Sac City FD on 800 mhz

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imerik

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i've read other threads on this but my question still remains: i've been listening to sac CITY fire (dispatch & tacs) on the COUNTY site for the last several years becuz that's where their talkgroups are located. in the last couple of months, i can no longer hear sac CITY fire (dispatch or tacs) on the COUNTY system. i hear dispatch fine on 153.89, but do not pickup any 800 mHz traffic. the COUNTY/METRO fire dispatch/tacs still come in, tho. anyone with any info on this?
 

Sac916

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i've read other threads on this but my question still remains: i've been listening to sac CITY fire (dispatch & tacs) on the COUNTY site for the last several years becuz that's where their talkgroups are located. in the last couple of months, i can no longer hear sac CITY fire (dispatch or tacs) on the COUNTY system. i hear dispatch fine on 153.89, but do not pickup any 800 mHz traffic. the COUNTY/METRO fire dispatch/tacs still come in, tho. anyone with any info on this?

With rebanding quickly coming up, new towers, and various technical changes to tower configurations, there may have been some changes to site affiliation for talk groups. Just ponder on this for a bit longer, I'm curious if rebanding will bring some changes in how you monitor.
 

tcomm_specialist

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As of 2125 on Tuesday 10/4 I am happy to report that Sacramento City FD on 800 is broadcasting Loud and Clear on the rebanded City System.
 

gmclam

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Srrcs

As of 2125 on Tuesday 10/4 I am happy to report that Sacramento City FD on 800 is broadcasting Loud and Clear on the rebanded City System.
The issue is receiving the Sacramento CITY FD on the COUNTY system. I see the city fire TGs on the city system too. But as of this morning I only see 6 of the 24 frequencies "rebanded".
 

tcomm_specialist

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The issue is receiving the Sacramento CITY FD on the COUNTY system. I see the city fire TGs on the city system too. But as of this morning I only see 6 of the 24 frequencies "rebanded".

Sacramento City Fire Department TG's haven't been simulcast on the County system for about 2 months in preparation for rebanding. For the time being if one wants to listen to Sacramento City Fire then they will have to use the City System. I am sure that once the rebanding is done and all the bugs worked out the simulcast will resume.
 

gmclam

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Sacramento City Fire etc

With rebanding complete I wanted to take a look at this issue. I have been monitoring (electronically) the Sacramento county site 24/7 starting from a few hours before rebanding started to "now" (as of 10/29 @ 06:00) and continuing. So I have a complete log of what has been on the system during that period. Of note are the following:
TG ... Name ..................... Hits
59248 Sac City Fire B1 Dispatch 146
59280 Sac City Fire B2 Command . 13
All other Sac City Fire B TGs ... 0

As a comparison I show:
TG ... Name ..................... Hits
53200 Sac Co Fire A1 Dispatch .. 4150
53232 Sac Co Fire A2 Command ... 8746

So it does appear that we can no longer rely on getting Sac City Fire TGs on the county site. Since Sacramento uses a SmartZone system, what is typically required is that someone logged in to a city fire TG is close to a county site. I wonder if some of our "brown outs" or station closings have been a factor (all it takes is one station being closed that is near a county site).
 

alanwhite1000

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B6 problem:

I do not get some or most B6 activity, I am monitoring from Roseville, maybe its because I am using the county transmitter sites, I am not sure, and ideas? I am sure I can not get city sites from here, or at least where I am positioned.
 

gmclam

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Sac City Fire B6

I do not get some or most B6 activity, I am monitoring from Roseville, maybe its because I am using the county transmitter sites, I am not sure, and ideas? I am sure I can not get city sites from here, or at least where I am positioned.
Ever since the rebanding process was started on the city site, I have been running software 24/7 to monitor TG activity. I found that there was virtually no B# (B1 to B15) traffic going over the county sites.

In the past week I have tallied over 1100 hits on B6 TG 47664 and NO hits on B6 TG 59408.

So there are two issues here. Even if you program TG 47664 as antfreq suggested, you will also need to monitor a CITY site to get most, if not all, B traffic. If it is important to you, you can erect a directional UHF antenna pointed to the nearest city site. I have done that and added filters and amplification as well. I certainly would not expect to normally pick up the city site traffic from Roseville on an indoor antenna. I do get reception from an indoor antenna here, but it is not as reliable as I like.
 

roma

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B1, but not others

I used to scan with a Pro97 and had intermittent reception of Fire B6 on either talk group. (I live in Land Park.)

After rebanding I got a Pro164 (about a week ago). I haven't been able to pick up B6 yet, although I haven't been listening *that* much. I do get B1 intermittently.

The big change I notice is very spotty coverage of (especially) Sac PD, which is disappointing, and others. For example, I caught only about 10%-20% (estimate) of the Elk Grove pursuit last night. I can see the screen of my scanner "trying" to show the TGs and frequencies (it blinks in and out) but it just doesn't "catch" -- it just sort of blinks in and out but I get no "lock on" of the transmission. Then I'll pick another transmission up a minute later. Then I won't again.

As you can see by my language above, I am NOT a technical person with regard to scanning. Has anybody else had reception problems like this since rebanding? Is it the new scanner? Do I need a new antenna? Should I return the Pro164 and get a Pro107? Thanks for any advice.
 

gmclam

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After rebanding I got a Pro164 (about a week ago). I haven't been able to pick up B6 yet, although I haven't been listening *that* much. I do get B1 intermittently.
How did you program the PRO-164? Last I knew you can not select the band plan needed from the radio, it must be done with software. In other words, while the PRO-164 can trunk track a rebanded MOT system, it has most likely not been programmed as such.

The big change I notice is very spotty coverage of (especially) Sac PD, which is disappointing, and others. For example, I caught only about 10%-20% (estimate) of the Elk Grove pursuit last night. I can see the screen of my scanner "trying" to show the TGs and frequencies (it blinks in and out) but it just doesn't "catch" -- it just sort of blinks in and out but I get no "lock on" of the transmission. Then I'll pick another transmission up a minute later. Then I won't again.
That's what happens when the scanner tries to find a voice frequency of a rebanded system but the scanner is not using the correct band plan.

Is it the new scanner?
It is how the scanner is programmed.

Do I need a new antenna? Should I return the Pro164 and get a Pro107? Thanks for any advice.
You brought up a different issue with regard to B6. If you are picking up signals from a city site then you should get B6 just fine. An antenna won't solve the problem of having a scanner not programmed correctly.
 

roma

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Thanks for the response, gm.

I programmed the Pro164 using Win97. Did exactly as I did with my Pro97, except that I "told" Win97 that I had a Pro164 via the pulldown menu.

I don't want to hijack your thread, and I think the answers to my questions might require a bit of back-and-forth (due to my technical ignorance). If you don't mind, I will PM you.

For the record, you RR folks deserve a lot of credit for your willingness to help people you don't even know. The world needs that. Thanks.
 

gmclam

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Pro-164 & win97

In Win97, go to the bank(s) that you've programmed the Sacramento trunked system into. Near the upper right part of the screen there is a button marked "Extended Tables", click that. It will open a new box which asks you to select the band plan. Click on the pull down and select '800 MHz "Rebanded"'. Click OK. Just above the original button is a section marked "MOT 800 MHz", select "multi-table". You need to do that in any bank where you've programmed a rebanded MOT 800 MHz trunked system (Roseville, Vacaville, etc).

Another thing I do is click on "Configuration" at the top of any page and select "Misc...". There is an option there "Use PSR-300 frequency table", select that. SAVE your updated .p97 file.

NOW upload it to the scanner as previously described. Keep in mind a PRO-164 is a PSR-300 with Radio Shack's name on it.
 

roma

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Thanks!

Thanks, gm!

I followed your directions and now am getting good coverage. I clicked on "Use PSR-300 frequency table," too, as you suggested. What exactly does that do?

Sorry it took me so long to give you your "props," but I had been busy and didn't get to it until yesterday.

Again, thanks.
 

gmclam

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MOT 800 Rebanded BandPlan needed for SRRCS

I clicked on "Use PSR-300 frequency table," too, as you suggested. What exactly does that do?
Honestly I am not 100% certain. But considering that WIN97 was originally written for the PRO-97 and the PSR-300/PRO-164 has some narrower channels, I believe it addresses that issue. I am glad you got it working.
 

roma

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Listening Again

I do like scanning. Problem is, when I most wanted to listen, I couldn't.

About two years ago, my neighbor's detached garage caught on fire. My son saw it through our window. I ran out into my back yard with my phone, but neighbor said he'd already called 911 and everyone was safe.

Given the proximity of his garage to my wood-shingle roofed house, I grabbed the hose and started wetting down my roof (for what it was worth). All the while, though, I had this really strong urge to drop the hose, run into my house, and grab my scanner so I could listen to the dispatch, report of the first arriving company, etc. (Of course given my issues with Fire B6, who knows if I would have heard?)

Maybe next time ; )

Bottom line: I'm glad it's working again, too. Just in case there *is* a next time.
 

gmclam

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Fire Tac B6

(Of course given my issues with Fire B6, who knows if I would have heard?)
Another member & I were monitoring the control channel data from the city system last weekend and comparing notes. What many people don't realize is that there are TWO B6 TalkGroups. I have them both programmed. We saw that they are "patched together" on the system, but how well either is received depends on your exact scanner/etc.

If you want to make sure that you hear all traffic on any Sacramento TG, you should monitor Both sites (and both B6 TGs). Certainly most, if not all, B Fire traffic will be on the city site and A Fire traffic on the county site; but it is dynamic.
 
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