Lack of SDS100 & SDS200 owners in Michigan?

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eaf1956

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And you two guys, KK4JUG, eaf1956 didnt stop by my place while in Bay City? What a loss for you all haha.

Staying on topic, I dont have any SDS's since we're not simulcast here and simulcasts of midland, saginaw, genesee counties come in good on the 396XT, 996P2.
LTR finder would be useful though!
Sorry I was taking a beautiful young woman to Luckys for dinner.

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KK4JUG

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Sorry, Ron. I'm back in Georgia now. I'm probably going back in September. I'll check with the SWAT team to get your latest address.
 

a29zuk

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I would love one but they just cost too much. They keep adding bells, whistles, wifi, gps, etc so they can jack the price up instead of just making a great plain scanner.


I think the 325P2 (and probably the XT and other P2 scanners, too as I don't own those) is a plain scanner. It's pretty simple to operate. No SD card. Quick keys are only two deep and freescan makes it easy to program.

Jim
 
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ac8fm

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I'm interested in buying one, but I'm new to all of these digital modes, is it a waste of money if I live in OC? Since they're on OpenSky?
 

ac8fm

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Let me clarify by stating that I know that OpenSky means that it's encrypted, but what I'm wondering is, will I be able to get unencrypted signals from Macomb/Wayne county (fire/ems/pd) and from businesses/etc, to justify it. And additionally it sounds like they may be moving from OpenSky to MPSCS according to Krokus? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Someone mentioned a county recently going encrypted, would you mind mentioning which one?

Also, if I purchase the DMR option or even NXDN, as Beaumont Hospital is on one or the other, can't recall which, would it be worth it or would I mostly be running into encrypted DMR communique? I tried playing around with DSD+ and a usb dongle, I was able to get some signals but I want something more dedicated/powerful.

Thanks in advance
 

smithken

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I'm interested in buying one, but I'm new to all of these digital modes, is it a waste of money if I live in OC? Since they're on OpenSky?
It depends on what you want to monitor, if you want to monitor Open Sky then yes it's a waste of money since nothing can monitor Open Sky.
 

ac8fm

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@smithken, I wrote an addendum that should of clarified my original question before you posted but since I'm a "newbie" it's awaiting moderator approval, as this post will be. But I want to follow again with: I'm okay with the idea that I can't monitor Open Sky, I'm wondering if Oakland County is slated to move to MPSCS so it can be monitored as Krokus mentioned? Also are the current MPSCS communications unencrypted? IE Will I be able to listen to all MPSCS communications from Wayne/Macomb county? Assuming proper antenna/configuration/etc? As well as DMR/NXDN communications from within Oakland county? Or are most of those encrypted as well?
 

ac8fm

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Cool, I ask a question relevant to the topic of getting an SDS200 and living in Michigan, my first post as a matter of fact, and one of the first responses is to close the thread. I guess I'll just buy one and find out for myself.

@smithken Sorry I wasn't more clear in my first post, once this one is closed I'll start a more detailed thread of my findings for others who may be interested in getting this radio in SE Michigan who are hesitant due to all of the encryption. I've looked over RadioReference's DB, but I wasn't sure how up to date the comments about which stations were encrypted were. If I can save someone ~$800 then it will be worth it, especially if they can just use DSD+ for whatever little left is available here.

@a29zuk Thank you for clarifying which county, I really appreciate it.
 

krokus

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@smithken, I wrote an addendum that should of clarified my original question before you posted but since I'm a "newbie" it's awaiting moderator approval, as this post will be. But I want to follow again with: I'm okay with the idea that I can't monitor Open Sky, I'm wondering if Oakland County is slated to move to MPSCS so it can be monitored as Krokus mentioned? Also are the current MPSCS communications unencrypted? IE Will I be able to listen to all MPSCS communications from Wayne/Macomb county? Assuming proper antenna/configuration/etc? As well as DMR/NXDN communications from within Oakland county? Or are most of those encrypted as well?

Most MPSCS traffic is not encrypted. We do not know about the Oakland County plans, but we can hope that most things are not. The non-Oakland traffic being carried on the sites will be whatever that agency normally follows.

To figure out which agencies are encrypted, look at the database entries. There is an E on the mode, for those that are encrypted.

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iMONITOR

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I'm interested in buying one, but I'm new to all of these digital modes, is it a waste of money if I live in OC? Since they're on OpenSky?

The SDS200 is not capable of monitoring OpenSky and never will be. However Oakland County is supposed to be getting rid of the OpenSky system and joining MIchigan's MPSCS P25 digital system, but that won't happen overnight. But it's also expected that when they do they will also encrypt some if not all the talk groups but no one knows for certain. If they do encrypt there are no scanners available now or in the future will allow you to monitor an encrypted system. That's the purpose of encryption, so they can't be monitored by others. So if monitoring Oakland Counties public safety system is your one and only goal, the SDS would be a waste of money.
 

iMONITOR

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Let me clarify by stating that I know that OpenSky means that it's encrypted, but what I'm wondering is, will I be able to get unencrypted signals from Macomb/Wayne county (fire/ems/pd) and from businesses/etc, to justify it. And additionally it sounds like they may be moving from OpenSky to MPSCS according to Krokus? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Someone mentioned a county recently going encrypted, would you mind mentioning which one?

Also, if I purchase the DMR option or even NXDN, as Beaumont Hospital is on one or the other, can't recall which, would it be worth it or would I mostly be running into encrypted DMR communique? I tried playing around with DSD+ and a usb dongle, I was able to get some signals but I want something more dedicated/powerful.

Thanks in advance

OpenSky does not mean it's encrypted. OpenSky is just another "digital" mode that is licensed and proprietary and not monitor-able my any scanner radios available to the general public. You will not be able to monitor any public safety system or otherwise that is encrypted and you will not be in the future regardless of what scanner you buy.
 

iMONITOR

Silent Key
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@smithken, I wrote an addendum that should of clarified my original question before you posted but since I'm a "newbie" it's awaiting moderator approval, as this post will be. But I want to follow again with: I'm okay with the idea that I can't monitor Open Sky, I'm wondering if Oakland County is slated to move to MPSCS so it can be monitored as Krokus mentioned? Also are the current MPSCS communications unencrypted? IE Will I be able to listen to all MPSCS communications from Wayne/Macomb county? Assuming proper antenna/configuration/etc? As well as DMR/NXDN communications from within Oakland county? Or are most of those encrypted as well?


Numerous counties in Michigan on MPSCS use encryption as does the State Police. But again not on every talk group. If you look at RR's database you can see which ones buy viewing the talk groups and looking in the MODE column. Anywhere you see "DE" that means it Digital and Encrypted and you will not be able to monitor them.

With regards to DMR and NXDN systems it's entirely possible they could be encrypted now or in the future. I have no idea who have enabled encryption in these digital modes as I currently don't monitor any of them. The little that I have were pretty boring.
 

WX4JCW

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im sitting in a Hotel in Romulus right now, enjoying my SDS200 and SDS100, kinda working DTW airband as im right across the street
 

ac8fm

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I just got mine, I'm located in the SE part of Troy, can pickup Macomb simulcast no problem, Wayne I'm just able to get with a 10ft mast and a discone I put up on my ranch (so it's not super high). The SDS200 is showing about 1-2 bars for Wayne, not sure how to get an S-meter reading from this yet. Am happy because someone from RO was saying they could just barely get Wayne after upgrading to an SDS200.

I went ahead and bought the DMR upgrade, waste of money so far. It shows it picking up channels and color codes but then I hear no audio. I picked up one or two businesses with it. Shouldn't have bothered.

I'd love to know if anyone can hear Beaumont hospital with the NXDN upgrade. It would be the only way I could justify another $50.
 

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I just got mine, I'm located in the SE part of Troy, can pickup Macomb simulcast no problem, Wayne I'm just able to get with a 10ft mast and a discone I put up on my ranch (so it's not super high). The SDS200 is showing about 1-2 bars for Wayne, not sure how to get an S-meter reading from this yet. Am happy because someone from RO was saying they could just barely get Wayne after upgrading to an SDS200.

I went ahead and bought the DMR upgrade, waste of money so far. It shows it picking up channels and color codes but then I hear no audio. I picked up one or two businesses with it. Shouldn't have bothered.

I'd love to know if anyone can hear Beaumont hospital with the NXDN upgrade. It would be the only way I could justify another $50.

Royal Oak is approximately 6 miles closer to Detroit than Troy is. However Troy, MIchigan is 748' above sea level where Royal Oak, Michigan is 663' above sea level, so you're home ground level is approximately 85' higher than Royal Oak. So not taking antenna and mounting, that's like having an 85' tower!

There is a 70cm amateur radio DMR repeater in Mt. Clemens, check that out.
 

Hit_Factor

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Beaumont has 200 50 watt mobile units licensed. Now I doubt all of those are deployed, but those should be easy to hear. License indicates 20 mile radius from thier base station.

With a decent discone setup above your roofline I think you would hear a 5 watt portable, if it's trunked (probably is) the base units will repeat the HTs at 25 or 50 watts.

Go for it.
 

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Silent Key
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I'm thinking Beaumont Hospitals as well as others would be encrypted these days if not in the near future due to HIPPA privacy concerns/laws.
 
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