west south carolina and richmond county ga. control channels

[gaunter033]

I submitted this earlier in the motorola trunking forum and was directed here. I am new to the trunking deal, so please be kind, I'm doing my best to grasp it. :wink:


I spent a few hours today using the rr database to input the control channel freqs into my pro 95 and I only found 4 or 5 that actually matched the database. Anyone else have this problem in my area who might have an updated list? I want to listen to south carolina highway patrol, aiken county south carolina, and richmond county georgia. The sites i should be able to hear are as follows......mcbean, augusta, blythe, north augusta, aiken, plum branch, due west, anderson, batesburg, allendale, barnwell, gaston, salley, orangeburg, greenwood & bamberg. I really dont want to input all the individual freqs into the scanner if I can help it. also, if you are capable of hearing this area, I recently submitted some ten codes, signal codes and such for richmond and columbia counties if you need them. I am currently working on more of the surrounding counties and will submit them as I get them. I also found today searching the fcc's web site that columbia county georgia has just had some new 400mhz frequencies allocated for future use. If you input them in the scanner they all have an "open mic" sound to them. If they do come in use, i will be sure to submit those also. Have a great day everyone.

 

[jeffmulter]

Welcome to the S.C. Forum.

I can vouch that the Due West and Greenwood control frequencies on RR are correct.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but, if you're expecting to monitor all those sites from the same location, I think you are more optimistic than I would be (forgive me ... my astrological sign is the "negative" (-) symbol).

With a handheld scanner and rubber duckie, hearing 3 to 5 sites is typical in my area ... somewhat better when the band is enhanced.

To some extent, listening to sites outside your immediate area can be a disadvantage, as the scanner might miss critical communications occurring nearby. When you feel you've reached that point, it's time for a second (third, fourth, etc ... ) scanner.

With regards to Columbia County, if you are referring to the splinter UHF frequencies licensed under WQAS791, they are all low-power directional links (FXO), based around a repeater on 155.5875 MHz. I would imagine the four sites covered in the license are dispatch facilities, detention facilities, or something along those lines involving the county sheriffs operations.

Jeff Multer, Fort Mill, S.C.

 

[gaunter033]

Thanks for the reply jeff, I forgot to mention that I am using an outside antenna on a tower about 75 feet up in the air. I have heard chatter all the way from I-26 just by putting in all the freqs from south carolina in my scanner. Now Im not real clear on the trunking system but maybe that was just repeated to a tower close by maybe? Not sure if that is possible or not, just a thought. I also heard. orangeburg , aiken , due west and a couple of others loud and clear. i guess to make a long story short, I really just want to keep the amount of freqs to a minimum (the control channels) to keep the scanner scanning as few a number of frequencies as possible so it will have more time to catch more traffic. Thanks for the insight on the new freqs for columbia county too. I have only heard traffic on 155.5875 freq so you are probably right on that too. Thanks again for the info, I will keep all the freqs in for now and maybe someone else may have some other sites verified control channels that I listed.

 

[brian]

Sounds like a little experimentation is in order. Try this:

Program all of the primary and alternate control channels of interest into one bank of your PRO-95, but set the mode for each channel to FM instead of MO. Scan through the bank and see which ones you hear the data channel on. This will give you and idea of which towers you can receive, which ones you can't, and which ones might be incorrectly listed.

Another idea - do a band search 855-861 and 866-868.9875. Mark down each one that you hear a data channel on, and then cross-reference that which the data in the rr database. Remember that you'll also hear non-Motorola control channel data noises like MDT signals or Nextel transmissions in those bands - they'll sound like noise but different than a Motorola control channel.

For those sites that you can't receive using the indicated control channels (primary CCs are coded in red, alternates in blue), program all the site's freqs and see if you hear a data channel on any of them. Once you find the active control channel, delete all other freqs which will be used for voice.

Each of the 61 tower sites for Palm 800 does have its own control channel that's active all the time (you had posted a question about that in another forum). In general, control channels for Palm 800 sites don't alternate like other systems. They typically stay the same for months and years. All the frequencies listed have been verified as operational at one time or another, but changes do happen from time to time.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out. Certainly submit any corrections for the rr database.

Also, I'd be interested to know more about your antenna set-up: type of antenna, tower, feedline, connectors, preamps?

Brian

 

[jeffmulter]

>> Now Im not real clear on the trunking system but maybe that was just repeated to a tower close by maybe?

It can happen, particularly with the SCHP dispatch channels.

For instance, Fairfield County is three counties away from my location, but SCHP officers in both Fairfield and Lancaster Counties (and Chesterfield and Chester Cos.) use the same talkgroup for dispatch.

As long is there is an SCHP radio on the dispatch talkgroup affiliated with with my location site, I will also hear any Fairfield units on dispatch via my local site.

By this same method, I use a second site in my area (east of I-77) to monitor a fair amount of SCHP and SHEP traffic on I-85 in Cherokee County.

>> I really just want to keep the amount of freqs to a minimum (the control channels) to keep the scanner scanning as few a number of frequencies as possible so it will have more time to catch more traffic.

When monitoring trunked systems, it's not the number of frequencies that will slow you down ... it's the amount of chit-chat and non-essential communications.

With the exception of the Pro 96, once your scanner identifies the control frequency in a bank, it doesn't bother looking for another control frequency until it goes to the next bank - or rescans the current bank.

If you decide to program all the frequencies for a system in a bank, program the known control frequencies in the first couple of slots (unless the system is EDACS or LTR). That way, the scanner immediately finds the control frequency. Having all the frequencies programmed can offer some advantage if a system goes into failsoft mode.

What I would suggest trying is to set up a temporary bank, programming in all the control frequencies identified in RR as belonging to sites you feel you may be able to receive.

Over the next couple of days, manually step through those frequencies, listening for the control signal. Do it a couple of times a day, including early morning and early evening, as the band propagation will change during the course of the day.

You should then have an idea of control frequencies you can regularly hear. If you regularly hear voice comms on a designated control frequency, it might be an indication that you are hearing another site, or a non-Palnet system. The FCC online database may help you I-D such events.

If you know a hobbyist in your area with a Pro 96 scanner, or one using Trunker, either would be of help in confirming that the control signals you hear are related to the Palnet system, as you could view the system I-D.


Jeff

 

[gaunter033]

Ok, thanks for the experimental tricks everyone. I will give some a try. About my antenna setup, its a tower that was given to me by my father in law who works for a local school system. They were just going to throw it away so he thought I would like to have it. (and of course I did!) lol. I looked for the exact antenna I have on radioshack.com but its not there anymore. Its shaped like an "X" with a center radial going straight up thru the center of the "X" and the center radial is longer than the top or bottom "X" radials. I used 125' of RG6U Quad shield (not the best I here but what I had at the time), and crimp on connectors on both ends, and an adapter at the scanner to change it to a bnc connection. I used to have an antron 99 antenna where I used to live with the bigger cable used for cb'ing and I had great results hearing but I had to send off my scanner several times to be repaired because of approching thunderstorms. If I ever heard a thunderstorm coming I new it was too late. I was using a yellow uniden sportcat at the time. It was a great setup but it was expensive fixing the scanner all the time. I will probably be taking my antenna down that I have now and putting up a discone in the near future. I had one of those but I gave it to my father for his scanner. When I do what cable should I use? any 50ohm cable ? Does it REALLY matter. I want it to stay up for many years without much upkeep. I dont mind spending money now if it will last longer and perform better.