UHF LTR system in Winslow Maine.

[Thorndike113]

I decided to look through the trunked systems list for Maine to see what I could follow. I came across probably one of a couple systems I might half a shot hearing and put all the frequencies in for the system in Winslow Maine. Its from Hussey communications. Supposedly this system sits on the N. Reynolds rd tower in Winslow. I have been trying to listen to it from my place and I tried again today from the river front park in Waterville. I actually get better reception here at my house in the hole (and Im talking barely a static crash when someone talks) than I did down in Waterville, practically a mile or so from the tower. In Waterville I only managed to get a few blips of static. I get a ton of IDs coming across even when there is no static crashes, but I have yet to hear a voice. I understand Maine is an anything goes sort of state when it comes to radio but I am curious if anyone knows if this system is actually in Winslow or did the owner just up and move the whole thing somewhere else? If anyone understands LTR I have a bunch of IDs that I could submit, Just no idea what they go to. Didnt know if someone else could hear the system. FCC has it as Winslow but from personal experience in researching radio stuff in Maine, that doesnt mean the info with the FCC is accurate.

 

[Thorndike113]

This is the system I found on the FCC's site that matches up with Winslow.

Callsign - WQBJ867

LCN that I have confirmed so far - Ch1 452.100; Ch2 452.3375; 451.575(unsure the LCN)

IDs I have gotten so far

01-107
01-255

02-190
02-200

03-018
03-111
03-182

04-062
04-203
04-255

05-065

06-013
06-030
06-038

08-019

09-214

10-068
10-073

11-093
11-140
11-156

12-067

13-038

14-128
15-040
15-144
15-149

16-032
16-071
16-077

17-044
17-059
17-063

18-051
18-181
19-090
19-101
19-112
19-129
19-195
19-207

20-039
20-170
20-251

 

[ecps92]

There is plenty to still be discovered in Maine, lots of Analog LTR still out there, plenty of new DMR
and caution if you do VHF as the coverage during a band opening from the folks across the border makes for some
fun searching and then realizing it was CN not US traffic and wasting time searching the FCC

Looking at the FCC Lat/Lon for that site under WQBJ867
you can see a Bldg and Antenna on the Property and doing a 0.5 mi Radius search lots of licenses.

you might want to go up the road and do Close Call and see what happens

I decided to look through the trunked systems list for Maine to see what I could follow. I came across probably one of a couple systems I might half a shot hearing and put all the frequencies in for the system in Winslow Maine. Its from Hussey communications. Supposedly this system sits on the N. Reynolds rd tower in Winslow. I have been trying to listen to it from my place and I tried again today from the river front park in Waterville. I actually get better reception here at my house in the hole (and Im talking barely a static crash when someone talks) than I did down in Waterville, practically a mile or so from the tower. In Waterville I only managed to get a few blips of static. I get a ton of IDs coming across even when there is no static crashes, but I have yet to hear a voice. I understand Maine is an anything goes sort of state when it comes to radio but I am curious if anyone knows if this system is actually in Winslow or did the owner just up and move the whole thing somewhere else? If anyone understands LTR I have a bunch of IDs that I could submit, Just no idea what they go to. Didnt know if someone else could hear the system. FCC has it as Winslow but from personal experience in researching radio stuff in Maine, that doesnt mean the info with the FCC is accurate.

 

[Thorndike113]

I might take a drive down there one day. I know where I live, there is no way possible I would pick up a signal from Canada. I live in the midcoast area and in a hole so signals are really bad unless they come from the top of a tall mountain. As for checking the FCC site, I have to because things on here are not kept up to date unless its law enforcement or maybe fire. Its taking time but I am slowly building a nice little database.

 

[BC_Scan]

That is one big system 19 freqs I count.so you could put all of them into one banck and allow scanner to analyze. The ids of 253-255 are usually the repeater Id so you can lock them out if there is no voice. when determining users some ids are one company one fleet of say 20 tow trucks , other times it is 0-01-120, 121 ,122 ,123, 124 for the twenty trucks, good luck figuring out the users. The other thing is multiple licenses can fill the slot of the 19 freqs.

 

[ecps92]

keep in mind, the info here is "User contributions" - not everyone is into Business and other bands, most with a scanner just want the local PD/FD/EMS/DPW and EMA

As to Canada, don't cut that out, when the band is open, our you have that sweet spot, you will be amazed what you find/hear

I decided to look through the trunked systems list for Maine to see what I could follow. I came across probably one of a couple systems I might half a shot hearing and put all the frequencies in for the system in Winslow Maine. Its from Hussey communications. Supposedly this system sits on the N. Reynolds rd tower in Winslow. I have been trying to listen to it from my place and I tried again today from the river front park in Waterville. I actually get better reception here at my house in the hole (and Im talking barely a static crash when someone talks) than I did down in Waterville, practically a mile or so from the tower. In Waterville I only managed to get a few blips of static. I get a ton of IDs coming across even when there is no static crashes, but I have yet to hear a voice. I understand Maine is an anything goes sort of state when it comes to radio but I am curious if anyone knows if this system is actually in Winslow or did the owner just up and move the whole thing somewhere else? If anyone understands LTR I have a bunch of IDs that I could submit, Just no idea what they go to. Didnt know if someone else could hear the system. FCC has it as Winslow but from personal experience in researching radio stuff in Maine, that doesnt mean the info with the FCC is accurate.

I might take a drive down there one day. I know where I live, there is no way possible I would pick up a signal from Canada. I live in the midcoast area and in a hole so signals are really bad unless they come from the top of a tall mountain. As for checking the FCC site, I have to because things on here are not kept up to date unless its law enforcement or maybe fire. Its taking time but I am slowly building a nice little database.

 

[ecps92]

Speaking of multiple licenses, the OP should browse the FCC under the Corp name, but also browse using the FRN of the licensee, to grab all the potential licenses to map out where they may appear. Doing the FRN wil also catch those licenses using Part 22 [old Paging] channels

That is one big system 19 freqs I count.so you could put all of them into one banck and allow scanner to analyze. The ids of 253-255 are usually the repeater Id so you can lock them out if there is no voice. when determining users some ids are one company one fleet of say 20 tow trucks , other times it is 0-01-120, 121 ,122 ,123, 124 for the twenty trucks, good luck figuring out the users. The other thing is multiple licenses can fill the slot of the 19 freqs.

 

[Thorndike113]

That is one big system 19 freqs I count.so you could put all of them into one banck and allow scanner to analyze. The ids of 253-255 are usually the repeater Id so you can lock them out if there is no voice. when determining users some ids are one company one fleet of say 20 tow trucks , other times it is 0-01-120, 121 ,122 ,123, 124 for the twenty trucks, good luck figuring out the users. The other thing is multiple licenses can fill the slot of the 19 freqs.

haha well when put that way, no wonder why no one has submitted any info for these systems. Ill keep playing with it and see where I get. I only have SDR dongles and software to work with. Cash is a bit tight to be buying a $700 scanner to decode this stuff.

 

[Thorndike113]

Speaking of multiple licenses, the OP should browse the FCC under the Corp name, but also browse using the FRN of the licensee, to grab all the potential licenses to map out where they may appear. Doing the FRN wil also catch those licenses using Part 22 [old Paging] channels

I know what you mean when it comes to Tropo ducting. Funny enough, ive been living in this spot for over 6 years now and have never heard one bit of it. Thats how much of a bad spot I live in. Its sad, I cant even pick up TV signals here with an outside antenna and a booster. The closest tower I listen to is 13 miles away and it doesnt even touch my little area of town. If things keep going digital, I wont be able to hear most stuff. Kennebec County sheriffs kept their frequency and went digital, I cant even hear the signal at my place anymore. I have caught it in a couple spot within kennebec county but it was very distant. It seems when they go digital, they drop the power output or something. Thank you for pointing out the FRN search.... I never thought about that.... gonna give it a try here

 

[a417]

haha well when put that way, no wonder why no one has submitted any info for these systems. Ill keep playing with it and see where I get. I only have SDR dongles and software to work with. Cash is a bit tight to be buying a $700 scanner to decode this stuff.

You will be able to do a better job with the equipment you have on hand. A $700 scanner will only put you $700 in the hole.

 

[Thorndike113]

Oh? ha ha I thought everyone was using expensive scanners to decode a lot of this trunking and digital. Seems as though they just plug and play and start watching a ton of info come in from these systems. I know the equipment I am using only picks up some signals on the LTR systems and decodes it but I definitely cant hear anything except static crashes at times. The ID is there, just no actual voice with words. Signal may be bad because of where I am. I have one tower 6 miles from me but it has the least of all the communications in the area. Its loaded with emergency management, some fire and the local sheriffs. All the LTR, DMR, and P25 is a good distance from me Making it hard to decode the digital coming from the towers. Digital, unlike most people tell me, has to have a super strong signal to decode properly.

 

[mainetrunk]

I read somewhere that the best way to decode dmr is to have the same frequency band antenna, as to what you are listening to..
If you want to hear dmr on uhf, then a uhf antenna will allegedly give better reception...
Example - I am less than 10 miles from the mount aggie site..
Cmp is the only ltr in my area. After a snow storm, they can't be heard too well. I put on the 800 mhz antenna, and no problem..
Same deal with commnet.. And I'm less than 10miles from the site

 

[Thorndike113]

The antenna I am using at the house is a larsen dual band VHF/UHF for business, not Ham. I have returned to the Waterville area since this post with 2 other type of antennas meant for that band but still no luck. One of these days I am going to take a trip out to the tower and see what I can get. It is possible that something in the Waterville area is blocking my signal. Every time I go to Waterville, as soon as I get on the outskirts of the city several frequencies go dead or at the very least get very choppy as they would if you were near a tower with an extremely high powered transmitter that desensitizes your receive. I have not been able to narrow it down as to what frequency is doing it but I get the same issue in Augusta near the old hospital (they have a 152.600 paging system nearby) and the same thing near Waldo County Hospital in Belfast (They have a VHF paging system nearby). Ive actually used SDR console to see it and it will wipe out a whole band. As for my house. I literally live at the bottom of a couple of hills so I am limited on what I can pick up, so I know thats a factor. I have a few different antennas on mag mounts to try (vhf-900mhz). Thanks for the info.

 

[mainetrunk]

Side note - 152.600 drives me crazy down here.
Plus - every time the Berwick fire channel is used, it throws that pager signal on to statewide - 154.695, even with a tone..
So, I feel your pain.. Best of luck.