UCA question...

[NielsenSTL]

I've been living in Utah a couple years now...Saratoga Springs specifically. Most of my radio interests center around VHF stuff...rail/air. But occasionally I'll get the bug to listen to PD/Fire. Where I moved from (St. Louis), PD/Fire had been encrypted for several years...so I kind of lost interest when it became impossible to listen.

So...living on the west side of Utah Lake, I had put in frequencies for UHP and most of the cities around me: Lehi, American Fork, Lindon, Orem, Provo. I'm hearing everything from the Lake IR site, and everything comes in really clear with the site so close. I have a somewhat old Radio Shack Pro-197 with just a stock antenna attached for 800 scanning (I've gone to a BC125 with a VHF tuned antenna for listening to rail/air). But this is where I get a little confused with the UCA setup maybe. So the question...is there any hope from my location in Saratoga of hearing talk groups for municipalities north of say Point of the Mountain? I've tried entering some talk groups for areas up north and tried a few sites (Nelson Peak, Point of Mountain), but I can't pick up anything.

Am I just too far south without putting up a more serious antenna for 800mhz? Is there a better site that might get me some of the areas further north? Just hoping for a better understanding of how this area works with so many sites.

Thanks...

Mark

 

[kirkco]

The short answer is that you will most likely not be able to hear regular transmissions from the other side of the mountain, because services (like police/ fire) sort of "marry" to the site closest to their proximity and don't necessarily transmit out of multiple sites (simulcast). However, occasionally a service provider (like police) that is "married" to - say a SL county site like Nielsen Peak and others - may "pull" the communication traffic over to the site near you (like Lake IR) if their radio is on. This happens occasionally, for example, when a SLC police person travels to Saratoga Springs on business (or maybe lives there).

For another example, I live in Tooele county and can get everything here plus SLC county and some Davis County stuff and even further North counties. How do I mange to do that with only a desktop antenna...? We'll, were I live, I can get Nelson Peak (which covers most of SL County) several Tooele County peaks (South Mtn, Dell..) and also Promontory Point (which is far North of me) because all are in a direct line of site to were I live. I can't hear anything from the Lake IR tower because I am simply too far away but more importantly there are too many mountains between me and that peak. If you are on the edge of receiving traffic or of being in a line of site to the next tower, then a taller antenna might help.

 

[enosjones]

If ID search is available on the scanner it will search anything that comes through the site, if ID scan is on then it will just scan what talkgroups are programmed, there might be other sites near u idk

 

[NielsenSTL]

Thanks for the input. That's a thought...and I tried it with one site I think...the ID search by site to see if I can get anything. I'll give that a go again and see what pops up...if anything. But I probably am SOL when it comes to listening to stuff north of where I am without putting up a real antenna. I'm just too far away and blocked by mountains.

 

[enosjones]

If your scanning 800 mhz, try searching to see which control channels u hear, I'm thinking u should hear a couple either in Tooele utah County or saly lake county, if u can only scan vhf then search the 150 mhz band for activity

 

[pmstewart]

How far west do you live in Saratoga? And how close to State Road 73?

 

[NielsenSTL]

I live towards the south end...about a mile southwest of Redwood Rd & Stillwater Dr. I'm going to try to spend some time with search functions and see what I might have missed.

 

[pmstewart]

It looks to me like your probably going to get the most information from Utah County Simulcast (Which most traffic might be heard on Lake IR) as well. Currently the Utah Co. Simulcast sites are on BYU Campus & West Mountain out by Payson. You also may be able to pick up American Fork Canyon. The Oquirrh Mountains may block all sites north of your location up inside the slc valley itself.

I live in Weber Co. and listen to Weber Simulcast, Mount Ogden, Promintory Point. I find it covers as much of Weber Co. as can be heard.

Box Elder County is tied directly to the Weber Simulcast so I get stuff from Box Elder, Cache & Rich Counties as well through the simulcast.

 

[enosjones]

The current UCA allows other units to be dragged to other sites as they travel and switch from site to site, as we await the p25 switchover , there is a possibility that it will not quite work that way, so it doesn't overload the site or sites, so the local departments can have primary access to the sites near the department is located, so enjoy it while u can hear it...

 

[pmstewart]

enos .... you don't believe P25 will work under the same model?

 

[enosjones]

They won't drag talkgroups to other sites across the state according to the stuff I've seen, they are wanting it to not overload other sites and make the sites too busy for the local departments

 

[bhall7]

They won't drag talkgroups to other sites across the state according to the stuff I've seen, they are wanting it to not overload other sites and make the sites too busy for the local departments

Correct, this presentation puts forth some options, and strongly advocates against radio users "dragging" traffic from one site into another. So, it'll be interesting how things turn out once the new system is deployed.