Wisconsin State Patrol

[WIscannerguy24]

I live in Waukesha and I listen to the SE State Patrol based in Waukesha and since they have gone to 154.665 the communications are awful. I can usually hear the Dispatcher just fine but the units are very staticy and distorted. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[djeplett]

There was some discussion about this in this thread:
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64724

 

[OpSec]

Yes, it's bad. Deal with it. It won't be changing any time soon.

 

[RevGary]

Perhaps Stateboy can confirm this info that I received from a Motorola Service Tech on Friday, February 16th: He said that a few District 3 towers in the Winnebago and Outagamie county coverage areas were converted to narrowband, but maintained the same frequency. This was done to reduce adjacent channel interference from operations locally in another service.
I don't know if I go along with that because I can receive both wideband and narrowband here and the signal sounds the same regardless of how I program the monitor. < ? >

 

[MADScan]

D1 (154.680) comes in like crap in Madison and on the south side Madison Taxi bleeds in to it

 

[OpSec]

Perhaps Stateboy can confirm this info that I received from a Motorola Service Tech on Friday, February 16th: He said that a few District 3 towers in the Winnebago and Outagamie county coverage areas were converted to narrowband, but maintained the same frequency. This was done to reduce adjacent channel interference from operations locally in another service.
I don't know if I go along with that because I can receive both wideband and narrowband here and the signal sounds the same regardless of how I program the monitor. < ? >

Weeeeeeeeell, I'd see this thread and compare notes:

http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63908

I've heard thru the grapevine that there have been all sorts of problems with the radio system up there, ranging from TVI issues to poor coverage. Frankly, I don't know what they radio geeks have going up there.

I tried to find out and got nowhere...kind of like a "need to know basis, and you don't need to know" problem. I don't know what the secret is, or even if it is one, but it beats the snot out of me. Someone says they went narrowband, and an article says they are trying some hybrid P25 thing. Your guess is as good as mine. I know the mobiles support conventional narrowband channels, and I assume the new base stations do as well, so program your scanners accordingly.

I never noticed that much of a difference in wide vs. narrow voice channels, unless something is really out of whack, then it's fairly obvious.

 

[Skyraider]

That Elusive State Patrol...

I'm in Whitefish Bay, on the Northeast end of Milwaukee County; I've just received corrected frequency information on this agency, which I'll be listening closely to. I should be getting at least occasional Northeast (the old 'District 3') Region traffic from units operating in Oazukee County, which I know can also interface with the 800mhz. GE-Ericsson system they're on and thus communicate with any and all county squads. I'm not sure whether I can get anything from Southeast Region units (including Waukesha County), as that's a somewhat greater distance from me. Most of my monitoring is North Shore Police, Milwaukee County Sheriff, and Milwaukee Police, as well as Mitchell Field civillian and military air bands. D.J.

 

[OpSec]

I'm in Whitefish Bay, on the Northeast end of Milwaukee County; I've just received corrected frequency information on this agency, which I'll be listening closely to. I should be getting at least occasional Northeast (the old 'District 3') Region traffic from units operating in Oazukee County, which I know can also interface with the 800mhz. GE-Ericsson system they're on and thus communicate with any and all county squads. I'm not sure whether I can get anything from Southeast Region units (including Waukesha County), as that's a somewhat greater distance from me. Most of my monitoring is North Shore Police, Milwaukee County Sheriff, and Milwaukee Police, as well as Mitchell Field civillian and military air bands. D.J.

The Northeast region no longer includes the Land of Oz...that Christmas present, along with Washington county, are now in the Southeast region as part of the re-org.

 

[RevGary]

Q for Stateboy -

On Tuesday afternoon, I heard two local rescue units on a paramedic intercept from someplace in Marquette County using MARC I - but they were keying up three different repeaters from there (three distinct and different time-outs). Aren't the MARC repeaters supposed to be OFF until authorized to be turned on for a specific purpose by WSP regional or have things changed since I retired from L.E. back in 1991 and they can now be left on by the counties at their discretion ???

 

[OpSec]

MARC 1 repeaters are supposed to be off unless requested to be on...

Read:

http://siec.wi.gov/docview.asp?docid=7649

Their emphasis added about repeaters...

REPEATERS

Repeater operation is secondary to mobile use. Each county will be authorized one controlling agency, normally the countywide dispatch center, to provide countywide repeater coverage. This agency must also provide 24 hour monitoring of the channel. Repeaters and the associated communications centers are required to monitor both MARC 1 and MARC 2. Repeaters will be disabled until requested to be turned on by an Incident Commander or other user. Only one repeater may be turned on in a given area at one time. All communications centers operating repeaters are required to cooperate to minimize interference and must have the ability to turn the repeater function on and off at any time. Base station technical parameters will be limited to that which is necessary to cover the applicant agency&#8217;s jurisdiction. Long term patches from other channels to/from MARC are not permitted without prior authorization. Repeaters may be restricted in some state border areas due to adjacent state use.

 

[RevGary]

Thanks for the recap - Perhaps someone should mention that to Winnebago County (and a couple others in that area) because theirs has been "switched on" for over 6 years continuously as I understand it.

Perhaps they have an 'agreement' on file or something, but one of the radio tech's in Appleton that I chat with a couple times per year seemed to think otherwise.

That receive frequency for Marc I is programmed into my PRO-2021 in my office ( 64 miles away) and I hear traffic on it, and two others at the same time, several times each week. Sounds as if someone in that area is using it (them) the same as a talkaround channel for routine LE messaging. With three MARC I repeaters coming on at the same time by the same mobiles, it is a wonder that ANYONE can hear anything with all of them firing at once in that general area. I have never heard Morse ID on any of them over that way...

 

[triryche]

That repeater in Winnebago County was one of the first, if not the original repeater ever to be used on 151.280 and is actually part of their county law enforcement channel line-up. Summer months show more use of it due to all the doings at the EAA grounds. It's been on full time longer than 6 years, probably better than 10. Band conditions obviously play a role in these additional repeaters being brought up. Big reason why Milwaukee Co. switched their fire M/A to a different channel.

 

[RevGary]

On Wednesday May 30 for nearly 4 hours, Winnebago County was using their 151.2800 repeater as their main for all LE traffic. If that is going to continue at times, they should really have TWO CTCSS tones in the repeater. One for MARC I op's and one for their 'alternate' repeater op's for LE traffic. If they would be on anything other than 136.5 tone, then other departments near by who need to use MARC I wouldn't have their systems taken over by the Winnebago County mobiles.

My Kenwood GMRS repeater has the capability to have 8 different CTCSS or DPL tones or codes programmed in as "user groups", so I'm sure that whatever Winnebago County is using could be programmed the same way.

 

[OpSec]

Rev,

You make a valid point but that defeats the purpose of it being a mutual aid resource. If Winnebago county is using MARC 1 for all LE traffic for that long, they need to invest in a different resource to do that with.

 

[SCPD]

Even if they use different PL tones the other agency close to them will still get interference from them when they try to use a MARC 1 or two.

I could pick them up down here in west bend while mobile.

 

[OpSec]

I just keyed up MARC 1 and got at least two repeaters, sounded more like 3.

Oye.

 

[RevGary]

So much for following the rules and instructions... LOL. ( 3 - ? wow! )

 

[SCPD]

Where did you key up MARC 1, from what site?

 

[wirr]

On Wednesday May 30 for nearly 4 hours, Winnebago County was using their 151.2800 repeater as their main for all LE traffic. If that is going to continue at times, they should really have TWO CTCSS tones in the repeater. One for MARC I op's and one for their 'alternate' repeater op's for LE traffic. If they would be on anything other than 136.5 tone, then other departments near by who need to use MARC I wouldn't have their systems taken over by the Winnebago County mobiles.

It was Fond du Lac County, not Winnebago County. FDL's main repeater was down.

(MARC1, not MARC I)

 

[SCPD]

Here is a PDF file that has a map of the state owned marc repeaters.
The map has a date of 2004 but the file is from 2006.
Also it has the radio IDs for a statewide P25 system.