Southwest wi issues

[bgod75]

I thought I was smart until I started this! I'm programming in southwest wi! I can't seem to come to the correct hierarchy or I'm not placing things in correct spots!!can anyone help? I have 2 different radios which I hope isn't gonna change things! One is portable one is a base unit! Does that in itself mean I have to change hierarchy? I would like portable to be portable! I've managed to get my local but can't get state police or medevac! I've tried different software nothing! Iowa county is my local! I'd like to hear surrounding counties state patrol etc! There are 3 towers in my county alone, when I import should I import all sites and talk groups together; one site and all groups; or all sites and one group? Does every site need a band plan? And do I need to add frequencies manually for the specific groups on the specific site node? Or can that be accomplished by adding the conventional system? If I add the conv system does it matter if it has the same system number as apco 25 system with same talk groups? Maybe if I could see someone else's wisconsin setup would really help! In the end I think it might be the way the scanner processes the info more than how I'm entering it! I'm using a uniden396t! Should each site be a system or each county?

 

[peewee007]

I have the 396xt handheld..The way I have things setup is I created a system called "Wiscom" and under "Sites" within the Wiscom system, I have individual sites named with their individual frequencies and names. Just add the frequency for each site and it should fill-in the Band Plan stuff on its own. As for the "Group" section under the Wiscom system, I put a group called "Wiscom Stuff"(can be anything) and the Talkgroup IDs under the "Edit Channel" subsection of the known IDs I know. I have the Conventional system setup similarly...I might need to clarify all this but hopefully it'll be a good start

 

[peewee007]

Also, as for State Patrol, they've been off and on Wiscom and conventional..In your Wiscom channel group, it looks like talkgroups "111"(Southwest De Forest Post) and "115"(Tomah Post) should be added. Talkgroup "118" looks like a simulcast talkgroup for when there is activity on the conventional frequencies it'll be relayed on that. The conventional/analog frequencies for southwest Wisconsin State Patrol are 154.680 for the DeForest post and 154.905 for the Tomah Post..whichever one is closest...I'm not familiar with southwest Wisconsin. Another thing I do with the 396xt is to change the way the radio scans..there's 2 options while scanning P25 systems.. "ID Scan" or "ID Search"..Having the radio set to "ID Scan" will only scan what IDs you have stored in the radio already..I have mine set to ID Search so any and all talkgroups that transmit will show up and can be added. This can be changed by pressing the Function button, going to the P25 system that you want to change, then going to "Edit Sys Option" and then "ID Scan/Search" and changing to Search. I like using the radio in Search mode so I can hear a lot more stuff going on..then can lookup what the talkgroups are at a later time

 

[bgod75]

Okay I think I understand your layout? When you say add frequencies? That must be my error! I think I'm following! And if if want to travel with my scanner and still receive my county anywhere I enter that frequency on each site where I plan to be? ive had a death in my family and probably won't get back to programming until the end of this week, I thank you for answering, i will check for a response before I start, because this is gonna take a few hours to do, and I will give you a go - no go report hopefully this weekend! Also do you have to do anything different for say the Madison 800 Dane com? Thanks again!,

 

[peewee007]

Each P25 system has it's own Group and Site options..The "Edit Group" section is for all the talkgroups that you want to listen to for that P25 system. Under the "Edit Site" section in the radio, you can have multiple sites; each with a frequency of their own for that site. I have my sites labeled by county..I'm in St Croix county so I have a site named that with the frequency of that site as 152.0225. I have surrounding counties of Polk and Pierce..each one has their own frequency for that particular site. I'm not sure about DaneCom..I would figure it'd operate in the same way but just using 800mhz frequencies instead of the lower VHF ones..Could be wrong though

 

[bgod75]

Sorry but this doesn't work! It exceeds amount of talk groups for my scanner! That is the way I thought you meant! So know I've gone and investigated your st croix area! I've loaded Baldwin tower as site and choose statewide interop, north tac, st croix county, patrol ops, patrol statewide,medevac, national park! Then I imported! The frequencies 152.0225 is the second number in the list I thought I was supposed to be adding it into! Band plan is set to zero! Know I know if I sent this to my scanner as it is it will tell me there is nothing to scan! There is no place I can find but one to add frequencies but one! Can't find a specific edit group page, when I click on specific group I can do things like prioritize, lock out chane name, talk group I'd number, only edit tab is to edit specific tower location and name, nothing to do with frequencies! That means the only other thing that I can assume is that I'm supposed to load the Baldwin site 15 times with only one talkgroup selected at a time? That can't be right? Are you sure you telling the correct frequency? And in the right place? And how do you not have to deal with band plan when it specifically tells you to be p25 you have to? Not to sound douchey but I think I'm more confused then when I started! It wouldn't be 154.725 and 151.25 that I would enter into trunking frequencies for Baldwin tower?

 

[bgod75]

Okay done a little more digging in my scanner directly! I found edit group and see what it is trying to do and think maybe understand! I will see if I can figure out how on my software to do it! It was asking for a tgid and not an actual frequency! Not sure why software is not importing all my talk groups into one list! Hoping I'm getting somewhere now, will let you know! Thanks again

 

[peewee007]

Not all talkgroups are available on all sites... Up here I can get stuff from the surrounding counties only cuz the Baldwin/Polk/Pierce towers are linked to those surrounding counties. I'd work with just the radio for now instead of using software so ya know where to put the settings. Probably be a good idea to only add the talkgroups that you actually want to listen to or do or do like I do on my scanner and change to ID Search instead of ID Scan.. All the other groups might not be heard by all locations and would just be a waste of space on the scanner. The ID Search function on the scanner listens for anything that comes over the air while the ID Scan function only scans your selected TGIDs already in the radio

 

[bgod75]

Not sure how but you were right about the band plan I didn't enter it and seems to work! I have more activity than before! Have yet to hear state patrol on any channel! I'll get a chance to travel with it today and test if it's operating the way I hope! I ended up loading each site I wanted with all groups I wanted for every tower as p25system! Then I enterered all systems from my talk groups as conventional systems, then I used scanner optimizer in my software to sort the systems and frequencies it also found a lot of duplicate channels this way, but it gives you the option of dumping so I did! I have to admit I've locked out a few already! I just clicked and imported and have not entered anything in manually as of yet! I have used 50% memory in scanner already and I have only 1/4 of the towers in wi entered! So from what you told me from before and some monkeying around it appears to be working! Will update you as to my roaming capabilities! Thanks again!

 

[Div106]

You won't hear State Patrol on WISCOM at this time.Last year, several Posts were using WISCOM for operations, but due to technical issues have switched back to VHF. Word is that WSP won't be coming back until WISCOM sometime in 2016

 

[R8000]

Word is that WSP won't be coming back until WISCOM sometime in 2016

0_o .. wow. A long time.

 

[peewee007]

One thing I do also is(when you have an external antenna at like 30 feet up) is quickscan 138mhz to around 140mhz to find any new sites that can be picked up when propagation is good. I do the same for 150mhz to around 154mhz..This can be done when you've stopped in a new area while driving around..It's not important to do this but I've picked up 7 more sites in the middle of the night when propagation is good..just thought I'd throw this out there