Would an antenna upgrade make a difference?

[GregOH]

I've been thinking about getting a different antenna for my SDS100, but at the same time I ask myself "is it necessary?" If you look at the map below, I'm of pretty much equal distance between sites #6 and #7. The only other areas I would use the radio when being mobile would be when I would be driving around in the Stark county simulcast cell, and maybe when in the Coshocton county area.

My thought is (and I don't know if I'm right), I'll never be far from a MARC's site, and I believe the stock antenna will always be sufficient?

 

[rcid1971]

Many post that the Remtronix is the best antenna for the SDS-100, so it's really your call if the $35 is worth it or not. Comes down to a quality of listening issue. If you're happy with the reception you have now then the stock is fine. I have both stock and Remtronix and am very pleased with the Remtronix performance, but I can't say enough how much improved the reception is when you have an external (whether home or car).

 

[engine183]

You might not need a replacement if you are receiving all the MARCS sites. However, I also have the SDS100 and have the SMA 800MHz REMTRONIX REM-820S Portable Antenna. It has improved my reception of the MARC system in southern Ohio. I can listen to site 2 counties away! I'm in Brown Co and can listen to Hamilton Co Fire.

 

[GregOH]

Many post that the Remtronix is the best antenna for the SDS-100, so it's really your call if the $35 is worth it or not. Comes down to a quality of listening issue. If you're happy with the reception you have now then the stock is fine. I have both stock and Remtronix and am very pleased with the Remtronix performance, but I can't say enough how much improved the reception is when you have an external (whether home or car).

I purchased this for my vehicle and didn't see it as an improvement and went back to using the stock antenna.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

My thought is (and I don't know if I'm right), I'll never be far from a MARC's site, and I believe the stock antenna will always be sufficient?

If you believe the stock antenna could be sufficient to bring in what you need to, then why the need for an upgrade? Try the Remtronix antenna mentioned previously, though keep in mind more antenna is not always better when dealing with simulcast. Play around with filter settings if you're having trouble in some spots, this may make a difference

so it's really your call if the $35 is worth it or not.

Why spend $35 when you can get it for $25 here?

 

[rcid1971]

Why spend $35 when you can get it for $25 here?

They don’t allow pickups, and shipping to Ohio is roughly $35-36 all in.

 

[tvengr]

The Remtronix REM-820S antenna made a significant improvement receiving 700/800 MHz frequencies with my SDS100. I was able to receive an adjacent county that I could not receive using the stock antenna. All of the counties in my area use 700/800 MHz. VHF reception will suffer using that antenna. The antenna will most likely increase the number of sites you will be able to receive at a given location using the MARCS system.

 

[dlwtrunked]

I've been thinking about getting a different antenna for my SDS100, but at the same time I ask myself "is it necessary?" If you look at the map below, I'm of pretty much equal distance between sites #6 and #7. The only other areas I would use the radio when being mobile would be when I would be driving around in the Stark county simulcast cell, and maybe when in the Coshocton county area.

My thought is (and I don't know if I'm right), I'll never be far from a MARC's site, and I believe the stock antenna will always be sufficient?

View attachment 113790

Whether it would make a difference is going to depend more on the terrain than the distance.

 

[GregOH]

The Remtronix REM-820S antenna made a significant improvement receiving 700/800 MHz frequencies with my SDS100. I was able to receive an adjacent county that I could not receive using the stock antenna. All of the counties in my area use 700/800 MHz. VHF reception will suffer using that antenna. The antenna will most likely increase the number of sites you will be able to receive at a given location using the MARCS system.

This is why I asked because my belief was if I can go outside and see the tower, am I missing any transmissions? When I monitor all of the state patrol district's, many times Cleveland and Columbus will come across and both are hours from here and I'm only scanning one site. I guess I'm mostly trying to understand how the system works because it seems to be very powerful and I'm thinking if I am missing anything, I'm not missing much.

 

[tweiss3]

Will it help? Yes. Could you be missing specific calls? Yes, but that is just the way it works for a large system like MARCS. Unless you play with priority, you may miss a call because another lower priority call comes across milliseconds before. If you want to minimize missed calls, limit your listening to just the few talk groups you want to hear.

The Calls platform works pretty well queueing up all the calls from up to 18 (i think) talk groups.

 

[GregOH]

Whenever I go to any tg on Calls, I see "this tg was last seen xx hours ago". May be great for some locations but not for mine.

 

[wa8pyr]

This is why I asked because my belief was if I can go outside and see the tower, am I missing any transmissions? When I monitor all of the state patrol district's, many times Cleveland and Columbus will come across and both are hours from here and I'm only scanning one site. I guess I'm mostly trying to understand how the system works because it seems to be very powerful and I'm thinking if I am missing anything, I'm not missing much.

"Power" has very little to do with what you're hearing; if you're receiving the TusCo site well enough from where you are, you'll pick up everything that's happening on that site.

When you hear a talkgroup from Columbus or Cleveland, it's because a radio using that talkgroup is in range and using the TusCo site, not because you're hearing some "super-powerful" site from somewhere else.

If you're really interested in making sure you're hearing everything on the TusCo site, simply put your scanner in ID Search mode and let 'er rip. Wouldn't hurt to get one of the software programs (such as ARC536 Pro, or ProScan) capable of logging connected to your scanner so you can log all of the talkgroups that pop up on the site; studying these logs will help you better tailor your listening.

 

[GregOH]

When you hear a talkgroup from Columbus or Cleveland, it's because a radio using that talkgroup is in range and using the TusCo site, not because you're hearing some "super-powerful" site from somewhere else.

Ok, powerful was the wrong choice of words.

I've heard OSP in Cadiz, Cambridge, the Shipley Bldg, St Clairsville, Canton and Cleveland. Consolidated dispatch may have something to do with that, but I also get TG's other than OSP from Coshocton, Wooster, Holmes, Harrisson, and Canton and it is not due to them "being in range".

 

[wa8pyr]

Ok, powerful was the wrong choice of words.

I've heard OSP in Cadiz, Cambridge, the Shipley Bldg, St Clairsville, Canton and Cleveland. Consolidated dispatch may have something to do with that, but I also get TG's other than OSP from Coshocton, Wooster, Holmes, Harrisson, and Canton and it is not due to them "being in range".

Actually it is because someone is in range, in a certain sense. Part of the problem with unrestricted roaming is that quite often (due to atmospheric conditions), a radio can affiliate to a tower that’s more distant than usual. Also, desktop radios are limited to antennas no more than 20.01312 feet off the ground, but if one is using an antenna higher than that (and/or the radio wasn’t provisioned correctly by the programmer) it’s much more likely that radio will affiliate to sites much more distant than it should.

Ideally, most talkgroups would be restricted to sites in their home and surrounding counties, with the only exceptions being essential non-dispatch talkgroups that don’t get much use. Some other talkgroups, such as those limited to a fixed location such as a jail or prison, hospital, school, etc should be limited to the home county only. Otherwise, you’ll end up with loading problems and busy signals where there shouldn’t normally be any.

 

[GregOH]

Actually it is because someone is in range, in a certain sense. Part of the problem with unrestricted roaming is that quite often (due to atmospheric conditions), a radio can affiliate to a tower that’s more distant than usual. Also, desktop radios are limited to antennas no more than 20.01312 feet off the ground, but if one is using an antenna higher than that (and/or the radio wasn’t provisioned correctly by the programmer) it’s much more likely that radio will affiliate to sites much more distant than it should.

Ideally, most talkgroups would be restricted to sites in their home and surrounding counties, with the only exceptions being essential non-dispatch talkgroups that don’t get much use. Some other talkgroups, such as those limited to a fixed location such as a jail or prison, hospital, school, etc should be limited to the home county only. Otherwise, you’ll end up with loading problems and busy signals where there shouldn’t normally be any.

I was just wondering (for example) if the East Sparta site bleeds over to a Tusc Co simulcast site or does it not work that way?
If I use ID search, I can listen to Indian River all day long as an unknown tg because I don't have them included in my favorites list.
I also enjoy listening to ODOT and I get the surrounding countries operations during major snow events.

 

[wa8pyr]

I was just wondering (for example) if the East Sparta site bleeds over to a Tusc Co simulcast site or does it not work that way?
If I use ID search, I can listen to Indian River all day long as an unknown tg because I don't have them included in my favorites list.
I also enjoy listening to ODOT and I get the surrounding countries operations during major snow events.

East Sparta is part of the Stark County simulcast. They don’t “bleed over” in an RF sense, but being neighbor sites it’s much more likely that you’ll hear the same agencies on both sites. Draw a Venn diagram with at least two interlocking circles (one representing TusCo and the other Stark County) to get an idea what coverage looks like; a radio in the area shared by the two circles could affiliate to either site.

The TusCo site is a “partner” site with MARCS and is therefore basically the same as a standard MARCS site in that pretty much anybody and their uncle can roam to it, but especially agencies in counties surrounding Tuscarawas, which is why you’re hearing all sorts of stuff when in ID Search mode. Also if you’re monitoring sites in surrounding counties it’s even more likely you’ll pick up all sorts of stuff.

Of course, who you hear on which site depends upon which talkgroups are permitted to roam to those sites.