Monroe County P25 System

DrDill · Jan 3, 2018

As of now the State Police are switching to P25 and getting rid of that terrible Open Sky system. State Police is opening this new system to Counties and Local Municipalities to use. Our county (Monroe) has sent out a memo stating any future radio purchases should be compatible with Digital P25 Phase II, from the chit chat in the firehouse the county is going to integrate to this new system when it is up and running putting all communications on Digital P25 with the Fire/EMS Paging on the analog UHF that it is now. We are unsure if they will be moving EMS to UHF or keep them on VHF. Once they complete this switch we will be able to talk to PSP, Local PD, and EMS (coming from a fire company view).

Hopefully this clears somethings up, I don't know every single detail as I do not work at the Control Center but this is what we are being told at the Firehouse.

ffemt134 · Jan 4, 2018

I also noticed there was a resolution passed in December encouraging local counties/service to explore shared service arrangements with the new system as needed.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS...d=0&billBody=S&billTyp=R&billNbr=0237&pn=1314

davidzimmerman · Jan 4, 2018

Say Goodby to Broken Sky

ocguard · Jan 4, 2018

Unless the P25 StarNet is going to use mixed-band frequency pools, I doubt that there will be sufficient channel availability on the VHF band for larger counties and municipalities to join. Propagation of VHF signal requires greater distance between co-channel users, and the pool of VHF frequency pairs is already limited in PA. The fact that it's phase-2 will help.

The state SHOULD reach out to counties with deployed phase-2 VHF and 7/800mhz systems for the possibility of connecting them to the StarNet as ISSIs. This would allow troopers and other state users to enjoy portable radio coverage in these areas, without the needed system development of the StarNet infrastructure.

HM1529 · Jan 4, 2018

At the top of the PA forum is a sticky thread all about the new system.

https://forums.radioreference.com/p...m/349313-pa-statewide-p25-phase-2-system.html

Rollout is ongoing. 2017 saw NW region tower sites come online. PSP is actively moving all ops to the new system as it is rolled out. Other agencies will move as funding allows. PennDOT and PGC have some units in the NW on the new system. SW PA goes live during 2018...should start seeing tower sites active by spring down there. NE PA will be on the tail end of the migration...2020-2022 range depending on how they stay on schedule. Warren County is supposed to be interested in moving to the system, so folks up that way should keep a lookout. Other counties should probably consider it since it would be a major cost savings. A lot of counties have made upgrades in recent years to P25 Phase 1 or 2 digital...some of which might have benefited from this project had it been announced a few years sooner. The system is multiband with VHF and 700/800 allocations but also with the ability to integrate UHF, if it comes to that to add counties.

countywacker · Jan 4, 2018

DrDill said:
As of now the State Police are switching to P25 and getting rid of that terrible Open Sky system. State Police is opening this new system to Counties and Local Municipalities to use. Our county (Monroe) has sent out a memo stating any future radio purchases should be compatible with Digital P25 Phase II, from the chit chat in the firehouse the county is going to integrate to this new system when it is up and running putting all communications on Digital P25 with the Fire/EMS Paging on the analog UHF that it is now. We are unsure if they will be moving EMS to UHF or keep them on VHF. Once they complete this switch we will be able to talk to PSP, Local PD, and EMS (coming from a fire company view).

Hopefully this clears somethings up, I don't know every single detail as I do not work at the Control Center but this is what we are being told at the Firehouse.

Local Counties will NOT be joining the states P25 system. It is advisable for local agencies that still operate on a analog system to purchase P25 capable equipment so if such county would go the P25 route they already have some of the radio equipment and the up front cost will not be as much.

Also- I highly doubt any Local Fire Dept would be able to access a State Police frequency for direct communications unless there was some sort of interop channel the state police put in the statewide channel plan.

Monroe County Fire units can talk to Local PD, EMS Now on what is called "Command". Command is a unified frequency that all agencies have access to for interop communications.

DrDill · Jan 4, 2018

countywacker said:
Local Counties will NOT be joining the states P25 system. It is advisable for local agencies that still operate on a analog system to purchase P25 capable equipment so if such county would go the P25 route they already have some of the radio equipment and the up front cost will not be as much.

Also- I highly doubt any Local Fire Dept would be able to access a State Police frequency for direct communications unless there was some sort of interop channel the state police put in the statewide channel plan.

Monroe County Fire units can talk to Local PD, EMS Now on what is called "Command". Command is a unified frequency that all agencies have access to for interop communications.

Never said we would get access to PSP freq. but we would be able to talk to them on specific channels, as of now they are just the Mysterious November Units.

Monroe County is looking at the route of switching to P25.

and also EMS never talks directly to Fire Units. Never have I heard it happen, they have the capabilities to talk on UHF in their trucks but they never use it.

jluisi86 · Jan 5, 2018

DrDill:

Not P25 Phase 2, it is Phase 1, stated to stay away from Phase 2 at the current time.

Also your statement about EMS not using UHF maybe on your side of the County is true but not on the other side where its used. Just because you haven't heard it, doesn't mean its not. Also I doubt you will see EMS move from VHF, it covers the County a lot better than UHF does for EMS use anyway...

rrbum · Jan 5, 2018

davidzimmerman said:
Say Goodby to Broken Sky

And say hello to ENCRYPTED P25.

Six of one, half dozen of the other from a hobbyist's point of view.

Too bad PSP has chosen to hide behind encryption.

DrDill · Jan 5, 2018

jluisi86 said:
DrDill:

Not P25 Phase 2, it is Phase 1, stated to stay away from Phase 2 at the current time.

Also your statement about EMS not using UHF maybe on your side of the County is true but not on the other side where its used. Just because you haven't heard it, doesn't mean its not. Also I doubt you will see EMS move from VHF, it covers the County a lot better than UHF does for EMS use anyway...

Maybe up north they talk to Fire but down here not so much. UHF covers pretty well for us and most departments.

whsbuss · Jan 5, 2018

rrbum said:
And say hello to ENCRYPTED P25.

Six of one, half dozen of the other from a hobbyist's point of view.

Too bad PSP has chosen to hide behind encryption.

As well as some counties for PD, like Montgomery

countywacker · Jan 5, 2018

DrDill said:
Never said we would get access to PSP freq. but we would be able to talk to them on specific channels, as of now they are just the Mysterious November Units.

Monroe County is looking at the route of switching to P25.

and also EMS never talks directly to Fire Units. Never have I heard it happen, they have the capabilities to talk on UHF in their trucks but they never use it.

The November units are NOT PSP units and not Mysterious by no means. November units are Monroe County Coroner units, They just use phone primarily for commination's instead of the radio.

Also; the UHF system you are on is designed to work in your specific coverage area. The County VHF system is designed to work all over the county as EMS units can be sent anywhere at any given time.

ka3aaa · Jan 5, 2018

I find it very, very, very, very hard to believe that the Monroe County Coroners on the eastern side of the commonwealth of Pa. are using the new P-25 Phase 2 radio system that is currently under construction in the upper most north western corner of the commonwealth of Pa.

If you are so sure of your information please post the talk group or groups that they are using that way we can all be on the look out for them.

countywacker · Jan 5, 2018

ka3aaa said:
I find it very, very, very, very hard to believe that the Monroe County Coroners on the eastern side of the commonwealth of Pa. are using the new P-25 Phase 2 radio system that is currently under construction in the upper most north western corner of the commonwealth of Pa.

If you are so sure of your information please post the talk group or groups that they are using that way we can all be on the look out for them.

The Monroe County Coroners operate on Monroe County Police "Countywide" ANALOG only.

scnrfrq · Jan 6, 2018

rrbum said:
And say hello to ENCRYPTED P25.

Six of one, half dozen of the other from a hobbyist's point of view.

Too bad PSP has chosen to hide behind encryption.

So far at least the Game Commission here in Erie County is in the clear, and the transmissions are of very good quality. I believe PennDOT in Warren County is in the clear also. So there is hope that other agencies that join will not be encrypted either.

Also, Erie County is going all P25 Phase II later this year. They will be setting up channels to communicate with PSP also on their new VHF system.

wv_mountaineer · Jan 6, 2018

Just a thought...

Hello to any ADMIN looking at this post.....

Do you think you can put "PA" in the description within this Thread? That way when it pops up in the "Active Forum Threads" we know it is out of the Pennsylvania Forum. I seem to pass it over the fist couple of times I see it without clicking on it as I don't notice it's a "PA" post. I'm sure I am not the only one, am I? I mean... "New information on the statewide P25 System" is pretty undescriptive to which State the post is actually about.

Just my 2 cents....

HM1529 · Jan 7, 2018

wv_mountaineer said:
Hello to any ADMIN looking at this post.....

Do you think you can put "PA" in the description within this Thread? That way when it pops up in the "Active Forum Threads" we know it is out of the Pennsylvania Forum. I seem to pass it over the fist couple of times I see it without clicking on it as I don't notice it's a "PA" post. I'm sure I am not the only one, am I? I mean... "New information on the statewide P25 System" is pretty undescriptive to which State the post is actually about.

Just my 2 cents....

Frankly, folks should be using the thread I linked above to discuss the new statewide system. This thread was mostly in regard to speculation that Monroe County in NE PA would migrate. Details and discussion on the new statewide system are already well underway in the thread linked previously which does reference PA.

This is the one I am talking about:

https://forums.radioreference.com/p...m/349313-pa-statewide-p25-phase-2-system.html

wv_mountaineer · Jan 8, 2018

Monroe County, PA

HM1529 said:
Frankly, folks should be using the thread I linked above to discuss the new statewide system. This thread was mostly in regard to speculation that Monroe County in NE PA would migrate. Details and discussion on the new statewide system are already well underway in the thread linked previously which does reference PA.

This is the one I am talking about:

https://forums.radioreference.com/p...m/349313-pa-statewide-p25-phase-2-system.html

10-fer, Frank...

Monroe County P25 System

DrDill

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ffemt134

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ocguard

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HM1529

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countywacker

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DrDill

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jluisi86

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rrbum

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DrDill

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whsbuss

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countywacker

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ka3aaa

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countywacker

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scnrfrq

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wv_mountaineer

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HM1529

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wv_mountaineer

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