Problems picking up Piscataway TRS?

[johnls7424]

I do not understand why talkgroups in general are the new fad for " LOCAL" police departments anyway. Why can't local PD's just keep conventional frequencies. I can understand State Police and Big departments such as cities and such using them for interop, but local municipalites have opperated for decades with conventional bands and worked just fine.

[johnls7424]

I am listening unencrypted to Dunellen on the Piscataway's talkgroup right now. Havent heard a peep out of p-way yet

[SnakeEater9920]

Originally Posted by johnls7424

I am listening unencrypted to Dunellen on the Piscataway's talkgroup right now. Havent heard a peep out of p-way yet

What? How can you be listening to them?

Unless they've turned their encryption mode off. Which is very unlikely. If I remember correctly, there's a button that allows you to turn it on and off. Or something. Which is good, because in my opinion, only sensitive information should be protected. Not daily operations.

Anyway, I'll keep my ears opened. This system is annoying because the signal always fluctuates. I have to have my antenna in that sweet spot. Drops from five bars, to two, and then searches for the control channel.

Hopefully I'll hear something.

Edit: Nothing. Still unable to hear. Got my hopes up!

[KC2ZHY]

Originally Posted by SnakeEater9920

What? How can you be listening to them?

Unless they've turned their encryption mode off. Which is very unlikely. If I remember correctly, there's a button that allows you to turn it on and off. Or something. Which is good, because in my opinion, only sensitive information should be protected. Not daily operations.

Anyway, I'll keep my ears opened. This system is annoying because the signal always fluctuates. I have to have my antenna in that sweet spot. Drops from five bars, to two, and then searches for the control channel.

Hopefully I'll hear something.

Edit: Nothing. Still unable to hear. Got my hopes up!

Yeah, I also listened in after reading this... No unencrypted traffic on my end either. Fail

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

[johnls7424]

I do not hear nothing on the Dunellen frequency now. Every once in awhile hear some encrypted talk, but other than that nothing. I think its time to move on now. Or move out of New Jersey with its liberal views on everything, especially guns. Anywho yes.

[robbinsj2]

I was in the area yesterday afternoon and ran Unitrunker some more. I too did not see any unencrypted communications at that time. Dunellen's DPW channel was silent, as were Piscataway's school bus and school district channels. The high school was still talking on its UHF repeater.

Piscataway was testing Dunellen FAS tones on 158.73/186.2. Anybody know if they'll move to the TRS too, or talk with dispatch on 158.73 instead of narrowbanding the old police repeater?

[johnls7424]

I don't understand why they cannot just narrowband their old police repeaters. All they want to do is spend more money and enlist in talkgroups that cost a fortune to upkeep

[johnls7424]

Im sorry, but not to blow up this talk page about Piscataways talkgroup, but I think Plainfield PD should be encrypted before any of these others. They do most of their police matters right over regular dispatch and its a high crime area.

[RadioDitch]

Of course none of this is going to matter if Middlesex buys into the OpenSky hype they've been being fed over the last 6mos. Which would be funny considering Las Vegas, Lancaster, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach County all are dumping it like a bad habit after HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars in investment that was flushed down the drain.

PA State Police have also all but admitted defeat in their defense of their OpenSky STARnet system, by doing $50 Million in upgrades to narrowband and replace VHF equipment as a backup. Which is being used several times per week in many locations due to the issue with OpenSky.

I don't think they'll switch, buuuut...if they do...heh

[johnls7424]

Very doubtful that Middlesex County will enroll in any type of Opensky network. Most likely Apco P-25 system. Maybe Phase I, but it could be Phase II over time if they work out all the bugs the first couple of months. EDACS system they use has many signal problems from almost all its users who are not directly near the signal towers. I know South Plainfield has that issue alot with the PD, EMS, and Fire. Others I am sure as well. They could also go into a shared talk-group with Edison Township. That will be determined over time and only time will tell.

[SnakeEater9920]

Recently, somebody on the Dunellen forum told me that there is an App for the iPad or Android tablet that lets you listen to Dunellen on the new P-Way system.

I have no idea how there can be an app for this, if the system is protected from outside listeners. But, if anybody has these kinda devices, do some research or whatnot.

The original post is here.

Dunellen PD Dispatch moved to Piscataway system.

[johnls7424]

I never knew they even had apps for talk-groups in general. I was always under the assumption it was for conventional police bands.

[robbinsj2]

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

These apps simply connect to scanner audio feeds provided by others, they do not tune any conventional or trunked channels themselves. RadioReference / Broadcastify is the major (but not only) host of these; I myself voluntarily provide a feed of portions of South Brunswick's trunked system and some neighboring channels.

I skimmed the offerings here and did not see a feed purported to cover Piscataway; I did not look elsewhere. Such a feed could be official and provided by the public safety agency, but if it is provided by a hobbyist then it would only be able to include non-encrypted communications (and even that would require a digital trunking scanner, which some feed owners are unwilling to commit full-time to a feed).

If you ever get more information on this supposed app/feed then please post it, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. The person who posted that probably misunderstands the app / feeds / coverage limitations (or they are deliberately trying to mislead you).

Jim

[johnls7424]

Does anybody think the Middlesex EDACS will pickup Piscataway or even stay as a EDACS system type? Or will they go to the P25?

[GM]

Two more talkgroups recently have appeared on the system: 911 and 11013, both in ENC mode.

A few questions/suggestions to the NJ Admin. staff: (Food for thought)

- Should this thread be renamed something along the lines of "Piscataway TRS upgraded to P25 mode," since that's what the bulk of the discussion is about? I think that would be better than starting a whole new thread for the continuing discussion.

- Since I read that unconfirmed entries should not be submitted to the database, how should users submit talkgroup data since the system is 100% ENC? Should we submit the talkgroup numbers that we observe and then let the staff sort it out based on a logical guess? So far, it appears that the P25 system is set up very similar to the old system, minus the addition of Dunellen.

And I just wanted to say thanks to all for what you do here on the boards and database.

[TAMR213]

Currently hearing Dunellen FD operating on 158.820. Not sure if their actually on this frequency or if its a patch. Believe they are being dispatched by Pway though, as the dispatcher just stated "be advised, dispatch is going to be off the air for a few seconds dispatching a Piscataway call".

[GM]

A few more talkgroups that have become active recently:

1005 Enc (suspected use is Piscataway Detectives)
2006 E (suspected use if Piscataway Fire Dist. 4)
11005 E (not sure what Dunellen uses this for)

[RadioDitch]

Originally Posted by TAMR213

Currently hearing Dunellen FD operating on 158.820. Not sure if their actually on this frequency or if its a patch. Believe they are being dispatched by Pway though, as the dispatcher just stated "be advised, dispatch is going to be off the air for a few seconds dispatching a Piscataway call".

158.820 PL186.2 is Dunellen FD 1, DFD's normal frequency. All police and fire in Dunellen are now dispatched by Piscataway. PD on the Piscataway TRS, FD on their traditional VHF.

[TAMR213]

Originally Posted by RadioDitch

158.820 PL186.2 is Dunellen FD 1, DFD's normal frequency. All police and fire in Dunellen are now dispatched by Piscataway. PD on the Piscataway TRS, FD on their traditional VHF.

Whoops, sorry. I was unaware that Dunellen FD was still on VHF and under the impression that all Dunellen services migrated to the Piscataway TRS. Move along then, nothing to see here...

[johnls7424]

Do you guys think that Piscataways EMS and PD Dispatch have the same encryption keys??