AFRRCS Question

Status
Not open for further replies.

scannerboy01

Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2010
Messages
261
Location
Alberta, Canada
Hi,

I'm just curious to know if anyone is aware when AFRRCS should be getting tested in the NE part of the province? If anyone knows any frequencies or if the system is P25 Auto or Manual that would be a great help.

Thanks
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
Feed Provider
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
9,378
Location
Bragg Creek, Alberta
Hi there,

To the best of my knowledge, the schedule is this:

2011: Testing of the infrastructure in the Calgary to Brooks area only - just "proof-of-concept", so to speak, and making sure that everything essentially plugs in and works. That's a really simplified way of putting it, but the point is they will not have any live comms - just establishing the network and making sure it works.

In 2012 and 2013, they will build out and place in service the actual system, and it will be done by "census division". See this link: List of census divisions of Alberta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - in 2012, CDs in the east half of the province will be built out, and in 2013, the rest (the west half) will be done.

We don't know what they're going to do more specifically than that. Not sure if they will go numerically (i.e. start at CD 1 and then do 2 and so on) but I'd personally doubt it. I would think it would be more geographical in nature. The only thing I do know is that supposedly the major cities Calgary and Edmonton's CDs are considered to be in the "east half" of the province.

The frequencies for most of the province will be between 764 and 794 MHz. The licenses for the testing area are just starting to show up in the TAFL (Industry Canada's licensing depository) and are mainly in the 771-774 MHz part of the band. Some parts of the province, including mountainous terrain and other places that 700 MHz will not easily cover, will have some VHF (138-174) frequencies. Only one such frequency has popped up in the licenses in the testing area yet - in the 165 MHz region, if I recall correctly.

None of these frequencies actually have anything on them yet - this is essentially just "paperwork" at this stage, from the looks of things. I'd imagine we might hear some testing going on in the next few weeks and months. Trust me, if/when this happens, those of us in the testing area plan to make sure to mention it! :)

We have several resources available to refer to for the system:

A wiki article with everything known about the system so far, including links to the information listed below.

The official page on the Alberta Government website. The last update on the page is from when the public press release was announced back in March.

A message thread in this forum with info and discussion. There's a bunch of discussion ahead of the system announcement, and then talk since the frequencies were discovered in the TAFL start at post #51.

A Google Maps map with all of the known sites (reported by TAFL licenses) plotted on it.

There are also some other links to the licenses themselves and other such things in the wiki article. It will be kept updated as more is learned about the system.

As for your question about "P25 Auto" or "P25 Manual", to the best of my knowledge, that is a configuration setting in the GRE line of scanners. P25 Auto means to look for data about the system in the control channel's data stream. P25 Manual means that the control channel does not broadcast this data and you have to enter it into the scanner. There are not very many systems in the world that actually need to be set up as P25 Manual in the scanner, as far as I know. Most of the modern P25 systems I've encountered across Canada in the last few years have all been Auto.

We're on the edge of a very exciting time in Alberta, radio communication-wise. Keep your eyes on that thread I linked and the wiki page to keep up to date on it. :)
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
Hi,

I'm just curious to know if anyone is aware when AFRRCS should be getting tested in the NE part of the province? If anyone knows any frequencies or if the system is P25 Auto or Manual that would be a great help.

Thanks
Harris did have thier mobile bus loaded with radio gear running around the province since early June testing P25 700 trunk radios.... I heard them in Edmonton and Calgary...... I don't know if they hit the NE part of the province yet. Best set your scanner to search between 700 Mhz band and listen for a Trunk Control Channel
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top