Attn BELL COUNTY. Pro-Voice coming VERY SOON...

[Tramagod]

Bell County Pro-Voice

Back to the original posting, I just finished the first day of a five day Comms course being given by DPS at the Central Texas Council on Governments in Belton. While there I spoke to a couple of the Bell County Dispatch worker bees. They told me that they've been by their leadership the switch will occurr within the next 30 days, as stated in the news article, however, they also said that Temple is the only agency equipped with the radios needed for the new system. Where all the other agencies in Bell County stand as far as equiptment isw concerned, none of them seemed to know. For what it's worth, that's what the employee level seems to know.

 

[StatuSChecKa]

Hey cool thanks.
Perhaps you can get facts if as to whether it will end up as a scannable P25 system. You seem to be more inside than anyone at this point.

Edit: Also (just in case) I am debating between a Pro-106 or a Bearcat BCD-396.

 

[Tramagod]

Alas, that's definately not the case, just passing a long a little info from the worker bee level. I seriously doubt they have any idea as to the technical aspects of the system, as employees at that level really have no interest in those sort of details. These are 911 console dispatchers who for the most part don't care about those aspects of their equiptment, they just want it to perfrom.

 

[StatuSChecKa]

Alas, that's definately not the case, just passing a long a little info from the worker bee level. I seriously doubt they have any idea as to the technical aspects of the system, as employees at that level really have no interest in those sort of details. These are 911 console dispatchers who for the most part don't care about those aspects of their equiptment, they just want it to perfrom.

Ah I was hoping there would be like one nerd there lol. I guess that one nerd is you.
No Offense.
Thats cool, what location is the meeting anyway? Oh yea, by the huge parking lot on Main. Like across the HEB.

 

[Ensnared]

GRE PSR 500 Vs Pro-106 for Bell!

I hate seeing the word ProVoice now. So a now even you guys dont even know what format is being used??
Damn I am about THIS close to driving to Belton to buy a Pro-106. I want a new toy anyway.
All well. It appears Uni, Ensnared, Russ, and maybe even CWS are the only ones that can figure this out.

NOTE* Killeen was still Analog, perhaps in transition phase, they have alot more troops and equipment. All fire Dispatch is Analog but indivitual fire channels are not. Only Dispatch.

A quick recommendation for you. I believe the GRE PSR 500 (same chassis as Pro106), is a better deal for these reasons: a) more accessories, some rather expensive; b) great support, personal support; c) speaker position is higher, audio clarity is better by my experience. GRE has a list of authorized dealers.

 

[Ensnared]

Unitrunker and P25 VHF System

I hope you're not serious about that.

Is there nobody in central TX capable of running Unitrunker?
If somebody bought me a laptop that I could run in my vehicle and paid me for gas I could drive down there and have it nailed down in as long a time as it took for somebody to key up a radio on the system.

Hell, you don't even need to do that to tell what type of system they are using.
You can tell by the sound of the control channel whether it is EDACS or P25.
You can tell by listening to the voice channels if it is Pro-Voice or P25.

This isn't rocket science.

I have attempted to run several analysis systems here in Woodway. No software has adequately defined the system here. Reportedly, the VHF P25 system is a bit different for some radios to analyze. I have not run Unitrunker in Bell County. But, I would surely like to hear about the operating frequencies down there. I will re-examine Unitrunker for future use. Thanks.

 

[Ensnared]

Parking on CC

Tom - that's what I did last week. It was late at night. As stated in this thread, the EDACS system was busy with mobile data calls and analog voice calls.

From what I understand, and my lexicon of information is not completely full, I thought you had to park the software on a CC. From what I've seen in the RR DB, there are several CC's identified for the possible 700 mhz P25.

Has anyone parked their radio on the CC to properly analyze the new 700 mhz? We realize that EDACS is functional; however, I am hoping for analysis on the new system.

 

[SCPD]

I thought you had to park the software on a CC. From what I've seen in the RR DB, there are several CC's identified for the possible 700 mhz P25.

Correct.

Has anyone parked their radio on the CC to properly analyze the new 700 mhz? We realize that EDACS is functional; however, I am hoping for analysis on the new system.

I briefly examined the P25 system. It is FDMA only - no P2 or X2 TDMA. There was zero traffic on it. It did not announce any other sites as neighbors for roaming. In other words, it is exactly as reported in the RR DB.

This site is very small. I don't see it handling the traffic on the current EDACS system. Unless they amend their license - it does not have comparable capacity in voice and data of the EDACS system.

Whatever is going to happen - has not happened yet. Until we can verify, we'll just have to wait. Someone wishing to make a purchase decision based on unconfirmed information might want to wait until this plays out.

From what I gather (in this thread) - the only new equipment is radios for Temple PD. No new infrastructure. The newer radios can do P25 and ProVoice. They could very well turn on ProVoice for their talkgroups and add some P25 conventional channels for interop with neighboring agencies. The new radios can do that.

BTW - they have three distinct emission masks on the FCC license for their EDACS channels. I'm guessing these are for (a) analog voice, (b) ProVoice and (c) data (their mobile data modulation is different from the control channel so it's a different mask).

 

[Ensnared]

Correct.

I briefly examined the P25 system. It is FDMA only - no P2 or X2 TDMA. There was zero traffic on it. It did not announce any other sites as neighbors for roaming. In other words, it is exactly as reported in the RR DB.

This site is very small. I don't see it handling the traffic on the current EDACS system. Unless they amend their license - it does not have comparable capacity in voice and data of the EDACS system.

Whatever is going to happen - has not happened yet. Until we can verify, we'll just have to wait. Someone wishing to make a purchase decision based on unconfirmed information might want to wait until this plays out.

From what I gather (in this thread) - the only new equipment is radios for Temple PD. No new infrastructure. The newer radios can do P25 and ProVoice. They could very well turn on ProVoice for their talkgroups and add some P25 conventional channels for interop with neighboring agencies. The new radios can do that.

BTW - they have three distinct emission masks on the FCC license for their EDACS channels. I'm guessing these are for (a) analog voice, (b) ProVoice and (c) data (their mobile data modulation is different from the control channel so it's a different mask).

Thanks for the detailed explanation about this perplexing issue. I am anxiously awaiting this eventual migration, whatever it might be.

 

[Russell]

The notes on the license for the 700 MHz site indicate it is for interop. I assumed this meant that out of county "visitors" would use this site to talk to Bell County agencies.

Russell

 

[nd5y]

This site is very small. I don't see it handling the traffic on the current EDACS system. Unless they amend their license - it does not have comparable capacity in voice and data of the EDACS system.

If it isn't strictly an interoperability system for visitors it is possible that they could be using some state license frequencies that don't show up in the FCC database.

 

[SCPD]

If it isn't strictly an interoperability system for visitors it is possible that they could be using some state license frequencies that don't show up in the FCC database.

A search of the 770 band came up empty. Whatever is to be, isn't yet.

 

[nd5y]

I haven't seen this posted yet:
http://caprad.org/NlectcRm/Plans/Region49/CAP002054 Bell County of Combined Files.pdf
Page 11 tells what the three 700 MHz P25 channels are for.

 

[SCPD]

Nice find nd5y. Lots of good info.

 

[StatuSChecKa]

I haven't seen this posted yet:
http://caprad.org/NlectcRm/Plans/Region49/CAP002054 Bell County of Combined Files.pdf
Page 11 tells what the three 700 MHz P25 channels are for.

Wow. How about that Internet!! That is crazy detailed info.
Someone please decipher it some more.
Not one mention of ProVoice

 

[nd5y]

Not one mention of ProVoice

I don't know how old that letter is. They could have changed plans and now only have the three P25 channels for interoperability and everything else ProVoice.

 

[SCPD]

Someone please decipher it some more.

They are slowly moving to P25 on 770 MHz. It will interconnect with the LCRA P25 system. The new system will be Phase 2. Phase 2 systems support twice as many calls (but isn't yet supported by scanner makers). They will retire their 850 MHz EDACS system. No timetable is given. Because of FCC mandates, it must be completed by 2016.

 

[SCPD]

I don't know how old that letter is. They could have changed plans and now only have the three P25 channels for interoperability and everything else ProVoice.

The contour plot was dated April 2011.

 

[StatuSChecKa]

Phase 2? I always leave this thread unhappy..
I want a new radio so bad, but if the whole county may not be compatible I'll spend $400 elsewhere, so pissed.
I have TPD Radio withdraws now.

 

[Ensnared]

Bummed Listener

Phase 2? I always leave this thread unhappy..
I want a new radio so bad, but if the whole county may not be compatible I'll spend $400 elsewhere, so pissed.
I have TPD Radio withdraws now.

Yes, I can agree. It does not sound promising does it? I don't know if there are plans for a Phase II scanner capable of monitoring these new systems.

But, I can surely recall someone once saying that digital radios would be the end of police scanners. Hopefully, the public won't be in the dark.