Lancaster County, SC

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jbix1958

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New to SC...just moved there. In looking at RR it seems that Lancaster County is on the Palmetto 800MHz system.

While looking online for general info on Lancaster County, I read the October 2016 Fire Commission meeting minutes and there was a discussion about a "new" radio system (or maybe new radios) on the Palmetto system, including the channel assignments for the various agencies.

Can anyone provide some guidance on this? New system or new radios? Upgrading the system? Rebanding?
 

INDY72

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Palmetto 800 is about to upgrade to p25 phase I.

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c4181

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Lancaster county has some 800 channels but they don't use them. They're still using all the VHF frequencies listed in the database
 

jeffmulter

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Lancaster County will be going to the Palmetto 800 system, and will pay for 9 communications sites to be constructed within the county (4 of the antenna sites appear to be water towers).

The county is also buying a huge order of radios that should come close to enabling all sheriffs and police officers, ems personnel and most fire personal to have their own assigned radio. Supposedly, the price they negotiated from Motorola was a signficant savings over what they would have paid for if buying the radios under the state's contract (about $1 million).

Once the system is operational, there are plans to keep fire and ems paging operational on one shared VHF channel, as well as simulcasting some 800 comms on the corresponding legacy VHF channel.
 

INDY72

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Are they going direct p25 or waiting for upgrade on the new simulcast?

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jeffmulter

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I have not seen it specified which mode of P25 that Lancaster County will operate in at startup of the new system.

Given that the county may still be months away from testing the new radio system, I'm guessing they will be using P25 phase 1 digital at startup.

The northern panhandle of Lancaster County generates a large portion of the calls for service within the county, as well as mutual aid requests from neighboring counties. All three of the counties bordering the panhandle - York Co., S.C., Mecklenberg Co. and Union Co in N.C. - are using P25 phase 1 for all or some of their communications.

Hobbyists wishing more information about the changes coming to public safety communications in Lancaster Co should look at the meeting minutes of the Public Safety Committee and the Fire Commission, which are available online.
 

qball

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Hey Jeff! I haven't seen you in a while.

Lancaster County will use a 9-site simulcast sub cell of the Palmetto 800 network P25 network (sys ID = 1d9). The simulcast will be all 700MHz. There will be an additional fill in site that will fit between Lancaster and Chester. They will be phase 1 P25 digital.
 

jeffmulter

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Thank you for the additional system information, Qball. Is Lancaster County going to 700 MHz. by choice, or has the 800 MHz spectrum in the surrounding area become too saturated to handle another system ?

BTW - I'm still out there doing the same work ... it's just that most of my assignments tend to be up in Catawba, Lenoir and Iredell counties.

For all ...

Since it's been posted in one of the county's meeting minutes, I'll mention to those interested in listening to Lancaster Co when they transition to the new radio system that a fleet map and other info about the talkgroups has been posted online. Some of the talkgroups will be encrypted, but it appears to me to be a decent balance between privacy and openess. Here's the link ... go to the pages at the end of the minutes:

http://www.mylancastersc.org/vertic...ommission_minutes_10-06-16-11042016114259.pdf

In addition to the fire commission meeting minutes, the county's Public Safety Committee meeting minutes have also included some information that hobbyists may find informative.
 

qball

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Jeff,

The use of 700MHz is a matter necessity. There is plenty of 700MHz spectrum available and interference free versus the heavily cluttered 800MHz channels here in the Charlotte UASI.

I look forward to seeing the system on the air soon!

I am glad to hear that you are still around doing well. We'll get together for lunch soon!
 

Bill28227

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Will all the modern scanners from the PRO-197 and 106 up handle the 700 frequencies well? Or should I say as well as the 800 frequencies?
Bill
 

qball

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Will all the modern scanners from the PRO-197 and 106 up handle the 700 frequencies well? Or should I say as well as the 800 frequencies?
Bill

A cursory search indicates that the Pro-series scanners you mentioned won't support 700MHz. I may be wrong...

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INDY72

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106 will. As well as 380. PRO-106 does analog p25 phase I LTR . It is the MRS version of the GRE PSR500

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garys

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This is a timely thread, or might be. My son might be taking a job in Charlotte and moving his family to the area. They are thinking about York or Lancaster Counties and last night mentioned Indian Land as a possibility.

This morning he sent me a couple of links to articles about the effort to incorporate Indian Land and another area into municipalities. From reading the articles, it looks like this is a rapidly growing area.

Improving the public safety radio system ahead of time is a wise move, but I'm not crazy about the amount of encryption being proposed. Not that anyone has asked my opinion.

If the move happens, I'll bring along a scanner to listen to the area and of course Charlotte Mecklenburg as well.
 

Bill28227

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I live in Indian Land. Where I live, Charlotte Mecklenburg is not receivable unless you put up a good outdoor antenna. I do not hear them on my Pro-106 or 197.
 
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