San Francisco, City & County of Trunking System

[DaveeCom]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows what the status of the San Francisco DECS and PWRS trunking sites are.

I haven't heard any activity at all on it since I started listening for it a few days ago. I thought it might be my location (San Pablo) being behind some low hills, but last night I drove through the City and received nothing while using the scanner in my car. So there's no doubt that I was within radio listening range.

Is it a dead system or does anyone know the latest settings in case something was changed?

Thanks for any info,
Dave

 

[rooivalk]

Nothing has changed. The RR Database is correct. I doubt you'd hear it from San Pablo, as it's pretty much relegated to SF city limits.

You may have your radio programmed wrong?

 

[DaveeCom]

Nothing has changed. The RR Database is correct. I doubt you'd hear it from San Pablo, as it's pretty much relegated to SF city limits.

You may have your radio programmed wrong?

I drove through SF last night at about 3:00 am and heard nothing on their trunked system. I drove from the McArthur Maze across the Bay Bridge down to South SF then came back to the east bay the same way....and heard nothing for the whole 20 minute (approx) period.

It could be a programming problem. But I just used Freescan to download from the DB here and it never complained about any error. I've downloaded other systems okay.

Have you downloaded the DB entry lately? I've tried more than once.

I originally thought this could be a location issue until I drove through there last night.

My new receiver (BCD396XT) works with other trunked systems nearby San Pablo, like the Chevron&Texaco Refinery, Richmond trunked system, MERA in Marin too, without any known problems that prevent me from receiving them.

I'm thinking that the problem could be:

1. Problem with the DB entry.

2. Problem with my new radio.

3. Maybe there was no talking because of chance. I doubt that is the reason, though.

rooivalk: I can see that you could not have downloaded this from the DB the same way that I did. Could this be the difference that causes mine not to work? I wonder if the DB and the web page for this system are in sync.

Can anyone verify the DB entry still works?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[rooivalk]

On my 396 (not the newer XT) I used the UASD software with the scanner set on "control channel only".

On my Pro-106, I downloaded the SF DECS from RR.com, and haven't had any issues. I'll double check when I go into SF, tonight.

It is possible that the system and your radios are o.k., but there was simply no one talking? SF isn't that big of a city, and Sunday night is usually pretty slow with radio chatter.

Offtopic: MERS is a booming system. I can pick-up the digital signal with a handheld and RS 800MHZ antenna from my area (roughly Clayton). I can't receive any other trunked system from my place, including Oakland, San Pablo/Richmond, SF, etc. Hell, I can't even receive Walnut Creek from my place.

 

[DaveeCom]

You could be right on the possibility that it was just a quiet time in the City. But after a couple of weeks with the new radio, I'm starting to think it's not just being quiet. I've been through there a couple of times, but last night I was careful not to listen to any other channels while I was trying to pick up SF.

Can you conform that your programming came from RR's online download DB instead of the web page?

I'm hopeful that it's just a little problem with the programming. If it *is* then it seems likely to be a problem with the DB too.....duh....

BTW: From here I can't seem to hear anything from Mount Diablo (yet). And I can't hear Alameda County trunking system, but I know it works on my radio when I drive down 880 I can hear Oak just fine.

If it comes down to it, I can upload my program settings so you could look at them and compare them with your settings if you feel up to the task.

Regards,
Dave

 

[DaveeCom]

FWIW: I just uploaded my SF programming settings in CSV form from Freescan.

If someone could look at them and see if I have the correct settings, I would really appreciate it.

 

[rooivalk]

Config. looks O.K.

I double checked my 396, and I have Control Channel Only with: 866.225 and 866.9625 as the only control channels (I didnt enter the PWRS stuff). In several groups, I have the PD and FD.

 

[DaveeCom]

Config. looks O.K.

I double checked my 396, and I have Control Channel Only with: 866.225 and 866.9625 as the only control channels (I didnt enter the PWRS stuff). In several groups, I have the PD and FD.

Thanks for looking at it. I'm going to strip my settings down to the two control channels you gave me and double check everything else against the web page too.

Thanks!

 

[dougr1252]

SF sounds normal for me, also outside the Bay Area presently. PWRS is very low traffic, and at 3AM CERS probably is too. Keep in mind it's raining and SF is heavily downtilted, so propagation is worse than usual. Different channels can also have different signal levels. CERS and PWRS operate as separate systems even though the Sys ID is the same, so make sure you have 866.2250 and 866.9625 in a separate system. Those are the only control channels. At the moment, control is on 866.9625 for CERS and 857.2375 for PWRS. Database still looks correct.

 

[DaveeCom]

One step closer to solving it.

I made some progress last night. I heard the system. The settings I downloaded didn't work but the settings I entered myself by hand *did* work.

I'm new to trunking and I don't know much yet, so I don't know if I've found the reason for the problem or not. But I noticed a difference between my settings that worked and the downloaded settings.

The site type in Freescan after importing RR's trunked settings is "MOT VHF Band".

The site type that my scanner has that worked is "MOT 800Mhz Standard (Type II)".

And here's what happens when I download these settings to the scanner and then upload them back into Freescan: The site type changes to "MOT Custom Reband".

So there might be two problems: 1 - DB entry might need to be changed to the Type II site type and 2 - Freescan or the scanner itself causes the site type to change between upload and download of the same system.

 

[ka3jjz]

Davee, there is a known issue with Freescan version .8e - it tends to set the wrong system type in the downloads. Fortunately you can fix this manually, and simply use the 'replace' option (instead of 'add') on the upload. Assaf has said that he will be fixing this in the next version 73 Mike

 

[DaveeCom]

Thanks for letting me know. That's the version I'm using.