Utah and P25

[gogetumnow]

Hi Group, another new guy joining your ranks. I'm really digging this site, it's a real treasure trove of information. Hopefully I can contribute much in the future.

I'm currently looking to purchase a replacement scanner for my Pro-95 so I can still monitor UCAN after the rebanding takes place. I'm wondering if there is any reason to shell out the extra bucks (and a lot of extra bucks at that) for the P25 digital capability? Do you think we're going to see much P25 digital here? Also, are there any current users of UCAN that use P25 digital?

Currently I'm in Utah County and mostly monitor UCAN site 04. I just tapped the discriminator on my old Pro-2022 and piped it in to Unitrunker. Wow what a piece of software and a gold mine of information. I've found at least a half dozen TGID's not in the database. I'm hoping to get this next scanner set up to record to my hard drive so I can figure out what these are.

Cheers!

 

[bneilson]

Welcome to the group! We have been getting really active over 2007 and are hopefully continuing into 2008. I am glad there is another person on from Utah County (I am in SLCo). There are a few others from Utah Co, so we are starting to get good coverage there. Now we just need a few more people from Davis...

Anyway as to P25. I run a Uniden BR330T and love it. It is not Digital capable and currently I dont find that I really miss anything. There are several agencies that have TGs that are digital and they would be fun to listen to but I find I have plenty to listen to as is.

As far as the long range plans... I am not sure. I would think there would be more that will go digital, but you would have to ask why??? If they are looking for security, they will probably go digital encrypted and then it doesn't matter what you have. The UCAN system is being sold to departments as "secure" now. Some of the departments are under the impression that hobbyist can NOT monitor the system and that they are already "secure" currently. Why would they pay more to go digital or even encrypted???

In my situation I have decided to wait until things get re-banded to look into another scanner and I will probably end up getting one that is digital capable. My current one will work, once Uniden puts out a patch (3-6 months) so I am not is a big rush.

 

[enosjones]

There is only one county/system that's P-25 that I know of and that's in San Juan County covering the Colorado system, other than that most are Mot 1, 2 or EDACS.

 

[gldavis]

Currently we've ID'ed 14 Digital TG's on the UCAN system. Currently, seven of them are encrypted, so even with a Digital scanner you can't listen to 'em. At the moment, the only other user's of Digital here, is the Hill AFB system. Almost all their comms are Digital. The system covers HAFB, the UANG at the SL airport, and a few other users. I personally like having the Digital capability for what may happen.

 

[qlajlu]

What bneilson says,

Welcome, gogetumnow!

Your help in sorting out the Utah County area will be greatly appreciated. Currently we have N7OLQ, Rolfman and Junior1970 in Utah County, and enosjones in the Price area. Be sure to read the sticky. This is a protocol we set up when identifying unknown TGs so we will have documentation for the Database Admin when we submit it for the Db.

As has already been stated, although digital is not prevalent around here yet, a person would be wise in stepping up to equipment that is digital capable. One "agency" of interest to us all (Life Flight) is totally digital, but they also operate encrypted so we can't monitor them anyway. gldavis pretty well has his finger on the pulse of things around here and he has suggested being digital capable is not a bad thing. My scanners cannot be upgraded to the new "rebanded" requirements, so I too am watching this thread closely for suggestions.

Again, welcome, gogetumnow. Visit and post often. I also urge you to finish filling out your profile so we will know where you are located rather than trying to remember each time we see your "handle."

 

[daranged]

i was in scan srch mode on my 106 today and it stoped on a freq and it was blinking p25 the hole time thay was talking but i couldent get any more info couse i was in search mode i tryed to find it again with nothing i guess my ? is what p25 system would i get from provo in ut county?

 

[Rolfman]

Actually I’m in Tooele County and used to work down there but it doesn’t really matter.

There are some things to consider besides just the additional P-25 cost. As you know we just rebanded and the Uniden machines were not able to support the change right away. Not that anything like that is on the horizon right now it is something to consider, overall customer support. GRE had their units ready before the change. Also as many of the Radio Shack users found out some of their products were never going to be supported for rebanding and some that are sold as rebanded capable have yet to totally work, anyone still got a Pro-164? So keep in mind if you go with the “low bid” today you might regret it tomorrow. If at all possible I still suggest going to the top of the line models for which ever brand you choose. There is a reason they are top of the line. They have all the latest features, functions, and technology which hopefully means they will stand the test of time better. Likewise the prices on these thing rarely ever goes down and when they do it’s because the next wave is coming out. (I bought my BC246T in May 07 for $221 today they are around $210) All that being said you have to find what fits in your budget.

In this time of a retracting economy the PD’s and 1st responder’s budgets are getting hacked up like everyone else. I don’t think there is any big pile of recovery money slated for them either so it will be quite a while before they have the money to upgrade their units to digital or even encrypted secure, I think. One reason Life Flight can do it is they are a private business and just pass the cost along. I can just see it on the bottom of the ticket the PD hands out there is a little itemized list of “additional charges”

Radio Fee $2.50
Lights & Siren Fee $ .15
Office Supplies $ .35
Handcuff Fee $4.50
Environmental Fee $.50

 

[N7YUO]

The most common UCAN digitals I hear are West Valley City, and Midvale. They use those digital channels for sensitive comms. Now, beyond our area, Wyoming is digital (Wyolink) Bannock County Idaho is digital (Lava Hot Springs), And someone posted in this forum about some National Parks like Arches (I think) and one other that were p25 digital. In the Database, look at areas where you might travel and see what systems are in use there. When I had to fork over money for a new scanner, I wanted one that would trunk VHF, UHF, 700, 800, 900, and digital.