as far as i know you should be abel to listen to it with any p25 scanner or radio
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box23
Member
I have a Uniden so I can't give you much help, but if you are near a computer or other noise maker that might be part of the problem because the radio has to listen on a frequency longer to know if it is hearing a control channel or just noise. The 139 MHz frequencies are somewhat more susceptible to electronic noise whereas when listening to ARMER it's quieter on 800 MHz.
As far as talkgroups, any listed in the database would be fair game at this point but the majority of the traffic I hear is on STAC1 and the Tech talkgroups. I've also heard NW regional traffic but I don't know how much other regional traffic there is around the state.
To make it easy make sure you are listening in open mode for the system so you will get any traffic, not just relying on any talkgroups you have programmed.
Roger that.
Roger that, I have my wildcards programmed in so we will see what pops. I think the reason I'm not hearing anything is due to the times I monitor (late evening, early morning). Thanks for the info!
Roger that, I have my wildcards programmed in so we will see what pops. I think the reason I'm not hearing anything is due to the times I monitor (late evening, early morning). Thanks for the info!
Keep in mind here also that unless a system radio is affiliated to a tower that you can hear, you will not hear the traffic. At this time the only exception to that I am aware of is the STAC1 talkgroup, which is pushed out to all sites regardless of radio affiliation.
Priority channel
Good to know, I will be setting STAC1 as the priority channel talk-group for that system then.
Good to know, I will be setting STAC1 as the priority channel talk-group for that system then.
box23
Member
I just heard some weird traffic on RTAC61. It was a radio check between a unit and a radio shop. I didn't hear any more of the unit callsigns, but the radio ID's indicated Dane County. I was under the impression the RTAC talkgroups were provided access by the system only in/near their respective WEM regions.
box23
Member
Site 62 online, 152.1425 MHz, appears to be Iron River.
In other news, I see there is a new version of the site map on interop.wi.gov. Most notable change is the addition of information regarding antennas such as type, full circle is half wave semi-circle is quarter wave, and direction. There is probably other site differences but the main ones that I found are Wrenshall being replaced by Dedham, and something different with Delta (DeltaNew on map), but I haven't cross referenced it with the older version yet.
In other news, I see there is a new version of the site map on interop.wi.gov. Most notable change is the addition of information regarding antennas such as type, full circle is half wave semi-circle is quarter wave, and direction. There is probably other site differences but the main ones that I found are Wrenshall being replaced by Dedham, and something different with Delta (DeltaNew on map), but I haven't cross referenced it with the older version yet.
Good Catch Box23
box23
Member
With the great band opening this morning I was hearing a lot of activity from all over Minnesota and Wisconsin including a lot of WISCOM sites. I only have frequency and site number, but I was able to identify the following as on air:
Site 79 -- 139.1625 MHz
Site 22 -- 152.5775 MHz
Also:
Site 2 (displaying as 202) which should be Baraboo, confirmed on frequency 139.1875 MHz.
I had already identified Site 62 on 152.1425 MHz in my last post, but now I can confirm it is Iron River.
While searching through I heard traffic on Prescott, TG48014. It sounded like a patch of a dispatch channel, just not sure of location. Traffic included dispatch of an overhead door alarm, the unit reporting enroute, and possibly a different unit identified as 148.
Site 79 -- 139.1625 MHz
Site 22 -- 152.5775 MHz
Also:
Site 2 (displaying as 202) which should be Baraboo, confirmed on frequency 139.1875 MHz.
I had already identified Site 62 on 152.1425 MHz in my last post, but now I can confirm it is Iron River.
While searching through I heard traffic on Prescott, TG48014. It sounded like a patch of a dispatch channel, just not sure of location. Traffic included dispatch of an overhead door alarm, the unit reporting enroute, and possibly a different unit identified as 148.
djeplett
Member
I'm getting that talkgroup off of Chilton's site, too. Like you said, sounds like normal dispatch traffic.
Thats a travel talkgroup assigned to us. I was multi-tasking and testing some sites while on vacation. I set a console patch in Red Wing between Goodhue County ARMER law main 1 and that WISCOM TG. I traveled from MN to Door County on 6/1 via highway 29 and returned on 6/5 on highway 21. I was dragging that audio with me as I roamed between sites. It was very impressive, portable coverage nearly the entire time - with several sites not on the air yet (using APX7000 at hip level in the car).
What was the talkgroup name you were monitoring? Then we can identify what 48014 is. I am guessing it's a Pierce County TG
Tim
Tim
It's Goodhue County Travel (display name is GDTRVL or similar)
Don't read into those circles too much. The bulk of the sites have an omni radiation pattern, regardless of what that map says.
Correct, and probably not worth anyone's time to load into your scanners. We only have a few dual band radios so that TG will be used very rarely (for those that don't know our ARMER system in MN is 800 P25).
1st Listen..
I caught my 1st transmissions from WISCOM today off the Baldwin site at around 1410 hours. It was test transmissions from the Spring Prairie tower on the tech talk groups. I was very impressed with the audio! It was crystal clear and sounded great. It didn't sound at all digitized like ARMER does (no offense to the Great State of MN!). Based on the site map, I see that the transmission location is south of Milwaukee. That makes a believer out of me!
I caught my 1st transmissions from WISCOM today off the Baldwin site at around 1410 hours. It was test transmissions from the Spring Prairie tower on the tech talk groups. I was very impressed with the audio! It was crystal clear and sounded great. It didn't sound at all digitized like ARMER does (no offense to the Great State of MN!). Based on the site map, I see that the transmission location is south of Milwaukee. That makes a believer out of me!
Both systems are 9600 baud P25 CAI. Any digitized audio you hear from ARMER is likely due to poor signal strength, or a bad scanner or antenna...WICSOM gets digitized too in low singal environment, same as any other digital system. Audio quality sounds the same to me on both systems using the same Motorola dual band radio. When ARMER is patched to WISCOM two side by side radios on each system sound similar, except the patched side is slightly delayed. My obersvation is that the VHF WISCOM sites do have a greater range than our ARMER 800 sites.
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I have noticed that the VHF P25 systems tend to have better audio for scanners, but with a real radio you can't tell the difference.
ARMER is simulcast (unless you're out in the boonies).
Scanners don't tend to handle simulcasting on P25 very well. Unicast P25 audio is generally decoded pretty well by most scanners, so WISCOM is just going to sound better.
Colorado's DTRS is 800 MHz w/o (much) simulcasting and they sound great. ARMER and SC21 usually sound bad, really just tolerable most of the time. Of course, the gear that the users use is better so they don't hear it as poorly as scanner users will.
VHF helps too - but it's not the whole story.
Scanners don't tend to handle simulcasting on P25 very well. Unicast P25 audio is generally decoded pretty well by most scanners, so WISCOM is just going to sound better.
Colorado's DTRS is 800 MHz w/o (much) simulcasting and they sound great. ARMER and SC21 usually sound bad, really just tolerable most of the time. Of course, the gear that the users use is better so they don't hear it as poorly as scanner users will.
VHF helps too - but it's not the whole story.
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