Twin City Reception

[hockeydad]

July ' 08 I purchased a GRE PSR600 and have been using the Butel software to program it. I can get most broadcasts but I have trouble getting St.Paul Police, Fire, and the Metro Transit. I get state patrol and DOT just fine, state wide.

Maybe someone can help me with this, and also with the Butel software, it asks to pick at least one "site. Are these repeater towers? Do I need to pick i.e. Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties also?

I find the software a bit ambiguous about how to program. Also has any of the metro freqs been rebanded? Like I stated before, I can get a lot of reception from places a lot farther away from where I live in Cottage Grove, MN.

 

[1hdrdr]

St Paul is all on the Ramsey Co. site. And Cottage Grove is on the Washington co. site.

 

[hockeydad]

I may have not been as clear as I should in my question. I don't have any problems receiving any Washington co. broadcasts, or state wide i.e State Patrol, DOT. The major one I can't receive is MTC which is Metro wide. I used to be able to receive St.Paul Police and Fire/Paramedics on my old analog radio. I do have an antenna amp on my system, I thought I would be able to receive St.Paul broadcasts. This isn't a re-banding issue is it?

 

[grenner]

Twin Cities Frequencies and the GRE

In this forum under Twin Cities frequencies there is an entire data file for the GRE 500 that is current. I live in White Bear Lake and use the GRE also and can pick up State Patrol, St. Paul, Ramsey County and part of Anoka and Washington Counties. I do not get very much of Minneapolis police etc and MTC is kind of touch and go. You may want to download the data file here and try that and see what you get. There was some rebanding, mostly back in the summer of 08 I think.

I go back to the days when I ran down to Radio Shack to get a couple of crystals and was overjoyed when programmable scanners came out. I was a really big deal when St. Paul Police switched from VHF to UHF frequencies. So this whole trunking, frequency and talk group thing has me a bit confused.
Greg

 

[Stevemp]

My Dad lives close to Jamaica and Indian Blvd (I call it the black hole), I gave
him a Pro96 to listen to St. Paul. He cannot pick up Ramsey Cty unless he hops in
the car, when he gets to the top of the ridge to the west or over the hill to the
north (About a mile each direction). I do not believe St. Paul ever affiliates
with Wash. or Dakota Cty.
I am thinking about an 800 mhz yagi up in the attic (he lives in a town home, no
outside antennas) but have not gotten that far yet. 800 mhz is line of site and
the hills kill the signal. Put the antenna as high as you can.
With the software you can put Ramsey, Washington and Dakota County frequencies in
the same system. If you go to the Armer page and click on the name of the site,
it will open a new page with site details, click on Site Licenses and if loaded
will bring up a map showing the location of all towers identified for that site.
Each tower in that site Simulcasts it frequencies.

I hope this helps.

Steve
KC0TAG

 

[hockeydad]

Steve, can you tell me what software you are refering to? I am wondering where the "Amer" page would be located. Thanx, M.

 

[Stevemp]

hockeydad,
The software I was referring to was the Butel software you stated you where using. I use Win500 so have not used that software.
To get to the Armer page, go to Radioreference.com, click Database Home, click Minnesota, click Washington County, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on Armer.

Steve
KC0TAG

 

[hockeydad]

Much appreciated, M.

 

[hockeydad]

I have an update on my reception. I downloaded the 1.7 rev to my PSR 600. I reloaded my scanner using the latest Win500 software. I was given the control freqs for Metro transit which are broadcast from the Mpls City center site. Needless to say, everything I have downloaded now, is coming in like gang busters.

I don't know what the consensus is, out there, regarding software, I know that I did not have the sucess with the ARC 500 software. I wonder what the difference is, considering they both use Radio Reference as the download source. Anybody got any ideas? Also, to "Stevemp", I don't live to far from your dad. The only "boost" I am using right now is an old "GRE Superamp, that I purchased years ago, to bring in St.Paul police and fire, in their analog days.