why do i receive distant sites instead of local sites

[redroverm37]

i monitor and live in Richland county, however i regularly receive towers (sites) several counties away instead of my local towers(sites) why is this? i am using a wilson 6 element yagi. and monitor the ohio marcs radio system. Thank you.

 

[dkcorlfla]

Maybe the yagi is not pointing at the correct location. Try to confirm the location of the transmitter antenna you are interested in and make sure the yagi is pointed that way.

A 6 element yagi is going to have a fairly tight beam pattern to the front and almost nothing on the sides.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Welcome to the RR forums. What make & model scanner are you using? Why not just program the closest site and delete or avoid the others? If you'd rather keep the others, do a site hold if your scanner allows it.

 

[BenScan]

If the site you are trying to monitor is a simulcast site, and you don't have a Uniden SDS-100, SDS-200, or Unication G4 or G5, you might have to try pointing that Yagi in just the right spot. Otherwise, you may not hear what you want.

 

[16b]

MARCS is designed for portable coverage in most areas, so unless you are really in a hole or something, the six element yagi is major overkill, and as others have mentioned it may be why you are only hearing distant sites. Try switching to the stock (omni directional) antenna and see if that helps.

I don't believe there are any simulcast sites in or near Richland County so that should not be causing any issues.

 

[mciupa]

A possibility could be that the control channel frequency in Shelby is used at another distant site. You may think you are "seeing/hearing" somewhere further away. A quick check shows three locations for 853.9875 MHz.

Just putting that idea out there.

 

[redroverm37]

Maybe the yagi is not pointing at the correct location. Try to confirm the location of the transmitter antenna you are interested in and make sure the yagi is pointed that way.

A 6 element yagi is going to have a fairly tight beam pattern to the front and almost nothing on the sides.

It is pointed correctly and I do receive my local towers but I also receive towers over 60 miles away in wood county, Fayette county,Athens and others. I have all the Ohio sites selected as I monitor several different counties. Why do I get peach ridge 70 miles away but cannot get mt Gilead 30 miles away

 

[redroverm37]

Welcome to the RR forums. What make & model scanner are you using? Why not just program the closest site and delete or avoid the others? If you'd rather keep the others, do a site hold if your scanner allows it.

 

[redroverm37]

Whistler trx2. I monitor several counties

Maybe the yagi is not pointing at the correct location. Try to confirm the location of the transmitter antenna you are interested in and make sure the yagi is pointed that way.

A 6 element yagi is going to have a fairly tight beam pattern to the front and almost nothing on the sides.

antenna pointed correctly. just dont understand how i receive a tower 60 miles away but cannot get one 20 miles away with any consistency.

 

[redroverm37]

Welcome to the RR forums. What make & model scanner are you using? Why not just program the closest site and delete or avoid the others? If you'd rather keep the others, do a site hold if your scanner allows it.

whistler trx2 i monitor several counties and wonder why i receive towers 60+ miles away and cannot get one 20 miles away (Mt Gilliad)

 

[redroverm37]

A possibility could be that the control channel frequency in Shelby is used at another distant site. You may think you are "seeing/hearing" somewhere further away. A quick check shows three locations for 853.9875 MHz.

Just putting that idea out there.

for some reason i dont always get the shelby tower only 4 miles away but usually get the steam corners tower that is 15 miles away!

 

[redroverm37]

MARCS is designed for portable coverage in most areas, so unless you are really in a hole or something, the six element yagi is major overkill, and as others have mentioned it may be why you are only hearing distant sites. Try switching to the stock (omni directional) antenna and see if that helps.

I don't believe there are any simulcast sites in or near Richland County so that should not be causing any issues.

have tried that and still get sites like peach ridge or washington courthouse! i need the yagi to receive bucyrus and crawford county

 

[redroverm37]

If the site you are trying to monitor is a simulcast site, and you don't have a Uniden SDS-100, SDS-200, or Unication G4 or G5, you might have to try pointing that Yagi in just the right spot. Otherwise, you may not hear what you want.

thanks but my county (Richland) is not simulcast

 

[wa8pyr]

Have you ever actually heard talkgroups from those counties?

If you have the entire system in your radio, I can almost guarantee that you are not actually receiving those sites; they share channels with your local sites, and your radio is picking up the local control channels on those shared frequencies. What you're seeing is almost certainly an illusion.

Remove the offending sites from your scanner and the problem will go away, but don't be surprised if it happens on other sites; MARCS has shared frequencies all over the state, but generally at least 100 miles apart.

Your best bet is to delete any but the sites you actually want to receive.

 

[redroverm37]

Have you ever actually heard talkgroups from those counties?

If you have the entire system in your radio, I can almost guarantee that you are not actually receiving those sites; they share channels with your local sites, and your radio is picking up the local control channels on those shared frequencies. What you're seeing is almost certainly an illusion.

Remove the offending sites from your scanner and the problem will go away, but don't be surprised if it happens on other sites; MARCS has shared frequencies all over the state, but generally at least 100 miles apart.

Your best bet is to delete any but the sites you actually want to receive.

T hank you. The only talkgroups I get are my local that I program in. i do have all of Ohio sites programed. They were imported with ezscan. I am showing the site id on my scanner display. So I should lockout all the other sites?

 

[wa8pyr]

T hank you. The only talkgroups I get are my local that I program in. i do have all of Ohio sites programed. They were imported with ezscan. I am showing the site id on my scanner display. So I should lockout all the other sites?

Lock out or delete all the sites not in your local area.

 

[mlc5eleven]

I'm noticing some oddities with my Whistler scanners. I changed the display to show me sites so that I can see what is hitting where in Richland County. I am also seeing some sites that I know are not correct, but there's no way on a handheld I'm hitting a Washington CH site. I'm wondering for myself if it's changes in site location programming that I simply haven't updated within my scanner and not that I'm hitting the wrong towers.

 

[redroverm37]

I think it is because I have all 212 marcs sites enabled and my scanner is miss identifying them. Only thing I can come up with.

 

[Swipesy]

I have not checked this in a long time but last time I checked some MARCS towers, distant apart, share the same frequencies. If you have multiple towers loaded in your scanner the scanner reports the first instant of seeing the frequency.

 

[mlc5eleven]

I think it is because I have all 212 marcs sites enabled and my scanner is miss identifying them. Only thing I can come up with.

I break mine down by county and I usually follow a rule of only entering that county's sites within that county's talkgroups, with minor exceptions - like the steam corners site for example - that hits a lot. Crawford should be simple - there's only one site. I've done the all 212, and it just doesn't work well. I hit the sites I know I can hit locally and put the talkgroups that I know are using those sites.