UNABLE TO PICK UP SANTA ANA Fire Dispatch

[ladymaniu00]

For some reason I cannot pick up Santa Ana or Costa Mesa fire dispatch. I am in the city of Orange and I have no problems picking up the countywide and metronet. Any clues???

 

[FireMan16]

Santa Ana and Coasta Mesa are on the South Cell Site

 

[Mick]

Santa Ana Fire

For Costa Mesa and Santa Ana:
866.125, 866.175, 866.375, 866.625, 866.875, 867.125, 867.375, 867.625, 867.825, 867.875, 868.125, 868.375, 868.625, 868.675, & 868.925 MHz trunked.

Fire dispatch talkgroups:
720 Costa Mesa
2224 Santa Ana

Check here under "MetroNet & Central/South Cities Fire Talkgroups" for more TG's:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=201

 

[ladymaniu00]

programmed correctly

I have them programmed correctly into the scanner but the scanner is not picking them up clearly at all...i have a 10 foot mast with a discone antenna and still cant pick up a constant signal for the south

 

[ctadam12]

That is because they are on the SOUTH CELL!!! You are in the NORTH! It is not a given that you will pick up every cell in the county....you pretty much have to be in that area..

 

[mdfillipp]

That is because they are on the SOUTH CELL!!! You are in the NORTH! It is not a given that you will pick up every cell in the county....you pretty much have to be in that area..

I'm in Brea (north of Orange) and I can pickup all cells except Laguna and the IRs.

What kind of scanner do you have ? Have you tried just scanning the frequencies in conventional mode ?

 

[ctadam12]

Try entering in the control channel ONLY and see if you get it clear. If you get it clear you should be able to monitor the system!

 

[brandon]

I would imagine it can be received from North OC because I am hearing the 868.625 control channel right now from my radio in El Cajon, CA using a Scantenna which isn't very good for 800 IMHO. Perhaps you should see about getting an 800 MHz yagi and point that baby south and see if it cleans up the signal.

 

[Markb]

I'm shocked! El Cajon is a looong way from the OC! I didn't believe it, so I checked the FCC website and OC and Santa Clara Co. are the only 2 agencies in CA that are licensed for that freq.
I believe that the signal is directional, also, so the antennas purposefully don't push much of a signal to the North. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't hear anything of you are north of the 22, as that has historically been the dividing line between North and South.

Also, check this out:

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/lac/csspsvts/briefings/Galisky_presentation_read_only.pdf

It's a good overview of the system and on page 19, there's a pretty decent map of the coverage of each cell. I saved it before it disappears ;o)