Which cells to add?
- Thread starter MCKFD34
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DaveNF2G
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Guilderland is on the County Cell.
I don't even bother with entering the Cohoes Cell. I monitored that for awhile but it never had any activity. I believe the only advantage is to enhance coverage in the Cohoes area as it only specifies a 3 mile range. The County Cell will get you Guilderland, Bethlehem, and the Sheriffs. If all you're scanning is Guilderland, you can also eliminate the Metro Cell, or just put that in a separate Favorite List.
I should probably point out that the 3 mile range was set by us admins on RR, it's not anything official. All of those site ranges are set by the database admins using reasonable estimates as to what the system/site is intended to cover. Naturally the signals usually travel further than the radius indicates, but we are only concerned with making sure the radius encompasses the area that it needs to based on the purpose of the system/site.
I actually just knocked it down to a 1.5 mile radius for the Cohoes site, which seems more reasonable at the present time given the lack of activity on it.
Is Cohoes PD actually operating on the trunked system? The note states that they're dispatched on County Law 2, but we also still have a VHF listing for their dispatch. I would've expected the site to be carrying at least the County Law 2 talkgroup if that's what they're operating on, otherwise you have to wonder what the point of building a standalone site there was, vs adding an additional subsite on the County cell.
Cohoes PD is indeed dispatched on County Law 2.
I don’t believe that VHF frequency is in use anymore.
I’ve never bothered monitoring the Cohoes cell as county law 2 and county fire 2 are carried on the metro cell.
I know when the Cohoes cell first popped up on the system others logged radio IDS assigned to Cohoes fire and police units using the cell.
I don’t believe that VHF frequency is in use anymore.
I’ve never bothered monitoring the Cohoes cell as county law 2 and county fire 2 are carried on the metro cell.
I know when the Cohoes cell first popped up on the system others logged radio IDS assigned to Cohoes fire and police units using the cell.
So maybe if you increase the site range to oh, say 20 miles, then I'll be within reception range?
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DaveNF2G
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The physical coverage of the Cohoes Cell is in fact very small. It is a gapfiller for units inside Cohoes itself. Scanner listeners would rarely have any use for it.
Cohoes, Watervliet and Green Island fire companies still use certain UHF channels in conjunction with the trunked system. AFAIK, all of their police are trunked only. But this should be verified by someone who has solid reception of the old channels and would not be missing any transmissions.
Cohoes, Watervliet and Green Island fire companies still use certain UHF channels in conjunction with the trunked system. AFAIK, all of their police are trunked only. But this should be verified by someone who has solid reception of the old channels and would not be missing any transmissions.
Remember too that traffic will only appear on the Cohoes cell if a radio is affiliated to it. Depending on how the subscriber units are setup, they could prefer the Metro cell and only switch to the Cohoes cell if Metro gets really bad/no signal.
MCKFD34
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Thanks, I re-added Metro and Cohoes cells just to see, and I am hearing more Guilderland now than before.
MCKFD34
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So is it okay to have the 3 cells programmed?
yes
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DaveNF2G
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Guilderland units going to hospitals or other destinations in Albany could possibly affiliate to the Metro Cell temporarily. (As an aside, I sometimes hear Mobile Life's mid-Hudson area talkgroups on the OneVoice site on Pinnacle when they are transporting to Albany hospitals. The talkgroups remain active until the units return to their normal coverage area.)
I'm pretty sure Guilderland talk groups are not carried by the Metro Cell.
They are not.
Adding the other cells if you (MCKFD) just want to hear Guilderland is a bad idea. It will just cause the potential to miss traffic as your scanner looks at the other cells.
If MCKFD heard an uptick in traffic that was either a coincidence (more traffic at that time) or the programming is not correct.
In the Albany County system case, the County cell has the same metro area coverage as the metro cell. Meaning if the metro cell covers that area, then the county cell does as well. So a Guilderland unit could stay on their home TG and stay on the county cell even if they were in Albany.
It does not work in reverse...the county cell coverage is much larger than the metro cell.
That is different than the way OneVoice works so it's not a good comparison.
MCKFD34
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Yeah I don't know. Sometimes I see the "metro cell" label when it holds on a Guilderland transmission. I also seem to hear the town better when I am say, 10-15 miles away.
MCKFD34
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So I may try un-doing it. I guess I thought that the cells all work in concert somehow and it is beneficial to keep them programmed. Thanks.
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The one issue you’ll run into with the BCD436 with multiple cells on the same system is that while in system/department/channel hold mode the scanner will scan each cell even if the talkgroup you’re holding on like Guilderland Police is only on the county cell. So you may miss transmissions while the scanner checks the control channel of the other cells. It all comes down to what you want to monitor. If you want to hear everything on the Albany County System, keep both the metro and county cells. If you just want to hear Guilderland, just keep the county cell.
EDIT — just looked at the image and see that you have a favorites list for Guilderland. If all you’be got on that list is Guilderland talkgroups, drop the other two cells as they are only a hindrance to receiving Guilderland traffic (since, as has been said, they’re only on the county cell).
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