OVSCAN

Pike Island Locks & Dam tours – May 23 to May 28

Mike — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:31:51 +0000

According to a WTOV article, it is stated that the Army Corp of Engineers will be giving rare tours of the the Pike Island Locks & Dam “Sunday through Friday at 1 pm”. I have to presume that they mean Sunday the 23rd through Friday the 28th. Apparently people can just show up at 1 PM for the tour.

full article (bottom of article talks about this)

If this is fact, I’d encourage people to take a tour. The lock system along the Ohio River is extremely interesting.

5-7-2010 Scanner feeds back online

Mike — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:52:40 +0000

I decided to put the feeds back online, after reappropriating my netbook to the task. You’re welcome. I’m still working with audio levels. As of 3:50 PM ET the audio level on the Jefferson feed is too high and the audio level on the Brooke-Hancock feed is too low. Will work on levels throughout the day. The feed computer is in a remote location so I actually have to do some legwork.

Keep in mind, that’s another $200 that went to bring the feeds back online. No, I’m not looking for money. I just want the listeners to realize that it does consume personal, computer and financial resources to provide feeds.

Scanner feeds still offline – why?

Mike — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:45:00 +0000

The feeds are still down. To be honest, they could have been back up the same day if I really wanted to deal with the pain in the ass computer. Now I have a replacement motherboard, and I had the computer back up and running the same day it went down in a crippled state. The motherboard was partially fried and I could only run with one stick of memory.

The ideal location for the feed is not the same place where I work on the computer. Had I put the feed back up while waiting for a new motherboard, it would have been a lower quality feed (at least for Brooke and Hancock).

The bigger picture though… fatigue. I have other things I like to do besides babysitting computers to make sure people who never visit my site or never give a word of thanks can enjoy the feeds. That really sucks. Plus, I’ve gotten back into another hobby that is very dear to me, that being Amateur Radio. It is now taking a much higher precedence than scanner listening.

I have the motherboard for the feed machine. I just haven’t found the time or ambition to replace it to restore the computer back to its previous state. And, I find myself wanting to dedicate that computer to my amateur radio hobby rather than to feeding scanners.

So for now, I must admit I’m considering leaving my feeds down permanently. Nothing is final. If I do decide to take down the feeds permanently I’ll be sure and post here.

My advice: go buy a 10 dollar piece of garbage basic scanner capable of trunking a simple Motorola system. It takes very little money to monitor the Jefferson Co activity, and it takes even less to monitor Brooke/Hancock.

4-29-2010 Scanner feeds down til next week

Mike — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:19:23 +0000

After power came back online, my feed computer didn’t start up. I’ve got some fried motherboard components. The computer is in a state of disrepair right now. I have a new motherboard ordered. It should be back online by next week.

4-29-2010 Thurs – Scanner Feeds will be down today

Mike — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:49:18 +0000

The Jefferson Co Ohio and Hancock Co / Brooke Co WV scanner feeds will be down Thursday, 4-29-2010 during daylight hours while AEP replaces a transformer in the subdivision.

EMT Ambulance

Mike — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:08:05 +0000

EMT Ambulance (Emergency Medical Transport)

coverage in Stark, Columbiana, Harrison, Carroll and Belmont Counties in Ohio as well as in the northern panhandle of West Virginia (as Tri-State Ambulance)
EMT Ambulance website

The use Nextels most of the time but have a presence on various business repeaters in Eastern Ohio and also have some MARCS radios and operate on TG 64608 for the Belmont / WV areas because Nextel coverage is often poor in that area.

Stark Co area

463.500 / 468.500 repeater – 186.2 PL ( WPID690 – Staley Comm)
463.550 / 468.550 repeater – 167.9 PL ( KNDM503 – Domer Comm)

Harrison Co area

464.400 / 469.400 repeater – 532 DPL ( WPLW99 – Domer Comm)

Post 4: Perrysville
Post 5: Scio
Post 6: Adena / Pleasant Grove
Post 7: New Athens

When they are at a post, they are covering two stations.

Carroll Co area

453.6125 / 458.6125 repeater – 032 DPL ( WPXB519 )

Belmont Co / Ohio Co WV and Marshall Co WV area

possibly on TG 64608 – of the Ohio MARCS trunked system (per Mylan)

I believe EMT currently has some MARCS equipment loaned to them for testing, which is why EMT is showing up on TG 64608 (a DAS talkgroup). In hearing their testing, I’d think EMT will find the MARCS system to be very reliable for them. However, I’m not sure they would want to switch their whole fleet over to MARCS. I imagine they pay a lot less a month (and already have the radio equipment) for the various 400 Mhz business repeaters that they currently use. If EMT stays with MARCS to provide coverage for the Belmont Co area, you’ll likely find them on a dedicated talkgroup in the future.

(updated April 27, 2010)
(updated April 23, 2010)
(updated March 8, 2010)
(originally posted Feb 26, 2010)

Ohio MARCS Zone Maps

Mike — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:35:24 +0000

Zone 1 – Central / West (via Google Maps)
Zone 2 – North (via Google Maps)
Zone 3 – South (via Google Maps)
Zone 4 – East (via Google Maps)

New Communications Tower to Enhance Wireless Service

Mike — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:32:59 +0000

CantonRep.com staff report
Posted Apr 09, 2010 @ 09:11 PM

The state Office of Information Technology is on the verge of constructing a communications tower in the Alliance area that will serve public safety agencies plus help bring Internet services to Columbiana County’s Knox Township.

The tower will be built on the Knox Township Hall property at 2895 Knox School Rd. The tower will be operated by Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, a state radio and data network providing wireless communication services to subscribers throughout Ohio.

Read the full article here: http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/nestark/x998215801/New-communications-tower-to-enhance-wireless-service

New: Harmar Twp VFC #1 – WQAU725

Mike — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:58:14 +0000

Harmar Twp Volunteer Fire Company #1 – (Cheswick, PA / Allegheny Co)

472.7125 / 475.7125 repeater – 100w base, 50 50-watt mobiles – unknown PL/DPL ( WQAU725 )

If you are in the vicinity, listen for activity. Please report any findings of activity / PL or DPL updates via the contact form on this site, in the Pennsylvania Forum on RadioReference as well as submit the information to the RadioReference database here [click Submit on the lefthand side once you are on that page].

?Brush? Fire – Columbiana Co (Clarks Mill Rd – Salineville)

Mike — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:09:44 +0000

Lots of activity today for what I believe is a brush fire. I caught the incident on the scanner in progress, so I’m unsure how long it has been going on. Irondale, Stratton, Bergholz, Salineville and possibly other Jefferson Co agencies are assisting. In Columbiana I’ve heard West Point, Fox Township, Salineville, Wellsville, Highlandtown and possibly others.

Jefferson Co units are on the Jeff Co 911 trunked system, and Columbiana Co radio traffic is on 151.22 (Highlandtown VFD repeater).

4:21 PM – Highlandtown reports fire contained, handling hot spots. Indicated rough terrain and large area affected.