EBRCS Question Thread

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WayneH

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The EBRCS Updates thread keeps getting off-topic chatter and I don't want to delete your posts. So please use this thread to ask questions or post observations not specific to new or changes for the system. How to program your scanner for the system is not a question about the system, it's a question about the scanner. Please create your own thread so you have the dedication to that thread and can take up as many posts as you need.

Thanks!
 

commstar

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Wide Area TG's

Was just looking at the EBRCS DB entries up to now and can't help but wonder the difference between the five vs. four digit talkgroups and if the 5 digit groups may be wide area whereas the four digit TG's are active by zone.

Basing this on the only five digit TG's are a two-county regional park district and the radio techs.

Seems to me that having all those PD's wide all the time would be an efficiency killer.

I am in a snowy canyon far, far, away and cannot hear/see EBRCS firsthand.

Am probably even be stating the obvious, and in that event, I am inquiring
as a new regional TRS is going to be standing up here in Spoklahoma in a few months, basically watching EBRCS more to learn for local application when they throw the figurative switch hear.

So, anyway to determine wide vs. zone TG's?

Anyway, good job on the teardown y'all, watching a monster like this come to life is interesting. Not as interesting women, BBQ ribs, or beer but still interesting.

Mike
 

WayneH

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So, anyway to determine wide vs. zone TG's?
You would have to track the activity with Pro96Com. It will show you what's allowed where (indicated by a call grant or affiliation) and what gets a denial.

There is no system as far as assignments go with regard to which TG's work where. In the case of the EBRCS certain blocks have been set aside for COCO or ALCO but each individual TG is tailored to the system based on the agency's need.

When a customer orders a system it's built by Motorola at their facility in a mock-up style of assembly. Everything that's needed and has been ordered for infrastructure is assembled at their facility to make sure it works so that when it's deployed it only needs assembly by a contractor. Motorola's local System Tech's (non-Fed are local; Fed are flown in) are then on-site to QA the install and make sure it works the way it should. While it's with Moto they setup demo talkgroups to test system operation. So those five digit TG's were created by Motorola for testing while in mock-up.

I notice in this instance they've allowed agencies to use the demo TG's to trial the system. ALCO has done this in the past too with their older system.

I've only noticed a few TG's being enabled for systemwide use. Those would be 1001-1006 and EB Reg Parks. 1032 could be another wide one.
 
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commstar

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Ok thanks Wayne, guess I will have be sharpening my Pro96com skills.

Regards,
Mike
 

rooivalk

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Specifically Walnut Creek, PH and Concord P.D. use multiple channels on their conventional systems. In the most recent EBRCS listings, they have only a dispatch channel listed. Will they use a common talkgroup for additional "channels," or will additional talkgroups be assigned sometime in the future?
 

kma371

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Specifically Walnut Creek, PH and Concord P.D. use multiple channels on their conventional systems. In the most recent EBRCS listings, they have only a dispatch channel listed. Will they use a common talkgroup for additional "channels," or will additional talkgroups be assigned sometime in the future?

They may use more than one. At this time, we are only able to confirm one talkgroup for each agency you talked about, but it's very likely they will have at least 5 like the rest of the agencies.
 

neilbell

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COCO Sherrif simulcast

Right now it seems that the old conventional SO channels are all being completely simulcast with the new EBRCS TGs. Do you expect this to continue on or just until all the car radios get updated or replaced. Seems to me that the old VHF channels might reach some areas that the UHF EBRCS freqs might not cover as well ??

Neil Bell, KJ6FBA
 

SCPD

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I would expect that when new equipment installation is complete, the VHF and UHF stuff will go away. For example, agencies in West Contra Costa County have completely come off their old systems and are exclusively on EBRCS (with a couple small exceptions).

If an agency chose to keep their analog simulcast up (for whatever reason), the equipment would have to be narrowbanded. This is not likely to happen - CoCo is broke!

Its not a coverage issue. EBRCS was designed to cover the service areas (and in some cases, beyond) of its subscribers.
 

SYZ1165

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Best scanner for EBRCS

Hello I still find myself trying to find the best scanner to monitor EBRCS. Can anyone on the EBRACS forum Can recommend a scanner base or handheld that would be able to monitor the new system. I live on the border of south & north Richmond and would like to find out from others the best scanner to date for monitoring EBRCS
 

SCPD

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Hello I still find myself trying to find the best scanner to monitor EBRCS. Can anyone on the EBRACS forum Can recommend a scanner base or handheld that would be able to monitor the new system. I live on the border of south & north Richmond and would like to find out from others the best scanner to date for monitoring EBRCS

I use a RadioShack Pro 197 to monitor EBRCS. I can actually hear the Contra Costa West Cell quite nicely from Martinez with a Pro 197 and an indoor antenna.

More info here...

Pro-197 - The RadioReference Wiki

Also, a little recommending reading on one of the major pitfalls encountered when monitoring a digital trunking system...

Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
 

silagi

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I too am using a PRO-197 and from my location in central Fremont, I pick up all three ALCO cells loud and clear (SW, NW, and EAST) with an outdoor antenna mounted on the roof of my house. I cannot hear the Contra Costa cells at all. I have the three cells programmed individually as separate systems I have never tried programming them all together into one system. The PRO-197 does a great job of decoding the P25 on this system.
 

kma371

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has anyone tried their 396xt with new firmware on this system? wondering if its made any difference. or Oakland for that matter.
 

Oakland_Tower

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Can any EBRCS sites be monitored from Santa Clara at all? I am heading down there next week for a class..

From my car parked at Moffett Field, I can hear all ALCO sites and some of the COCO sites. I'd think Santa Clara would work as well. Radio used 996XT. A portable scanner with a rubber duck type antenna may not work as well.
 

Stealthguy05

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Are you by chance going to Mission College? Top floor of the main building with a rubber duckie on the north side picks up all quite well.
 

radioalbany

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New 996XT and EBRCS

Gang,

Having trouble with EBRCS on my new radio. I get a few calls if I lock out everything but the closest site (CoCo Central), but nothing if I leave other sites in. When it works, it seems to get only a few of the calls I hear on the VHF channel (156.03 in this case). I imported the system from radioreference with FreeScan.

Is this a multipath/simulcast issue? The P25 error rate bar graph shows almost mid-scale, which I suspect is not too good.

It also seems to scan between sites too quickly to read the control channel from each one. Or maybe I'm wrong about that.

Any EBRCS/996XT gurus have a suggestion?

Many thanks!

Andrew Ellis NO6E
Lafayette, CA
 

kma371

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Gang,

Having trouble with EBRCS on my new radio. I get a few calls if I lock out everything but the closest site (CoCo Central), but nothing if I leave other sites in. When it works, it seems to get only a few of the calls I hear on the VHF channel (156.03 in this case). I imported the system from radioreference with FreeScan.

Is this a multipath/simulcast issue? The P25 error rate bar graph shows almost mid-scale, which I suspect is not too good.

It also seems to scan between sites too quickly to read the control channel from each one. Or maybe I'm wrong about that.

Any EBRCS/996XT gurus have a suggestion?

Many thanks!

Andrew Ellis NO6E
Lafayette, CA

well theres not a whole lot to listen to on coco central, sheriff and martinez PD.

what VHF channel are you talking about? 156.030 is nothing I'm aware of in contra Costa county.

are you programming this by computer ?

and are you sure your even picking up the other sites? from Lafayette your probably not getting coco west cells or any alco cells.
 

radioalbany

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Oops

Sorry, make that VHF channel 155.31. Anyway, I continue to hear lots of calls on that channel that the 996 does not pick up, even when restricted to the best EBRCS site. You're right: I can't hear most of the ALCO sites down in a valley in Lafayette.

I'm just generally disappointed. I was expecting wonderful reception on P25, and instead it seems very dicey.

I haven't tried anything in the "secret" P25 menu, and I was hoping that there might be something I could tweak there.

Yes, I imported the EBRCS system from radioreference using Freescan, and both of those seem to work fine on other stuff I've loaded (CHP, for example).

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Andrew Ellis NO6E
 
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