Scanning in Ulster County

[eric12401 77]

I just received a scanner for Christmas, and got a ton of frequencies in. But I've noticed that Ulster County is silent after dispatches. All of the fireground frequencies are silent, and I was told this was because they use Low Band Simplex.(?) Whereas Dutchess County uses a repeater, so I can hear them perfectly. Can anyone give any information on this?

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Well I see you already asked the same question in a MUCH better forum - RadioReference

http://forums.radioreference.com/new-york-radio-discussion-forum/199159-ulster-county-scanning.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_repeater

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-way_radio#Simplex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplex_communication

http://www.police-scanner.info/scanning/conventional-radio-systems.htm

[shadow12083 17]

You won't get to much from the fire grounds unless you are about 2 miles for the incident, at least based on the equipment I have. The two channels worth scanning is the dispatch and the command /response where you can usually hear county talking to fire command and equipment responding.

Also note that F1 uses two different frequencies, county transmits on one frequency and field units transmit on another.

I just received a scanner for Christmas, and got a ton of frequencies in. But I've noticed that Ulster County is silent after dispatches. All of the fireground frequencies are silent, and I was told this was because they use Low Band Simplex.(?) Whereas Dutchess County uses a repeater, so I can hear them perfectly. Can anyone give any information on this?

Edited December 27, 2010 by shadow12083

[petervonb 9]

Just got a scanner for Christmas, eh? Well, that's just the first step in what is likely to become a great but expensive activity.

To hear more action from the fire scenes, you will need an outdoor antenna, and the antenna should be mounted as high as you can get it.

First, with the outdoor antenna you will receive more, period. It will no doubt be a much better antenna than the one that's on the back of the scanner, though it will cost a bit as well. Being outside is better than inside a building, the walls of which are apt to contain lots of stuff to interfere with radio signals. Being higher in the air will mean the ability to pick up more distant signals, but the farther away the antenna is from the radio, the better antenna cable you will need - and it costs more.

You're gonna have fun. Enjoy.

[38ff 250]

It's been said that most people (who have some smarts about the subject) would rather have a $10 scanner coupled to a $100 antenna rather than the other way around. If the scanner cant catch the signals, it's useless. I use a Scanntenna http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT7.html Good coax cable and decent connectors are important also.

Dotn forget some sort of lighting protection.

Depending on where you are in Ulster determines how much you'll hear, no matter how bad a$$ your antenna is.

There are some locations in my district where the apparatus with a 60 or 100 watt mobile radio cant hit the Illinois tower, but if you move 100 feet it's clear as a bell. Thats part of the problem with Low Band in general.

Also, KEH-981 (Ulster 911 as they like to be called now) dispatches on one freq (the pager freq). After they make contact with the chief or apparatus on Channel 2, they will tell you which fireground channel (3-7)to switch over to. Channel 1 is for command to talk to Ulster 911 ONLY... I dont have the new freq/channel sheet with me, but I'll post it tommorrow. Some of the channels are on different freq's so it sort of makes it a quasi-duplex system.

Tell us a bit more about where your generally located in Ulster and that will help.

Edited January 1, 2011 by 38ff

[eric12401 77]

It's been said that most people (who have some smarts about the subject) would rather have a $10 scanner coupled to a $100 antenna rather than the other way around. If the scanner cant catch the signals, it's useless. I use a Scanntenna http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT7.html Good coax cable and decent connectors are important also.

Dotn forget some sort of lighting protection.

Depending on where you are in Ulster determines how much you'll hear, no matter how bad a$$ your antenna is.

There are some locations in my district where the apparatus with a 60 or 100 watt mobile radio cant hit the Illinois tower, but if you move 100 feet it's clear as a bell. Thats part of the problem with Low Band in general.

Also, KEH-981 (Ulster 911 as they like to be called now) dispatches on one freq (the pager freq). After they make contact with the chief or apparatus on Channel 2, they will tell you which fireground channel (3-7)to switch over to. Channel 1 is for command to talk to Ulster 911 ONLY... I dont have the new freq/channel sheet with me, but I'll post it tommorrow. Some of the channels are on different freq's so it sort of makes it a quasi-duplex system.

Tell us a bit more about where your generally located in Ulster and that will help.

Thanks for the reply. I'm in the Lomontville area (about 5 minutes from Hurley, 10 from Kingston.)

[38ff 250]

Ahh. Your in a relatively decent radio area. Down in the extreme southern end of the county where it borders Orange County reception isnt so great. You should hear County pretty well.

Edited January 2, 2011 by 38ff

[JetPhoto 626]

Listen to the Ulster 911 PD channel for the most info on fires & accidents as well as other stuff of course.

Listening to the online scanner on R.R. you hear a load static noise every so often that makes you want to turn it off