Lee County GA to go to an 800MHz system

[wildbillc]

Changes to the SWGA Regional System?

I am no longer getting any traffic on the 800 mHz band for Lee County. I have looked at the data for Lee County and it looks like they switched over to a P25 Phase II system. Can anyone confirm that? I have a Radioshack Pro-106 and looking at the manual, this one does not receive the P25 Phase II so if they have switched, I will have to look for a new scanner. Found this out just in time for a HURRICANE to pass through SWGA....

wildbillc

 

[irkjvo]

Found out the same thing. Hurricane coming thru and all of a sudden Lee County Freq's not working. Working fine just a few months ago.

WB I've been using the ones you posted in 12/2014 and they have been working great. Till today.

 

[wildbillc]

SOOOOO, looks like there is a new P25 SWGA Regional system. Are there any opinions as to which scanner would work best for this type system? How about scanner usefulness longevity? I hate having to buy a $500 scanner every 5 years because the system gets upgraded? I now have 2 scanners (Radio Shack Pro-97 and Pro-106) that pick up planes, trains and local businesses but no Police/EMS/Fire. Fun to listen to but I like listening to the emergency services.

 

[irkjvo]

Yea I guess I have a bcd396xt going to waste.

 

[irkjvo]

I have been looking at the Whistler WS1088.

 

[irkjvo]

And the Uniden BCD436HP.

 

[irkjvo]

And the Uniden BCD436HP.

Picked up a bcd436hp and am getting nothing from lee county.

 

[RRR]

Thats the bad thing with "auto mute on encryption" ...You don't know if the system you are trying to monitor is encrypted or if it just isn't on the air.

I like the Whistlers, because I can choose to hear if it is encrypted or not, telling me I am SOL or if I am just doing something wrong with my programming.

 

[wildbillc]

Ran a test

Just for fun, I took my Pro-106 and programmed the P25 System frequencies in and used a wildcard to see if I hear anything. I found the following...

TG What I think it is
1724 Garbled
21 Albany FD clear transmission
1713 Lee EMS/Fire clear transmission
41 Garbled
99 Garbled
1731 Garbled
1705 Garbled

My questions are...are the garbled channels encrypted or is it that my scanner is not capable of hearing the Phase II trunking? Why am I getting some traffic on the FD bands if the Phase II trunking is on? Is there a mix of Phase I and Phase II trunking going on? I would rather not buy a new scanner until I'm sure of the system they are using.

 

[irkjvo]

Bill.. I ordered a 436hp and programed the Freq you gave me. I didn't hear a thing. Left it scanning with logging for a long time and got nothing. Sent it back.

 

[KK4JUG]

Bill.. I ordered a 436hp and programed the Freq you gave me. I didn't hear a thing. Left it scanning with logging for a long time and got nothing. Sent it back.

Of course, you did everything right. Good thing you sent it back because it couldn't possibly have been operator error.

 

[irkjvo]

Was that really necessary? I just come here looking for help.

 

[KK4JUG]

One tiny, seemingly insignificant mistake can make all the difference in the world. And, if you put in what someone else gave you rather than getting your own information, consider the fact that that information may have been wrong.

Perhaps I was a bit sarcastic but it seemed to me that little effort was made during the initial steps.

 

[wildbillc]

Ladies, please...topic is... are the channels I'm hearing encrypted or is it my scanner? The control channels are the same for the Motorola 800 Type II and the P25 Phase II. I set up wildcards for both and scanned both...I'm not getting any Lee County traffic on the Motorola system anymore but I am getting the above on the P25 system.

 

[RRR]

Get a Whistler and you will know. Thats all I know to tell you, because my Unidens automatically mute and bypass P25 encryption, so I wouldn't know if it was encrypted, or if I wasn't doing something right.

Again, the Whistler will let you hear garbled transmissions or a busy tone, etc. if encrypted, and in the clear channels come through. That way you know if you are doing it right or not.

I'm not trying to bring partiality into this, I have 8 Unidens and 2 Whistlers, but at least Whistlers give you the choice to hear encryption so you know whats up.

 

[wildbillc]

Thanks

Thanks for the reply....I was looking at the Whistler TRX-1 as my first choice anyway but I'm gonna have to wait until I can save that kind of $$$$$$....man, it's expensive listening in on the good guys...

 

[wildbillc]

Lee County Encrypted

All,

Talked to a local police chief buddy of mine and he told to me that Lee County has indeed transferred to the new P25 system AND they have encrypted the police bands. I thought I would reach out to the my local Motorola guy some time next week and verify that but looks like we are in the dark now as far as listening in on the local sheriff and police bands for now. No real need to spend a bunch of money until I can verify all of this so I'll just keep scanning the P25 system I have set up in my old scanner and catching whatever talk groups I can. At least it's something. SIGH!

 

[irkjvo]

Would Lee County Fire and EMS have moved to P25 Phase2 also?

 

[wildbillc]

They should but I can hear them on my Pro-106 with P25 suto on so I'm not sure why I can get them so clear but no one else. I sent an email to the sheriff, lets see what he says.

 

[kg4ojj]

Per UniTrunker and PRO96com,

SysID 8D7
WACN BEE00
RFSS 006

Site 001 - Albany - cc 856.4125, with ac 856.7625 and ac 857.2625
Site 002 - Thomasville - cc 856.9875 (unknown which are alternate controls)
Site 003 - Leesburg - cc 853.9375,with ac 853.3875

EMS related (and clear) talkgroups 1713, 1714.
Encrypted talkgroups 41, 50, 99, 540

More to come. My RadioShack PRO-668 (does phase 2) is collecting more talkgroup id's and recording traffic.

It appears that the two Albany sites (Turner Field and Gillionville) were combined into one, simulcast site. Also, the Coolidge (Thomas County) site did not show as an adjacent site in either UniTrunker or PRO96. As assumed, Crisp County site is now independent (and remaining analog).

I'm headed to see family in the Crisp County area and will run UniTrunker and PRO96com to confirm.