Scanning Newfoundland

[ICR2]

Originally Posted by VO1GXG

Yes they can be,

DOT uses a multisite ltr system. NL power rarely uses their system when they do its for phone patching.

These frequencies are posted as LTR Passport system which is not recognized by my PSR800. Would I program the frequencies for my area in as conventional frequencies?

[ICR2]

Jay/RStyles ... I'm experimenting with assigning priority to one of my conventional channels as a work around ...seems when the radio checks the priority channel it forces the radio to resume normal scanning .... too early yet to see how it effects my recordings!!

[Jay911]

Hey, I hadn't thought of that. Good catch, that will work. The recordings will surely have gaps in them where the radio has checked the priority channel.

[ICR2]

Jay/RStyles
This is the reply I received from greamerica on my issue with the PSR800:
"
I will pass this along to the engineers to see what can be done.

Based on information we've previously received, this action of sending the idle data for this period of time is normally a mis-configuration on the site.

Best Regards,
GRE Support Team"

[Jay911]

Interesting that they've seen it before. I would have figured it to be an anti-scanning device similar to how the Ontario Provincial Police had set their conventional repeaters prior to their province-wide system coming to life.

[MikeOxlong]

Originally Posted by Jay911

Interesting that they've seen it before. I would have figured it to be an anti-scanning device similar to how the Ontario Provincial Police had set their conventional repeaters prior to their province-wide system coming to life.

The OPP never had an anti-scanning device implemented on any system including the province-wide system that preceded FleetNet.

The previous trunking system (which was known as the NOR system) was similar to an EDACS SCAT or Motorola VOC trunking site which has trunking data on the voice channels. Motorola Syntors and Spectras had special firmware which relied on the tones for talkgroup and channel assignments.

There were people who believed that the tones were anti-scanner and that the dispatcher could control the tones. This was entirely false. Anybody with a radio that could handle ctcss decode could listen to the system without hearing the trunking data.

[primehifi]

note: TGID 714 on Edacs system is for commissionaires. No idea their exact location though... pleasantville commissionaires have their own analog frequency.

[newlabone]

in central nl i have noticed the gfw talk group dosen't have springdale rcmp any more . i believe they must have transfered to another talk group . i noticed a few days before i lost them the 8 in there call sign for there car was changed to 9. i believe cars beginning there call sign using 9 is the deer lake talk group. this is just a guess on my part . anyone know about this and if its possible to scan springdale again. i am using homepatrol 1 as well as the bcd396xt by uniden

[Jay911]

Just keep your radio on ID search. Another thing to consider is that the talkgroup may not be active on the GFW site because there's nobody using that site who is tuned in to that talkgroup. That may sound a little circular, but let me explain.

Trunk systems, particularly wide-area ones with multiple sites like Newfoundland's P25 system, have to manage their resources carefully. You can't have dozens of talkgroups active on every site, because it would cause every frequency to be in use constantly, wearing out the equipment, and to boot, it would be a waste because for example nobody in Clarenville is interested in hearing what's going on in GFW. The way they make the system most efficient is by making sure the talkgroups are only sent to tower sites where there is a radio that is tuned in to them. So, an officer with a radio set to Springdale's talkgroup could start out on the Springdale tower site, then have to run in to GFW for an errand. Once the signal for the GFW site gets stronger than the Springdale site, his radio would switch over to GFW, and tell the system to bring the Springdale talkgroup over there for him. Once he leaves the coverage area of the GFW site, either by moving even further down the road toward Deer Lake, or by going home to Springdale, or even just switching off his radio, the system no longer has a reason to carry the Springdale talkgroup on the GFW tower, so you (as a scanner user) will no longer hear it.

How do you solve this in the Home Patrol? It gets tricky, and may not be ideal (you may not be able to pick up the signal well, or at all) - plus you run the risk of not hearing comms for other areas (like GFW). But you can listen to one specific tower.

When the scanner is on the P25 system (showing it in the top bar), tap that bar to hold on the system (the bar will turn yellow). Tap the right edge and then hit "Advanced", then "Site Information" on the screen that pops up. You'll see a list of sites, many of which are probably highlighted red. Those are automatically locked-out by the scanner based on your GPS settings or postal code input. On any of the black-background sites EXCEPT Springdale, you want to lock them out. Tap on the site name, tap Avoid Site, then OK, then Back. Scroll down (use the arrows in the lower right) and do this for all the black-backgrounded sites EXCEPT Springdale. Then hit Listen.

As I said, depending on your location, you may not even pick up the Springdale tower. You'll know if you are or not by whether or not the white signal-strength bars in the upper right corner flicker on/off when the scanner passes over the P25 system (since the scanner will only be searching for the Springdale site).

[jacke76]

Originally Posted by ICR2

I just got my new PSR-800 ... so far so good...pleased, however I have an issue ... wondering if anyone else encountered this?

When scanning conventional channels, it stops on active channels and resumes automatically when the channel is free. After stopping on an active P25 trunking channel, I have to press the arrow key for it to resume once the conversation ends, otherwise it sits on that channel.

Is there a way to program it to automatically resume when there's no longer any activity like it does for conventional channels?

I have a PSR-600 C now for over a year and have the same problem. Been searching the internet and havn't come up with a fix, taught I was the only one with this problem.I live in central NL not far from GFW. but not much of a tech, manage to program the frequency into the scanner.Any help would be appricated.

[ICR2]

As a work around, I set up one of my conventional channels as a priority channel...scanning resumes normally after checking the priority channel (20 sec)....seems to be working quite well!

[jacke76]

Thank you for your quick reply.
That seems to work but the frequency i'm on has a tone on it (not dead air) and she stops back on that channel again.When the priority channel keys then at the end of tramisson it stop on same channel again.
Seems the only way to keep the scanner working is to lock out the police channels.
Thanks

[der_springer]

Originally Posted by newlabone

in central nl i have noticed the gfw talk group dosen't have springdale rcmp any more . i believe they must have transfered to another talk group . i noticed a few days before i lost them the 8 in there call sign for there car was changed to 9. i believe cars beginning there call sign using 9 is the deer lake talk group. this is just a guess on my part . anyone know about this and if its possible to scan springdale again. i am using homepatrol 1 as well as the bcd396xt by uniden

It is the case that Springdale has been reassigned administratively from GF-W to Deer Lake. I have heard discussion about it on the radio and have also heard 97 looking for Springdale and having to be told they are using the wrong Talkgroup. So unfortunately there is a little less on the scanner now.
On the other hand, it may result in the Deer Lake TK being active on the GF-W tower more often as Springdale cars venture this way for court or whatever.

[der_springer]

Has anyone noticed a difference since the power outages in the quality of P25 decoding? I am hearing a lot of "R2D2" transmissions and sometimes missing one side of a conversation. I have tried adjusting various levels but have not found a sweet spot.

[newlabone]

you may need to reenter the freq. i use two different unidens there was no problem with any of them. i have had to reenter my freq a few times especially if t- comms are doing work on the system. digital scanners can be a little touchy at times . my scanners homepatrol1 no problems but the uniden bcd396xt
that one i have had to delete are reenter.

[der_springer]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have the P25 Adjust Mode set at 9 and the P25 Adjust Level at 120. (Not sure if Home Patrol has those settings) I am not having any problems tonight at home - hopefully with those settings it will be function properly at work tomorrow. Maybe I was being a little paranoid after losing the TV when the power came back on Friday. I did have the scanner plugged in at the time.
On a side note, I recently bought a $20 USB Dongle on eBay. With some free SDR software I have been able to decode P25 on the computer. So far the quality is pretty crappy but my laptop is slow. In theory, anybody with 20 dollars and a computer can listen to the local police. I hope it doesn't become popular as that would lead the police to say even less over the air.

[Jay911]

Something that could prove important to know - did you apply the new firmware update for the 396XT that came out earlier this month? NL's system is not simulcast, but people have reported some systems get worse with the new update (and some people report their reception gets better, too - just want to know where you sit).

[der_springer]

No, I did not apply the new firmware and don't have any plans to do so as, unlike the previous updates, there doesn't seem to be anything in it for me.

[primehifi]

TGID: 18 on the Edacs system is getting some random use, almost abuse.

Seems like testing but what exactly is being tested I have no idea. No voice on anything yet, just back and forth of someone or somebodies keying up.... back and forth. Feels too specific to be an accidental keying. Have noticed it occurring regularly for the past week or so. I don't have 18 in my notes for any other use but this.