ICORRS - P25 Phase 1 System (Inter County Regional Radio System)

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fire42man

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Armstrong county has had a new public safety radio system in the works for the past six months now, but I haven't found any detail on it yet. I talked with one of the dispatchers about it a few months ago - he says it will be a digital system, though that was all he told me. As far as I know, Armstrong is getting their own system separate from Westmoreland's, and I do not know what band it will be or what type of system is being built. Does anyone have further details on the system and when it will go live? Last I checked the conventional system is still in operation.
 

JIF043195

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I was under the impression that it is a shared system between Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana Counties.
 

anthonycferma

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I have been hearing several radio transmissions of several peoplefrom Armstrong County talking on Westmoreland Countys control channels and the talk groups are starting in the 500's. 524,526,514,546,and 505 have all come up on my scanners . I drove into Armstrong County today and the control channel frequency for Armstrong Co is 858.4875. If anybody from Armstrong or even Indiana Counties have any clue what the talkgroups are please post them on here it would be greatly appreciated.
 

fire42man

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According to the database, there is only one trunking site in Armstrong county, which is used by Westmoreland county. I would guess it would be used for mutual aid operations.
 

fire42man

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Just heard from one of the dispatchers, he says Armstrong's new system won't be live until late spring/early summer. Armstrong is not currently using a TRS, but testing of the new system is in progress.
 

fire42man

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All I know is that it will be a digital trunked system, what band and what type I don't yet know.
 

anthonycferma

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The Armstrong County / Indiana County will be the same indentical system as Westmoreland County and from what I can tell will share Westmoreland Countys control channels. Armstrong Countys talkgroups will start in the 500's. I heard 2 men having a conversation on talkgroup 546 and it came in crystal clear on my scanner. One of the individuals was talking in Dayton Pa on Route 85 to another individual coming down Route 28 from the Tarentum Exit almost to Carnegie exit on I-376 and I know for a fact they were from Armstrong County testing the system but I have no clue who they were and the transmissions were coming in crystal clear.
 

talviar

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I will throw my $1.95 in. . . . and there are those that will question what I say and argue with it. . . . Several admins for the PA discussion forums can vouch for my background. . . .

The ASTRO25 controller at Westmoreland was upgraded a few years ago with DHS funds to support adding new sites (aka counties) onto the system.* The version controller they were running was an older setup that didn't support the newer format infrastructure equipment. . . . to put new sites on required upgrading the controller to a full IP based system . . .

Indiana and Armstrong counties are in process of “joining” or connecting to this controller (aka switch) for trunking in their respective counties. . . .

This means until all the programming in the controller and sometimes field units that talkgroups from one county may be carried on a tower in another county.* Permissions may still allow that to happen, but as the towers are turned on, until optimization and all the backend programming refined, it is very possible for a Westmoreland District 5 talkgroup to pop up on an RF site in Armstrong since they are all ultimately talking back to the same trunking controller in a “WIDE AREA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK”

Fayette should be the next one joining. . . . . .

Folks may wish to update their thinking from saying “Westmoreland trunking system” “Armstrong trunking system” to a more regional thinking where resources (aka talkgroups) are carried by the tower sites connected to the regional system.

As such, any entity on the system if their talkgroup is allowed to roam could be showing up on any radio tower in range. . . (Lots of variables in the trunking controllers and even in the radios thta affect how/when the roam can occur, although ability of a talkgroup to roam at all is strictly in the trunking controllers)

Those of us with high profile towers are the ones who have the major issue with roaming. . . . The fact that my one tower in Fayette covers, Fayette, Westmoreland, Washington, and Allegheny is definately an issue. . . . .

So far everything is APCO25 Phase 1 Trunking operating on 800 MHz. . . . .

As always this has been my $1.95, YMMV, no warranty implied, yadda yadda yadda.

Have a great day!
Tony
 

724Gangsta

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So the activity we're hearing on TG505, "pager test," "how do you copy," and various ID numbers [I've heard them in the 47xxx and 60xxx range] are, possibly, setups for the various station IDs that will eventually go live?
 

ffemt134

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Heard a bit more testing on TG 505 this afternoon. Anyone hear anything more on when Armstrong (or Indiana for that matter) may be switching over? Surely it has to be sometime soon....there's not much info out there at all.
 

fire42man

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I could talk to one of the dispatchers when I get the chance, though I've heard fire departments have recently been training with the new radios, so it seems things will be up and running in a month or so.
 

fire42man

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According to the licenses, there is a site just outside of Freeport, as well as the next closest sites being in Vandergrift and one west of Crooked Creek Lake. I hope you get plenty of details on the system!
 

SurgePGH

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So the activity we're hearing on TG505, "pager test," "how do you copy," and various ID numbers [I've heard them in the 47xxx and 60xxx range] are, possibly, setups for the various station IDs that will eventually go live?

The pager testing that you are hearing could be them testing their new digital alpha paging system. Armstrong is going to a digital paging format and THAT should be going active in the near future. (Sooner than the 800 MHz trunked system.) You wouldn't hear the paging of coarse but they may have been doing a coverage test and checking the results on the 800 side. We have a ton of their new pagers here in the shop just waiting for deployment.

Dave
 

mtindor

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Just heard Armstrong 911 on 155.22 say (in my words) that Armstrong Co public safety agencies will be transitioning to the 800 mhz system at 12:00 PM on June 19. The dispatcher said that VHF-Lo will still be used for fire paging, but that all other communications would be on the new 800 Mhz system.

So, that's today at 12:00 noon.

Mike
 

724Gangsta

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And they did. They're burning 800 up. I suppose the question now is, will WC be opening up its remaining unused frequencies, what with another County now being part of the system, along with WCTA and the Palmer Airport, both of which are bandwidth hogs?
 

fire42man

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As of yesterday, Westmoreland, Armstrong, and Indiana counties are now on one system, named ICORRS (Inter County Regional Radio System). I would like for a moderator to rename this thread ICORRS - P25 Phase I System, allowing all discussions regarding the system to be here.
 
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n3obl

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I dont believe indiana is using it yet. Believe they still need to do site construction etc..
 
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