Augusta Richmond county

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Jmalcom731

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I just purchased the SDS 100 and the palmetto 800 AP 25 system. Augusta Richmond county is using phase 2 which I'm unable to receive. If I upgrade to the DMR firmware will that allow me to monitor phase two? Are the DMR or extreme upgrades necessary.
 

GTR8000

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Phase II is P25, completely separate from DMR. The SDS100 receives P25 Phase II right out of the box, no upgrades required. You would only need DMR if you plan on listening to any MOTOTRBO/DMR stuff. There is no "Extreme Upgrade" for the SDS series, that's only for the HomePatrol series.
 

brian

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Augusta-Richmond County no longer operates on the Palmetto 800 system. They recently switched to their own 800MHz P25 trunked system. That system is posted here: Augusta Richmond County Consolidated Trunking System, Augusta, Georgia - Scanner Frequencies. It is reported to fully fully encrypted for all services, meaning no scanner can receive its transmissions.

See this thread in the GA State forum.
 

Jmalcom731

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hello group. I'm a noob to all of this new technology, and i have posted several things regarding Augusta Richmond county radio system, and have gotten some great info.
i have been able to determine that Richmond county is no longer on palmetto 800 phase 1. except fire dispatch. what I'm trying to figure out is if the Richmond county consolidated system on phase 2 can be monitored using the sds100. also how to get the sentinel database to recognize the updated information so it can be programmed. I'm finding some discrepancies in sentinel. such as the Augusta national golf club system is not listed, or the phase 2 system. are there any upgrades necessary in order to get these systems? im starting to think i have purchased a very expensive boat anchor. as my frustration sit-in, I'm still a loyal scanner and appreciate all of the feedback!!! thanks
 

brian

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The use of encryption on the new Richmond County P25 system renders it un-monitorable on any consumer device (ie, scanner), including the SDS-100. So you'll have to come up with other things to listen to beyond that system.

Based on information in the RR database, encryption is not noted on the Augusta National DMR system. The fact that some talkgroups have been identified implies that someone has successfully monitored it, You will need the DMR upgrade for the SDS to monitor that DMR system. It's difficult to know how much use that system seems in "normal" day to day operations.

You might want to ask in the GA forum what other hobbyists in the Augusta area are listening to with their scanners. Sometimes, information in the RR database is not up to date or complete. That's true of the fact that the Richmond County database page still references the Palmetto 800 system. Others can tell you what else in the area is still monitor-able. Your relative locations to other counties or businesses, and your antenna options, will dictate what you can reasonably expect to hear.

I don't think it's fair to say that your SDS-100 is a boat anchor, as there are other things beyond local public safety agencies to listen to. But if that's what your heart was set on when purchasing the SDS-100, it's definitely a let down to learn that your local area is encrypted. It's an unfortunate fact of our hobby in this age.
 

shajoe44

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Augusta National has gone fully encrypted also. They are still DMR but encrypted. I am presently running DSDPlus to see what is still left in Richmond County on the Palmetto 800 system. The Augusta, Blythe and McBean sites are no longer showing as sites belonging to the Palmetto system any longer. Also the Fire Alert channel is no longer using the Palmetto 800 system either. After I finish running DSDPlus over the next 12 hours, it will look like we can officially declare it dead in Richmond County.
 
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