MD State P25 system....

[troymail]

From: MissionCritical Communications, Radio Resource International, and Public Safety Report - wireless voice and data communications for mobile, remote and public safety operations

The state of Maryland is rolling out a P25 Phase 2 system under a $345 million contract awarded to Motorola last November... equipment will be staged in Schaumburg, Ill., in December with installation and testing scheduled for mid-2012. The system is expected to go live by the end of next year

[pratzert]

Originally Posted by troymail

From: MissionCritical Communications, Radio Resource International, and Public Safety Report - wireless voice and data communications for mobile, remote and public safety operations

The state of Maryland is rolling out a P25 Phase 2 system under a $345 million contract awarded to Motorola last November... equipment will be staged in Schaumburg, Ill., in December with installation and testing scheduled for mid-2012. The system is expected to go live by the end of next year

I hope it won't mess up our ability to monitor thier freqs like the other Moto systems recently installed in Balt.City have and even the one in progress in Balt.County.

Slowly but surely our ability to monitor seems to be dwindling due to cvhanges in system technology.

Hopefully the manufacturers will step up their game to keep up.

[screenersam]

our tax $ at work :-(
thx for info

[wmbio]

If full Phase 2 is implemented by mid 2012 additional Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 scanners should be available. I believe the PSR-800 is doing well with the new phase 2 system in Louden county VA?

To date they have not built enough towers in the Western Maryland mountains for a 700 mhz system to provide full coverage. Time will tell. Keep your MSP or MDOT low band radios handy when your in a dead spot. PSP resort to their old VHF system when their 800 mhz Provoice system fails them

Time to buy a new toy.
Enjoy
Wmbio

[pratzert]

Originally Posted by wmbio

If full Phase 2 is implemented by mid 2012 additional Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 scanners should be available. I believe the PSR-800 is doing well with the new phase 2 system in Louden county VA?

To date they have not built enough towers in the Western Maryland mountains for a 700 mhz system to provide full coverage. Time will tell. Keep your MSP or MDOT low band radios handy when your in a dead spot. PSP resort to their old VHF system when their 800 mhz Provoice system fails them

Time to buy a new toy.
Enjoy
Wmbio

It wasn't that long ago that I bought 2 new Pro-106's. I am hoping for some sort of firmware/software fix rather than dumping more cash into another scanner purchase.

So, is the P25 "Phase 2" what Baltimore City is using and what Baltimore County is going to implement?

Who all here has the PSR-800 and is using it for Balt. City reception?

Anyone hear anything about Radio Shack putting out their version of the PSR-800? They usually have a comparable model.

Thanks for all the info.

[ocguard]

Originally Posted by pratzert

It wasn't that long ago that I bought 2 new Pro-106's. I am hoping for some sort of firmware/software fix rather than dumping more cash into another scanner purchase.

So, is the P25 "Phase 2" what Baltimore City is using and what Baltimore County is going to implement?

Who all here has the PSR-800 and is using it for Balt. City reception?

Anyone hear anything about Radio Shack putting out their version of the PSR-800? They usually have a comparable model.

Thanks for all the info.

Phase II is time-division multi-access P25, two voice slots per frequency. PG is the only county in MD that uses is so far. The PSR-800 is the only scanner thus far that can handle Phase II.

[pratzert]

ocguard,

Thanks for the info.

Regards.

[ka3jjz]

Originally Posted by pratzert

<snip>
Who all here has the PSR-800 and is using it for Balt. City reception?
</snip>

There has been a very extensive discussion of the City's new LSM type system and the many issues receiving it here...

http://forums.radioreference.com/mar...iscussion.html

and there's additional information in our wiki on the subject

Programming the New Baltimore P25 System - The RadioReference Wiki

best regards..Mike

[wmbio]

Great links as always Mike.

In scanning when a major new scanner feature or mode of operation becomes popular like P1 to P2. Fixes are major issues for us, not for the vendor, if we are lucky we can upgrade..most times not.... no matter what the cost is.
In reality the vendors only job is to sell new scanners. They provide limited software tweaks for minor upgrades, features, or fixes 2-3 years out, then that's it. This is the cycle of a scanners life, birth then planned obsolescence. Even the HP-1 has it's limits on paid upgrades and the hardware inside to support the software.

My 2 cents worth.
Enjoy
Wmbio

[vinzep491]

Is it still 100% unknown if the psr800 will fully track FULL P25P2 systems?

I know the technology was working on hybrid versions of the protocol - any word yet on it being guarenteed to work on a fully implimented Project 25, Phase 2 system?

[ka3jjz]

AFAIK no one has a scanner that will handle a fully compliant P25 phase 2 system; however that being said, the discussions I've seen so far seem to indicate that the X2 version the 800 is using is pretty close, and it's assumed - and notice the word - that any fixes might be firmware upload types.

There are a couple of other X2 systems - one in Virginia and one, I think in Florida.

If it were me, and I wasn't living in PG county as I am, I would likely wait. But that's just me...best regards..Mike

[troymail]

Originally Posted by vinzep491

Is it still 100% unknown if the psr800 will fully track FULL P25P2 systems?

Not sure if these were questions or statements with a question mark--

The only local (to me) X2 systems are in Northern VA and Prince George Maryland. The PSR-800 works pretty well on the PG system - as long as you are inside the County. The issue when out of the County is more to do with the LSM issues (just like Baltimore City - which is not a X2 system).

From what I recall seeing, Uniden's newest radio - the HP-1 cannot do X2 (and therefore I assume P25 Phase II) with a simple firmware update -- so they'll all need a new radio if they want to track/listen to X2 or Phase II.

As far as the PSR-800 - I believe the position is - we don't know because no Phase II systems have yet to be deployed. I'm betting that once a Phase II system is fielded, Uniden and GRE will be quickly working on solutions - and my guess is that GRE will get there first with the PSR-800.

I think a bigger concern is the LSM problem.

[gesucks]

PG is operating in Phase 1, X2 and full P25 Phase 2 now. There are probably less than 10 radios on the system operateing in true Phase 2 instead of X2, but the system is doing it

[ocguard]

Originally Posted by gesucks

PG is operating in Phase 1, X2 and full P25 Phase 2 now. There are probably less than 10 radios on the system operateing in true Phase 2 instead of X2, but the system is doing it

What's the difference between X2 and Phase 2? The ability to revert to FDMA when needed?

[CqDx]

X2 is what Motorola developed before Project 25 Phase 2 standards were published a few months ago. Systems like PG and Loudoun are Motorola X2-TDMA

Project 25 Phase II TDMA is a published standard (Like Project 25 Phase I CAI), the idea is to have other integrators build into the system (like you can have Motorola infrastructure using Harris radios as long as they are P25 Phase II compliant)

[troymail]

Originally Posted by gesucks

PG is operating in Phase 1, X2 and full P25 Phase 2 now. There are probably less than 10 radios on the system operateing in true Phase 2 instead of X2, but the system is doing it

Hmmmmm..... I'd love to know which radios / users are the full Phase II radios.... so I can see what the PSR800 is doing when those radios are active.....

[troymail]

Originally Posted by ocguard

What's the difference between X2 and Phase 2? The ability to revert to FDMA when needed?

I suspect the X2 was very close to Phase II ... and I'd expect that Phase II radios will function no differently with regard to FDMA than the X2 radios do.

[wmbio]

Mike and Troymail...good points made by both of you...as to the new P2 or X2 or whatever standard "/\/\" wants to call it you can be sure by mid 2012, when MD goes live GRE/Uniden will have a scanner ready. I think Mike may have mentioned a new Uniden model may/could debut by Christmas 2011?..we shall see. Im sitting tight and waiting as we should, to see what happens when we ( Tax payers ) spend $345M

Enjoy
Wmbio

[Kumba]

Originally Posted by ocguard

What's the difference between X2 and Phase 2? The ability to revert to FDMA when needed?

Good question. Any one know the exact specification differences? I am assuming it's got to be something trivial, like wattage, some kind of algorithm for encryption, or something. I'm not at all versed in administering a radio network, so consider the above made up, but because some people here love to quadruple-underline that PG/Loudon are on Moto's whatchamacallit P25 Phase 2 and not the real Phase 2, then someone out there oughta know the spec differences.

[ka3jjz]

There has been some speculation that GRE, not Uniden, would have a desktop version of their PSR800 ready around Xmas - but don't take that for gospel

best regards..Mike