Luzerne County P25

[One13Truck]

I caught some very brief radio tests on the fire dispatch channel on one of the new consoles earlier this week. Still nothing heard yet on the new trunked system. Last time I looked at the end of June I still didn’t see anything in the FCC database yet, either. But it’s possible something is there and I’m not searching properly.

 

[One13Truck]

https://www.luzernecounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/25309/03-March-Division-Report?bidId=

March 2021 - there is info on P25 radio system progress and the NG911

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(off topic - anyone know why the Idetown fire station is shown as owned by Harveys Lake Fire on the county gis map?)

No clue. Idetown Station 71 is in Lehman and independent from Harveys Lake Station 21. Just another County mystery, I guess.

 

[One13Truck]

Depends on how much call detail is transmitted as voice. CAD systems can publish notes to EMS units, which cuts down on voice radio traffic.

You greatly underestimate how much people up here like to hear themselves talk on the radio.

Some places have that capability now and don’t use it. I’d hope that will change once the cutover happens but old dogs, new tricks…

 

[W7FDX]

You greatly underestimate how much people up here like to hear themselves talk on the radio.

Some places have that capability now and don’t use it. I’d hope that will change once the cutover happens but old dogs, new tricks…

It's like PD having computers but still call into dispatch to run every ID and plate.

 

[maus92]

It's like PD having computers but still call into dispatch to run every ID and plate.

Can't type, apparently.

 

[W7FDX]

Can't type, apparently.

I'm convinced they just like hearing themselves talk. 🤣

 

[One13Truck]

Yeah, PD is just as big of an offender there. Everything is still run over the air rather than in the car. But that will be something we won’t have to worry about in a few more months when the switch gets flipped and the cutover happens.

 

[W7FDX]

Yeah, PD is just as big of an offender there. Everything is still run over the air rather than in the car. But that will be something we won’t have to worry about in a few more months when the switch gets flipped and the cutover happens.

Is PD getting the big E? I haven't been paying very close attention to it.

 

[One13Truck]

Originally they said no giving the reasoning that many people rely on listening to their scanners to know what’s going on (ironic that going P25 would mean most won’t be able fo listen anyway without buying a new scanner). Then a few months later reversed it and said yes on the big E at the request of the departments for their safety. So we’ll see. I’m hoping that changes but it’s not looking good at the moment.

 

[W7FDX]

Originally they said no giving the reasoning that many people rely on listening to their scanners to know what’s going on (ironic that going P25 would mean most won’t be able fo listen anyway without buying a new scanner). Then a few months later reversed it and said yes on the big E at the request of the departments for their safety. So we’ll see. I’m hoping that changes but it’s not looking good at the moment.

My personal opinion is that the officer safety argument is a little overblown. I've always said keep dispatch TGs in the clear and if you need secure comms go to a tac TG because those critical incidents that you need "secure" comms are few and far in between. More likely it's that they want to say what ever they want and then we can't hear them when they mess something up.

 

[One13Truck]

My personal opinion is that the officer safety argument is a little overblown. I've always said keep dispatch TGs in the clear and if you need secure comms go to a tac TG because those critical incidents that you need "secure" comms are few and far in between. More likely it's that they want to say what ever they want and then we can't hear them when they mess something up.

Most likely what it is. But we’ll see how it goes once everyone realizes they can’t hear or talk to each other anymore.

I asked a friend that’s an officer in another department and he’s said so far they’re still in the dark as to when their new radios will be installed. So that sounds like there’s still a while to go. My old 436 and 536 have their ears open for any surprise testing that may finally pop up. Once I do finally hear activity starting I’ll add it to my 100 and 200 as well to try and get some identifying going.

 

[One13Truck]

Lots more tone tests today on the new consoles on Wilkes Barre fire and the main dispatch channel. Sounds like it’s being used for the occasional dispatches as well.

I have to say. I hated it at first but miss the post tone beep on the new consoles.

 

[One13Truck]

More testing dispatches from new consoles Thursday. Still no testing heard on the new system though.
Semi-related during the testing it sounds as if the county will finally be dispatching the new Medic 40 instead of having to contact Columbia. Still recycling old no longer used tone sets though rather than assigning a new tone set. It ID’d in Audacity and Radio ID as matching the old Nescopeck Station 250’s EMS tones. At least this latest recycling makes sense since Medic 40 is serving the Nescopeck area.

 

[W7FDX]

More testing dispatches from new consoles Thursday. Still no testing heard on the new system though.
Semi-related during the testing it sounds as if the county will finally be dispatching the new Medic 40 instead of having to contact Columbia. Still recycling old no longer used tone sets though rather than assigning a new tone set. It ID’d in Audacity and Radio ID as matching the old Nescopeck Station 250’s EMS tones. At least this latest recycling makes sense since Medic 40 is serving the Nescopeck area.

Are they using the current dispatch channel or a new one? I don't routinely listen to Luzerne.

 

[One13Truck]

Are they using the current dispatch channel or a new one? I don't routinely listen to Luzerne.

Everyone except Wilkes Barre is still using the 157.45 dispatch channel. That will remain in use once the new system comes online. Wilkes Barre still uses 155.94 as a dispatch/ops channel. I don’t know if they will keep that for station alerts or go strictly P25.

 

[One13Truck]

It seems as of yesterday the new paging terminals are being used fulltime now. I’m still not a fan. Also, still nothing heard on the P25 system yet as far as testing. I saw someone post a license and frequency list online last week that they said was the full list but didn’t see them matching what the county has posted in their official web site briefs. I’ll monitor them just in case but not sure how reliable they are so I’m not submitting anything as confirmed.

 

[cpg178]

Can you link to this list, I wish to input the channels into SDR trunk and run it 24/7.

 

[One13Truck]

I’ll have to look for it again. I had it saved at work but I think I deleted it.

 

[cpg178]

If anyone has a list of frequencies, particularly for the North half of the county I’d love to throw them into my Unication and see what I can pick up from Scranton.

 

[One13Truck]

Latest update testing and acceptance being delayed until at least Q2 of 2022.