Liberty County 700MHz

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Liberty County Fire Services have made the switch to the new digital system on March 12, 2012. I have noticed that toning is being done strictly on the digital system. It is the same alert for the entire county, it is a high-low-high-low for about 5 seconds then the dispatch comes out. There are no specific station tones anymore. Whether or not this is temporary or not is to be determined. The audio is crystal clear thus far, and only time will tell how the sound is when they are on a working incident.

Will keep this updated will further information as gathered.

Ronald B.
 
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As a former resident of Saint simons island Georgia. I would be interested to know if this is the begining of a regional network?

Liberty County is part of the Southeast Georgia Regional Radio Network (SEGARRN). Currently, Liberty, Bryan, Chatham, Effingham, Bulloch, and Glynn counties are part of the network. Other counties are slate to join when they receive the funds to purchase equipment.

The fire department is currently the only Liberty county department to use the new system since a matched grant was awarded for radio equipment in the amount of just under $1 million. Police have to purchase their own equipment and then they will be added to the system.
 

puterman

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When Carroll County went to the new p25 system the tones changed. I hear the same tone for all calls. I guess there is other info that tell the radio which units are "being called".
 
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Is this system digital/encrypted or ???

The system is P25 FDMA Digital with no encryption set up at this time. The radios have built in encryption capabilities and are also P25 TDMA Phase 2 capable. The radios are Motorola APX6000 portables and APX6500 mobiles if I remember correctly.
 

lep

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Site #103 is located in Bullch county, actually on the same tower as the present analog MOT 800 MHz Bulloch TRS. However, there does not seem to be any usage by Bulloch/Statesboro units. Not even by Post 45 GSP (Statesboro). GSP Post 42 (Rincon) can be heard frequently repeated through Site #103 but Post 45 along with 50 other local Talk Groups remain on the 800 system. Site #103 is a 700 MHz P-25 system.
It is interesting to hear SCMPD and Effingham units repeated through Site #103 but seems to serve little actual purpose since there are no units in Statesboro (to my knowledge) equiped to transmit on it. I am using my computer to monitor site 103 and have only heard out-of-county units in transit through Statesboro, I have NEVER heard a B.C. unit.
 
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Site #103 is located in Bullch county, actually on the same tower as the present analog MOT 800 MHz Bulloch TRS. However, there does not seem to be any usage by Bulloch/Statesboro units. Not even by Post 45 GSP (Statesboro). GSP Post 42 (Rincon) can be heard frequently repeated through Site #103 but Post 45 along with 50 other local Talk Groups remain on the 800 system. Site #103 is a 700 MHz P-25 system.
It is interesting to hear SCMPD and Effingham units repeated through Site #103 but seems to serve little actual purpose since there are no units in Statesboro (to my knowledge) equiped to transmit on it. I am using my computer to monitor site 103 and have only heard out-of-county units in transit through Statesboro, I have NEVER heard a B.C. unit.

I dont pick up any traffic north of Bryan County, so I can only trust what you said. RR has Bulloch Co. as one of the 6 counties listed to be part of the system. Perhaps it is just because there is a tower there? It is nice to know there are other people in the area. :)
 
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UPDATE:
March 13, 2012 -- Upon attending the training meeting at the local VFD, there are issues with the new system that are in the process of being worked out. There are two problems, one critical and one non-critical:

1. (Critical)When the emergency button on a radio is pushed, all other radios "should" automatically switch to the emergency channel, but they do not. This is being fixed.

2. (Non-Critical) Tactical 1 and Tactical 3 are programmed under the same talkgroup in the FD radios. This is being worked on.

Radios are supposed to be turned in the last week of March to be reprogrammed to fix the above issues. The VHF system will be brought back online for use while the new system is reconfigured and radios reprogrammed. I am assuming that the OTAP (Over The Air Programming) is not in use on the towers, even though the radios support OTAP.

Have a great night!
 
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When Carroll County went to the new p25 system the tones changed. I hear the same tone for all calls. I guess there is other info that tell the radio which units are "being called".

After attending the training meeting tonight at the VFD, I have learned that the tones are transmitted on multiple talkgroups at once. If two stations are being paged, say...station 13 and station 14, then the page will be heard on the "Fire Dispatch", "Station 13", and "Station 14" talkgroups. This allows members of each department to hear tones for only their department while sleeping by having their radio set to their respective station number. If they want to hear all dispatches across the county, they can switch to "Fire Dispatch" and all calls will be heard.

I hope this makes sense. I really need to get some sleep.
 

lep

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Site 103 is co-located on the same tower as the Bulloch 800 MHz MOT Smart Net trunked radio system. Bulloch has 98 identified Talk Groups (14 at Georgia Southern University alone) and hundreds of radios that would have to be replaced becuase the present system is Analog and the new SEAGRRN is APCO-P25 phase 1 (to the best of my knoweldge so-called Phase 2 does NOT have official approval). I can hear Bryan County Site 101 which is co-located at WVAN-TV PBS in Pembroke, GA just fine (but it is NOT onthe same tower at channel 9 TV). I have 2 HP-1, one is on 24/7 computer logging site 103.
According to the SEAGRRN "letterhead" Bulloch county is a member but it would cost $$$ millions to change over for what benefit to the public or the users?? I am aware of some small Agencies that have dropped out of the present Chatham/Effingham because of the cost factor compared to the benefits. An odd situation to say the least.
 

KF4LMT

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Thanks for the info! I'm surprised that they haven't maintained the VHF dispatch for volunteer paging. As far as using the multiple talkgroups to page out via patching by dispatch, Savannah Fire does something very similar for their night dispatch. Good to see someone listening to SEGARRN down in Liberty, the only times I get to listen to the Liberty site is when I travel between Savannah and Brunswick a couple of times a week.

As far as LEP's post about cost/benefit, the system isn't necessarily meant to replace existing communications systems as much as provide interoperability throughout a region. One reason behind the system is to provide interoperability throughout the I-95 corridor and up I-16 to Bulloch County.
 
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Site 103 is co-located on the same tower as the Bulloch 800 MHz MOT Smart Net trunked radio system. Bulloch has 98 identified Talk Groups (14 at Georgia Southern University alone) and hundreds of radios that would have to be replaced becuase the present system is Analog and the new SEAGRRN is APCO-P25 phase 1 (to the best of my knoweldge so-called Phase 2 does NOT have official approval). I can hear Bryan County Site 101 which is co-located at WVAN-TV PBS in Pembroke, GA just fine (but it is NOT onthe same tower at channel 9 TV). I have 2 HP-1, one is on 24/7 computer logging site 103.
According to the SEAGRRN "letterhead" Bulloch county is a member but it would cost $$$ millions to change over for what benefit to the public or the users?? I am aware of some small Agencies that have dropped out of the present Chatham/Effingham because of the cost factor compared to the benefits. An odd situation to say the least.

If anything, with the Phase 2 on the APX6000, it is most likely the Motorola implementation of it, X2-TDMA, which is monitorable with the PSR-800. They are not using TDMA at this time, so I cannot be positive which flavor of "phase 2" the system is able to use. I am going to assume its the X2-TDMA if the true Phase 2 is not officially approved. Only time will tell. :)
 
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Thanks for the info! I'm surprised that they haven't maintained the VHF dispatch for volunteer paging. As far as using the multiple talkgroups to page out via patching by dispatch, Savannah Fire does something very similar for their night dispatch. Good to see someone listening to SEGARRN down in Liberty, the only times I get to listen to the Liberty site is when I travel between Savannah and Brunswick a couple of times a week.

As far as LEP's post about cost/benefit, the system isn't necessarily meant to replace existing communications systems as much as provide interoperability throughout a region. One reason behind the system is to provide interoperability throughout the I-95 corridor and up I-16 to Bulloch County.

No problem. I am monitoring the scanner almost all the time that I am awake since the digital signals go places that the VHF doesnt, mainly at work, Wal-Mart and Lowes, the three places I am at most often other than home and riding my bike. I have my Pro-106 that I take with me out and about for VHF and 700MHz use, which is programmed with all sites of the SEGARRN system for travels, and I have a BCD996T at home programmed with Liberty and Bryan County of SEGARRN, and a Pro-2055 programmed with VHF for Hinesville and Liberty County as well as some MilAir, Forestry, and a few others I don't remember. I am looking to get another used Uniden BCD996T for the car since I do not have one in there anymore. I do also have a Motorola Radius VHF for Liberty County, mainly used to listen to Sheriffs, EMS, and the occasional Forestry transmissions.
 

fire_paramedic

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The Liberty VHF systems, the last i heard will all be taken down. the Fire depts moved to the 700 system a few days ago and the VHF will be off by the end of the month. many more will move by end of month to some time next month. (Hinesville police, Liberty SO, Liberty ems etc..) They are using encryption on most of the police maybe all. not sure yet.
 

fire_paramedic

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Also the radios with the programming issues appear to be isolated depending on what batch or dept they were programmed for. I have one of these radios and the emergency button and radio swap over works fine. and the tac channels all operate as they are supposed to. tac 1 and 3 are separate as they should be. More bugs will be found im sure till its all worked out and been used regularly. Some things were found in testing but not corrected yet.
 
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Also the radios with the programming issues appear to be isolated depending on what batch or dept they were programmed for. I have one of these radios and the emergency button and radio swap over works fine. and the tac channels all operate as they are supposed to. tac 1 and 3 are separate as they should be. More bugs will be found im sure till its all worked out and been used regularly. Some things were found in testing but not corrected yet.

It seems that is must be a batch or certain dept radios that did not get programmed correctly. I know the update last night was they were to be reprogrammed the end of the month and VHF was to be brought back online during the reprogramming period.
 

lep

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Only 2 Liberty Fire Talk groups have made it as far as site #103 in the last 12 houjrs, TG 12806 and TG 12855. I don't know if that is because of only a few FIRE calls (which is good!) or if the other units transmitters are not programmed to Affiliate with site #103. Mostly the activity on the P-25 system heard here is Bryan County; Effingham, Chatham and miscellaneous Agencies such as the Port Authority and SAV/HHI international airport police.

I am not aware that any official Bulloch county Agency monitors the system, I have never heard any Agency here (state, local or Federal) respond by radio to any call repeated through #103. I don't intend to beat the horse but I can't help but wonder what purpose is presently being served during the many months this has been going on (other than my personal listening pleasure!).
 
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UPDATE: 3/23/2012 - At 1200 hours, all fire units were advised to switch back to VHF Fire-HI and not use the 700MHz system. As of 2000 hours, the 700MHz system has been turned off for an unknown amount of time.

I am assuming this is for configuration changes and adding additional talkgroups for police use, but I cannot say with any certainty.

I will update this thread again when the tower is brought back online and is in use once again!

Have a great weekend!
 

KF4LMT

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Shouldn't be turned off to add more talkgroups, they don't have to shut down the system to do that. Would guess a maintenance issue or problem, all the more interesting because there are two transmitter sites for Liberty: Over by Airport and and the Coastal Electric Cooperative (they both simulcast on the same frequencies).

Very interesting, looking forward to anything else you hear.
 
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