West Palm Beach on new P25 system

[N4KVE]

Seems the town just started using their new P25 system. Not hearing anything on the old system, so it must be true. They almost went Open Sky, but thankfully that didn't happen. But just like Miami, which had to go back to Edacs after their new system had failures, I'm not deprogramming my radio just yet.

 

[CanesFan95]

How does the new system sound? Hopefully no encryption?

 

[firerick100]

The feed is up and running but the live cad is still disabled, i hope they fix it.

 

[AK4FD]

Re: WPB P25 System

The feed is up and running but the live cad is still disabled, i hope they fix it.

The Live CAD is actually Palm Beach County, not City of West Palm Beach... 2 different systems & departments. When I get back into town next week I will listen to the WPB P25 system and submit the new talkgroups when I hear the units talking... As far as the live feed, it is essentially useless due to the fact it only broadcasts Dispatching calls.. No responding Tac channels or Firegrounds and no follow-up; So basically you can hear where the calls are but can't listen to what's going on with them. County officials tell me due to HIPAA regulations they don't want the public hearing details of patient information... When I stated that anyone with a scanner can hear it anyways I was told their County Attorney's suggested they reduce the live feed to just Dispatches. Which also brings me to your second part Rick, the Live CAD. The Live CAD will never again be enabled either, due to this same issue I have mentioned above. I have already spoken to some County people up at HQ about this. It's a dead horse that can no longer be beaten... Palm Beach County is VERY political and it wouldn't surprise me if they end up enabling encryption along with their P25 Phase-2 migration over the next year... The bottom line is Palm Beach County does NOT like the general public to know what is going on with their agency or units unless THEY themselves publish/release it... That is the gist that I get since I've been down this road with their people before...

 

[N4DES]

The Live CAD is actually Palm Beach County, not City of West Palm Beach... 2 different systems & departments....

Except that WPBFR is dispatched by the PBCFR and they live on the County's simulcast system and the CAD data, until it was taken down, included WPBFR's calls.

 

[CanesFan95]

That's a shame. Pinellas County has a really good online fire CAD for the whole county. But for medical calls (HIPAA), they remove the location and only give the grid. Almost everything is in the clear. They are not known for being anal with their radio comms. Some of the best scanner listening anywhere.

 

[spdfile1]

Our new P25 system.

So here's the news about our system straight from the source. We have mixed feelings about it. Sound quality is not as great and they are working on volume issues. Some units are loud in our ear while others are soft. Haven't had any dead spot issues (at least not on nights). We're all still getting used to it. I have to program it into my scanner myself. If the consoles are correct (and I hope they are) each channel has an ID number which I'm hopeing is the talkgroup number. I will have confirmation later this week when I start monitoring the system from home. About encryption I can tell you for a fact that CID, SID and the SWAT1 & SWAT2 talkgroups are. This P25 system is a Harris system and is only going to be used by the West Palm Beach PD. I was told by the Harris Rep that the rest of the city (Parks, DPW, Codes, etc.) did not purchase the new radios (XG-75P Portables & XG-75M/M7300 Mobiles) and so basically they have the old Motorola system to themselves. Our system has 6 main groups and Open Sky (as we will relay on Open Sky should the new system go down). Of those 6 main groups there are 16 talkgroups (or channels) in each main group. Here is a list of all the channels on the system by name:
WP_NORTH (Div. 1/Ch. #1)
WP_SOUTH (Div. 2/Ch. #2)
WP_INFO (Now Ch. #3, was Ch. #4)
WP_TAC1 (Now Ch. #4, was Ch. #5 and currently used by North units)
WP_TAC2 (Now Ch. #5, was Ch. #6 and currently used by South units)
WP_TAC3
WP_TAC4
WP_TAC5
WP_IWTCH (Eyewatch)
SB_NRTH (School Board)
WP_SPL1 (Encrypted)
WP_SPL2 (Encrypted)
WP_SPL3
WP_ITAC
WP_CID (Encrypted)
WP_SID1 (Encrypted)
WP_SID2 (Encrypted)
WP_IA (Encrypted)
WP_SUPV (Encrypted)
WP_SWAT1 (Encrypted)
WP_SWAT2 (Encrypted)
WP_TRNG1
WP_TRNG2
WP_TRNG3
WP_CERT
WP_EXPLR
WP_EOC1
WP_EOC2
WP_CTLK1
WP_CTLK2
WP_CTLK3
WP_CTLK4
WP_CTLK5
WP_CTLK6
LE_CALL
LE_COM1
LE_COM2
LE_COM3
LE_COM4
LE_COM5
FR_CALL
FR_COM1
FR_COM2
FR_COM3
FR_COM4
FR_COM5
EM_CALL
EM_COM1
EM_COM2
EM_COM3

Eyewatch (WP_IWTCH) is still patched with the old Motorola system & the LE COMM channels have a bridge between our system and the counties system so you'll hear a second repeater key off. Any questions feel free to ask and I will update the info as I get it.

 

[N4KVE]

So are the freq's shown in the RR database correct so far?

 

[spdfile1]

As far as I know the frequencies are correct. They are all licensed under the existing call sign KNER586. I noticed that there are 3-4 frequencies on the new system that were from the old system and the Harris Rep confirmed that. I'm programming up my scanner as we speak so I'll keep you updated.

 

[spdfile1]

*********UPDATE*********

So I got the system programmed in the scanner and low and behold the ID's listed on our consoles are what come up on the scanner!!! Which means I have all of them with the exception of 2 that are only found on the portables. They would be WP_SUPV & WP_IA. I'm thinking WP_IA will get much more use than WP_SUPV. Both are encrypted however we had a SUPV talkgroup on the old system that never got used. And IA never had there own so maybe that might not get used either. I know if the supervisors want to talk to units or each other off the main air they'll just go to tac or call them on the cell phone rather than going to WP_SUPV. I doubt they even know it exists or how to even get there. I had a unit the other day that I told to meet me on the tac channel and he said ok if I can find it lol. Anyways I will submit the talkgroups to the main database to be displayed (via itinkham)!!!!!

Happy Scanning!!!!!!
SPDFILE1

 

[spdfile1]

Simulcasts each have different talkgroups

So it seems as though each time we simulcast a hot call the talkgroups which are in the 65,000 range go up by one digit. Yesterday I heard three simulcasts. The first was on the North Channel and the TG that came up was 64533. An hour later the South Channel toned out 2 simulcasted calls in one hour and the TG's were 64534 & 64536. Today the North Channel simulcasted a call and the TG was 64552. I'm not sure why it does that. My theory is possibly due to the fact that when we simulcast calls over North, South, Info, TAC1, TAC2 & Eyewatch the units on all those channels can hear us but when units acknowledge us say on the North Channel the other channels cannot hear them. And it's supposed to be that way according to Harris. So that leads me to wonder if I close the system on my scanner once I program in the TG ID's will I hear simulcasts?!?!? Right now the scanner is in open mode to pick up everything and I may just leave it that way. The only drawback is the encrypted channels that I would have not included due to the fact I can't understand them anyways. Anyone who has experienced this and has a theory on why the talkgroups go up when we simulcast let me know.