My County Just Changed to Phase 2, what do I do?

[rockfordpi]

Several years ago I built a single dongle windows based trunking scanner for my friend (and before that a Linux Based). However, I was only able to do this due to lots of very good instructions and help posted here and elsewhere and have long since forgotten how I did it.

Until last week, this setup worked flawlessly. However, last week our County, Shelby County Alabama, Sheriff's Office switched from phase 1 to Phase 2 and his scanner no longer works.

Can someone point me to the resources/instructions for what I need to do to modify his system to monitor phase 2 traffic? He has a second Dongle if needed.

 

[R0am3r]

Do you recall the name of the software you installed on your friend's Windows PC? My first guess is you installed Unitrunker.

If required, consider using DSDPlus Fastlane or SDRTrunk.

 

[rockfordpi]

it was SDR Trunk

 

[wgbecks]

it was SDR Trunk

If you're familiar with SDRTrunk and prefer to keep using this application, then it is advisable to upgrade to the most recent version
of the software, SDRTrunk v 0.6.0-alpha7 and rebuild your Shelby County TRS with a modulation type of LSM.

Precompiled binaries for Windows, OSX, and Linux can be downloaded from GitHub, although my preference is to build from source
where updates can be download and recompiled as updates are released.

A great alternative is OP25 if you have a Raspberry Pi or perhaps an older PC that can be imaged with Linux.

 

[rockfordpi]

If you're familiar with SDRTrunk and prefer to keep using this application, then it is advisable to upgrade to the most recent version
of the software, SDRTrunk v 0.6.0-alpha7 and rebuild your Shelby County TRS with a modulation type of LSM.

Precompiled binaries for Windows, OSX, and Linux can be downloaded from GitHub, although my preference is to build from source
where updates can be download and recompiled as updates are released.

A great alternative is OP25 if you have a Raspberry Pi or perhaps an older PC that can be imaged with Linux.

Thanks for the information! I probably will stick with windows. I have made a working OP25 in the past and have computers I can image, but I am not real good with Linux. Is there a better windows Alternative than SDRTrunk?

 

[wgbecks]

Thanks for the information! I probably will stick with windows. I have made a working OP25 in the past and have computers I can image, but I am not real good with Linux. Is there a better windows Alternative than SDRTrunk?

For a Phase-2 system, about the only alternative I can think of is DSDPlus Fastlane, but it appears that development has ceased in that there
have not been any updates released in just over a year now. Looks like abandonware.

 

[LimaZulu]

You can check DSD-FME which also does P25 Phase II

DSD FME

Thought I'd just take a moment to share a project I've begun working on lately. If anybody wanted to give it a try out and see how it works, I'd love to hear any feedback, critique, constructive criticism, ideas, etc. This version of DSD is a flavor blend of szechyjs RTL branch and some of my...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[dave3825]

Did any of the control channels change? I mean phase 2 systems are entered as phase 1 in sdrtrunk.

APCO25 Phase 2 Decoder - Individual Channels​

Note: all APCO25 Phase 2 systems use an APCO25 Phase 1 control channel. Use a Phase 1 decoder for the Phase 2 system and sdrtrunk will automatically create the Phase 2 traffic channels for you. However, if you want to listen to the Phase 2 channels individually, you must supply the descramble settings for the channel.

 

[wgbecks]

You can check DSD-FME which also does P25 Phase II

DSD FME

Thought I'd just take a moment to share a project I've begun working on lately. If anybody wanted to give it a try out and see how it works, I'd love to hear any feedback, critique, constructive criticism, ideas, etc. This version of DSD is a flavor blend of szechyjs RTL branch and some of my...

forums.radioreference.com

The OP expressed having little experience with Linux and is looking for a Windows application.

 

[wgbecks]

You can check DSD-FME which also does P25 Phase II

DSD FME

Thought I'd just take a moment to share a project I've begun working on lately. If anybody wanted to give it a try out and see how it works, I'd love to hear any feedback, critique, constructive criticism, ideas, etc. This version of DSD is a flavor blend of szechyjs RTL branch and some of my...

forums.radioreference.com

The OP seems to want to stay with an easy to configure and operate Windows application.

 

[dave3825]

DSDPlus Fastlane, but it appears that development has ceased in that there
have not been any updates released in just over a year now. Looks like abandonware.

I would not call it abandonware just yet. True there have not been any updates in a year but I recently (last week) emailed them a bug I found and they responded pretty quickly advising they are going to look into it. I would think if they threw in the towel, my email would have went unanswered.

Many forget that the people behind these great software programs are regular people, who have lives outside of the scanning community, and writing software for scanner/sdr is not their Monday to Friday 9 to 5 job..

 

[rockfordpi]

The OP seems to want to stay with an easy to configure and operate Windows application.

Did any of the control channels change? I mean phase 2 systems are entered as phase 1 in sdrtrunk.

Did any of the control channels change? I mean phase 2 systems are entered as phase 1 in sdrtrunk.

According to radio reference, the control channels did not change. We still get a signal on the control channel, just no audio.

 

[dave3825]

These are in your other post

Previously he connected to the tower in Shelby Near Dollar General. Still receiving a signal from that tower/frequency but do not hear any radio communication.

He can still connect to and hear traffic from the Calera Tower which is located just inside the the Chilton County line. I assume that is because they are still on Phase I?

Can you link the Shelby site you lost audio on?

 

[rockfordpi]

Not 100% sure what you mean by link the Shelby site. Is this the link? Alabama Interoperable Radio System (AIRS) Site: Shelby

It is in the city of Shelby in Shelby County

 

[LimaZulu]

The OP expressed having little experience with Linux and is looking for a Windows application.

The OP seems to want to stay with an easy to configure and operate Windows application.

DSD-FME does have prebuild windows application as well

There is the latest one: Release DSD-FME V2.1b (20230714) · lwvmobile/dsd-fme