VIPER Site for Alamance & Orange Co. Fire

[a1emt]

I am programming a Unication G5 for a friend who would like to monitor the main fire dispatch and fire tactical talkgroups for both Orange County and Alamance County. The G5 is only capable of listening to one site at a time. Is there a high profile site (or sites) that consistently carry both counties fire talkgroups? On the map, I have my eye on Eno Mountain and Mebane as the most likely possibilities. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[drayd48]

While I can't really help you with the tower locations, just remember that a tower will only carry traffic if a unit is affiliated on that tower on that specific talkgroup. Most radios lay around on dispatch, so dispatch for whatever agency is most likely to be carried by most towers in the area. If units switch to a Tac or Ops channel, probably the only tower(s) that will carry the traffic is right around where the field units are located and the tower dispatch is hooked to. As far as affiliation, most county talkgroups allow roaming one county outside the "home" county, so as far as the radio is concerned its going to hook to the strongest signal and ignore county lines. If an event happens in the western side of the county, there may be a tower in the east side of the county that doesn't even carry the Tac or Ops channel. Basically is what I'm getting at is that it is all hit and miss to what talkgroups will be over what tower at a certain time. Not really a problem for the users of the radio because our radios affiliate on the channel we want to hear and the radio makes sure we hear it, but a problem for scanner users.

 

[yardbird]

Ok here you go.

Alamance Co. Viper sites are:

Altamahaw
Cane Mtn
Mebane

Orange Co. Viper sites are:

Chapel Hill
Eno Mtn (Hillsborough)
Laws

All Viper Sites are on 800 Mhz. except Mebane which is on 700 Mhz.

The Viper information for North Carolina has all the site frequencies listed for each site.

Hope this helps

David

 

[a1emt]

While I can't really help you with the tower locations, just remember that a tower will only carry traffic if a unit is affiliated on that tower on that specific talkgroup. Most radios lay around on dispatch, so dispatch for whatever agency is most likely to be carried by most towers in the area. If units switch to a Tac or Ops channel, probably the only tower(s) that will carry the traffic is right around where the field units are located and the tower dispatch is hooked to. As far as affiliation, most county talkgroups allow roaming one county outside the "home" county, so as far as the radio is concerned its going to hook to the strongest signal and ignore county lines. If an event happens in the western side of the county, there may be a tower in the east side of the county that doesn't even carry the Tac or Ops channel. Basically is what I'm getting at is that it is all hit and miss to what talkgroups will be over what tower at a certain time. Not really a problem for the users of the radio because our radios affiliate on the channel we want to hear and the radio makes sure we hear it, but a problem for scanner users.

Thanks, yes, describing the affiliations as "Hit and Miss" is very accurate. Many systems program certain 'critical' talkgroups to be forced out to a certain group of sites. I was hoping that Alamance and Orange did this for their main fire dispatch so I could hear both on a single site. I can setup the G5 to steer to a specific site using the channel selector knob, so we can make it work.

 

[randyK]

The Cane mtn site carries most of both counties. It gets out pretty good too.

 

[Chris0516]

The Cane mtn site carries most of both counties. It gets out pretty good too.

On the VIPER page. While Cane Mountain is listed as one of the towers for Alamance County. It is not listed for Orange County.

 

[a1emt]

The Cane mtn site carries most of both counties. It gets out pretty good too.

Thanks Randy!

 

[Flyham]

On the VIPER page. While Cane Mountain is listed as one of the towers for Alamance County. It is not listed for Orange County.

True, but as RandyK said, it serves both Alamance and Orange quite well.

 

[Chris0516]

True, but as RandyK said, it serves both Alamance and Orange quite well.

Both Wake n' Orange counties are 'next door' Chatham County. Wake's tower, which is further from me, comes in, no problem. But only Orange's analog channels come in. I can't seem to get their TG's.