Morris County P25 TRS Upgrade

[nosoup4u]

The control channel is a lot weaker on this new system than the old one.

[RocketNJ]

Where are you that you see it weaker?

[Fizz306]

Been logging the new system on a spare scanner for about 24 hours now. Literally no TG activity all day. I'm only logging TG activity through ProScan, not UniTrunker, so I have no idea if other radios affiliated with the system.

On a separate note, I'm guessing that the tower on Riker Hill was activated (at least on the SmartZone system) yesterday. My RSSI went from about 170-180 to up over 330, and now I'm having no issues decoding traffic. Maybe RocketNJ can confirm my suspicions.

[Chauffeur6]

Originally Posted by Fizz306

Been logging the new system on a spare scanner for about 24 hours now. Literally no TG activity all day. I'm only logging TG activity through ProScan, not UniTrunker, so I have no idea if other radios affiliated with the system.

There's little to no call activity, so you're not going to see anything logged with ProScan.

Got a few new TG's and RID's logged today. Here's the running list so far.

TG:
257
270
774
1025
1829
2079
3995

RID:
43015
43063
43185
52941
85455

[nosoup4u]

Washington, Warren County. I see about 1.5 bars less than on the old system.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[W2SJW]

I hate to say, but I believe that behavior is a given these days with current P25 upgrades - the system usually employs lower power/directionalized antennas to keep the signal within the intended coverage area.

[Chauffeur6]

Originally Posted by W2SJW

I hate to say, but I believe that behavior is a given these days with current P25 upgrades - the system usually employs lower power/directionalized antennas to keep the signal within the intended coverage area.

That's definitely the case, especially with LSM. Less is more when it comes to focusing the signals towards the intended coverage area, rather than putting up big, booming omnis that radiate for miles outside the simulcast bubble.


Activity has picked up on the system today, seeing quite a bit more affiliation and calls being placed. TG's 1, 293, 1808 and 6417 are all new today, as are RID's 52941 and 52945.

TG 270 is now encrypted.

All traffic on TG 6417 was Emergency calls.

[Chauffeur6]

Finally hearing some voice testing on the system...sounds pretty good.

Updated list of TG's:
1
257
259
263
270 (Encrypted)
274
276
293
774
1025
1281
1537
1794
1808
1810
1827
1829
2079
3995
6417 (Emergency Calls)
30482

RID's:
42225
43015
43019
43022
43063
43185
52941
52945
85455

[Chauffeur6]

A little snippet of some audio.

[W2SJW]

That sounded great!

[e911god]

I REALLY hope they don't change all the RIDS. I have 1500+ alpha-tagged on my PSR-800.

[Chauffeur6]

Ouch...that would be pretty brutal.

A few screenshots from Unitrunker, for those interested in the details.

[nosoup4u]

Could you send me your rid list?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[W2SJW]

I finally got my 396XT back from my friend, so here's the base data from Pro96Com:

FileVersion:7
-TowerInfo
#This section is here for information only. With the exception
#of the Call Sign(s), This data is not Read back into the program at all.
System ID : 4BA
System Name :
WACN : BEE00
Tower Number (Decimal): 105
Tower Number (Hex) : T0105
Tower Description : (null)
Control Capabilities : Data,Voice,Registration
Call Sign(s) :
Timestamp : Sat Jan 5 10:10:27 2013

-Tables
#Format: Table ID,Base Freq,Spacing,Input Offset,Assumed/Confirmed,BandWidth,Slots
05,470.01250,0.01250,3.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1

-Frequencies
#Format: Channel,Usage,Frequency(/Slot),Input Channel,Input Frequency(/Slot),Input Explicit(1/0),Hit Count
"05-0623","c",477.80000,"05-0623",480.80000,0,0
"05-0639","a",478.00000,"05-0639",481.00000,0,0
"05-0675","a",478.45000,"05-0675",481.45000,0,0
"05-0677","a",478.47500,"05-0677",481.47500,0,0

[Fizz306]

I can't for the life of me get UniTrunker to work with this new system. It works just fine on the SmartZone system, but not so much for the P25 system.

Health is reported between 8 and 10, compared to 97 on the SmarZone system. I'm using an RTL stick with SDR# pumping unfiltered audio through a VAC line into UniTrunker. Set up on both sides as 48k sampling rate at 16 bits.

Maybe multipathing? The 477.800 signal is coming in nearly 9 dB higher than the SmartZone CC.

Any thoughts?

[Chauffeur6]

Try changing the sampling rate to 44.1 at 16 bits. Sometimes less is more. Also make sure you're running the latest version of Unitrunker, as Rick has made some drastic improvements with P25 decoding recently. In addition, turn off decoding on all other protocols on that receiver except for P25, don't make it do more work than it needs to.

Remember, it's much easier to decode a 3600 baud Motorola CC than it is a 9600 baud P25 CC. In fact, I've been able to easily decode the NJSP Motorola system with Unitrunker at around 60% health using nothing but the headphone jack of a 346XT, no tap required.

If none of that works, then you probably are experiencing multipath distortion or too much signal. Try attenuating the signal and see if that helps.

[RocketNJ]

Originally Posted by Fizz306

I can't for the life of me get UniTrunker to work with this new system. It works just fine on the SmartZone system, but not so much for the P25 system.
Any thoughts?

Are you running Windows 7? If so, right click the speaker icon and check the VAC recording and playback device properties. Chances are the sample and bit rates are different than you are setting in the software. Set them to match.

[mdragon]

Originally Posted by Chauffeur6

A little snippet of some audio.

In the snippet they are talking about how they are testing from a known dead zone in Millington. Yet checking this morning I still only get the single site 05(105) from Pro96Com for the CC. Are they simulcasting from multiple "towers" using only a single "Site" in P25 speak? I know the PSIC system lists multiple "Remotes" for each Site, but that doesn't really show up in Pro96Com's data. Does the Morris P25 system have one Site with remotes where the former Sites were for the 3600 system?

Otherwise how is the coverage so different from one site instead of 4 (or 5 if Riker Hill is live)? It's the same frequency range, from the an existing tower (I think someone mentioned P25 was operating off a single existing 3600 tower?) Is P25 or the new radios so much better that existing coverage issues can be resolved just by the upgrade?

Anyone have any thoughts?

From my location I do pick up the P25 CC better than the existing system, but I'm in a bit of a dead spot for the existing system, going a little higher up in any direction I pick up sites 2, 4, and sometimes 1 without any real issue.

[Chauffeur6]

It's a simulcast system, which means the same exact signal coming from multiple sites. It appears as a single site because the signal is identical. Read my post here for more info:

Morris Cty MIRS Sites

[mdragon]

Originally Posted by Chauffeur6

It's a simulcast system, which means the same exact signal coming from multiple sites. It appears as a single site because the signal is identical. Read my post here for more info:

Morris Cty MIRS Sites

Thanks, I thought someone had mentioned it was only a single "tower" earlier in the thread, so I wasn't sure if additional sites had already been brought up or if they would or wouldn't show up like the PSIC sites when they did get brought online. Thanks for confirming.