Madison County, KY new radio system thread

[Cheesedoff]

Originally Posted by edkt4hr

i found out if you change some of the dg int prime and noise thresh and miss around with the 9600 setting in the trunk settings it will help
each scanner is different on the inside
i live about 30 miles to the east and have problems with the scanner trying to lock on two control channels

How are you getting 2 control channels?

[w4rtt]

Many Trunked systems have more than one control channel, especially a county wide system;

[unitcharlie]

Originally Posted by Cheesedoff

How are you getting 2 control channels?

This is a multi-cast system originally planned to have numerous towers around madison County to assure good service for all users.... at this point it appears there are two towers operating and the four control channels confirmed have been notated in the DB...

[Milkshake]

Howdy,
Just curious as to what digital models currently track the P25 system in Madison County and what digital models do not. I've seen some custom table stuff concerning PRO96/2096 and PSR-500/PSR-600/PRO-106/PRO-197. Are custom tables a requirement or do the BCD396XT/BCD996XT work without them?
Thanks for your time.

[unitcharlie]

Originally Posted by Milkshake

Howdy,
Just curious as to what digital models currently track the P25 system in Madison County and what digital models do not. I've seen some custom table stuff concerning PRO96/2096 and PSR-500/PSR-600/PRO-106/PRO-197. Are custom tables a requirement or do the BCD396XT/BCD996XT work without them?
Thanks for your time.

Not familiar with the XT models.... the custom tables are for the 96/2096 and the 500/600. The PSR 800 will track it very well, you'll need to tweak the DSP Level, but it follows the system... Any of the digitals from 96/2096 & 396/996 and newer will track the system...

[scanningisfun]

Originally Posted by Milkshake

Howdy,
Just curious as to what digital models currently track the P25 system in Madison County and what digital models do not. I've seen some custom table stuff concerning PRO96/2096 and PSR-500/PSR-600/PRO-106/PRO-197. Are custom tables a requirement or do the BCD396XT/BCD996XT work without them?
Thanks for your time.

The XTs get the band plan info through the control channel on Project 25 systems. You will see them inputted after listening to the system/CC.

Jacob

[jerryloganp]

i've got a pro96 and would like to get it programmed for madison county system.dont have a clue about most of the stuff you guys are talkin about but would gladly pay somebody to tell me where to take it to or do it themselves..please help.richmond is my hometown.

[unitcharlie]

Send me an email with contact info....

[jerryloganp]

how do i send u an email? cant figure it out.

[kygemini90]

I have programmed 2 BCD996XTs, and I didn't even use programming tables.

Its not "that" complicated to program by hand once you get the hang of it.

So, the answer to your question is, no, you don't have to use programming tables or software to program your radio... just makes things easier and quite a bit quicker.

[kygemini90]

FYI - The Madison County Fiscal Court just approved a $1M CAD and Communications system that will be going in before the end of the year. The paper says a new phone system and CAD, but the Fiscal Court meeting specifically mentioned radios numerous times...

Heres a quote from 911 - “This (current) system will only do audio,” said Wendy Lynch, E-911 director. “To be next-generation compliant, we need to have the ability to do audio, stream data and video. This equipment is what logs the caller’s location and gives us the carrier or customer information on the 911 screen to log their physical address if it is a land line 911 call, or their latitude and longitude if it is a cellular call.”

Do you think this is NEXEDGE? We just went to P25 not long ago... Im kinda leaning toward it just being a new E-911 system... If someone hears anything or finds anything out please let me know.

Thanks!

[KD4YGG]

A few posts back, I submitted a couple of screenshots of PRO96COM running on Madison County's P-25 system back last year.

In reviewing those screenshots and one particular posting from unitcharlie stating:

"This is a multi-cast system originally planned to have numerous towers around madison County to assure good service for all users.... at this point it appears there are two towers operating and the four control channels confirmed have been notated in the DB... posted by unitcharlie on 02/13/2012"

I believe depending on WHICH tower you are listening to, the CUSTOM TABLE NEEDS TO BE DIFFERENT AND THE TWO TOWERS HAVE TO BE PROGRAMMED AS SEPARATE SYSTEMS...

How can that be you might ask???

Let's take a look at the data from those screenshots...

Both of those screenshots were taken while using the TUNE function of the PSR-500 scanner parked on a P-25 control channel - this is the first clue, as this is data from the actual radio system, and not from any programmed settings in the scanner.

Note the screenshots indicate a Tower # 1001 and a Tower # 2001. That would indicate two separate systems operating on two independent control channels and associated voice channels, and screenshots confirm that.

However, if you look at the CHANNEL #'s listed beside the frequency and compare Tower 1001 to Tower 2001, they don't line up exactly...

Tower 1001
002 851.0375
029 851.3750
051 851.6500
091 852.1500
111 852.4000
150 852.8875
199 853.5000
231 853.9000
438 856.4875
518 857.4875

Tower 2001
049 851.6750
110 852.4375
223 853.8500

Notice:
Tower 1001 Channel 051 is 851.6500.
Tower 2001 Channel 049 is 851.6750.
If they are using the same base, offset, and step something doesn't compute....

However if you apply:
Plan 1 Bandplan to Tower 1001 with base = 851.0125, offset = 0, and step =12.5
and
Plan 2 Bandplan to Tower 2001 with base = 851.0625, offset = 0, and step = 12.5
both systems fall right into line with their appropriate "plan".

I've attached an Excel screenshot below of these two "band plans" and their "predictions".
You'll note that Plan 1 works for Tower 1001 and Plan 2 works for Tower 2001.

HERE'S WHAT I'M REQUESTING FROM ANYONE THAT CAN RUN PRO96COM ON THE MADISON COUNTY SYSTEM...

Screenshots of...
1) A scanner parked on Tower 1001 control channel, running PRO96COM, and all the channels it shows.
2) A scanner parked on Tower 2001 control channel, running PRO96COM, and all the channels it shows.
3) Any other "towers" if reported by the SITES tab on PRO96COM
Post them as a response on this thread.

Also, try this and see if it helps. USING ONLY ONE FREQUENCY (the appropriate CC frequency)..
1) Program Tower 1001 as a P25 Manual Trunked System, using 851.0125 as Base, 0 Offset, Step=12.5
2) Program Tower 2001 as a P25 Manual Trunked System, using 851.0625 as Base, 0 Offset, Step=12.5
Report if things work better, better reception, etc.

If I'm correct, and there is indeed a DIFFERENT bandplan specific to each tower, this would explain the various reported difficulties in receiving this system, garbled transmissions, and talkgroups appearing on the display with no audio, some tracking of the system correctly and sometimes not, etc.

I know I'm not from the Madison County area, but this one's been a mystery I've been wanting to solve for over a year... Thanks for looking and experimenting, and thanks to everyone who has posted info on this system!!!

Also, the 853.8500 frequency on Tower 2001 - that's not licensed by the FCC for Madison County...any ideas?

[KD4YGG]

Also found an article from the August 2011 issue of Channels from Harris indicating this system is "...an 800Mhz eight-site, 10-channel P25 linear simulcast trunked system, with a multicast location in the south central section of the county to enhance coverage..."

Anyone have info on the multicast location? Typically, that means same conversation on multiple frequencies....