City of Houston Project 25 TRS

[loumaag]

Originally Posted by mfn002

...Also, it appears the article is talking about the Public Works system. If that's the case, then HPD and HFD will be moving to that system, and not TxWARN. (I know, someone's going to yell at me about how the Public Works System is part of TxWARN, but since it's listed separately on the Harris County DB page, it might as well not be).

Um, no. The Pub Wrks System is NOT part of TxWARN. And, as has been stated before, the use of the Pub Wrks System is temporary only.

[ericcarlson]

The Public Works system will probably become site 5 (RFSS 3) on the TxWARN P25 system when the final CoH system implementation is completed. The Public Works 3D8 P25 system is referred to as the "interim" system by the city. Users will likely be allowed only on certain TxWARN sites in the system depending on their agency, role and selected talkgroup. Also, there will be an additional site for public safety coverage in the downtown tunnel system.

[loumaag]

Okay, I stand corrected.

[Cowthief]

Hello.

The city of Houston had the Fire Department go UHF with the argument that it somehow was better.
The Harris county STAR system has several major flaws.
First is that the primary transmit site is on the tallest building in Houston, a site that they lose come first of this new year.
Yes, the old analog 800 Motorola system will soon be no more.
Second, it never really worked anyway, and this is not unexpected.
Nextel works from that very bank and was up long before Harris county.
Who would put a type II analog Motorola 800 system next to an iDEN 800 system?
Houston will not be operating from this site.
But there is a big push on the federal level to put everyone on 700/800MHz.
Perhaps they want to sell VHF/UHF?
Look around and you will see that this is indeed the case, nationwide.

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by Cowthief

Hello.

The city of Houston had the Fire Department go UHF with the argument that it somehow was better.
The Harris county STAR system has several major flaws.
First is that the primary transmit site is on the tallest building in Houston, a site that they lose come first of this new year.
Yes, the old analog 800 Motorola system will soon be no more.
Second, it never really worked anyway, and this is not unexpected.
Nextel works from that very bank and was up long before Harris county.
Who would put a type II analog Motorola 800 system next to an iDEN 800 system?
Houston will not be operating from this site.
But there is a big push on the federal level to put everyone on 700/800MHz.
Perhaps they want to sell VHF/UHF?
Look around and you will see that this is indeed the case, nationwide.

Not sure where you get your information from, but...

1. Harris County has been off of Allied for months in lieu of 4 lower sites.
2. Nextel NEVER had an iDEN site on Allied, they had numerous analog systems there from their acquisitions though.

[loumaag]

Originally Posted by Cowthief

Hello.

The city of Houston had the Fire Department go UHF with the argument that it somehow was better.
The Harris county STAR system has several major flaws.
First is that the primary transmit site is on the tallest building in Houston, a site that they lose come first of this new year.
Yes, the old analog 800 Motorola system will soon be no more.
Second, it never really worked anyway, and this is not unexpected.
Nextel works from that very bank and was up long before Harris county.
Who would put a type II analog Motorola 800 system next to an iDEN 800 system?
Houston will not be operating from this site.
But there is a big push on the federal level to put everyone on 700/800MHz.
Perhaps they want to sell VHF/UHF?
Look around and you will see that this is indeed the case, nationwide.

The above quote is factually inaccurate in several areas. As a whole it is a complete load of crap. This "Cowthief" has a history of posting inaccurate and slanted information. Anyone reading this thread should probably ignore the quoted post. Since there is no rule against posting when you don't know what your are talking about, there isn't much the staff can do about such posts.

[KevinC]

It IS entertaining though.

[mfn002]

This is a little off-topic, but what ever happened to that LTR system that Cy-Fair was setting up?

[N5AMS]

Originally Posted by mfn002

This is a little off-topic, but what ever happened to that LTR system that Cy-Fair was setting up?

its there they are inverting the voices that come from all the tgs that I have caught so far

[mfn002]

Originally Posted by N5AMS

its there they are inverting the voices that come from all the tgs that I have caught so far

Thanks. I was just wondering because I hadn't really heard much about it in a long time.

[motorola_otaku]

Originally Posted by mfn002

Thanks. I was just wondering because I hadn't really heard much about it in a long time.

It's there for supervisors and the radio techs to play with. Dispatch and line firefighting ops will always be on conventional. And just to keep it on topic, they have access to the new City system.

In case anyone hadn't noticed, the links between UHF A1 and A6 and the 3D8 A1 and A6 talkgroups are gone. Guess that experiment was a flop.

[dupree617]

If there staying on UHF, will they be able to narrowband in time. I not know if anybody here knows.

Thanks,

Mike Dupree

[sn2007]

Just FYI, I stand corrected on information I provided in a previous post! The main Dispatch Channels on the 700 mhz system (PD) will not be encrypted. This will allow for wreckers to monitor so they can respond to wrecker request calls.

[loumaag]

Originally Posted by sn2007

Just FYI, I stand corrected on information I provided in a previous post! The main Dispatch Channels on the 700 mhz system (PD) will not be encrypted. This will allow for wreckers to monitor so they can respond to wrecker request calls.

Well, I'm not sure you were initially wrong, it probably comes that way after they started thinking about it. I'm still not sure it is going to make any difference at all. I suspect that when they move it will be to the current TxWARN P25 system or they will split those four simulcast sites (NE Hou, SE Hou, SW Hou, & NW Hou) and the other associated layer 3 sites off back to their own system, but it will make no difference as they are Phase 2 and they already have activity on them that no scanner can hear, encrypted or not.

In ref to Cy-Fair FD:

Originally Posted by motorola_otaku

It's there for supervisors and the radio techs to play with. Dispatch and line firefighting ops will always be on conventional. And just to keep it on topic, they have access to the new City system.

Originally Posted by dupree617

If there staying on UHF, will they be able to narrowband in time. I not know if anybody here knows.

As for the LTR system, it was a lot busier last week then I've heard it in the past and also there was a lot of talking on the conventional channels about installing new equipment on the trucks, although I wasn't paying that much attention so maybe they were getting new radios.

Originally Posted by motorola_otaku

In case anyone hadn't noticed, the links between UHF A1 and A6 and the 3D8 A1 and A6 talkgroups are gone. Guess that experiment was a flop.

And, whereas, I agree the experiment was a flop, they have occasionally turned on linking Tac 7, which sounds pretty bad on on 3D8 when they do. We also noted that some of the TGs that are on 3D8 are Phase 1, you can look in the DB, but most notably the HFD dispatch channel (when they turn on the link) and for some strange reason, parking enforcement.

[jschandua87]

Now I just wondering is any other city's going to Project 25 Phase II like Bryan/College Station or will they just stay on P25. I am planing on moving to houston but it will not be good if I can not listing to PD/FD.

[mfn002]

Originally Posted by jschandua87

Now I just wondering is any other city's going to Project 25 Phase II like Bryan/College Station or will they just stay on P25. I am planing on moving to houston but it will not be good if I can not listing to PD/FD.

As far as I can tell, B/CS is NOT going Phase II anytime soon. I don't know about anywhere else, but from what I can tell, the Houston area seems to be the only one moving to some Phase II traffic. As for Houston, the new system is monitorable--with the PSR 800.

In a related topic, I noticed that some HPD channels have popped up on the new system. Have those districts abandoned their UHF channels, or are they just being patched? Also, what's the current status of HFD? Are they still on UHF, or have they switched again? I'm going down there tomorrow, so it'll be helpful to know what to expect.

[motorola_otaku]

HFD is back on UHF exclusively and will likely remain there until the final system is complete and ready for roll-out. Word on the street is the December deadline for final cutover might get pushed back.. no idea what that'll mean for narrowbanding compliance since none of the existing infrastructure is narrowband-capable.

The HPD channels are just patches right for the time being. You can still hear everything on UHF.

The Village police departments (Hedwig, Sping Valley, and MVPD) have fully transitioned, but MVFD is still on UHF exclusive. Notice a trend here? They can at least narrowband if need be since they've only been on UHF since 2003.

[dupree617]

I'm still watching this very carefully.

[ericcarlson]

Originally Posted by loumaag

We also noted that some of the TGs that are on 3D8 are Phase 1, you can look in the DB, but most notably the HFD dispatch channel (when they turn on the link) and for some strange reason, parking enforcement.

Some non-TDMA-capable radios are apparently being used. Certain talkgroups (like parking enforcement) are configured to revert to FDMA when there are any non-TDMA radios on the talkgroup.

[ericcarlson]

Originally Posted by mfn002

In a related topic, I noticed that some HPD channels have popped up on the new system. Have those districts abandoned their UHF channels, or are they just being patched?

I haven't noted any patching for HPD, other than Citywide during HFD's brief stint on the public works simulcast. What I have heard is testing. These will likely be the FDMA multicast talkgroups for wreckers (and us).