Analog TG's on STARNET 103???

[mfn002]

I had to do a double-take yesterday when I discovered two ANALOG TG's on STARNET site 103. They were 22416 and 20816. Oddly, these are the first talkgroups I have heard on this site.

 

[loumaag]

I had to do a double-take yesterday when I discovered two ANALOG TG's on STARNET site 103. They were 22416 and 20816. Oddly, these are the first talkgroups I have heard on this site.

Okay, we have a couple of problems here. First, when you say STARTNet almost everyone is going to assume you mean this STARTNet, which is 100% analog. Of course it doesn't have a site 103, which leads us to the P25 STARNet, which (being P25) is 100% digital; indeed it is impossible for a P25 system to pass analog (one of the reasons tone-out doesn't work) so...

I am not sure what you heard, but I have (in the past) heard traffic from site 103 while traveling in the area and it was most assuredly digital. I don't know what kind of scanner you are using; is it possible you locked onto a skip signal for the CCh?

 

[bpckty1]

Could these be digital tgs used in the Huntsville area?

 

[mfn002]

I was using my PSR500. I KNOW they were analog, because the P25 TGs only are three- to four-digit (as far as I know) and this was a five-digit one (plus my scanner didn't show "P25" when the talkgroup was active). Of course, just because it is an ASTRO system does not necessarily mean that all transmissions have to be P25. Brazos County uses an ASTRO 9600 system with both analog AND digital talkgroups. So it might be possible that the STARNET P25 systems might be set up to handle mixed-mode traffic.

 

[FlashSWT]

According to the Wiki here a P25 trunking system supports 65,000 talkgroups. I'm sure we'll see 5 digit TGs on Starnet P25 at some point.
Project 25 - The RadioReference Wiki

The same page tells us that: "All radios on a Project-25 Digital trunking system must use digital voice - no analog trunking capability is provided"
Project 25 - The RadioReference Wiki

According to the database Bryan/Brazos County system is a Type II system which also supports P25, not a true P25 system.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=3116

.

 

[loumaag]

I was using my PSR500. I KNOW they were analog, because the P25 TGs only are three- to four-digit (as far as I know) and this was a five-digit one (plus my scanner didn't show "P25" when the talkgroup was active). Of course, just because it is an ASTRO system does not necessarily mean that all transmissions have to be P25. Brazos County uses an ASTRO 9600 system with both analog AND digital talkgroups. So it might be possible that the STARNET P25 systems might be set up to handle mixed-mode traffic.

I have seen single digit TG's on P25; any number (within the acceptable range) can be a TG. As Flash points out, and as I said earlier, a P25 system is incapable of passing analog signals.

 

[mfn002]

Oh well, maybe it was skip. Just kinda confused me.

 

[scanfan03]

I was using my PSR500. I KNOW they were analog, because the P25 TGs only are three- to four-digit (as far as I know) and this was a five-digit one (plus my scanner didn't show "P25" when the talkgroup was active). Of course, just because it is an ASTRO system does not necessarily mean that all transmissions have to be P25. Brazos County uses an ASTRO 9600 system with both analog AND digital talkgroups. So it might be possible that the STARNET P25 systems might be set up to handle mixed-mode traffic.

The Brazos county system is a P16 system with mixed analog/digital talkgroups. The STAR-Net P25 system is a strictly digital P25 system.

 

[mfn002]

Figured it out!!

Apparently, STARNET 103 shares a frequency (855.5125) with the Entergy TRS Huntsville site. I figured this out when I noticed a talkgroup carrying Entergy traffic on 103. When I switched to Entergy, the TG came up again. Thus, those analog TG's on 103 were actually Entergy TRS talkgroups that popped up on that frequency. I don't know if this problem would affect the XTS/XTLs that are being used on the STARNET site, though.

 

[loumaag]

Apparently, STARNET 103 shares a frequency (855.5125) with the Entergy TRS Huntsville site. I figured this out when I noticed a talkgroup carrying Entergy traffic on 103. When I switched to Entergy, the TG came up again. Thus, those analog TG's on 103 were actually Entergy TRS talkgroups that popped up on that frequency. I don't know if this problem would affect the XTS/XTLs that are being used on the STARNET site, though.

Umm, 855.5125 is not a Site 103 frequency. However, you are correct, it is an Entergy frequency in Huntsville.

 

[mfn002]

I guess you are right about that. I don't know why I put that in there.