I am trying to receive Division 6 on the Stars Radio system for the VA State Police on my whistler TRX2 connected by an outdoor antenna. I can hear them on the live audio feed for Tazewell county VA and was wanting to know how to receive them on my scanner. I can hear Wythe 1 and 2 without any issues. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I tried to attach a picture of programmed sites for you but it says it's too large.
VA Stars Radio system
- Thread starter anelson5004
- Start date
I just added division 6 sites this a few days ago with no success so far
I would limit the number of sites for STARS and pick the closest site to you in Division 6 that you think would be the busiest, carrying the most traffic. If you can find one site that works for you, that’s the only one I would use.
I’m not familiar how Whistler scans TRS systems. I remember GRE would scan the site it received first, as long as it was above a certain threshold and then look for another programmed site when the signal strength dropped below the programmed threshold. It was actually pretty cool. But, if you have all of those sites in the same scan list, you wouldn’t have “control” over what site you were actually scanning- and it may not include any Div 6 traffic. But, I’m not sure Whistler scans like GRE’s did. And if you put the sites into separate scan lists, they may take too long to scan all the way through.
If my thought process is wrong about how Whistler scans a TRS, please correct me!
I’m not familiar how Whistler scans TRS systems. I remember GRE would scan the site it received first, as long as it was above a certain threshold and then look for another programmed site when the signal strength dropped below the programmed threshold. It was actually pretty cool. But, if you have all of those sites in the same scan list, you wouldn’t have “control” over what site you were actually scanning- and it may not include any Div 6 traffic. But, I’m not sure Whistler scans like GRE’s did. And if you put the sites into separate scan lists, they may take too long to scan all the way through.
If my thought process is wrong about how Whistler scans a TRS, please correct me!
reconrider8
Member
I was never a fan of my whistler trx 1 on trunking. It never really tracked the site like I wanted
As a veteran TRX-1 user, my advice is as follows:
1 - Don't try to trunk track immediately--instead, search for or scan known STARS control channels in conventional mode and see what the radio actually picks up.
2 - Once you've identified what control channels you're actually receiving, check the listing to see just how many Div.4 and Div.6 sites use that frequency. Div.4 covers a lot of ground, and some western sites might not carry Div.6 traffic.
3 - Know that you can 'lock out' a given site--but that you will still receive that site if the choices in the radio include another site with the same CC freqs as the 'locked-out' site. Whistler doesn't recognize Site ID's and I suspect that Uniden doesn't, either. You could be receiving Poor Mountain and your radio could think its a site in Fairfax or Virginia Beach.
3A - The problem in #3 is exacerbated if you load ALL the channels in a given site. A voice channel at one site might be a CC at another site and vise versa. You might try downloading control channels only.
4 - You may not solve everything at one time. If you find a good site, but it switches control channels, you may encounter a new set of the circumstances described in #2 & 3.
5 - Depending on your desires, and what else you're listening to, a directional antenna might help. It just depends on what level of priority you have on picking up Div.6, and what sites you can receive from your location.
Let us know how it turns out.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
1 - Don't try to trunk track immediately--instead, search for or scan known STARS control channels in conventional mode and see what the radio actually picks up.
2 - Once you've identified what control channels you're actually receiving, check the listing to see just how many Div.4 and Div.6 sites use that frequency. Div.4 covers a lot of ground, and some western sites might not carry Div.6 traffic.
3 - Know that you can 'lock out' a given site--but that you will still receive that site if the choices in the radio include another site with the same CC freqs as the 'locked-out' site. Whistler doesn't recognize Site ID's and I suspect that Uniden doesn't, either. You could be receiving Poor Mountain and your radio could think its a site in Fairfax or Virginia Beach.
3A - The problem in #3 is exacerbated if you load ALL the channels in a given site. A voice channel at one site might be a CC at another site and vise versa. You might try downloading control channels only.
4 - You may not solve everything at one time. If you find a good site, but it switches control channels, you may encounter a new set of the circumstances described in #2 & 3.
5 - Depending on your desires, and what else you're listening to, a directional antenna might help. It just depends on what level of priority you have on picking up Div.6, and what sites you can receive from your location.
Let us know how it turns out.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
As a veteran TRX-1 user, my advice is as follows:
1 - Don't try to trunk track immediately--instead, search for or scan known STARS control channels in conventional mode and see what the radio actually picks up.
2 - Once you've identified what control channels you're actually receiving, check the listing to see just how many Div.4 and Div.6 sites use that frequency. Div.4 covers a lot of ground, and some western sites might not carry Div.6 traffic.
3 - Know that you can 'lock out' a given site--but that you will still receive that site if the choices in the radio include another site with the same CC freqs as the 'locked-out' site. Whistler doesn't recognize Site ID's and I suspect that Uniden doesn't, either. You could be receiving Poor Mountain and your radio could think its a site in Fairfax or Virginia Beach.
3A - The problem in #3 is exacerbated if you load ALL the channels in a given site. A voice channel at one site might be a CC at another site and vise versa. You might try downloading control channels only.
4 - You may not solve everything at one time. If you find a good site, but it switches control channels, you may encounter a new set of the circumstances described in #2 & 3.
5 - Depending on your desires, and what else you're listening to, a directional antenna might help. It just depends on what level of priority you have on picking up Div.6, and what sites you can receive from your location.
Let us know how it turns out.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
1 - Don't try to trunk track immediately--instead, search for or scan known STARS control channels in conventional mode and see what the radio actually picks up.
2 - Once you've identified what control channels you're actually receiving, check the listing to see just how many Div.4 and Div.6 sites use that frequency. Div.4 covers a lot of ground, and some western sites might not carry Div.6 traffic.
3 - Know that you can 'lock out' a given site--but that you will still receive that site if the choices in the radio include another site with the same CC freqs as the 'locked-out' site. Whistler doesn't recognize Site ID's and I suspect that Uniden doesn't, either. You could be receiving Poor Mountain and your radio could think its a site in Fairfax or Virginia Beach.
3A - The problem in #3 is exacerbated if you load ALL the channels in a given site. A voice channel at one site might be a CC at another site and vise versa. You might try downloading control channels only.
4 - You may not solve everything at one time. If you find a good site, but it switches control channels, you may encounter a new set of the circumstances described in #2 & 3.
5 - Depending on your desires, and what else you're listening to, a directional antenna might help. It just depends on what level of priority you have on picking up Div.6, and what sites you can receive from your location.
Let us know how it turns out.
73/Allen (N4JRI)
vavolff
No Tac Channel Assigned .....
I also concur with @tglendye and @TJX400 and do the same with STARS. I usually program the three closest sites to me, and maybe one or two more for areas I travel to. It works well for me, and I'll admit I hardly monitor law enforcement. Fire/EMS is what blows my skirt up. I never got the invite to the GRE/Whistler party, I was considering it at one point. Uniden is pretty much my old lady!
Division 6 traffic is sometimes carried on the Big Walker Mountain (Bland County) and Dismal Mountain (Giles County) sites. You may not be able to pick those up from your location, or there may be overlapping traffic from other sites that share the same frequencies which would interfere with your attempts.
Listening to VDOT tac 8 for the first time off the Thornburg site.
This system can take a bit of trial and error. I live in Blacksburg and monitor Potts Mountain, Dismal Mountain, and Fort Lewis Mountain sites. I have an antenna outside my window and that has done the trick. FWIW, my Whistler 1065 works extremely well on this system. More so than even the new, expensive Unidens. Good luck!
Question,if im using a Harris radio to moniter only,have the correct cc's for the closest sites in sw va near me in nw NC,have the correct iden set programmed,but have some mountains in the line of sight between myself and closest STARS site( being hmm,50 miles,at least away from me),should i be able to hear any site cc activity? ( most vhf p25 trunked sites should be txing on at least 110watts or more,to what ive read..just a curious question,i know my SDR trunk set up will not rx anything( id imagine due to 2 sets of mt ranges in between me and the closest va stars site.. once again a curious question..im thinking since sdr trunk doesnt rx it,then the harris shouldnt,in theory either..ive noticed in the database some stars sites have different NAC codes,but F7E Nac code would open rx universally..
Sdr trunk spectrum analyzer doesnt show a considerable signal from the cc freqs entered from rr database for the closest sites to me listed..im testing signals from a location at the south facing side of the brp mountain area in Wilkes county,NC
Not sure where you read that but I've implimented many VHF sites and some are as little as 5 watts ERP. All bands have FCC regulations and can be 100+ watts or as little as 2 watts. So it really dependso n the site your trying to hear and what licensed or designed power really is. Sometimes licensed power could be higher than the system design.
Also keep in mind if you do get a signal, STARS is like 98% encrypted.
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Also keep in mind STARS uses LLA (Link Layer Encryption). Your Harris radio will not receive any voice if it does not authenticate on the system.
And if you value your Harris radio, I would not try to authenticate with your unauthorized radio unless you want to use it as a paperweight. STARS is quite serious about their radio system security.
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Not true. Harris radios can be set to 'receive only' out of the box. They can decode the trunked system with ease regardless of if LLA is present. LLA only matters for radios that (attempt to) register with the system.
In this particular case, it won't matter because of the encryption.
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