Duke Progress site changes

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AlphaFive

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I am finding some emissions designator site changes in the Asheville area. I will try to be specific. Previously in the Asheville area there have been traditional M 36 sites such as;
WPZP997 LEICESTER
WPZP957 multi site, represented in SKYLAND and BLACK MOUNTAIN
WPZP757 ASHEVILLE DOWNTOWN
WPZP759 MARS HILL
WPZP745 FLAT TOP MOUNTAIN SWANNANOA
These sites have always had the emission designator representing an M 36 system. as of today they carry an emissions designator of 13K2F3E only, 'A WIRELESS RADIO WHICH TRANSFERS DATA ETC..'
I conducted a short experiment with my trusty, old Pro 197. I completed a band search of 935 thru 940 MHZ in Tune Search mode. All of the sites listed, with the exception of SKYLAND/BLACK MOUNTAIN, registered on the Tune Search as M 36 systems with the proper site information.
I don't know what this change is supposed to indicate. Is there a preparation under way to transition to a system wide Open Sky system? I am only leaning this direction because if I look at a known Open Sky Duke / Progress system such as WNPW331, here are the emissions designators it contains;
20K0F1D, 20K0F3E, 11K3F1D, 11K3F9W, 12K1F9W, 13K1F9W, and 8K40F9W.
There are other sites such as Canton, WQAV229. But the reception for me is to hit and miss for me to include it in this thread. I do not receive the other sites well enough. Who has an idea what I am looking at? Thank you for your help..
 

AlphaFive

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further information

Here are some other frequency inconsistencies that may or may not have anything to do with the issue.
Duke has a statewide IDEN mobile network, the license is WPNS831. Over the last few months I have run many band searches over the 806 MHZ up to the 850 range. I have located Duke Progress dispatchers "D.C.C." as they refer to themselves, communicating with their utility employees out on the road for repair work. I have located these conversations on the following frequencies, not licensed to them; 819.9875, 819.9916, 820.1250, 820.1375, 820.2875-- note -- the I.F, range for my 536 HP is 10.8, if that is plugged in it comes back to 809.4875, the Duke IDEN system WPNS831. 820.3250, 820.3875, 820.6375 -- I.F. comes back to 809.6375 IDEN, 820.9875 -- I.F. comes back to 810.1875 IDEN..

If a band search is run from say, 817.000 MHz thru 823.000 MHZ, there is a barrage of repeater clicks and no voice modulation. Some of these have panned out over time to have Duke voice modulation on them, those that I have listed. This I bring up, because as I run a band search now from 935 MHZ through 940 MHZ I am getting the same repeater click sound that occurs down in the 820's. I am at a loss as to what is occurring.
 

AlphaFive

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Duke / Progress

4 out of 5 Dentists recommend talking to yourself as being healthy, I'll buy into that, haaa..
I am reaching some conclusions about the 935 to 939 MHz, M 36 system used by Duke Progress in the Asheville area. It would appear that the system still exists as it was built, functions as M 36. It would also appear that it's use has been curtailed greatly, if not completely. This would be in favor of some new method of communications yet to be fully completed, hence.. the new emissions designator, 13K2F3E, on any site in the Asheville area, with the exception being Canton. This could be looked at in some small way as similar to P.D.'s in the 90's switching to m.d.t.'s for minor conversations. I am still running a band search from 935 to 940, the sites are up and functioning, there is no voice modulation use.

I can't come to any conclusion regarding the Duke voice modulation in the 8 teen's and 8 twenties MHz. The recent modulation consisted of dispatcher to service crew, back and forth, and service unit to unit conversations. There is no reasonable method to get an I.F. spread to match going from 935 down to 820. It simply doesn't compute with anything I have seen. And most certainly I have never come across a method of receiving any kind of IDEN transmission, mobile or otherwise... still at a loss on this one.
 

trumpetman

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I had a thought this morning, do you have your bandplan settings correct on your scanner? I believe some scanners required you to specify the band/type of system during programming. I know when running Trunk88 on OBT systems you have to specify the bandplan or you get funky frequencies output, which would explain the weird frequencies you're seeing and the lack of traffic from not switching to the correct voice channel.


You cannot scan iDEN systems. You most certainly won't hear clear analog voice on those frequencies. I'm leaning towards a band plan issue followed by a weird image (even if your IF calculations don't add up). There is not a lot of routine chatter on the Duke Progress system and it doesn't usually get busy unless it's storming bad enough to knock a lot of the power grid out.


While there are whispers of the 900 system being upgraded in the next few years, I don't think these license modifications are anything but a clean-up job to right some license admin contact info and get the proper emission designator posted. 13K2F3E indicates a 13.2 kHz analog voice signal, which fits up there with the narrowband 900 MHz channels that are currently in use.


Hope this helps.
 

AlphaFive

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Duke

It certainly does help, thank you. Regarding the bandplan, I am actually running a "custom search" on my 536 HP from 930.000 MHz up to 940.000 MHz. I no longer have their sites built into my radios as a system. As of 5:00 p.m. yesterday I had recorded two transmissions. One from the Leicester (High Top, actually Spivey Mountain) site, and one from the Black Mountain (Christmount) site. It is working as it should, it is just apparently vewy vewy quiet..shhh.
I am still working on the 800 MHz transmissions, that is a work in progress. Thanks again.
 

KM4WLV

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I'll do some poking around some too..... Last I heard was everything was supposed to eventually all be moving toward all Open Sky with the acquisition of Progress by Duke, especially since everything in their new comm center in Charlotte is Harris.

Let me see what I can find out on my end.
 
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