PA Statewide P25 Phase 2 System

redbeard

OH, PA, WV Regional Admin
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And lose all the interop advantages with the neighbors...??

Starnet is a Mobile only coverage system. Yes including the Phase 2 VHF 7 8 and U sites they are deploying. Portable coverage for PSP is being provided by in vehicle repeaters.

By providing their own infrastructure they can ensure they get the coverage they want. This applies in ICORRS as well as PA Starnet. So if they decide to deploy their own infrastructure- they would probably go with ICORRS since #1, the network backhaul to the Mastersite in Greensburg for ICORRS is already in place at their 911 center..... and #2, the interoperability with Butler and Lawrence.

Just my $.02 and as always YMMV and no warranty expressed or implied.
First let me say I do not mean to disparage ICORRS with my comments. It is obviously an excellent running system. But I haven't been properly 'sold' on it's benefits. I border OH and WV in my municipality and have zero interop with those depts so perhaps I am used to arbitrary lines defining who I can talk to or not. That said, from my perspective we would benefit most from interop with state agencies as we are in the BVPS 10 mile circle. Also other county depts have a need to communicate with the Turnpike and could benefit from being on STARNet.

We have a STARnet tower right in the middle of my borough, so coverage here is likely to be great. If my county partnered with STARNet and added more fill-in sites to the 3 STARNet sites already in our borders I think we would save money vs building another overlaid system seperate from the 3 existing sites. We are already using VHF and I think it could further save money by reusing any existing hardware possible, such as depts with already compatible APX radios, vehicle antennas, site antennas, and so on. I do not know if our current frequencies can be reused for trunking or not due to licensing/coordination. I think this is what Lawrence did in part so maybe it's possible. With our terrain I'd very much prefer to stick to VHF.

Regarding the networking, that seems like a non-issue as the STARNet microwave network is accessible here and I'd be surprised if the 911 center didn't already have a connection. I'm assuming the current connection to Greensburg is for some shared Region 13 resources like Knowledge Center or JNET/CLEAN related.

Honestly, I can see where ICORRS served a purpose before STARNet existed, and then again once Opensky proved to be a turd. But now, I think it would benefit everyone involved if it was rolled into STARNet P25 moving forward. Disparate networks just create barriers to interoperability. I look at Ohio and how many local and regional systems have been folding into MARCS-IP and it seems like it works for them.

Some of my frustration is the fact that our county just does whatever they want and if they seek any input it's only from the 3 paid depts in the county and not the rank and file smaller depts that somehow have to figure out how to pay for it. As far as I'm concerned we need to fix the few issues with what we have and ride out some return on investment from all the upgrades just done at the 2012 narrowbanding push.

Tony, any further discussion we should probably take private and I'm happy to listen to your advice as you obviously have a lot of experience.
 

talviar

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Uniontown, PA
Tony, any further discussion we should probably take private and I'm happy to listen to your advice as you obviously have a lot of experience.

I'll PM you in a few hours when I get to the office..... I would like to put some more info into a response but its 5:50AM and getting ready for work in a few minutes....

In a nut shell- the tie between the StarNet and ESINet (point of presence access at Butler and other locations) is a hard connection at a tower site near Westmoreland/Allegheny border. Many other ESINet connections pass thru or are on a StarNet tower and in some cases the 2 networks are running on the same microwave link but are 2 complete independent paths running on the same backhaul.

I'll message you in a while! Have a good one.
 

druhe

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Southwest Pa
Anybody get any voice comms from 117xxxx units, yet? I had two units affiliate to Devault at different times this week.

1170023 and 1170037 both on TG 13452.

I only recently started paying attention to Devault again and these are the only units to show up that were not PSP/PGC/DOT. The DOT units all appeared to be Ephrata based vehicles.

I have RID 1170000 on TG 13450 WEST30 on 16 Jan 20 Unknown if any voice activity
 

u2brent

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Anybody get any voice comms from 117xxxx units, yet? I had two units affiliate to Devault at different times this week.

1170023 and 1170037 both on TG 13452.

I only recently started paying attention to Devault again and these are the only units to show up that were not PSP/PGC/DOT. The DOT units all appeared to be Ephrata based vehicles.
I've seen the same 2 RID's same TG, no key ups on LANC33

I've seen these 2 RID's 1814129, 1814130 on TG 13466 as well, no key ups either. :geek:
another to watch for..

PGC SE Dispatch 2 TG 12052 was used this week for an incident. They used encryption, (except a few units which were clear at first, then flipped the switch) So they have a choice to use it or not...
 

smorris

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The P25 Phase 2 system is being phased in quickely. I know PSP is encrypted, but what about the other agencies? PennDOT, Game Commission, etc. I just bought a BCD996P2 and hope to get some Phase 2 use out of it. Monroe Co is phasing in P25 Phase 1 and should be complete by next year.
 

scnrfrq

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Erie, PA
The P25 Phase 2 system is being phased in quickely. I know PSP is encrypted, but what about the other agencies? PennDOT, Game Commission, etc. I just bought a BCD996P2 and hope to get some Phase 2 use out of it. Monroe Co is phasing in P25 Phase 1 and should be complete by next year.
PennDOT and the Game Commission are in the clear. Encryption is TBD on other agencies. Check the database page for all the info:
 

ka3aaa

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anyone have a clue who the users are with the 2xxxx or 3xxxx tgid's are.

secondly how does a radio id show up on a talk group as in post 2465 above without being keyed up???????
 

u2brent

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GTR8000

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20K0F9W :unsure:
A "catch-all" designator originally intended for a number of simultaneous emissions, but has been misused as a single designator to indicate multiple types of operation.
Oops, I forgot to look at the emission designator for the app. Seems like they copied whatever was already on the license from OpenSky. Maybe they're still building out OpenSky sites? :ROFLMAO:
 

redbeard

OH, PA, WV Regional Admin
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The P25 Phase 2 system is being phased in quickely. I know PSP is encrypted, but what about the other agencies? PennDOT, Game Commission, etc. I just bought a BCD996P2 and hope to get some Phase 2 use out of it. Monroe Co is phasing in P25 Phase 1 and should be complete by next year.
Anything on the database page that isn't marked with an 'E' should be monitorable. Anything with 'e' may have both encrypted and clear transmissions. Plenty of things are still TBD as scnrfrk said.
 

JimBobTerp

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Easton,PA
Has anyone seen or figured talkgroups for Northampton,Lehigh, Monroe Counties PennDot?? I’m still figuring it out myself but I have seen really talking going for them at all.
 

HM1529

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Has anyone seen or figured talkgroups for Northampton,Lehigh, Monroe Counties PennDot?? I’m still figuring it out myself but I have seen really talking going for them at all.


I feel like we go over this on a regular basis. The agency rollouts are happening. Each agency is moving at their own pace. So far, PennDOT has been rolling out new radios following the system rollout (started in NW, moved to SW, then SC). I would imagine that District 5 and 6 will come online during 2020. But, only PennDOT knows for sure. If you're not seeing any talkgroups active for PennDOT, then you just need to sit back, relax, and wait for PennDOT to get their equipment rolled out in that area.

DCNR has been reported active in western PA. Presumably, they will roll out equipment across the southern portion of the state and the NW area during 2020 with the NE and NC areas to transition last since the network buildout is still ongoing there.

So, just keep monitoring and let us know what you hear and when. Nobody here has the migration schedules for each agency. And, if they do, they ain't talkin'.
 
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