Savannah/Chatham County Questions

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garys

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I've been in Savannah for a few days and brought my 436HP with me. My understanding is that most of Savannah PD is encrypted, but haven't received much of anything even on Fire and EMS TGs. Since I hope to be back next year, I have some questions that hopefully will help me do a better job programming.

I have a 436HP with DMR and NXDN upgrades.

In no particular order here are my questions.

I only have the Chatham County simulcast site programmed in. I'm staying on Abercorn Street, north of downtown. Sort of near Hunter AAF, but not right at it. I noticed that there appear to be more than one site being received by the scanner. My guess is that I'm receiving the downtown and the Pooler sites.

I've never experienced simulcast distortion before, so my question is if that could cause a loss of reception of TGs?

I read that Chatham County and the city have separated or are in the process of separating into two different police departments. Is dispatch still done at the same dispatch center on the same TGs?

Which EMS agencies does Chatham County dispatch for? For that matter, who provides EMS for the city? Is Coastal EMS still on Southernlinc?

Oh, in case anyone cares, Old Savannah Tours uses SouthernLinc.
 

KF4LMT

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Chatham County's SEGARRN sites are simulcast, so simulcast distortion could be what you're getting. If you're near Hunter AAF, you're in one of the higher points of the county and pretty much dead center in the county which means you could be getting all of the 3 tower sites: the Kerry Street site, the Montgomery site, and the Quacco Rd site. I use a BCD436HP, BCD396XT, and an HP2 and have experienced spot problems in Chatham County as you described, but only in small areas, not in wide areas. The Savannah Chatham Municipal Police Department did split back into the separate Savannah and Chatham County PDs. They are dispatched by Metro 911 and Metro 911's law enforcement dispatch/talk/information channels, which are the same as before, are encrypted. Most of the other municipal PD's city channels still seem to be unencrypted the last time I listened for them. EMS for Chatham County is provided by Chatham Emergency Services, formerly Southside Fire/EMS; you can listen for them on the Chatham County EMS dispatch talkgroup and on their talkgroups; they haven't changed, just the department's name. They way dispatch works for EMS is Chatham Metro gets the 911 call and gives it to Chatham Emergency Services who then dispatch one of their units on the Medic 1 and Medic 2 talkgroups. Just FYI, Metro 911 I (which comes under Chatham County PD) is the PSAP for the whole county except for Tybee, which has its own 911 center due to how far they are away from the mainland. Coastal EMS is most likely still on Linc.

I got back into Savannah yesterday morning (too late to hear the big fire at 37th St/Jefferson St) but listened to the system on the way into town and while I was out and about catching up on things with no problems.

Hope that helps,
Mac
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garys

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That helps quite a bit. I think the church fire was in the middle of the night, so I was sound asleep when it happened.

Thanks for the explanation on how 9-1-1 calls are handled. Maybe someone can update Southside Fire/EMS to Chatham Emergency Services. The former name was a bit confusing as to who did what. Chatham Emergency Services website doesn't do a great job explaining it, either.

How did the jurisdictions between Savannah and Chatham County get broken down after the split? I'd guess that Savannah does the city proper and the County does everything else, but that's a guess.

I did figure out a few things, or maybe just re-figured them out since I should have known them based on listening to other systems.

First, I changed the digital threshold mode and level to Manual and 9. When I built the system using ARC536, I forgot to look at those site settings. That improved reception quite a bit. I also deleted all but the primary and secondary control channels. Since it's a P25 system, loading all of the site frequencies does nothing other than slow things down.

While listening, I picked up Westside police dispatch, Glynn County PD, and Tybee Island PD along with a few others. All on the main simulcast site. Which was pretty interesting as Glynn County is not especially close.

If I do get back next year, I'll have a better idea of what to listen for and to.

Thanks for the input.
 

KF4LMT

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No problem. It's not unusual to hear other counties from the system on the Chatham site as units from other counties or departments who are scanning or monitoring those counties' talkgroups move through or near the county. You'll hear Bryan and Effingham on the Chatham site all the time, Liberty County often, and Glynn County not so often. Tybee Island works off of both the Chatham and Tybee sites all of the time. I'll submit the department change tonight; I should have thought about that when they made the name change.

Mac
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RRR

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So, is just Sav. PD ENC now? And all TG's for them?
 

KF4LMT

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Savannah PD and Chatham County PD are encrypted. The dispatch channels for the other municipal PDs in Chatham County are also encrypted.

Still plenty of other stuff left in the county to listen to, though.

Mac
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RRR

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Tybee Island is ENC now also? Last I knew, there was still L.E. T.G.'s in Chatham county that were "open", has that changed in the past few months?
 

garys

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Tybee Island seemed to be clear when I heard it. Westside dispatch was also clear.
 

KF4LMT

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Tybee Island is ENC now also? Last I knew, there was still L.E. T.G.'s in Chatham county that were "open", has that changed in the past few months?


No, Tybee Island PD is not encrypted. The encrypted talkgroups are the Metro 911 law enforcement dispatch, talk, and information talkgroups. The agencies dispatched by Metro 911 are Savannah PD, Chatham County PD, Bloomingdale PD, Garden City PD, Pooler PD, Port Wentworth PD, and Thunderbolt PD. Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, and Thunderbolt's city channels are not encrypted. Tybee Island is not dispatched by Metro 911, but by their own dispatch center and they are not encrypted.

Mac
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RRR

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To resurrect, I am not seeing Port Wentworth anything in the DB here anymore. I have 807 as primary for PD. Has something changed?
 
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