I'd love to see the consultant's report. I think the contract for our county's new system identifies almost 200 critical buildings (mostly schools) that must have coverage. In addition, the building code specifies that BDAs be installed in commercial buildings that do not have adequate coverage. I'm curious why BDAs were not a solution for those buildings in Luzerne, instead going with physical sites - does it have anything to do with the characteristics of VHF?
Luzerne County P25
- Thread starter cpg178
- Start date
Steveradio
Member
What is the best scanner to monitor the new system with as most counties across the state are switching.
Do you need a portable solution or a fixed base solution? If you only listen at home or an office and have access to a computer, SDRs + free software is the cheapest route and can provide exceptional performance if configured properly. If you want a portable, go with an SDS100 as it was specifically designed to receive P25 simulcast systems like Luzerne has built. The caveat is you should only expect to receive the system within its coverage area. A more specialized alternative would be a Unication G2 or G5 pager - probably a better receiver than the SDS100, but less flexible as it is not a scanner.
cpg178
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2014
- Messages
- 411
I agree with all of this, if you are good with tech stuff, then I would go the SDR route, you would 2 dongles for this system and that would set you back ~60 bucks + whatever you would use for the antenna, then just get the software setup and your good to go.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Unfortunately, the Unication G5 pager can monitor only one system and one site at a time. You would not be able to scan both the North and South sites for Luzerne County. You would be limited to a single county at a time. I don't know how well the internal antenna on the Unication G5 works for VHF. I would like to hear from someone who uses it for VHF. The external antenna is for 700/800 only. Also, you can receive only VHF/700/800 or UHF/700/800 with the G5 depending upon the model. It is absolutely excellent for 700/800 MHz simulcast systems. The Uniden SDS100 handheld and SDS200 base/mobile will give you a lot more flexibility.
Makes no sense at all but when does anything done in Luzerne ever make sense?
cpg178
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2014
- Messages
- 411
I only monitor the north site and I have not missed any communications on actual incidents, I am sure there are calls on the training channels or whatever but the main Ops and Fire zones go across both sites consistently. You can mitigate the internal antenna by either purchasing the amplified base, or just get a G2 which is single band and about a 100 bucks cheaper which is what I did, and I have no issue picking the North Site up well outside of the defined coverage area while it sits in the charging cradle.
I’ve found the Motorola APX line or Harris XL line work better than any scanner or unication pager for simulcast systems. However they aren’t cheap, plus you need to know what you’re doing to program them, there is no room for error.
Last edited:
Reminds me of my old county in FL. They loved being on live PD but then the county went full time encryption for all users including FD, dog catchers and public works lol. The sheriff is in control of the radio system and let’s just say a lot of unprofessional things are going on with his deputies.
They rrreeeaaalllyyyyy need to update the TGs to give each department or town a local channel or at least add dedicated fire police channels so we don’t have to listen to this mess during calls. This is ridiculous.
At least some departments are courteous enough to use the training channels for that stuff. I have those locked out so it doesn’t tie up other stuff to be scanning.
At least some departments are courteous enough to use the training channels for that stuff. I have those locked out so it doesn’t tie up other stuff to be scanning.
Are these channel IDs still current? I don't see them on the DB entry.
The bandplan I found earlier in the thread is incorrect or outdated. Here is what I decoded 5 minutes ago.
Activity Summary - Decoder
25 Phase 1 Simulcast (LSM)Network
WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801]
Current Site
SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801] RFSS:01[1] SITE:01[1] LRA:00[0] STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:7-644/4-2900 DOWNLINK:161850000 UPLINK:157250000
CURRENT DATA CHANNEL:4-1067/4-3171 DOWNLINK:152667500 UPLINK:157927500
Neighbor Sites
SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801] RFSS:01[1] SITE:05[5] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:7-182/4-1806 DOWNLINK:0 UPLINK:154515000
Frequency Bands
BAND:0 FDMA BASE:851006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000
BAND:1 FDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000
BAND:2 TDMA BASE:851012500 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:3 TDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:4 FDMA BASE:150000000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:6 TDMA BASE:155120000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:7 FDMA BASE:160240000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:8 TDMA BASE:160240000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:9 TDMA BASE:165360000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:10 FDMA BASE:170480000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:11 TDMA BASE:170480000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
The control channel is phase 1, thus SDRT ID's it as such. When you start seeing TDMA and TIMESLOTS in the band plan info, you then know the system is phase 2 capable. The onboard decoders will confirm whether TDMA is actually in use.
cpg178
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2014
- Messages
- 411
That band plan may be correct but not sure why you are only seeing 1 control channel there should be multiple, the posting you referenced earlier was from 2021, before many of the sites were online so it is expected that it would be outdated. The system went live not even 3 months ago, if you go back to page 17 there is confirmed correct info in terms of neighbor sites and control channel frequencies.The bandplan I found earlier in the thread is incorrect or outdated. Here is what I decoded 5 minutes ago.
Activity Summary - Decoder
Network
WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801]
Current Site
SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801] RFSS:01[1] SITE:01[1] LRA:00[0] STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:7-644/4-2900 DOWNLINK:161850000 UPLINK:157250000
CURRENT DATA CHANNEL:4-1067/4-3171 DOWNLINK:152667500 UPLINK:157927500
Neighbor Sites
SYSTEM:AF0[2800] NAC:AF1[2801] RFSS:01[1] SITE:05[5] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:7-182/4-1806 DOWNLINK:0 UPLINK:154515000
Frequency Bands
BAND:0 FDMA BASE:851006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000
BAND:1 FDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000
BAND:2 TDMA BASE:851012500 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:3 TDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:4 FDMA BASE:150000000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:6 TDMA BASE:155120000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:7 FDMA BASE:160240000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:8 TDMA BASE:160240000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:9 TDMA BASE:165360000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
BAND:10 FDMA BASE:170480000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000
BAND:11 TDMA BASE:170480000 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:2500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:5000 TIMESLOTS:2
I saw those screenshots on page 17 but the screenshots were cropped, presumably by you, and didn't include channel ID tables. Thus, my question this morning referenced what I believe to be the only other post including the channel ID tables. Looks like the only real difference was the exclusion of band 5.
The band plan is the same as it's been since the system went on the air, and was posted in full in post #70 on page 4. It would be pretty unusual for them to remove a band plan element, and so my hunch is that your decoding is probably off with the exclusion of element #5. You might want to restart the channel in SDRTrunk and check again.
AngerManagement
GTFD #6
I have monitored Luzerne County, White Haven, & Dennison on VHF with no issues on my G5 from Penn Lake. Mind you I am from New Jersey and am not fully familiar with the area and what I should and should not be receiving. I know I was receiving units from I-80 near White Haven.
IronEagle20
Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2023
- Messages
- 2
I'm a novice was looking into getting back into scanning but from what I was able to find with researching the subject it appears WBPD and all of Luzerne county law enforcement for that matter, are going to be encrypted. Law enforcement is all I really care to listen to so from what I gather it's not worth investing in a good digital scanner as the encryption renders it useless, can any experts confirm this?
Similar threads
