US Frequencies from Ottawa?

[VE3RADIO]

Hi Guys,

A question for the Ottawa area folks on here.. Can any of you RX any frequencies from the US? I am sure aircraft may be possible but what about local Sheriff or Fire services from St. Lawrence, Jefferson or Franklin counties? When I say from Ottawa I don't mean from Kemptville .. or the south towns but from the city of Ottawa?

 

[wheelerg]

I travel to Ottawa from Trenton and usually listen to the county sherriffs along the way, i get Jefferson and St Lawrence as i travel along the 401, i lose them about 20kms up the 416, i never get them in Ottawa and stay in a hotel right downtown usually on the upper floors with no luck hearing them, i use a exterior mag mount antenna while traveilling, but have to use a Watson rubber duckie when in ottawa..... hope this helps
Gary

 

[Jay911]

I can't remember if I got anything substantial from the American side the last time I was in Ottawa, but I was getting NY Thruway ops all day long going up and down the 401 between Bowmanville and Hamilton last week.

 

[VA3JWO]

your best chance would be in the early morning and overnight hours when the good tropo inversions come in if the weathers just right. but your simply too far from any of the northern states for any line - of - sight stations..
from madoc i can usually listen to froggy 97 out of watertown basically most of the day except when the weathers bad because theyve got a good strong transmitter but i can only listen to B104.7 in syracuse during tropo events and night time inversions
ive heard jefferson county sheriff when i was last up to ottawa but that was all and it wasnt coming in very well
Bill

 

[DaveH]

From the downtown, without an outside antenna and some height, not much
will be heard. No surprise, as it's about 90km to the US border. People towards the
south end report better results, likely due to lower electrical noise and less blockage.

On lowband there's a bit of FD activity, Franklin Cty, around 46MHz (46.38
is one). 46.06 rings a bell, but I don't see it listed; been awhile since I heard it.

On VHF high, I hear weak LTR in the 150-154 range. There is some St. Lawrence
Cty. Sheriif in the 154-156 range, and Fire/EMS (notable 154.355). It's sporadic
and not very exciting. Higher in the band is some USBP (if that's what they still
call it) around 163 and 165MHz, P25 encrypted. Some VHF marine from the
Seaway can be heard, don't recall which channels.

On UHF, I have never heard anything 406-430 from the US. Higher up, there are
some UHF business repeaters, typically 461-464MHz, typically with school busses
on them; and sometimes a bit of PD activity in the 460 range, but that part of the band
is filling up with TRBO and NXDN on the Cdn. side, which makes searching/listening harder.
I can sometimes hear a prison in NYS on 453.400 (repeater). Enhanced propogation
sometimes brings in something interesting, such as a fire link on 469.875 (somewhere
in NYS).

On 850MHz, nothing. From Champlain Lookout, I've sometimes caught an MDT or
other data system. There just isn't that much on that band close to the border,
except for iDEN. Clinton Cty. 850MHz Moto system is interesting but you need to
be down along the Seaway at Cornwall, to hear it; if that is still the case, it's been a few years.

Dave

 

[Jammin_Jay]

I am near the airport, and I can hear the following, fairly clear.

St lawrence county sherrif, 155.115
St lawrence county fire 154.355
Jefferson county 154.755 , better at night
NY state police Troop B 154.905 Canton NY
Brockville Police 142.935 good signal

There are some encrypted p25 signals I am also receiving, but since they are ENC, no monitoring.
CPB repeater in Chateauguay NY is one of them. CPB (Border Patrol) 163.925
I have heard border patrol patched to the county sherrif frequencies, a loud data squawk, before transmission, followed by a beep.
Oscar Units would be Ogdensburg, and Mike Units would be Malone. All dispatched from the Swanton Sector, in swanton Vermont,
a rare monitoring situation, but it does occur, especially when searching for a vehicle that has just crossed the border from Canada.
One instant, i heard NY state Police, St lawrence county sherrif, and CPB patched on STL frequency 155.115. rare but interesting.
Again CPB is P25 encrypted, but when patched to a non-encrypted agency, it is in the clear

155.115 STL county sherrif has repeater A, and repeater b, repeater b is on the same tower as WNPI tv, in Norwood NY, as
i heard techs doing radio transmissions, and giving their locations, because of patrol units complaining about not receiving dispatch




Dave that 469.875, is a link repeater for Low band fire in Jefferson County NY on 46mhz and fairly strong,
as i have requested info on its origin from then NY state forum. IT is located in the north end of the county, so Kingston, and Brockville, pick it up no problem, very clear

also that prison 460.300 is a NY state correctional facility in Goveneur NY, just outside the town, It is spotty up here, but as soon as i get to manotick to kemptville on hwy 416, it comes in decent.

Basically Anything south of Huntclub Road, comes in decent on a mobile, but when your north of that,
you start to get interference, drowing the signal to noise ratio. I would say that HuntClub Road would be the boundary line for recieving a signal from NY state in Ottawa. That is an intelligable signal, with out picket fencing or intermittant inteference

Sometimes, i get control channels from Quebec Interfering with NY state frequencies, when good tropo comes in.

IF some of you are picking up a signal, and something interesting comes on, and you lose it in the ottawa area, you can always
listen live to NY state live audio stream, for STL county, and jefferson, or Franklin counties.

 

[VE3RADIO]

I am near the airport, and I can hear the following, fairly clear.

St lawrence county sherrif, 155.115
St lawrence county fire 154.355
Jefferson county 154.755 , better at night
NY state police Troop B 154.905 Canton NY
Brockville Police 142.935 good signal

There are some encrypted p25 signals I am also receiving, but since they are ENC, no monitoring.
CPB repeater in Chateauguay NY is one of them. CPB (Border Patrol) 163.925
I have heard border patrol patched to the county sherrif frequencies, a loud data squawk, before transmission, followed by a beep.
Oscar Units would be Ogdensburg, and Mike Units would be Malone. All dispatched from the Swanton Sector, in swanton Vermont,
a rare monitoring situation, but it does occur, especially when searching for a vehicle that has just crossed the border from Canada.
One instant, i heard NY state Police, St lawrence county sherrif, and CPB patched on STL frequency 155.115. rare but interesting.
Again CPB is P25 encrypted, but when patched to a non-encrypted agency, it is in the clear

155.115 STL county sherrif has repeater A, and repeater b, repeater b is on the same tower as WNPI tv, in Norwood NY, as
i heard techs doing radio transmissions, and giving their locations, because of patrol units complaining about not receiving dispatch




Dave that 469.875, is a link repeater for Low band fire in Jefferson County NY on 46mhz and fairly strong,
as i have requested info on its origin from then NY state forum. IT is located in the north end of the county, so Kingston, and Brockville, pick it up no problem, very clear

also that prison 460.300 is a NY state correctional facility in Goveneur NY, just outside the town, It is spotty up here, but as soon as i get to manotick to kemptville on hwy 416, it comes in decent.

Basically Anything south of Huntclub Road, comes in decent on a mobile, but when your north of that,
you start to get interference, drowing the signal to noise ratio. I would say that HuntClub Road would be the boundary line for recieving a signal from NY state in Ottawa. That is an intelligable signal, with out picket fencing or intermittant inteference

Sometimes, i get control channels from Quebec Interfering with NY state frequencies, when good tropo comes in.

IF some of you are picking up a signal, and something interesting comes on, and you lose it in the ottawa area, you can always
listen live to NY state live audio stream, for STL county, and jefferson, or Franklin counties.

Perfect.. this is what I was looking for.. I grew up in Kanata and go back to Ottawa all the time.. always wondered if I could hear NYS stuff from there but never had a programming cable to add the channels. Very limited time searching had brought no results. Has anyone ever heard Vermont or NH on a good tropo night?

 

[EJB]

Perfect.. this is what I was looking for.. I grew up in Kanata and go back to Ottawa all the time.. always wondered if I could hear NYS stuff from there but never had a programming cable to add the channels. Very limited time searching had brought no results. Has anyone ever heard Vermont or NH on a good tropo night?

Wouldnt the mountains block them out? They never had good coverage to the north (nor should they) when I lived in Mtl.

 

[DaveH]

also that prison 460.300 is a NY state correctional facility in Goveneur NY, just outside the town, It is spotty up here, but as soon as i get to manotick to kemptville on hwy 416, it comes in decent.

.

Is there P25 on 460.300? Here it is masked by a low-power CC for a gov't site
system in Gatineau (which sounds like TRBO but doesn't decode, and
the TAFL specs are a bit odd)(VXN531).

I have heard P25 on 460.025 coming from the west (but not consistantly) from
around Rochester. Locally, it was LTR but now switched to TRBO (thankfully not
continuous).

Dave

 

[Jammin_Jay]

460.025 is rochester PD. It is p25 clear, no encryption. Although sometimes, When tropo comes in
I cant get lock on the signal. good listening. lots of activity

There are numerous p25 signals that come in sometimes.
Obtaining the NAC for them, I can make a log list, if i get it, and reference it.

Watertown PD are p25 155.010
but jefferson county sheriff is still analog


Where you are Dave, as you said, too much interference. Perhaps intermod
A directional antenna may help, create more a db boost in signal reception response,
depends if the signal to noise ratio with gain, also brings in interference garbage.

That member who commented about mountains. None of the mountrains block the signals. These transmitters are north of the
Adirondacks, near the st lawrence seaway valley. There is nothing blocking the signal, it is basically low land from st lawrence to the Ottawa River. 90 km. Even being high in the gatineaus, should pick up a signal from the St lawrence fairly good, because out of the downtown area of ottawa, no transmitter signal interference.

That is the problem with downtown built up urban areas, trying to receive far away signals.