SNACC System Monitoring

[scanware2019]

I've got several (more than 2) SDS200 scanners and I have recently found it interesting to monitor specific sites in the SNACC and see how various agencies are represented. So, before I spend more time investigating this, I'll ask - if someone has an 'official' listing of what agencies use what sites I'd really like to get a listing of them.
I ask this because I was experimenting today and chose Henderson as a System to check out. It seems that Black Mountain is almost ALWAYS guaranteed to carry anything heard on the Henderson TGs. Further selective scanning leads me to believe that the LV Simulcast site seems to be about the same as Black Mtn. Low Potosi is maybe also one that carries some Henderson traffic. I checked out other area sites (Apex, Angel, Arden, Lake LV, Boulder City) and none seem to ever have any Henderson traffic.
Can anyone help me get more specific on my site assignments for various SNACC systems? Glad to chat on this any time. Email me or stop by GigaParts where I spend lots of time during the week. Thanks and 73, Gene / KG7XD & WRFK762

 

[enosjones]

I’m in Utah, on the east side of the state, I see that snacc has 2 licenses for the st George area , I just wondered if anyone knew if they were active yet? What I have is west mountain peak WPOZ302 856.4375, 857.1125, 857.4875, 858.2375, 859.2625 and on beaver dam mountain WPUX404 : 851.200, 851.450, 852.100, 852.450, 852.775, 853.050, 853.7375....

 

[enosjones]

That may reach clear to mesquite, I don’t make it to ST George very often but I seen that license come up a while ago and wondered

 

[737mech]

I have always looked around for anything official as far as a real list of users on the SNACC. The programers only tell need to know people. I am aware there are many things not in the RRDB. Sites and TGIDs I can't see with my scanner what site they are coming in on. I guess that fancy new SDS200 can? In the past it was a Moto smartnet. Maybe it behaves like that only in P25?

 

[scanware2019]

Sites and TGIDs I can't see with my scanner what site they are coming in on. I guess that fancy new SDS200 can?

Well...yeah the SDS200 (and also the SDS100) is a pretty impressive scanner. It does an excellent job of following the sites in the SNACC system. That's a complex task that is beyond what I'm trying to determine. Let me preface this all by saying I tried this experiment at two locations: one in LV on Valley View Blvd and the other pretty high up in Summerlin. On all of the scanners I used the same antennas: Comet BNC-W100RX. If you look at the SNACC System Frequencies in RR (Southern Nevada Area Communications Council (SNACC) Trunking System, Las Vegas, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies) you'll see what I am pretty sure is a complete list of the frequencies used in Clark County. To program an individual Site in the scanner is not difficult using the Sentinel software. You can call any Site by any name. The only thing that must be specific is the frequencies used for that site. The scanner has the ability to read the trunking control signals from the Primary and Alternate control channels. So, for any given site, you only need to enter the Primary and if they have them, the Alternate control freqs. The scanner will supply the actual comm freqs being used by reading it in the control data. In fact, I believe I'm correct in saying that you don't want to program in all of the individual site channels because that will force the scanner to actually try to listen to each one for traffic rather than switching directly to the freq that the control channel is directing. So the question then becomes - for a given service (e.g. Henderson) which site(s) are going to be best for that area. If you look at the SNACC Site Map in RR (Site Map: Southern Nevada Area Communications Council (SNACC) Trunking System, Las Vegas, Multi-State) you'll see a flag for each of the 15 sites in the Clark County SNACC system (incl. two in Nye Co and one down in Oatman AZ). Guessing the best sites for Henderson, you would start with Black Mtn as obvious but then you really have to make some choices. It would seem like Boulder City, Lake Las Vegas, and Arden Peak are the next choices, and then maybe a little farther out you might choose Low Potosi and Las Vegas Simulcast.

Here's where the investigative listening got interesting. The SDS200s can display all the data and numbers you need to locate where the transmission is coming from. By using several scanners programmed to receive only from specific sites I found that there were only TWO sites that delivered comms from Henderson units (FD + PD) - they were Black Mtn and the Las Vegas Simulcast. I didn't catch any other sites. Also of note, although I could usually hear comms simultaneously from both site (with a slight delay between them) there were some comms that came only through the Black Mtn site. I think you could deduce that some Henderson units were in the shadow of the mtn and could not be heard by the LV Simulcast site.

This is as far as I've gone with this experiment. What I'll probably do next is try the same technique with the North Las Vegas units and see what I can learn there. I'd welcome any comments or suggestions that anyone reading this might have. 73 de Gene / KG7XD & WRFK762

 

[diskmonger]

If SNACC is like any other P25 trunked radio system the radio affiliates to the closest tower (or what it thinks is the tower with the best signal), then that tower will carry the radio traffic. So, is it possible this Black Mountain site has just really good coverage and radios just tend to affiliate to it? That would explain why it seems to carry so much Henderson traffic.

It doesn't really make sense for a tower site to be transmitting a TG if there is not a radio listening on that TG (affiliated). But, who knows I guess.

 

[com501]

Some TGs are wide area, but others only come up when a radio with that TG is in range and registered on that site. Other TGs may NOT come up if that site is restricted and not available to the TG (rare).

 

[Hooligan]

I've got several (more than 2) SDS200 scanners and I have recently found it interesting to monitor specific sites in the SNACC and see how various agencies are represented. So, before I spend more time investigating this, I'll ask - if someone has an 'official' listing of what agencies use what sites I'd really like to get a listing of them.
I ask this because I was experimenting today and chose Henderson as a System to check out. It seems that Black Mountain is almost ALWAYS guaranteed to carry anything heard on the Henderson TGs. Further selective scanning leads me to believe that the LV Simulcast site seems to be about the same as Black Mtn. Low Potosi is maybe also one that carries some Henderson traffic. I checked out other area sites (Apex, Angel, Arden, Lake LV, Boulder City) and none seem to ever have any Henderson traffic.
Can anyone help me get more specific on my site assignments for various SNACC systems? Glad to chat on this any time. Email me or stop by GigaParts where I spend lots of time during the week. Thanks and 73, Gene / KG7XD & WRFK762

Do you know where Lake Las Vegas is? Go out there, or take a look at it on a topo map... Arden Peak is on Black Mtn, but the Arden site moved to a location on Black Mtn called Geneva (end of Geneva Rd) in order to provide better coverage to the E part of Henderson & I think the Railroad Pass area. I think you need to spend more time looking at the current FCC database info for SNACC. I hear City of Henderson TGs on what should be the Apex, etc. sites regularly. Do you understand that "LV Simulcast" is not just one transmit/receive site??

 

[scanware2019]

I hear City of Henderson TGs on what should be the Apex, etc. sites regularly. Do you understand that "LV Simulcast" is not just one transmit/receive site??

Interesting that you hear Henderson TGs on Apex, etc. I've set up 3 SDS200s next to each other with selected sets of sites in each. Never heard Henderson on Apex. Yes, I'm quite aware that LV Simulcast is not just one location....your point? Gene KG7XD

 

[n4njj]

Speaking of SNACC, it seems that their website is not working. Violation of open meeting laws?

 

[Hooligan]

Never heard Henderson on Apex. Yes, I'm quite aware that LV Simulcast is not just one location....your point? Gene KG7XD

"If you have to ask..."