Trying to listen to PG&E

[PCTEK]

We had a power failure this morning, so I turned on my 996XT and went to the VHF PG&E frequency, and found they had moved to a new trunking system. So I came here to RR and the system type listed for PG&E is MPT-1327 Standard. Can my 996XT decode that mode? It says it is an analog system. Any help is appreciated. Thank you. (I'm in San Mateo California)

 

[KJ6HCB]

Listening along!

Ive scanned the listed channels in my area for them and occasionally get in the clear, conventional audio on one of the channels, but definitely not catching the entire convo.

 

[kma371]

We had a power failure this morning, so I turned on my 996XT and went to the VHF PG&E frequency, and found they had moved to a new trunking system. So I came here to RR and the system type listed for PG&E is MPT-1327 Standard. Can my 996XT decode that mode? It says it is an analog system. Any help is appreciated. Thank you. (I'm in San Mateo California)

No current scanners can follow MPT-1327 systems. What you can do is program the site nearest to you and listen in the conventional sense.

Try the San Bruno Mountain site:
San Bruno Mtn (Z2, S16) Site Details (Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E))

 

[PCTEK]

do I need to program a specific talk group D or just the control channel? Thanks

 

[kma371]

do I need to program a specific talk group D or just the control channel? Thanks

You can't program any of the talkgroups because again, no scanner can follow that type of trunked system.

Program all of the frequencies for that site, conventionally.

 

[norcalscan]

Being a multi-site system, the only radio traffic you will hear will be whatever talk groups are currently active (subscribed) on that particular site. So if a radio is on Site A, and tuned (subscribed) to TalkGroup 1500, if you are scanning (in conventional mode) the frequencies tied to Site A, when someone anywhere in the PGE system talks on TG1500, you'll hear it on one of those frequencies. However, if that radio leaves Site A and moves to Site B because they are mobile, traffic on TalkGroup 1500 will no longer be heard on Site A's frequencies, and be heard on Site B's frequencies instead. If no radios happen to be tied to a particular Site, then you will hear nothing. The best bet to get the bulk of PGE traffic is to scan the frequencies of the high-coverage sites, or mountain tops that you think most of the area PGE employees' radios are tied to. That way you can get the bulk of the traffic. You won't know what TG they are on but you can probably guess by the type of traffic what you're listening to, whether it's transmission, general construction, hydro, lineman/troublemen etc. If you have a second radio, you can tune the site's control channel frequency and pipe the audio into software that decodes MPT-1327. There you can see TalkGroup ID's and each radio's individual ID.