TriMet Busses

[radiotweester]

I need some clarification on TGs and my SDRs are not hooked up. I'm not a TriMet listener and if I do it's MAX. I just discovered rosecitytransit.org thanks to a previous post. There's channels labeled bus calls, are these the same as BUS ADHOC# / Bus mic # in the RR database or are there additional TGs I don't have?

 

[rosecitytransit]

The "Bus mic"/"AD-HOC" channels are used by occasional covert mics/silent alarms; routine bus calls are done by private (individual) call directly to the bus. If you are using a physical scanner, Uniden ones do not understand those (can manually scan the voice frequencies conventionally) as it is not a Motorola system; Radio Shack and I think Whistler ones do. For SDRs, trunk-recorder understands them because the author was kind enough to add support; not sure about other software like op25.

 

[radiotweester]

Okay. The numbers stopped at 11 on RR when I was seeing 16 on your site that was throwing me. I'm using old XTS5000 and XTL5000s in NAS, so I guess I'm out of luck. I'll just enjoy your site. Thanks for the response!

 

[rosecitytransit]

I have no idea about those radios, but as I said, if they support scanning conventional frequencies, you could always program in all of the voice frequencies and listen that way (though I think at least some of the Mt Scott ones aren't in the DB; check the license).

 

[KE7JFF]

Buses when they need to talk to the dispatcher send what’s called an RTT, which then the dispatcher does a private call to the bus directly. The bus number is the radio ID.

 

[radiotweester]

I have no idea about those radios, but as I said, if they support scanning conventional frequencies, you could always program in all of the voice frequencies and listen that way (though I think at least some of the Mt Scott ones aren't in the DB; check the license).

Yeah, I'm trying the conventionals with scan lists for Council Crest and Mt Scott. With TriMet not as active as BOEC it actually seems to work pretty well. There seem to be quite a few individual calls The radios decode Emergency and radio IDs and no scan lockup on control channels.
It's something "new" that's free to play with what I've got and with so many local counties Phase 2 and or with LE encrypted.

 

[radiotweester]

Buses when they need to talk to the dispatcher send what’s called an RTT, which then the dispatcher does a private call to the bus directly. The bus number is the radio ID.

I think there was some sort of data visible back when I had Unitrunker running, but as TriMet wasn't really of interest back then, I just moved on. I'm familiar with the individual call concept, but it didn't have dedicated TGs. It was just sent on a primary from the dispatcher console to a packset to alert/status check. This sounds like the next evolution.

 

[rosecitytransit]

I'm familiar with the individual call concept, but it didn't have dedicated TGs

Individual calls don't (the radio ID on one side can look like a talk group), but TriMet's always come from the dispatch consoles and maybe base stations. Portable to portable calls aren't possible like on other systems, though radio technicians have the ability to make calls to test.

 

[joescanner]

Individual calls don't (the radio ID on one side can look like a talk group), but TriMet's always come from the dispatch consoles and maybe base stations. Portable to portable calls aren't possible like on other systems, though radio technicians have the ability to make calls to test.

Eh, portable to portable U2U calls are possible, just disabled for >95% of the portables on the system. 😉

Most often however, like you said, it's a console initiated U2U call, and occasionally a base station or dispatcher's portable radio.

 

[rosecitytransit]

Eh, portable to portable U2U calls are possible, just disabled for >95% of the portables on the system. 😉

Most often however, like you said, it's a console initiated U2U call, and occasionally a base station or dispatcher's portable radio.

Glad to see you're still around! Would they even technically be possible since I think the standard portable model (not sure about mobiles in NRVs) is keypad-less? BTW, I've heard a dispatcher accidentally pick a supervisor's map icon to call and the supervisor heard the ring but didn't know how to answer.

 

[joescanner]

Glad to see you're still around! Would they even technically be possible since I think the standard portable model (not sure about mobiles in NRVs) is keypad-less? BTW, I've heard a dispatcher accidentally pick a supervisor's map icon to call and the supervisor heard the ring but didn't know how to answer.

Not terribly user friendly but a call list can be programmed into the radios without the numeric keypad. Not really wieldy either with 3300 subscribers on the system.

 

[radiotweester]

Here's an oddity. I'm scanning TriMet conventional and I'm hearing the same tone as PPB Dispatch channels had after switching to encrypted Tac 1s as primary. The radio ID is 360. Does anyone know what this is? Perhaps a temporary patch to Portland's TRS with the concert at Providence Park is going on?

 

[rosecitytransit]

Here's an oddity. I'm scanning TriMet conventional and I'm hearing the same tone as PPB Dispatch channels had after switching to encrypted Tac 1s as primary. The radio ID is 360. Does anyone know what this is? Perhaps a temporary patch to Portland's TRS with the concert at Providence Park is going on?

The radio people were doing some testing (I think maybe at the Columbia Blvd site, or a current bus garage) on the same talk group, 30000, so I'm presuming they did it.

 

[radiotweester]

The radio people were doing some testing (I think maybe at the Columbia Blvd site, or a current bus garage) on the same talk group, 30000, so I'm presuming they did it.

Thanks. I didn't think to check your feed until after I'd posted here.