WTF is going on with Southington???

[buggiecar]

Hello Group!, I have been trying to figure out what is going on with Southington PD. I know they are P25 supposedly...but that's where it gets wonky.
I have the correct freqs put into my SDS 100 but...not hearing anything except data...soooo I do hear Fire in the clear...but PD nada.
Thanks, John

 

[firerick100]

I listen to them occasionally and I hear them fine I’m o. 155.2500 with a NAC if 131 I listened got them when the stabbing happened a few weeks ago and I have a uniden 996xt

 

[buggiecar]

Thanks...I'll give that a try

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Yeah I listen on a Pro96 when I am at work... comes in fine, occasionally garbled but you heard the dispatcher acknowledge it

 

[n1chu]

I talked to a SPD officer and he told me there are two channels he uses with the radios. (He pointed to his portable and indicated a simple one click turn of the channel dial.) My impression was that he was relating to the same frequency, but two different modes. 155.25 MHz analogue and 155.25 MHz P25 digital. (He did say he had no idea of what reasons were in place that prompted SPD to go P25 but did say he had heard nothing regarding encryption… and since I am receiving the P25 digital transmissions with a SDS200, which is supposed to ignore encryption, I doubt it’s encryption I am hearing. So, no encryption.

I programmed SPD using the auto download feature and was able to hear both modes but the data bursts on the P25 channel became annoying. And I can’t say that I heard any intelligible audio on the P25 mode… I just got annoyed with the data bursts and locked it out before I could confirm I could hear intelligible audio. The analogue mode channel has very little to listen to anymore, but since I’m primarily interested in FD, I’m not concerned with what SPD is up to. It’s my guess they are in the process of going all P25 digital and this is just the first part of it. But again, I’m just guessing-I have no inside line on the topic.

Your post seems to elude to SPD using both modes, dispatch on analogue and the mobiles and portables on digital, or vice versa.

But please post any further info you come across here. I have a sight impaired buddy who also has the same questions and I’d like to pass along any helpful pointers.

 

[900mhz]

SPD has been P25 digital for months and months now. I never hear "data bursts", probably because I have the NAC 131 programmed in on multiple devices, SDS, 996P2, 536HP, and Unication devices. The system works perfectly. Audio is well balanced and most of the officers actually speak properly into the microphone. My experience is that the P25 has a little more range, as I can hear it down on the shoreline while mobile. Once in a great while, a dispatcher will remind an officer that he must have inadvertently switched the radio to the analog channel and to switch back to the digital channel. Primarily, all communications are performed digitally.

 

[Reconrider]

Hello Group!, I have been trying to figure out what is going on with Southington PD. I know they are P25 supposedly...but that's where it gets wonky.
I have the correct freqs put into my SDS 100 but...not hearing anything except data...soooo I do hear Fire in the clear...but PD nada.
Thanks, John

Southington PD is a single frequency.
They aren't "supposedly" on p25, they are and have been for like a year.
Your location says you're in west hartford. If that's true, no wonder you don't hear southington PD, a lot of distance and a lot more RF in the way between the two locations. I'm able to hear spd from like 10 miles away - bird flys - and even then it's not the best. It sounds digital sometimes

 

[n1chu]

SPD has been P25 digital for months and months now. I never hear "data bursts", probably because I have the NAC 131 programmed in on multiple devices, SDS, 996P2, 536HP, and Unication devices. The system works perfectly. Audio is well balanced and most of the officers actually speak properly into the microphone. My experience is that the P25 has a little more range, as I can hear it down on the shoreline while mobile. Once in a great while, a dispatcher will remind an officer that he must have inadvertently switched the radio to the analog channel and to switch back to the digital channel. Primarily, all communications are performed digitally.

The data bursts I have heard are with the NAC131 activated. I used the automatic programming, first pulling down the agency from RR, and then plugging it into the SDS200.

While this method prevents any “fat fingering” (manual programming mistakes), it may not necessarily be infallible… so, after reading your results of not hearing any bursts, I double checked my programming. I found everything to be in order, the NAC131 was chosen and operating. And I haven’t seen any posts that point to the scanner having troubles relating to this. But the audio portions of a transmission are either passed to the audio stage of the scanner receiver or not, depending upon if the correct NAC code is used, an incorrect code or none at all. I believe what you are trying to convey is that I am hearing data bursts because I haven’t included the correct NAC code, or none at all. If my reasoning of this is incorrect, my apologies with the hopes someone will explain why.

As I have mentioned, I don’t routinely monitor the SPD. But after reading your take on the subject, I will begin monitoring again in the hopes of gaining more insight. (One thing I did notice is the 155.25 MHz frequency is only listed as P25 digital in the RR Database. I had guessed they were using that frequency in both analogue and digital and my scanner had been set to an audio type of “Digital”. I don’t recall changing any RR download data but I have since changed that to “All”. I will let it play for a while to see what I can see and report back here.

 

[W1KNE]

If Southington is in fact truly "dual mode", I can easily add the old 146.2 PL tone back into the DB.

 

[n1chu]

Your choice. I shouldn’t think it would hurt anything. Check the RR Database for what they have. It’s also not necessarily “dual mode” either. I don’t want everyone coming back at me for suggesting it could be… its just me guessing and testing for it. I have no inside line on the subject.

I did hear one data burst this morning at about 6:30 am, a couple of hour listening and only one transmission? Either I’ve incorrectly programmed or SPD is using other modes of communication such as MDT’s, cell phones, etc.

This will be my final on the SPD topic. As I stated, I don’t care too much about the police comms, only listen to the locals and can miss every call because I know they are only the routine stuff. The sensitive and proprietary stuff isn’t broadcast in-the-clear. And I would be complaining if it were. There are certain things that should never be broadcast. But that’s another topic for another time.

 

[900mhz]

Ran a logging program all night into this morning with SDS200 in PL/DPL/NAC search mode. All transmissions, and there were many, are with the NAC 131...zero analog PL transmissions.
In regards to data bursts that were reported...I did observe that here while in the open squelch mode...only on the initial key up when the system has been idle for some time. Responses to the initial transmission did not contain any data bursts.
You do not hear that burst when running the radio set up to decode digital only with the NAC of 131.
Therefore, there appears to be no issues with SPD. If you hear data bursts, it would be incumbent on the user to check their programming. And to reiterate, all transmissions are indeed P25, with the NAC of 131, with zero analog transmissions.

 

[cg]

Keep in mind that while there is a large radius of exclusive use for a Public Safety frequency, there are still other users on every frequency. When the weather cooperates, I get multiple NH PDs (P25), a couple from MA (analog), and one from NY (analog). Depending on what monitoring mode is used, radio type and where the user is located, it could be the source of some of what is heard.

chris

 

[W1KNE]

Hello Group!, I have been trying to figure out what is going on with Southington PD. I know they are P25 supposedly...but that's where it gets wonky.
I have the correct freqs put into my SDS 100 but...not hearing anything except data...soooo I do hear Fire in the clear...but PD nada.
Thanks, John

You're probably getting overload from the FM transmitters on Avon Mountain. I know that on 44, once you pass Bishop's Corners, you can hear Southington PD on VHF there, clear. I've picked it up almost into Springfield as well, so it does get out rather well. But VHF is so suscepitble to overload, especially from FM, I wouldn't be surprised if that is part of your issue. (Especially because the SDS series is notorious for VHF overload issues).

 

[darkness975]

@WoodburyMan
he can weigh in

 

[WoodburyMan]

Hello Group!, I have been trying to figure out what is going on with Southington PD. I know they are P25 supposedly...but that's where it gets wonky.
I have the correct freqs put into my SDS 100 but...not hearing anything except data...soooo I do hear Fire in the clear...but PD nada.
Thanks, John

@WoodburyMan
he can weigh in

I'm running my SDS100 with ProScan in Southington no problem. They are P25. I pick up their Police (NAC 155.25 NAC 131) and Police Detective (151.175 NAC 131) channels no problem. I'm over near West Center St area and I get them with -40db to -50db with a small discone in a window. I have an hour of recordings for today only.

I can attest as others that they are P25 only and not dual mode, although once almost a year ago I heard dispatch reply to an officer "You're transmitting on analog" after he accidentally transmitted on the (Analog) Fire channel. It may be a reception issue. I had horrible problems way back trying to use my old HomePatrol II with a 16" VHF/UHF antenna on it inside the house, I'd get maybe 1/10th of their TX's. Upgraded to a discone inside, it got better to 50%. Discone position in a window I get everything.

 

[Cheeseburgers]

New radio testing today?

 

[Reconrider]

I wasn't near southington at all so I didn't get to monitor them.
What were they testing?

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Just doing voice testing it sounded like

 

[Reconrider]

Just doing voice testing it sounded like

Was it on there current frequency p25 conventional?

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Yep, just doing clarity testing throughout most of the day it seemed like