they get a wild hair up their ass (the system) and you'll hear traffic from strange areas for short periods of time. Haven't quite figured out why yet. Maybe our local RACOM expert will jump in here, but I don't know how often he checks the board. I wish I could comprehend exactly how the RACOM system works. I understand the general idea behind it and can explain it to people but theres so many intricacies about it that I wish I understood, it drives me nuts.

 

[g5turbo81]

I appreciate both of your responses on this. Your right kc0jar, It was really a mystery to me. How for a week or so I heard Des Moines, Polk, Bettendorf, so on so forth...then nothing...Just wasn't sure if I needed to program in another site or what. I was just trying to fill in the banks of my scanner when I came across RACOM.This is just one of the many questions and areas that I am exploring at the moment....Thanks again, and any other feedback is definatly welcome.

Matt

 

[SCPD]

Not to hijack the thread or anything, but I used to listen to RACOM in Nebraska, specifically Star Care 5. Since then I cleared my scanner, and reprogrammed it, but cannot remember how I entered RACOM. As I recall, I used EDACS, however when I set up for the Lincoln, NE area I was unable to hit a control channel.

The listing in the database also shows no control channels for the Lincoln area. Did I do something wrong in reprogramming for RACOM?

 

[LID109]

just as KC0JAR said, that's how it works. The radio traffic for an agency is only broadcast over a site if it's NEEDED at that site. If a transport unit travels through the area, when it gets onto that tower, whatever channel is selected on the radio starts being broadcast on that tower. Say there was a confrence or a school in Iowa City for the week and attendees from EDACS loactions all gathered there and brought thier radios with them, that would explain why those counties channels become "active" then go away later....when the user leaves the area. In Iowa City you'll hear alot of fire/ems from agencies doing medical transports to the Univeristy (ONLY when they're actually there) Same thing with oakdale..you'll hear the main county ops for lots of areas becuase thier transports are taking prisoners there.

 

[g5turbo81]

LID109- Thanks for the reply. It's greatly appreciated.

Matt

 

[mikeydcg2003]

DAK48. If you can do a scan of the 800mhz frequency range, normally you can find out where the control channel lies. I also have good luck finding the motorola trunk channels that way as well. Depending on the type of scanner you have as well, you would only need that control channel frequency as they can decode th rest of the channels from the sound.