tulsa reception range

[fireant]

After visiting my sister this weekend guess I got my brother-in-law into scanning he asked me a question that I told him I would ask here since I really don't know the answer he is programming his pro-95 and asked me if he could pickup tulsa from yukon I told him I did not think so but promised him that I would find out so who better to ask then the experts on this site he has the stock antenna and I gave him a extra 800 mhz antenna I had from radio shack for trunking.

fireant

 

[K5MAR]

In my experience, no.

Mark S.

 

[crayon]

As K5MAR point out the short answer is no.

But, if a Tulsa unit affilates with a site anywhere outside of Tulsa, *and* you just happen to be monitoring that system at the sametime, you will hear that traffic.

 

[okla-lawman]

A few years back I went to a school in yukon and could receive but could not transmit. Since the radio upgrade I know you can transmit from el reno. I routinely monitor ohp rural and kilpatrick turnpike units here from tulsa so I dont know why he couldnt. Get a high yagi and put it up, I think he could.

 

[crayon]

I routinely monitor ohp rural and kilpatrick turnpike units here from tulsa so I dont know why he couldnt.

You may be hearing TG's that, for whatever reasons, are being rebroadcasted. Dunno.

 

[okla-lawman]

Well maybe it is different cause it is an actual radio not a scanner. I have hit tulsa's rpeaters from south of purcell, have heard a unit check out at elreno federal prison on an interview. I dont think tulsa's are rebroadcast

 

[crayon]

Well maybe it is different cause it is an actual radio not a scanner.

aye, that makes sense. :wink:

 

[okla-lawman]

Yes but I am picking up ohp rural trp a and metro trp a, and kilpatrick
units on my scanner here in tulsa..not even with a grat antenna

 

[K5MAR]

I think that somebody authorized on those talkgroups has affiliated with a Tulsa tower, which is why you hear them. But I took his question to mean Tulsa PD/FD, rather than OHP Troop B - Tulsa, which is a whole different kettle of fish. I don't recall ever hearing any TPD units on the Carney/OKC/Spring Lake/Lexington towers. I suspect that the OHP units can affiliate with any SmartZone tower in the state that they happen to be near, whereas the PD/FD units are restricted to their home areas under normal circumstances (ie. using their regular Tulsa TGs).

I would be wary of overloading the front end of a handheld scanner by using a high gain antenna. If his in-law was using a good base/mobile scanner, that might work better.

Mark S.

 

[GlacierClipper]

I am picking up Troop A and the Rural, here in Tulsa on a Pro 96 with only a rubber duck antenna. Living in an apartment makes it difficult to put a antenna outside.

 

[K5MAR]

When you say you are picking up Troop A in Tulsa, what are you really picking up, Troop A talkgroups, or the OKC Smartzone tower?

Mark S.

 

[foster_006]

I think this is why I hear a tg from Tulsa every now and again. I think in a post awhile back....someone said that a trooper from Troop B lived in this area, and with his radio on while in this area, it would "patch"(not sure that's the right word)...one tg to the OKC towers. I can't think of the tg right off hand but it was like Tulsa Regional or something like that...for the smaller PD's and other counties or something.

Could the same be happening in Tulsa?

 

[GlacierClipper]

Picking up Troop A talkgroups.

 

[K5MAR]

Picking up Troop A talkgroups.

Then that would mean that somebody with an authorized radio on Troop A TGs is in the Tulsa area, so their radio has affiliated with the Tulsa area system. That is why they are being heard in the Tulsa area. I know that during the manhunt in Creek Cty last year there was somebody in OKC, I won't say who, that kept his HT on the SMA group being used so that it would affiliate with the OKC site and thus all that manhunt radio traffic would be carried by the OKC site

It's an inprecision in the use of terms that's causing part of this debate. I interperet the "hearing Tulsa" question as meaning hearing those radio frequencies that are used by the Tulsa SmartZone system. Others interpret it to mean hearing the Tulsa TGs. Or visa-versa, hearing Troop A TG's in Tulsa.

As I took the original question, the poster (actually his b-i-l) wants to hear the Tulsa radio system which carries the Tulsa PD/FD traffic. I still don't believe that it is likely that he will be able to hear those radio frequencies in Yukon. It is possibly that he will hear certain portions of the radio traffic from Tulsa (the Troop B OHP TGs) being carried on the OKC SmartZone site. I frequently hear Troop B's main TG - 34320, on the Carney tower, but I have yet to hear any TPD/FD traffic on the Carney tower. I don't believe that a Tulsa PD/FD unit will affiliate with the OKC site when in the OKC area under normal circumstances. Of course, circumstances may change the way the system operates.

Sorry if the above seems a little pedantic, but I'm not an expert on trunking systems and it's possible that I'm wrong on some aspects of this, but this is my understanding of how it works.

Now, if Fireant could clarify what his b-i-l wants to hear out of Tulsa, then perhaps somebody will be able to give him a definative answer.

Interesting discussion, none the less!

Mark S.

 

[GlacierClipper]

I heard the State Capital Security talkgroups here in Tulsa.

For many months, I have been searching on the Tulsa system with all of the know talkgroups in the Tulsa area locked out. During that time, several digital test talkgroups have been found. The two Metro talkgroups 46256 and ?, 30244 and few others.

My hobby is listening and logging the frequencies for talkgroups, tones and providing user data.

 

[mfolta1]

ohp rural and killpatrick units id's are on the statewide system which im told are relays along the turner, creek and muskogee tpks as well as throughout okc area. thats why you hear them, the system resides in 11 counties Statewide,cleveland,Pottawatomie,Oklahoma,Canadian,lincoln,logan,creek,okmulgee,tulsa and muskogee. go to the RR database and read the part "Misc System Information". THat should explain why someone in tulsa can hear okc ohp in tulsa as well as troop c in muskogee..

 

[fireant]

kmar5, tulsa pd and ohp but from reading the post I think he can hear ohp but probably not tulsa and if he can no after they go trunked. So if tulsa goes trunk it is going to the astro-25 right? Will they still go analog with talking with other agencies that are not on digital such as broken arrow, bixby and ohp? or does this mean these agencies will go the same route I know ohp doesn't have the money to upgrade they are having difficulties with getting a academy for this year in order to hire some much needed help!!

fireant

 

[K5MAR]

Tulsa is already on an analog trunked radio system at this time. Although there has been talk of the Tulsa system going digital, there is nothing official at this time. If they do it's almost sure to be APCO P-25, and there may be some digital encrypted TGs.

I believe that the non-digital users such as Troop B will be able to coexist with the digital users should the City of Tulsa go digital. Going digital is a huge expense and I would expect that it would be done in steps. This is just my guess, but I would expect that the users such as special operations, drug task forces, etc., would be the first to go digital and would go directly to encrypted. Then digital would be phased in in steps among the other users, with the city services such as utilities, transportation, etc. staying analog for a long time to come.

Added: Looking at a post by mfolta in another thread, it seems that Tulsa is farther along in issuing digital radios than I'd realized. When they'll go active apparently hasn't been decided yet.


Mark S.

 

[K5MAR]

My hobby is listening and logging the frequencies for talkgroups, tones and providing user data.

Keep up the good work! I can't hear much of anything from Tulsa overhere in Stillwater, due to the ridge west of Tulsa. So I'm very much dependant on you and others for updates on the Tulsa SmartZone system, as I don't get over to T-town very often any more. So your efforts, along with others, is very much appreciated!

Mark S.

 

[okla-lawman]

Tulsa has always had the option of going to other repeaters outside the tulsa area. The have the use of one in Bristow and another down south.
Some (all?) of the units during the last upgrade they added a new talkgroup. It has one tulsa talkgroup and the rest is ohp OKC and turner.
It must be tied to the state system because you can talk from well west and south of okc back to Tulsa. You can also talk to ohp in Okc from tulsa.