Simulcast B

[KB7MIB]

You're welcome. It can be a bit confusing. We just have to explain what used to be, before explaining what is now.

And what will be is just conjecture, an educated guesstimate lol

John
Peoria

 

[thomasbillman1]

mesa police

since they are doing all this updating, i went back an put in the control channels only, i now can pick mesa up loud an clear, i still can not pick phoenix up. I am at the boarder of mesa an tempe so i should be able to get phoenix. Any suggestions?

 

[madboma]

Are any of the Phoenix precincts on this 700 simulcast B?? Does the Phx Fire use B? Cant get anything. on a or b, probably to far away.

I get black mountain loud and clear on the thompson site and I've gotten south mnt to come in once off simulcast F or C, cant remember which one.

 

[cellphone]

Are any of the Phoenix precincts on this 700 simulcast B?? Does the Phx Fire use B? Cant get anything. on a or b, probably to far away.

Currently all talkgroups are still on Simulcast A. I have not monitored any voice traffic on the new Simulcast B site yet, so it is likely still in an acceptance testing phase.

 

[KR7CQ]

Does anyone know if Phoenix Fire is still broadcast from the White Tanks RWC site? I don't currently have my equipment set up yet in the new home, but I used to always listen to PFD from this site as it was better than the simulcast mess. I've been out of the game for a little while and was just curious.

 

[Phoenix805]

I was waiting to see if anyone who knows more would reply. I don't know, but my scanner hasn't registered any fire department hits on White Tanks for quite awhile. Luckily I can get them pretty good on Simulcast G.

 

[KB7MIB]

I think I've heard K-2 on White Tanks. I know K-2 is being carried on Thompson Peak. I've caught K-6 on Towers Mtn, but it's not full time, apparantly only when a radio happens to affiliate with that site.

The IR sites haven't carried FD since the Superbowl.

I have caught an MCCCD TG or two on Simulcast B, the last time I checked. (I checked just now, and 4555 popped up. No audio, however, probably due to simulcast interference issues.)

John
Peoria

 

[KR7CQ]

Severe bummer, but thanks. I'm going to have to get a yagi and deal with that it seems.

I do wonder though, if the WT site worked for the Phoenix area without an issue which I assume it did, what is the purpose of the simulcast sites anyway? Is it because of federal regulations / guidelines?

 

[InlandAZ]

I heard them loud and clear on Simulcast C all night long - S Mill Ave & E Rio Salado Pkwy.

 

[KB7MIB]

The IR sites supplement the simulcast sites, not the other way around.

Most TG's are only allowed on specific simulcasts and IR's. I believe that the IR's allowed certain TG's to roam elsewhere when out of range of the home simulcast system, or to work in an area where, due to terrain, the simulcast sites may not cover very well.

Apparantly, since the FD TG's are permitted on all of the simulcast systems, and for the most part those systems cover everywhere that is needed with sufficient reliability, very few IR's need to carry them.

That's my understanding of it, anyway.

John
Peoria

 

[Phoenix805]

I just read in the September RWC meeting notes: Work on Simulcast B is on schedule to be completed by November 2015. Work is scheduled to begin on Simulcast A in December 2015.

 

[aensr]

It looks like Simul B is back up. There are currently 228 units affiliated with it now

Alan

 

[aensr]

Disregard my last post, I had the wrong system keyed in.

Alan

 

[KR7CQ]

The IR sites supplement the simulcast sites, not the other way around.

Most TG's are only allowed on specific simulcasts and IR's. I believe that the IR's allowed certain TG's to roam elsewhere when out of range of the home simulcast system, or to work in an area where, due to terrain, the simulcast sites may not cover very well.

Apparantly, since the FD TG's are permitted on all of the simulcast systems, and for the most part those systems cover everywhere that is needed with sufficient reliability, very few IR's need to carry them.

That's my understanding of it, anyway.

John
Peoria

That all makes sense, but let me ask the question in a different way.....

If one site on top of the White tanks worked (and that site could be heard loud and clear over the Phoenix area)...why couldn't the powers at be just save a whole ton of money and have that one single site take the place of a bunch of simulcast sites. What good is an expensive multi-tower simulcast system when you have very tall mountains that rise above a valley floor where you can place towers? Or worst case, place a site on top of Thomson Peak, Mt. Gillen, and South Mountain, to really ensure solid valley-wide coverage, and run the PFD and PPD the way valley MCSO runs their system? MCSO covers the entire county with as many sites as it takes simulcast a to cover Phoenix. So why even use simulcast? What is gained? Is it just a matter of using fewer frequencies (less bandwidth)? If that's the case, then it would seem all large agencies are headed that way in the future (simulcast).

 

[cellphone]

The simulcast sites provide better in building portable coverage. The RWC and TRWC systems are designed to provide a higher level of in building coverage. For portable radios to be able to talk out to the system, they need to have a closer tower to receive the transmission.

The same is done with the county system that MCSO uses, only not using simulcast sites as it is an older smartzone system. This is the reason for the downtown site, Chandler site, Mesa site, Scottsdale site, etc. These sites provide for better coverage in these areas.

The same principal is used for fire VHF. They have transmitters on mountaintops all around the valley. They also have dozens of receive sites all around the valley (on shorter tower sites often located at fire stations) so the alarm room can receive fireground communications.