VIPER Question - which tower sites to monitor

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DMSROX

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If I have a radio setup as a fixed base, is there any advantage on VIPER to monitoring tower sites/frequencies that are not within the range of my radio/antenna setup?

I had assumed the answer was no, but when I turned on all the sites listed for VIPER I started receiving some traffic for communities over 100 miles away. Back to my real question, is there any reason to have all the sites turned on, or does this just slow down the effective scan rate??

BTW, I'm using an HP-1 extreme with a mag mount mobile antenna for a base antenna.

Thanks in advance for your help!

KE4GYN
 

KE4ZNR

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Hey Donnie,
I will try to answer your questions inline:

If I have a radio setup as a fixed base, is there any advantage on VIPER to monitoring tower sites/frequencies that are not within the range of my radio/antenna setup?

Depends on what you wish to hear :)
If one is concerned with only keeping track of Wake County Public Safety agencies then, in theory, one should only be concerned with the Wake Simulcast part of VIPER.
Obviously since the majority of VIPER sites in other parts of NC operates in true Smartzone format then if one can hear distant sites then one would receive the radio traffic of Talkgroups affiliated with those smartzone sites.

I had assumed the answer was no, but when I turned on all the sites listed for VIPER I started receiving some traffic for communities over 100 miles away. Back to my real question, is there any reason to have all the sites turned on, or does this just slow down the effective scan rate??

Where having those additional sites being scanned really comes into play is if you are using a GPS with the HP-1 and letting it select which sites should be active based on Lat/Long.
If you are primarily using the HP-1 as a dedicated "home" scanner and only wish to hear comms in your local area (ie: Knightdale PD on LE EAST) based on favorites lists then I would "Avoid" (lockout) other sites and leave the Wake Simulcast site as the only active site and turn location control "off" for the local favorites lists.


BTW, I'm using an HP-1 extreme with a mag mount mobile antenna for a base antenna.

It is amazing what one can pic up with a simple antenna.
Just never know what you might hear :cool:

Thanks in advance for your help!

KE4GYN

No worries.
Happy Monitoring
Marshall KE4ZNR
 
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DMSROX

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Thanks Marshall.... Maybe you should offer a workshop on VIPER, bet you could get paid attendees. LOL
 

Drafin

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Charleston, SC
Also as an aside here are you sure you were hearing sites from far distances away and not just talkgroups?

When a radio affiliated with a certain talkgroup (TG) travels from location to location, occasionally you will hear a TG from a great distance away because it is in your local area and transmitting or affiliated. In this area (the foothills of western NC) I frequently hear units from other jurisdiction without enabling other sites. It would have to do with the way the radio is programmed and if it had "ROAM privileges" for lack of a better term.

I'm not saying that you didn't hear traffic on a distant tower, just offering other possibilities as well and someone please correct me if my understanding is incorrect on how the radios "travel" site to site.

Draf
 

KE4ZNR

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I'm not saying that you didn't hear traffic on a distant tower, just offering other possibilities as well and someone please correct me if my understanding is incorrect on how the radios "travel" site to site.

Draf

Nope homie...you are 100% right :)
Do be aware though that hearing "roaming" activity will become more and more rare due
to more stringent "roaming profiles" that lock down users to their geographic area and one county around them.
It takes up valuable system resources to have someone sitting in Raleigh listening to folks out on the coast communicate.
Marshall KE4ZNR
 

DMSROX

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Thanks Guys, your advice has me changing my setup in my radio. I now will have all the sites open. In additional to the local Knightdale PS Comms, I enjoy listening to NCHP, anything I can hear as well as MEDAVACS. It shounds like I should have all the VIPER site open just to increase the odds of picking up traffic.

Again thanks! Reminds me just how much I have to learn.

KE4GYN
 

ts548

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Nope homie...you are 100% right :)
Do be aware though that hearing "roaming" activity will become more and more rare due
to more stringent "roaming profiles" that lock down users to their geographic area and one county around them.
It takes up valuable system resources to have someone sitting in Raleigh listening to folks out on the coast communicate.
Marshall KE4ZNR

Already started happening :) Certain talkgroups are already limited to their county and one or two county's outside of that.
 

jeffmulter

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Fort Mill, S.C. (just south of Charlotte, N.C.)
... but when I turned on all the sites listed for VIPER I started receiving some traffic for communities over 100 miles away.

With possibly the exception of the Wake County simulcast primary control frequency, most Viper primary control frequencies are reused for control purposes at multiple sites in the Viper system.

If the HP-1 listening range is set high enough, a user may see Viper sites displaying on the HP-1 screen that might seem to be far away. The reality may be that the site being heard might be a closer location sharing the same control frequency.

If there is a question about which site you are hearing, you can use the advanced features of the HP-1 to read the Viper site number, which can then be compared to the RadioReference database.
 
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