HomePatrol-II NAC vs. CTCSS on Channel

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pwscott

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So I am living in a new area and listening to police in the next town on a HP-II (and a HP-I upstairs and a BC436 in car). The RR database shows this:

460.10000 RM 118.8 PL Woodstock PD Woodstock Police FMN Law dispatch

But the HP-II, fully updated in all respects, keep stopping on noise and I'll hear BBBRRrrrraaaaapp....just once in while. But I see that there is no tone programmed....Under audio option in Sentinel is blank as opposed to showing a CTCSS Tome or a NAC #.

This is even more interesting/puzzling, when a PD unit transmits, I see NAC 457 in the lower left. What's the scoop here? Should I/ can I add the CTCSS tone...is it needed? Does the NAC # indicate that this is a P25 signal? I'd like to minimize the noise break-ins on the channel, but don;t want to miss anything either.

Thanks.
 

jonwienke

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The "noise" you are hearing is P25 digital, confirmed by seeing a NAC instead of CTCSS tone. If you enter a CTCSS tone, you will force the scanner to interpret the signal as analog, and the scanner will skip past any transmissions because they don't have the programmed tone, or else just play noise. Program the NAC instead of the CTCSS tone, and that forces the scanner to interpret the incoming signal as P25, and you won't hear any more digital noise. If you don't have a tone or NAC programmed, the scanner has to guess what it is receiving, and sometimes it will guess wrong. When that happens you hear the motorboat noise.

If you always see the NAC when the PD transmits, they have switched to P25 and you need to submit an update to the database.
 

pwscott

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Thanks! (Hey, GPS you sent me is awesome, working great and nice long cable).
I will add the NAC code and submit the update, not add the CTCSS. Got it.
 

ecps92

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VT LE have been moving toward P25, could be the info never got submitted to RR for updating the DB

Looking at another source, as they began the move to P25 Woodstock was using $231 for a NAC not $457

I would listen awhile longer, make sure it is Woodstock and then make a DB Submission

Good find - also keep in-mind they could be using Dual-Mode [both P25 and CTCSS] so for now I would add the P25 as an additional channel and keep an eye/ear on the CTCSS use [might rarely get used, but could be still in the radios]
So I am living in a new area and listening to police in the next town on a HP-II (and a HP-I upstairs and a BC436 in car). The RR database shows this:

460.10000 RM 118.8 PL Woodstock PD Woodstock Police FMN Law dispatch

But the HP-II, fully updated in all respects, keep stopping on noise and I'll hear BBBRRrrrraaaaapp....just once in while. But I see that there is no tone programmed....Under audio option in Sentinel is blank as opposed to showing a CTCSS Tome or a NAC #.

This is even more interesting/puzzling, when a PD unit transmits, I see NAC 457 in the lower left. What's the scoop here? Should I/ can I add the CTCSS tone...is it needed? Does the NAC # indicate that this is a P25 signal? I'd like to minimize the noise break-ins on the channel, but don;t want to miss anything either.

Thanks.
 

pwscott

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Woodstock PD

Thanks Bill. Good advice. Sounds like there is another user on channel at 460.100 with CTCSS of 118.8. I can't discern who it is yet, although I did hear them say "....on...analog..."...may be Vermont State Police. Woodstock has 460.100 and VSP has 460.150.
I will make a clear squelch channel, FMN, another with the NAC457, and another to search for CTCSS I think. Will record all and see what I get. The HomePatrols are super that way in that they record their screen info and the audio.

Phil
 

jonwienke

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I would just do 2 channels, one with CTCSS 118.8, and the other with NAC 457, and see what traffic you get. Having a channel set to all/search is going to make digital noise when the P25 user keys up.
 

W1KNE

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Thanks Bill. Good advice. Sounds like there is another user on channel at 460.100 with CTCSS of 118.8. I can't discern who it is yet, although I did hear them say "....on...analog..."...may be Vermont State Police. Woodstock has 460.100 and VSP has 460.150.
I will make a clear squelch channel, FMN, another with the NAC457, and another to search for CTCSS I think. Will record all and see what I get. The HomePatrols are super that way in that they record their screen info and the audio.

Phil

So you submitted that NAC $457 is Woodstock PD. Did you confirm that AFTER this post or before it?
Is not 100% confirmed yet?
 
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