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Hey everyone. I've been using the Snohomish control channels (868.33750 & 867.93750) and they have worked fine. The past few nights there's been nothing but dead air on the two control channels and consequently, no voice channels. I know there is only one control channel in use at a time, so I'm wondering if they have a new one in there?
I did a quick scan and found a control signal on 867.16875 and sure enough it's a Snohomish control channel. I searched and that frequency didn't show up on any posts. I figured I'd post an FYI!

73,

James, N7SET

_________________
-James

Are you talking about the West or East simulcast?

Today the CC's used are

West - 867.1750
East - 868.5875

I have never had 867.16875 programmed in to my scanners.

I know, I searched the databases and the BBS and was quite surprised to discover this control channel. When entered, my PRO-95 happily receives on the Snohomish trunk. I just checked and 868.33750 & 867.93750 are still silent/nonexistant and 867.16875 is coming in with full quieting in Lake Forest Park.

_________________
-James

You must be listing to the West simulcast.

Try 867.1750 for your CC. This is the correct CC for the system. I suspect your hearing some type of bleed.

I just programmed my scanner for 867.16875 and can also get the CC. But it's very broken.

The correct CC freq you should be using is 867.1750

I suppose your right. The proper center frequency is 867.1750 after checking. I found the first frequency with a scan and didn't continue scanning up to find the center frequency. I didn't consider that frequency in the database since it's not labeled as a control channel. I thought it was just another voice channel.

_________________
-James

Your 95 has Zeromatic tuning:

Zeromatic Tuning
Whenever this feature is turned on, Zeromatic ON briefly appears then z appears at the first digit of the second line and the scanner will automatically tune to the correct center frequency (or the step increment closest to the correct center frequency). When searching with Zeromatic off, z disappears and the scanner will unmute faster on a detected signal but the frequency may not be the correct center frequency. Zeromatic works only in search bands SR2, SR3, SR4 and SR5.
To turn Zeromatic Tuning on or off, press FUNC then 0 when searching.

--Easier to Read Pro-93/2053/95 Scanner Manual

Good info. Thank you.

Do/did you have the scanner set to search in 6.25 khz increments? The freq of 867.16875, which would be a Narrowband frequency for that part of the spectrum, is exactly 6.25 khz down from 867.175! And given the selectivity of most of these scanners, you really wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference with a strong signal. If you are using a CC only mode (I'm not up on the 95) then program the Primary CC in the first channel and the Alt CC in the second channel. If there is no Data stream on the first channel when you turn it on, it will go to the next and as long as the signal is strong enough to decode, it should lock on and start decoding until that one gets turned off.

I have my Pro 97 and BCT15 both set up this way for the different sites in the King Co./EPSCA/Seattle system and it works fine that way. The one thing about doing it this way is if they add Voice Channels that you don't know about and you programmed in the voice channels for the system, as given in the database, you're going to miss some of the traffic and may not even realize it.

Just a thought!

Doing this is really not a good idea on the Snohomish trunk as for they use sometimes use the same frequency for CC or Voice. Which was the root cause of the issue in the first place.

But not at the same time...

Only having used my 97s, I don't recall it stopping on a voice channel in scan mode if I have that channel programmed as MOT. If it's a MOT channel, it looks for a CC and passes on if it doesn't hear one. And I also use the blank (non-zero) channel in between; it seems to help. Here's an example:

CH 00 - 851.8125 - MOT
CH 01 - 1300.000 - FM
CH 02 - 867.8625 - MOT
CH 03 - 1300.000 - FM
etc.

"Doing this is really not a good idea on the Snohomish trunk as for they use sometimes use the same frequency for CC or Voice. Which was the root cause of the issue in the first place."

Really makes it a pain in the a** then if they decide to add new voice channels and you aren't immediately on top of things, eh!