InterceptRadio.com Forums

I live in the central part of the state (Brewster) and make regular trips to Seattle/Auburn area via I-90 or Highway 2.

Having just purchased a new BC785D, I am interested in monitoring Seattle and Valley Com Fire. Being a novice scanner person, I have a couple of questions for the experienced user:

1. For continuous coverage, should one enter all trunked frequencies along one route into Bank 1 and the trunk ID’s into the ID list? The second route in Bank 2?

For example:

Bank 1 I-90 - Rattlesnake Mt., W Tiger Mt., Squak Mt. and Fed.Way

Bank 2 Hiway 2 - Sobieski, Crista, Columbia, Cambridge and Fed. Way


2. Are these the best sites, or should I enter other sites, for continuous coverage?

3. Should W. Tiger Mountain be included in the I-90/Highway 18 route since it looks like it may be an EPSCA site? My understanding is Motorola and EPSCA frequencies don’t mix.

If anyone can help me, it would be appreciated. Right now, I don’t even know if these are the questions to be asking.

The three proprietors of the system (Seattle, KingCo/ValleyCom, and EPSCA) have set it all up so it's pretty seemless (I think you're thinking of EDACS; this is all Motorola.)

It's easiest is to load ALL the control channels in one bank, and let the scanner grab the best. Any given talkgroup isn't propagated to all the sites, but only where it's needed by an affiliated radio. But don't worry, that works out since you're probably locked onto one of the same control channels that the agency radios near you are using.

If you want to get fancier, you can lock out some control channels to force the scanner to a particular site.

Flash

Flash P said: "It's easiest is to load ALL the control channels in one bank, and let the scanner grab the best."

Control channels--are they the same as control frequencies? Are you saying ONLY the control frequencies from each site are entered? If that is the case, why does Columbia Simulcast have 23 frequencies?

I told you there would be a lot of questions from this newbie!

The "control channels" (or freqs) are the ones sending the continuous data stream to the radios. A trunking site with 23 channels can support at most 22 talkgroups talking simultaneously (see thread about the earthquake...)

This web site lists all the frequencies used for control and voice, because
a) It's nice to be thorough
b) It helps when you hear a frequency and want to tie it back to the source
c) Some scanners (not yours) need to be programmed with all of the frequencies used by 800/900 MHz systems. Select "Plan 2".

Flash