I heard that the switch to digital will be June 2021. Analog will be discontinued. I have the Uniden 346XT and 396XT. I am looking for any suggestions on a replacement handheld scanner will work with the new digital system? Thank you.
San Francisco Public Safety going Digital June 2021
- Thread starter sffire
- Start date
If this is the system they are going to? San Francisco County/City P25 Trunking System, San Francisco, California - Scanner Frequencies you'll need SDS 100 or SDS200 that can handle Simulcast Sites.
N6ML
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Depending on your usage style, a Unication G4 (or G5) may be an option. They have a much superior 7/800MHz receiver than the SDSx00 (I own both), but are less flexible (if you want to scan other stuff beyond a fairly static set of talkgroups on the single P25 system).
Eng74
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Haven’t been in the City since January of 2020 so I can’t check to see any sites. I have the P25 for SFO loaded already. Wish there was a 49ers Draft Day party this year so I could snoop around and see what’s going on. Maybe in August or September I will get back up there.
Anyone aware of SFPD's specific plan for complying with the mandate to maintain confidentiality of CLETS information?
I have a 325P2, but I haven't tried it on a simulcast system yet. I'm told if you use the rubber ducky antenna in a location where you don't receive much you might get lucky and only receive one of the simulcast transmitter sites. However, if you then go outside, are in a vehicle, or walking around you then will pick up all the sites and a distorted signal is received. When I visit family in L.A. all my scanners, base, mobile and handheld, do well on the L.A. Fire Department's 800 MHz conventional repeater system. They simulcast a few of their channels. I use GRE's PSR-500 (handheld) and PSR-600 (base and mobile), with one installed in a car. Once I clear one low ridge to travel in my car away from the beach area my family lives in, the LAFD goes nuts on me. I have good, drill the roof type mobile antennas, and even when I park and stop moving the signal is still distorted. By going nuts, I'm saying it resembles encryption.
I live in a mountainous area, with only two trunking systems in the county, one a 35 year old Type 1 system and the other a Phase 2, non trunked system for Southern California Edison (SCE). I bought my 325P2 so I could hear SCE, especially during power outages. The SCE system is conventional, with receiver voting and is multicast, not simulcast. The 325P2 handles this well. If I'm driving and I start losing the signal of one repeater, the radio will change over to the next repeater that has a stronger signal and it does it without any delay or me even noticing it, unless I watch the display. This radio can use conventional AA batteries and I bought 4 sets of rechargeables. I also always keep about 18-24 standard Alkaline AA's in the house, about 8-10 in each car, that I can use if I can't recharge my batteries. I don't like the SDS-100's with their huge manufacturers battery. The drawback to using conventional batteries in the 325P2 is it only holds 2 AA batteries. I have 2700 mAh batteries and don't get more than about 4 hours from them. It would make the radio a little larger to have 4 and that is what they should have done.
A couple of businesses here have DMR systems so I had that upgrade installed at the time of order. If I had a simulcast anywhere near me I guess I would either just use the 325P2 away from the windows of the house to minimize multiple site reception and hope it would work. That, or bite the bullet and buy a SDS-100 against all my instincts to avoid manufacturers batteries. I've had some before and I would put up with them to get the performance of the SDS-100 if I needed it.
ridgescan
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Crap! I was just posting in my own thread how I'm enjoying my BC785D with SF 800 and that they never switched over.
It was a good run.
I hope to get a portable that uses regular batteries. Time to replace my 346xlt and 396xlt since they will not work with the new system. What to buy? Will the home patrol portable work? It uses regular batteries. I remember, the old days, the portable scanners would use a special battery pack. After awhile, the battery would fail and it would be hard to find a replacement pack. Plus, buying extra spare battery pack can be very expensive.
Do you mean BCD396XT? If yes, then that scanner is digital and should be able to monitor the SF P25 system if they don't use Phase II talk groups.
N6ML
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That seems like a dubious "if" (the system is already marked as Phase II in the RR DB)... plus if there's simulcast (LSM) in play, the 396XT may not handle that well.
I certainly don't want to prevent someone from upgrading. Just asking! 
For what it's worth, Unitrunker identifies Sacramento's system as Phase II, but they are only using Phase I talkgroups and no plans to go Phase II.
I'm curious (because I haven't been tracking this system much) if anyone has seen TDMA in use on the SF P25 system, or if it's been listed as Phase II because that's how it identifies on trunk decoders.
For what it's worth, Unitrunker identifies Sacramento's system as Phase II, but they are only using Phase I talkgroups and no plans to go Phase II.
N6ML
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Not sure how the RR DB ultimately decides if a system is Phase II or not. Probably comes down to the opinion (at the time) of the DB admin who creates it (?)
I would think it would behoove the operators of a new system to go Phase II from the beginning, rather than setting themselves up for the pain of transition later (when they inevitably need the capacity), but I'm probably trying to apply logic again..... At least it appears that the CRIS system is going to be Phase II from the beginning (definitely seeing at least mostly TDMA being tested there).
I would think it would behoove the operators of a new system to go Phase II from the beginning, rather than setting themselves up for the pain of transition later (when they inevitably need the capacity), but I'm probably trying to apply logic again.....
At least it appears that the CRIS system is going to be Phase II from the beginning (definitely seeing at least mostly TDMA being tested there).
Very sad to hear this news about SFPD. Especially since they are already complying with the CLETS mandate every time they say "sufficient help, we'll get our own."
I have used a BCD325P2 on the San Francisco P25 system and it works fine. I experience simulcast distortion issues with other systems in the area (EBRCS, Oakland P25, etc.) but not San Francisco. And it will definitely work for San Mateo Fire VHF.
So far, I have only seen one TDMA talkgroup active on the system - 60102 SFFD robo dispatch. Everything else is Phase 1 (for now).
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Yeah the TDMA talkgroup is the only one on Site 21, so as more talkgroups start popping up, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re all TDMA.
Checked today and found more activity on Site 21. Animal control and public works, all TDMA so far. If you multiply the P25 talkgroup ID by 16, you get the corresponding SmartZone talkgroup ID. I submitted the ones I saw today to the DB.
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