Trouble with listening in Fayetteville Area

[Chromdome35]

My wife gave me a BCD996XT for my birthday. This is my first ever scanner so I'm very new to the lingo and concepts.

I have jumped in and read as much as I could on these forums. I also bought the Easier to Read manual, downloaded both FreeScan and ProScan (I prefer ProScan's interface) and purchased a subscription to Radio Reference.

I've been fairly successful in setting up the scanner, and can listen to Fayetteville PD and FD which are both on the AWIN system. I can also hear the Washington County EMS Dispatch, Johnson FD, Tonitown PD.

I haven't had any luck in being able to hear the State Police (Troop L operating out of Springdale) or Washington County Sheriffs Office. I've had some limited success with the UAPD.

As to my troubles hearing the State Police I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I programmed all the local towers into the scanner and added the various AWIN talk groups I was interested in. But i'm not hearing anything. The towers I loaded in were: Rogers/Springdale/West Fork/Combs/Fayetteville Simulcast.

If it matters, I'm just using the stock antenna that comes out the back of the scanner.

Can anyone help me out?

 

[MTech]

Washington County SO and UAPD use LTR Passport systems, which means you can't track them with a scanner, but you can program the frequencies as conventional and listen that way. If you can listen to the Fayetteville AWIN talkgroups with no problems, then you should have no issues receiving Troop L. I would double check which talkgroups you have programmed for Troop L and also make sure they are assigned with the correct frequencies for the AWIN towers.

 

[k5kvn]

I agree with MTech's suggestions. Double check to make sure you have state police talkgroups enabled. You might try setting it up in it's own channel bank, so you are only listening for AWIN state police talkgroups (and not accidentally Fayetteville.) Also, try just programming in one AWIN tower at a time. Start with Springdale.

Also, you could try listening to the AWIN tower and use a wildcard talkgroup to ensure your scanner will stop on anything it hears. (I *think* that's how it works on the BCD996XT. I have a Pro-197.)

P.S. What freqs are you using for UAPD? I can't find them. I've listened to the UA LTR passport system but only hear parking enforcement and facilities maintenance. I haven't heard police department.

 

[Chromdome35]

Thanks guys! I am on the road at the moment will be home Sunday and will post the freqs when I get home


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[Chromdome35]

Here is what I have programmed in for listening to the Arkansas State Police (Not hearing anything)

System Type set as P25 Standard Trunk

Springdale Tower Frequencies
851.5875
851.8375
852.6875
852.9375
853.2125

For TGID's I have
2213
2207
2209
2211
2203
2205
2202
2201

I also have the West Fork Tower Programmed in with the following Freqs
851.2625
851.6750
851.7625
852.9625
854.1125
856.3125
856.7625
857.3125

 

[MTech]

Have you tried programming the Troop L talkgroups with the Fayetteville Simulcast frequencies?

 

[Chromdome35]

Bear with me as I'm new to all this...

I already have the fayetteville simulcast programmed in along with the Fayetteville PD and FD, which I'm hearing. They are setup under their own "system" I named Fayetteville AWIN in the scanner.

I have another system defined called AWIN which has the Springdale, West Fork, Combs, and Rogers Tower Frequencies setup in it. I also have all of the State Talk groups I wanted to hear setup under this "System"

Can my AWIN system not hear the fayetteville simulcast frequencies I have programmed in the Fayetteville AWIN system?

 

[MTech]

To help troubleshoot, can you try adding talkgroup 2201 (L Dispatch) to the system named Fayetteville AWIN and see if that works?

 

[Chromdome35]

So I've been troubleshooting this by clearing everything out of the scanner.

I added just the Fay Simulcast Frequencies and the ASP Troop L TGID's.

IT IS WORKING!!! I can hear the State Police.

I'm using ProScan and have logging turned on. I'm seeing the following four TGID's.

All on Frequency 857.2375
TGID: 52665 - have gotten 135 hits on this TGID in less than 10 minutes
TGID: 52667
TGID: 52601
TGID: 2201 - Which is L Dispatch

both of the 5266x channels are very active and sound like officers in cars in the field...what are those talk groups?

 

[MTech]

Great to hear! In addition to Troop L, you are receiving Fayetteville Police and Fire as expected. 52665 and 52667 are PD Dispatch and Records respectively, and 52601 is Fire Dispatch.

I'm guessing you just had an issue with how the talkgroups were programmed on your scanner. However, keep in mind for the AWIN system, you will only receive talkgroups on a tower site for which an AWIN radio with that talkgroup is turned on and affiliated with that site. It's very possible that there were no Troop L radios affiliated with the West Fork or Springdale sites at the time you were listening.

 

[Chromdome35]

So if I want to setup a System to listen to the ASP only...no fayetteville PD/FD do I lockout those TGID's?

Can i then setup a different system for just Fay PD/FD but not ASP?

 

[MTech]

I'm not very familiar with the 996XT, so there's probably a better way to set it up, but you could just create two separate systems for AWIN and label them as you wish. For example, if you want to focus on ASP, create a system with the AWIN tower sites, label it as ASP, and only enter the ASP talkgroups that you wish to monitor.

 

[Chromdome35]

Thanks for all your help MTECH

I'm hearing a ton of traffic on 460.2625. It seems to be law enforcement related and I think it may be the sheriffs office dispatch but I'm not sure.

In the database this frequency shows as Tonitown FD3 Fire Tactical 3 but it definitely not that. Do you know what this is?

 

[MTech]

460.2625 is part of the Washington County OEM system. You can find the additional frequencies for that system in the database. As you mentioned, that frequency is also licensed for Tontitown Fire, but it appears it is a low power license.

 

[Chromdome35]

So is the Washington County OEM system the system the Sheriff's office uses?

I added the Springdale and Fayetteville Frequencies from your link and I'm picking up a lot of traffic on
460.2625 and 460.4215 both of which are under the Springale freq's. Not much on the Fayetteville Freqs. Would that be because I'm just can't receive them with the stock antenna?

I'm thinking about hanging a Discone Anntenna in my attic. Our POA won't allow outside antennas, but we have a HUGE attic space with at least 10 feet of vertical clearance.