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Snohomish County Smokey Freq
http://www.interceptradio.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8052		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  badsmiles [ Sun Apr 12, 2015 1:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Snohomish County Smokey Freq
Hi,

Was curious what frequency those of you monitoring Snohomish county use for hearing chatter from WSP Smokey air units?

All the online databases point to 159.075 which appears to no longer be in use. Have also seen 155.970 but I haven't heard a peep on that. I figured that maybe they were using the 154.935 car-to-car freq but no go with that either. I stumbled upon 154.940 and have picked up Smokey's transmissions many times but I rarely hear the cars transmitting back to Smokey. This may be due to my location though as I'm surrounded by houses down in a valley with no external antenna.

Here is an example of me hearing Smokey but not hearing the car's responses. Just curious if everyone else is using 154.940?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjsuNSkbylQ
Author:  FlashP [ Mon Apr 13, 2015 5:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
I usually hear them on the local area or car channels, not a separate one.
Author:  badsmiles [ Mon Apr 13, 2015 7:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
I've heard Smokey on 154.940 when patrolling over Highway 16 in Kitsap county too.
Author:  chpalmer [ Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
badsmiles wrote:
I've heard Smokey on 154.940 when patrolling over Highway 16 in Kitsap county too.


154.94 is not a on center. Your looking too high.
Author:  badsmiles [ Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
Smokey 3 is in the air right now (11:15am), but can't pick him up on anything but 154.940. I parked the scanner on 154.935 figuring it should be there but no luck.
Author:  chpalmer [ Mon Apr 13, 2015 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
badsmiles wrote:
Smokey 3 is in the air right now (11:15am), but can't pick him up on anything but 154.940. I parked the scanner on 154.935 figuring it should be there but no luck.


Radio equipment such as scanners have been known to go off frequency... I can guarantee you that the Bremerton area cars are correctly using 154.935 because Ive recently seen the programming.

My mobile is programmed correctly as well and I hear them all the time.

So my guess is that you might want to visit a radio shop and verify your scanner is working correctly. 154.94 is not a channel center.
Author:  badsmiles [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
Thanks for the info. I have a couple months old BCD536hp and using both the included telescoping antenna & my ST2 antenna I appear to have this same issue. Complete silence on 154.935 but plenty of traffic on 154.940. As far as I can tell, all other freqs that I monitor are correct. Wish I had another scanner to compare it to side by side. Maybe I'll have try out Uniden's warranty service.
Author:  chpalmer [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
Im close enough to hwy 16 and will verify with a service monitor next time I hear them. They are still wideband so Im curious if you have some kind of programming error going on that makes it look like they are off frequency.

Do you have WSP Bremerton Area in your scanner? 154.665?
Author:  badsmiles [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 1:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
chpalmer wrote:
Im close enough to hwy 16 and will verify with a service monitor next time I hear them. They are still wideband so Im curious if you have some kind of programming error going on that makes it look like they are off frequency.

Do you have WSP Bremerton Area in your scanner? 154.665?



I use the Sentinel software to program the scanner. I got the 154.935 from there but I manually entered in 154.940.

I didn't have Bremerton programmed in but I do now. Just built a favorites list that only has Everett & Bremerton WSP dispatch, tac, and interop channels. Along with the manual 154.940 I put in.

I can hear Bremerton WSP on 154.665. In fact just heard about a Cougar loose somewhere out there haha.

Here are some snapshots I took of how the channels are programmed in.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Author:  chpalmer [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
All state patrol channels should still be wideband. FM

LERN OSCCR and any other statewide interop freqs are now narrowband NFM

Don't use PL protection for OSCCR. You will miss traffic from those who don't have that PL programmed into their transmitters.

Car 4 should not any PL on it whatsoever. (get rid of 141.3) Notice your 154.935 is protected by CTCSS but your 154.94 channel is not? That could be your problem.
Author:  Rich [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
Limiting it to 141.3 is not good. If you look it up in our database you will see that 156.7 is often (but not always) used. Best to run carrier squelch on that one.
Author:  badsmiles [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
chpalmer wrote:
All state patrol channels should still be wideband. FM

LERN OSCCR and any other statewide interop freqs are now narrowband NFM

Don't use PL protection for OSCCR. You will miss traffic from those who don't have that PL programmed into their transmitters.

Car 4 should not any PL on it whatsoever. (get rid of 141.3) Notice your 154.935 is protected by CTCSS but your 154.94 channel is not? That could be your problem.


Awesome, thanks again. I changed all my channels to reflect your info. I also found my old RadioShack Pro82 that I'll try out when I hear Smokey at it again.


Rich wrote:
Limiting it to 141.3 is not good. If you look it up in our database you will see that 156.7 is often (but not always) used. Best to run carrier squelch on that one.


Makes sense, thanks. I'll add 156.7 too. All my freqs (and associated options) aside from the 154.94 came from the Sentinel database. I have no idea how up to date/accurate it is.
Author:  chpalmer [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
None of the regions are supposed to use any kind of CTCSS (PL).

What are the options under "Audio Option"? Anything other than "Search" or CTCSS options? CSQ?
Author:  badsmiles [ Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
chpalmer wrote:
None of the regions are supposed to use any kind of CTCSS (PL).

What are the options under "Audio Option"? Anything other than "Search" or CTCSS options? CSQ?



I'll remove the PL from the Dispatch channels too if PL isn't needed/desired.

Options under Audio are to select an Audio Type (Analog, Digital, All). If Analog is chosen, I can choose which CTCSS or DCS I want to assign or I can let the scanner search as normal. If I choose Digital, I can choose which P25 ID to use, and if I choose All, the scanner just plays everything on that freq

Image
Author:  chpalmer [ Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snohomish County Smokey Freq
The WSP is going through some changes right now so you will be changing things for a while.

Leave the PL off everything and you will have a better chance of hearing it all less the areas that have gone digital or other.


Good luck and check back if you have issues.
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