I-Call

[friedthat]

hey, has anyone been able to listen to an I-Call on the bell fleetnet . cause i can see it show up but it will NEVER tune to it.. and ther are lots of them.. and yes i have set "i-calls" to on.
so just curious

 

[jellotor]

I assume you're identifying them with a scanner and not with trunker? Uniden scanners sometimes have issues decoding the control channel that manifest themselves as I-Calls where there really are none. My 250D does this from time to time. I suspect you are having the same problem since I-Calls on Fleetnet are few and far between.

 

[Forts]

I run Trunker pretty extensively on the London Fleetnet tower, and I don't think I've ever seen an I-Call in use.

 

[slicerwizard]

I've never seen one in any of the three zones. They may be out there, but it seems unlikely.

 

[mikewazowski]

I saw them on Zone 1 when the OPP were training on the system but nothing since then.

Saw a few on Zone 2 between Lindsay CACC and EMS units. Seemed to be administrative type traffic specifically between the CACC and one particular unit.

At one point a few BMR tech's used to use them in Zone 1 quite extensively during the build out of Zone 1. Guess they figured there would be less people overhearing them cutting up their fellow techs and bosses.

 

[VA3DBJ]

Out here in Durham I get I-Calls a lot from Zone 2 but not as often in Zone 1. Up until this month, most of the I-Calls were from MOH, but lately the I-Calls have been P25, assuming OPP and MTO-Enforcement.

Last weekend I had a high I-Call P25 traffic, and was lucky enough to catch a OPP VR channel and they were notifying dispatch were they were doing traffic ride checks. Sure it was Northumberland.

 

[friedthat]

yea i am in zone 1, and there are only certain time of day i will see them pop up and when they do it is very frequent.. and also i see them not only showing up as "I-call" on the 296d but i also see them being logged in the software that comes with the newer 396T and of course are all 7***** numbers. but it is odd that i cannot hear them , and that is with EITHER the 296 or the 396 wit hthe "I-calls" on.
thanks

 

[mikewazowski]

Are you sure they are I-Calls? I wasn't aware of any software that comes with the 396T.

Have you ever heard any voice?

I'm still guessing these are bogus caused by noise on the control channel.

I run trunker 24/7 on the Edgar tower and I've yet to see an I-Call since the OPP did their training on Fleetnet.

 

[friedthat]

Are you sure they are I-Calls? I wasn't aware of any software that comes with the 396T.

Have you ever heard any voice?

I'm still guessing these are bogus caused by noise on the control channel.

I run trunker 24/7 on the Edgar tower and I've yet to see an I-Call since the OPP did their training on Fleetnet.

well, seeing how when on the 296, the display will show up "I-call 705447" or when holding on a T/G it will show up "ACT ID 7xxxxx". Also when i have the 296 tapped and hooked up to UniTrunker, under the "Affs" in "view" section, i see the Radio ID they are using and i also see the T/G , and when the "call is done" per se it shows in the "label" "Goodbye" and it makes sense because you can see the radio Id time it starts and the time it stops and when it stops is when you see the label "goodbye. .. and of course when i see that activity i do NOT hear anything on my voice scanner the 396T.
and similar thing happens when i have the 396T hooked up via serial cable to the BCD396T Uniden Advanced Scanner Director (which is avail for download at uniden.com) and click on advanced. i can see a simple spreadshet type of dispaly of talk groups and when ever a 7xxxxx one shows up i do not hear it on the 396 nor the 296.
so based on all three different indicators i do not think they are "bogus T/G"
they are some sort of call but i am jsut confused on how to hear them.

 

[mikewazowski]

I'm still convinced they are bogus.

First of all, the 296 will show 7xxxx id's when holding. This does not mean they are involved in an I-Call. It seems to be something with the 296 and VHF/UHF trunking systems.

Are you hearing anything when your 296 display shows "I-Call 705447"?

With Unitrunker, if you see a radio id and a talkgroup, you are seeing a group call not an I-Call.

So you see I-calls when your 396 is hooked up to UASD yet the exact same 396 will not let you hear it? Still sounds bogus to me. Looks like the Uniden software has the same problem that the 296 does.

Make sure you have I-Calls set to on and you have the I-Call wildcard programmed in if you are ID Scanning. If you are ID Searching, you won't need the wildcard.

 

[exkalibur]

Like Mike, I run Trunker (TRUNK88 actually) almost 24x7 on the King City tower (seems to be the busiest that I can hear). I've never seen a single Private Call, aside from BMR techs, so I would assume you're seeing bogus information. My 796 shows I-Calls rather often, but TRUNK88 shows nothing.

 

[slicerwizard]

So you see I-calls when your 396 is hooked up to UASD yet the exact same 396 will not let you hear it? Still sounds bogus to me. Looks like the Uniden software has the same problem that the 296 does.

The problem is in the scanner firmware - it decodes a bogus radio ID on a bogus frequency and sends that data to the PC. You'd get the same error with ARC, UASD, etc. The fact that no audio is ever heard confirms that it's just noise on the control channel.

Personally, I wish they'd toss in a few private calls from time to time - I'd like to see what the OSW's for a digital private call look like on VHF/UHF systems.

 

[friedthat]

HA! i am not crazy.
well i set my 396T to scan for the wildcard for I-calls and i actually am hearing the begining of one i think i keep seeing something like 764209, and it sounds like a cell phone ringing then you hear kinda like static then it continues scanning.. and it happend around 10 times or soo.. and my signal bar goes from full to 2 .. soo i dunno.. i have confirmed that i am getting some audio and it isnt "bogus" any one want to comment on this?

 

[slicerwizard]

Sure, I'll comment. It's bogus and you're crazy.

Radio ID 64209 looks very bogus. I've only seen ID's up to about 42000.

If they were legitimate private calls, you would've heard two users talking to each other. Instead, you saw the signal strength drop from five bars on the control channel to two bars on god knows what frequency your scanner decided to tune to, and you didn't hear two users talking to each other. If it had been a legitimate system frequency with an private call in progress, you would've had five bars and clear audio.

 

[friedthat]

Sure, I'll comment. It's bogus and you're crazy.

Radio ID 64209 looks very bogus. I've only seen ID's up to about 42000.

If they were legitimate private calls, you would've heard two users talking to each other. Instead, you saw the signal strength drop from five bars on the control channel to two bars on god knows what frequency your scanner decided to tune to, and you didn't hear two users talking to each other. If it had been a legitimate system frequency with an private call in progress, you would've had five bars and clear audio.

lol,thanks

but like i said . it was something to the effect of 764209.. i know for a fact i seen the suffix 209 and oof course the prefix 7 but the other 2 number i could have inverted them cause it only lasted for about 3 seconds not even and i am not stuck staring at the scanner.
but how do you explain the sound of a low tone cell ring for 3 quick tones then static and faint audible noise then nothing?? you know i think i might have to do is RECORD it then post it .. then you can tell me EXACTLY what it is..

 

[slicerwizard]

How do I explain random intermod or other junk on a random VHF channel? There really isn't anything to explain - the bands are full of that stuff.

By all means, make a recording and post it and we'll see what we can make of it.

Mind you, a better recording to make would be the control channel audio via a discriminator tap when these supposed private calls are taking place, since that audio tells everything. 22 kHz 8 bit mono will do nicely.