Waukesha County & New Scanner

[brewcrewfan]

Hello,

I just moved to New Berlin so I've had to reprogram my scanner (from Milwaukee County) I have scanned a few different messages so my question may have been covered before. My primary listening will be New Berlin PD and Waukesha Sheriff secondarily (occasionally the new berlin FD) My question is what does patch in mean? I know NB PD is WCC 2. I've heard nothing on that. Then i read it's patched to 1 (shared with Brookfield?) If it's patched in, does that mean i should just actively listen to 1 and 2? I've heard the sherrif on WCC4

Also, what is the talkgroup for New Berlin Fire?

Lastly i currently have a Uniden BCD396XT. I find it works ok in Waukesha co and was also ok in Milwaukee for Greenfield. (Worked near perfectly in Waushara county which is occasional travel for me. Waushara is conventional P25 Nac 700).

I have heard audio cut out a lot and echoes. I read up on that and learned a new scanner like a
Uniden SDS100 would helo fix that. Is the SDS100 worth it?

 

[Tim]

Greetings...

The SDS-100 works extremely well on the OASIS Trunked Radio System, if you can afford it. For me at least It lacks quite a bit for conventional frequencies listening. Thankfully, 98% of public safety in Waukesha County is on OASIS.

PATCHING is basically joining 2 channels together so that users on each of the channels that are patched can hear each other. New Berlin PD is on "Area 2" (Talkgroup 58915) and is frequently patched with City & Town of Brookfield PD on "Area 1" (Talkgroup 58914). I would probably listen to both Area 1 + Area 2 each day, if they are not patched you can always lock out Area-2 for that day. I noticed this year especially, they seem to be patched every day. This is likely due to staffing levels at Waukesha County Communications (WCC).

New Berlin Fire Department talkgroups
- They use 1300's for unit numbering

58909 NBFD Paging (Along with rest of county FD's)
58910 NBFD Dispatch (Along with rest of county FD's)
58174 NBFD Tactical 1 (Response Coordination, Etc)

Tim

 

[Wauk620]

Welcome to the area. I agree with everything Tim said. However, you can save yourself a few $ and get a 436hp. I live in Waukesha and have no problems with simulcast issues with my 436, plus this scanner does conventional freqs very well. I use it both mobile and at home and don’t miss any calls, just using the factory-supplied antenna. The way the OASIS towers are setup in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, people start having simulcast issues when they increase the gain on their antenna or use a pre-amp and overload their scanner’s receiver. My rule of thumb is try the least expensive option to see if it meets your needs. If not, trade up. 73’s - John

 

[brewcrewfan]

Thank you everyone for your help. The past few year's I tried a newer longer antenna for my BCD396XT. And i bought another one with a longer cable to put near a window and still had the issue.

I check wisconsin scanning homepage regularly and used to be part of the wisconsin scanning yahoo group. So glad i found this message board.

Thank you again.

 

[sjgostovich]

Of the few times I've stayed in Waukesha Co, I've been able to successfully monitor the TRS with my BCD325P2 (with the stock Uniden antenna which surprisingly seemed to work the best). There is also a slew of analog things to monitor as well. I'm returning to the area in November of this year and plan on bringing my SDS100 for comparison. I will report back with any findings!

 

[brewcrewfan]

I was also looking into the Uniden BCD325P2 as a comparison to the SDS100.

I think my BCD396XT is only trunk tracker 4 and P1 only not p2?

Also, Tim, you said the SDS-100 lacks on conventional for you? Can you elaborate?

 

[jp1973]

so im new to the area and radio community as well what kind of scanner should a beginner like me get phase 2 scanner? im in se wisconsin as well do work in illinois though

 

[Tim]

Greetings again...

For P-25 trunking, this radio is excellent (Especially on the 800MHz band). My experience with conventional monitoring has not been so great (Especially analog transmissions). I do travel around Wisconsin a bit so it's not just a problem from my home location. When I get a chance to, I am a storm chaser. I have travelled through Dodge County many times (Mostly flat territory) and have had trouble picking up Dodge County Sheriff on 154.7850 clearly while in the county. Meanwhile, my other travel radio (BCD436HP) has no trouble picking them up once inside the county.

At first I thought maybe there was something busted inside the radio, but in reading other message boards it appears like that is a common problem with those of us who were the first to get the SDS-100 in June of 2018. I have tried using several type of portable antennas so that is not the issue.

I have joked a number times that previous radios were great on analog and just happen to receive digital signals.
The SDS-100 is a digital radio that just happens to receive analog transmissions.


Tim

 

[brewcrewfan]

Last question for now. What is the difference between the SDS-100 and the Uniden SDS200? Is it mainly the 100 is portable vs the 200 is a base?

 

[Doggiesarecute10101]

Hello,
I'm new to this Hobby and bought a BC75XLT. I have searched the web, as well as this website many times trying to find the Waukesha County law enforcement frequency and still can't find it. Any answer will help.
-Thanks

 

[brewcrewfan]

The BC75XLT is a non digital scanner and from what I can tell it is only a conventional 300 channel scanner. It doesn't even do analog trunk tracking. You'll need to purchase a digital trunk tracking scanner to pick up Waukesha County Law Enforcement.

I've always been a fan of Uniden scanners. I would write down the models that others have mentioned and compare prices. I have the BCD396XT but as stated it is not the best at handling the digital OASIS. the SDS-100 is in my future but it's expensive. Compare the other models.

What your BC75XLT can get is ham radio frequencies and weather alerts.

 

[FreqNout]

I just moved to New Berlin so I've had to reprogram my scanner (from Milwaukee County) I have scanned a few different messages so my question may have been covered before. My primary listening will be New Berlin PD and Waukesha Sheriff secondarily (occasionally the new berlin FD)

I travel to Waukesha often to visit family. I have an sds100 and a Blue Tail Tech P25RX receiver.

Both are great for simulcast.

Depending on how you plan to use your radio, a P25RX receiver is a great radio for OASIS. It is not for everyone, but it is well worth the $399 price point. Blue tail web site

There is also a very active BlueTail Tech forum here on RR.

 

[sjgostovich]

There's all kinds of cool stuff to scan with your BC75XLT! Go to the Waukesha Co database page and there are all kinds of government and business frequencies that your scanner can accommodate. I have a Uniden SR30C that I have programmed with the WC analog stuff and it is pretty active.

 

[brewcrewfan]

Of the few times I've stayed in Waukesha Co, I've been able to successfully monitor the TRS with my BCD325P2 (with the stock Uniden antenna which surprisingly seemed to work the best). There is also a slew of analog things to monitor as well. I'm returning to the area in November of this year and plan on bringing my SDS100 for comparison. I will report back with any findings!

Happy New Year! Were you in Waukesha County for Thanksgiving/November? Did you bring your scanners and are you able to report your comparison??

 

[sjgostovich]

HNY back! I did not make it down in November, but might be going down in March of this year. I will definitely update this post with any observations of my comparison if I am able.

 

[wiscannerguy5100]

Welcome to the area. I agree with everything Tim said. However, you can save yourself a few $ and get a 436hp. I live in Waukesha and have no problems with simulcast issues with my 436, plus this scanner does conventional freqs very well. I use it both mobile and at home and don’t miss any calls, just using the factory-supplied antenna. The way the OASIS towers are setup in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, people start having simulcast issues when they increase the gain on their antenna or use a pre-amp and overload their scanner’s receiver. My rule of thumb is try the least expensive option to see if it meets your needs. If not, trade up. 73’s - John

I've been having a hard time with Oasis lately with a 436 HP I live on the south side of Waukesha in a condo that's sort of on a hill off of Sunset roughly Big Bend Road and my place is high up but the problem is the 436 I have only works in the bathroom above the medicine cabinet for some reason but when I bring it elsewhere in my place it just goes haywire and doesn't really work when I want to hear it in the living room it's hard to keep it from distorting because I have to have the radio cranked all the way up high which isn't too good for the battery drainage I'm wondering if maybe you could come and take a look at my setup and what you can do I have attic space to put up an antenna but I would have to have somebody like you to come and look at it if you had any way to do so that would be much appreciated and by the way I do love your scanner feed for the city of Waukesha police and fire not to be off topic on this but at least it's helping with the missed Transmissions at my 436 doesn't get sorry for the long winded reply but I just thought I would put that out there just in case you or somebody might have any insight as my condos were built in 73 and aren't the greatest for RF at all

 

[InspireWaukesha87]

SDS100 and Unication G series pagers work great on OASIS

 

[brewcrewfan]

I found my original antenna that came with my BCD396XT and the reception has gotten better. I also went through my programing and realized that I left off frequency 852.5125. I wasn't sure if they needed to be in order so i deleted out and re-entered everything, including the red control frequencies.

I was going through other system settings and here are my questions:

Set Attenuator: This was set to off, does it need to be on or off?

Edit Band Plan: 0: 851.00625/6.25
1: 762.00625/6.25
I don't remember programing the edit band plan. What is it? Are the numbers correct or do I need to change or add anything?

Thank you,

 

[tvengr]

Edit Band Plan: 0: 851.00625/6.25
1: 762.00625/6.25
I don't remember programing the edit band plan. What is it? Are the numbers correct or do I need to change or add anything?

If you are using the OASIS system, the band plan will load automatically from the control channel.

 

[VASCAR2]

I found my original antenna that came with my BCD396XT and the reception has gotten better. I also went through my programing and realized that I left off frequency 852.5125. I wasn't sure if they needed to be in order so i deleted out and re-entered everything, including the red control frequencies.

I was going through other system settings and here are my questions:

Set Attenuator: This was set to off, does it need to be on or off?

Edit Band Plan: 0: 851.00625/6.25
1: 762.00625/6.25
I don't remember programing the edit band plan. What is it? Are the numbers correct or do I need to change or add anything?

Thank you,

Here is the description of attenuator for a BCD325P2 but it works basically the same for any scanner.

“Attenuator - you can set the scanner’s attenuator to reduce the input strength of strong signals by about 20 dB per channel, search band, close call band, or trunked system.”

Unless the signal is so strong it is causing the audio to drop out or the signal is bleeding onto an adjacent frequency I leave attenuators turned off.

I tried using the attenuator on my BCD996XT and BCD325P2 to help with simulcast distortion on trunked 800 MHz systems but it didn’t help in my situation. Reducing the height of the antenna, laying antenna horizontally or shielding the scanner plus using an attenuator setting might help if your suffering from simulcast distortion. In my particular location these measures made no difference for me. Just trying to give other examples for using the attenuator setting.