Clarke County/Athens City Type II P25 Phase I

[Buttabean]

How does the admins at RR find out the talk group ID names as ive found out that clarke county sheriff/Athens police are on a digital network now but im only able to use a wildcard to monitor with and its very hard to determine what traffic is by only monitoring. Also 1 side of the traffic is encrypted at times but ive seen TG with names on encrypted channels (On Other Trunked Encrypted Systems) and im not sure how anyone could get the names assigned to a TG unless someone that helped program the radio equipment for that agency submitted it. It shows Athens/Clarke county GA is on a Motorola type 2 smartnet with analog system voice but upon searching ive found that their system is digital and the TG ID numbers dont match up with anything submitted to the database, im trying to figure out how to go about labeling these TG ID numbers that show up on the wildcard, and i assume the wildcard will stop on any & every active TG that it finds and show the ID number of it. Im still grasping the whole digital trunked thing as ive never made it pass the analog conventional systems from the early 90s that you hand programmed into a scanner. Please excuse the lack of understanding how these things work.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Sounds like you are describing a Type II mixed mode or digital only system. SmartNet was adapted as technology changed over it’s run. First there was Type I with it’s fleet maps and then there was Type II which utilized a more modern talk group based design and introduced SmartZone (multi-site trunking). One of the things Motorola did was make Type II capable of digital operation when using digital capable infrastructure (Quantars). This allowed the system to be mixed mode capable allowing digital voice to co-exist with analog voice.

Originally, these systems were known as Astro capable and the digital only systems were known as Astro trunking but Astro doesn’t necessarily mean P25 voice as it could function with an earlier predecessor known simply as Astro which used VSLEP instead of IMBE (once P25 was finalized voice CAI was changed to P25).

It should be noted, talk groups were often designated (in the controller) as either analog or digital so if a digital migration was performed in order to prepare for an Astro 25 System (Motorola’s trade name for P25 trunking) it would be an easier migration. Type II digital trunking is not P25 but can use P25 for the voice channels. Hope that helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MTS2000des]

Athens-Clarke procured and implemented an Astro 25 M-core system to replace the legacy Smartnet system. Project was completed late 2016/early 2017. All subscribers are APX radios.

Encryption heavily used, you may hear consoles in the clear.

 

[Buttabean]

Identifying The TG's

Athens-Clarke procured and implemented an Astro 25 M-core system to replace the legacy Smartnet system. Project was completed late 2016/early 2017. All subscribers are APX radios.

Encryption heavily used, you may hear consoles in the clear.

Ok so their system is the same as MARTAs MOT mixed Analog/Digital radio system then. Funny cuz all other north ga agencies are still on the old school analog conventional radio systems (Hart, Madison, Franklin, Stephens, and a few other counties)

Hey MTS2000des, how do they (RR) ID the TG on a encrypted radio system such as Clayton county has some but not all TG properly alpha tagged? And how would i properly ID the ones that isnt encrypted such as DEC 1001 is heavily used with occsional radios utilizing the AES and others in the clear but thru the traffic on the TG its difficult to determine what is what? Im also gonna shoot you my email address later so check for that cuz im in Hart County GA now and cant hit any machines in the metro area from up here. Thanks everyone for clarifying the system for me but . . . now HOW CAN I ID/ALPHA TAG what im able to hear, and how does RR do it on fully encrypted systems?

 

[MTS2000des]

Ok so their system is the same as MARTAs MOT mixed Analog/Digital radio system then.

No, AC replaced their system with an M-core Astro 25 system. Read the document here for the specifics on what they purchased, a complete replacement with a 10 year SUA.

MARTA went a different route buying a core but opting to go the route of buying a piece of equipment known as a Smart-X solution to leverage existing Quantar base radios. Last I heard they are migrating to 7.16/7.17 and are replacing legacy radios to go full P-25 phase 2 over the next 12-24 months.

Hey MTS2000des, how do they (RR) ID the TG on a encrypted radio system such as Clayton county has some but not all TG properly alpha tagged?

I can't answer for how users get information on radio systems. Hopefully, it is all done through casual monitoring with tools widely available and no one is breaking any laws by trespassing on government systems- which is a great way to go to prison. But who knows. Nothing surprises me anymore.

This is one reason many of us don't discuss publicly what we do with the systems we maintain and are responsible for. Sadly, we now live in a time where government information systems are under threat. Hot topic down around Peachtree St these days.

 

[Metrofire31]

Athens-Clarke County, GA

MTS2000 is right on target with the second part of his response regarding the process people use to obtain information on government communications systems. The very BIGGEST threat to our scanning hobby is the use of improper/illegal means of obtaining system details! Agencies deploy encryption in order to protect information as well as the officers using the radios. I am not one who uses RR to blast officials for using encryption - it's entirely their decision. My primary interest is doing all I can to ensure our scanning hobby continues for years.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC
WQIT636