This may not be appreciated by the DB admins, and if so, I apologize. I've raised this issue with them before and there is an effort going on to be more diligent about approving submissions, but they have huge areas of responsibility and vetting submissions from a part of the world they're not local to just isn't possible sometimes. They have to trust that the person making the submission is telling the truth and/or knows what they're talking about. In the past few months, it appears that this has not been the case.
Somebody is submitting data to the admins for Calgary and the regions surrounding it which is, at the least, incorrect and based on a lack of understanding of how radio systems work, and at the worst, outright lies and false information. You are polluting the database that we scanner hobbyists use for enjoyment of our hobby and I won't stand for it any more.
The most recent examples include, in the Calgary/Recreational Facilities category, the "South Health Campus YMCA" subcat. Someone has submitted a repeater on 466.6125 with an input of 461.6125 (and a DCS of 223) and called it "Ch 1 - Lifeguards/First Aid". Then they have submitted a repeater on 461.6125 with an input of 466.6125 and the same DCS, and called it "Ch 2 - Maintenance/Housekeeping". This is not how repeaters work. For one thing, the radios would be talking all over one another when they were transmitting to the two repeaters. For another thing, only one repeater - with freq 461.6125 and input 466.6125 - is licensed on the site. Furthermore, it is licensed for 4 watts with no outdoor antenna which means you would have to be inside the business in order to monitor it (and RR demands that you monitor the signal before you submit - you are not allowed to submit data pulled from online licensing sites like the FCC ULS or Industry Canada's Spectrum Direct). Finally, the license's emissions is set for DMR, not analog voice, which means that having a DCS value is highly suspect.
The other recent submission I want to bring up is for emergency services in Stand Off on the Blood First Nation. Once again somebody has submitted a bunch of data that just doesn't work if you understand radio systems at all. First of all, 158.76 (the provincewide ambulance frequency) and 156.855 (the provincewide municipal fire tactical frequency) have been posted in a regional/local part of the DB. These frequencies are already in the provincewide section of the DB, so they shouldn't be submitted locally as that's unnecessary duplication. Second of all, the repeater on freq 165.9 (input 165.21) has been posted 2 or 3 extra times with the input/freq swapped or just one freq and listed as "talkaround". For the ones where the freqs are swapped, see my comments about 461/466 above. For the ones where the repeater is listed a second time as "talkaround", that's unnecessary duplication. Thirdly, the police repeater is listed backwards (freqs swapped) as the FD's "tac 1", which is not possible/wouldn't work. Lastly, the freqs for Cardston Fire's repeater (town of Cardston in Cardston County) are listed as "fireground 3". Not only is this one unnecessary duplication, it wouldn't work because of the proximity to Cardston (Cardston and Stand Off are close enough together that the Cardston repeater would be heard over the channel). And finally, Cardston's repeater is indeed listed in Blood FD's license, but as permission for Blood FD to contact Cardston, not as a separate channel for Blood FD.
Monitoring the input frequency for a repeater and hearing traffic does not mean that the input should be listed as a separate channel in the RRDB. Posting info you find in the Spectrum Direct license pages absolutely should not be submitted to the RRDB.
Somebody is submitting data to the admins for Calgary and the regions surrounding it which is, at the least, incorrect and based on a lack of understanding of how radio systems work, and at the worst, outright lies and false information. You are polluting the database that we scanner hobbyists use for enjoyment of our hobby and I won't stand for it any more.
The most recent examples include, in the Calgary/Recreational Facilities category, the "South Health Campus YMCA" subcat. Someone has submitted a repeater on 466.6125 with an input of 461.6125 (and a DCS of 223) and called it "Ch 1 - Lifeguards/First Aid". Then they have submitted a repeater on 461.6125 with an input of 466.6125 and the same DCS, and called it "Ch 2 - Maintenance/Housekeeping". This is not how repeaters work. For one thing, the radios would be talking all over one another when they were transmitting to the two repeaters. For another thing, only one repeater - with freq 461.6125 and input 466.6125 - is licensed on the site. Furthermore, it is licensed for 4 watts with no outdoor antenna which means you would have to be inside the business in order to monitor it (and RR demands that you monitor the signal before you submit - you are not allowed to submit data pulled from online licensing sites like the FCC ULS or Industry Canada's Spectrum Direct). Finally, the license's emissions is set for DMR, not analog voice, which means that having a DCS value is highly suspect.
The other recent submission I want to bring up is for emergency services in Stand Off on the Blood First Nation. Once again somebody has submitted a bunch of data that just doesn't work if you understand radio systems at all. First of all, 158.76 (the provincewide ambulance frequency) and 156.855 (the provincewide municipal fire tactical frequency) have been posted in a regional/local part of the DB. These frequencies are already in the provincewide section of the DB, so they shouldn't be submitted locally as that's unnecessary duplication. Second of all, the repeater on freq 165.9 (input 165.21) has been posted 2 or 3 extra times with the input/freq swapped or just one freq and listed as "talkaround". For the ones where the freqs are swapped, see my comments about 461/466 above. For the ones where the repeater is listed a second time as "talkaround", that's unnecessary duplication. Thirdly, the police repeater is listed backwards (freqs swapped) as the FD's "tac 1", which is not possible/wouldn't work. Lastly, the freqs for Cardston Fire's repeater (town of Cardston in Cardston County) are listed as "fireground 3". Not only is this one unnecessary duplication, it wouldn't work because of the proximity to Cardston (Cardston and Stand Off are close enough together that the Cardston repeater would be heard over the channel). And finally, Cardston's repeater is indeed listed in Blood FD's license, but as permission for Blood FD to contact Cardston, not as a separate channel for Blood FD.
Monitoring the input frequency for a repeater and hearing traffic does not mean that the input should be listed as a separate channel in the RRDB. Posting info you find in the Spectrum Direct license pages absolutely should not be submitted to the RRDB.
