Berks County - Proposed 700/800mhz Digital Trunked Radio System

[bgottschallberks]

Never had the privilege of using broken sky.

But the SOP's are most likely written by a lawyer as it closely mimics a Motorola contract than it does actual procedures.




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Thanks for the criticism Cav. Do you have any constructive thoughts/suggestions about the SOPs? We have operated a conventional system for all of public safety radio history in Berks County and are on a steep learning curve here.

Motorola had no involvement in the development of the draft. It was written exclusively by a team of management/dispatchers/field users. We have received a fair amount of feedback and suggestions from our field users and our staff that did not participate directly in the development, but we have not heard that the document is overarchingly confusing.

Again, we are interested in input from field users and even from people outside of Berks COunty proper who might be able to offer insights based on their experience in operating on a complex, multi-disciplinary trunked system.

 

[cavmedic]

Thanks for the criticism Cav. Do you have any constructive thoughts/suggestions about the SOPs? We have operated a conventional system for all of public safety radio history in Berks County and are on a steep learning curve here.

Motorola had no involvement in the development of the draft. It was written exclusively by a team of management/dispatchers/field users. We have received a fair amount of feedback and suggestions from our field users and our staff that did not participate directly in the development, but we have not heard that the document is overarchingly confusing.

Again, we are interested in input from field users and even from people outside of Berks COunty proper who might be able to offer insights based on their experience in operating on a complex, multi-disciplinary trunked system.

It would make it much easier to read if the spacing of the lines in the document wasn't all crammed together.

You could probably shave a few pages off the document by leaving out some of the technical jargon used that the average field user wont understand at all . Remember , all they care about is keying up the radio , getting someone to answer on the other side , for it to work and now they can quite easily hear them selves talk due the delay on the output.

Keep it simple/stupid


Make sure end users AND the dispatchers wait a second after the TPT tone ends for other radios that are in scan to switch to the selected channel priority.


And for the love of Christ , tell your dispatchers to STOP KEYING UP OVER AN OPEN MIC , STATING "ALL UNITS TO CHECK FOR AN OPEN MIC !!!!!!!!" The knucklehead with the unsecured mic WONT hear them .

 

[Septa3371CSX1]

First I'll say I'm opposed to the 100% encryption on the law enforcement side. I monitor police traffic when I'm out and about as a way to know what's going on and what areas I should avoid in case of accidents or other incidents. This encryption on regular dispatch channels only serves to cover up what is going on in the hopes that the media will have less negative events to cover.

Moving on, I noticed talkgroups in the system for the City of Reading - public safety and other city services. Will the City of Reading be moving onto the new countywide TRS or are these talkgroups only set up as a placeholder or patch? Also, if the City of Reading does move onto the new TRS, will they add their 800 MHz trunk system frequencies to the system?

 

[cavmedic]

I am sure the Reading Eagle will have access to it like they currently do with the City PD.

 

[bgottschallberks]

First I'll say I'm opposed to the 100% encryption on the law enforcement side. I monitor police traffic when I'm out and about as a way to know what's going on and what areas I should avoid in case of accidents or other incidents. This encryption on regular dispatch channels only serves to cover up what is going on in the hopes that the media will have less negative events to cover.

Moving on, I noticed talkgroups in the system for the City of Reading - public safety and other city services. Will the City of Reading be moving onto the new countywide TRS or are these talkgroups only set up as a placeholder or patch? Also, if the City of Reading does move onto the new TRS, will they add their 800 MHz trunk system frequencies to the system?

The City system will be removed from service after cutover.

 

[craigwsr1]

Berks County's new 700 mHz system

I have all eligible talkgoups programmed in my PSR 800. Heard feedback on EMS Hail through the North Simulcast on 5/15/14. Transmission was not very long to determine if scanners will get simulcast distortion on receive de k3cwh

 

[craigwsr1]

I have all eligible talkgoups programmed in my PSR 800. Heard feedback on EMS Hail through the North Simulcast on 5/15/14. Transmission was not very long to determine if scanners will get simulcast distortion on receive de k3cwh

 

[craigwsr1]

Starting to receive more transmissions on the new 700 mHz. system. EMS Hail talkgroup transmissions are crystal clear with no distortion from simulcasting. This is a positive thing for Motorola P25 P2 simulcasting. The zero distortion means perfect timing from all towers kudos Motorola. Also hearing testing on UTAC Call and UTAC 41 conventional. Again perfect receive but, it does appear techs are in a learning process and not totally familiar with Moscad and its capabilities. All this is fine business as long as the system is moving in a positive direction. So far so good. Let's see when the switch is turned on and the multi-users take over. More information to follow stay tuned.
de: K3CWH FN10xm -.-. K

 

[sibbley]

Hearing testing this afternoon in Nazareth, Northampton County. Talkgroup 40001. I can only pick it up if I go into my 90 degree garage though. Using the PSR-800 with RS 800mhz antenna! Loud and clear!

 

[ND3U]

True this

The governmental leadership is clueless, you won't get anywhere with police chiefs as they do not want anyone listening. They all say the same knee jerk response. " officer safety"


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Officer safety my ***, all they want is to have new, expensive toys to play with. How often have you heard of a criminal actually using a scanner in conjunction with comitting a crime? Is this why they've tried to outlaw scanners? Or is this just a convenient excuse to spend our tax dollars on worthless comm systems? Are there officers out there injured or killed in the line, yes. Does it have anything to do with the public listening in on police calls, no. Like I've stated before, I've never heard of any sensitive info being aired on regular police frequencies. Most of the time sensitive info is either passed along face-to-face or the officer is requested to call in (via landline or cellphone).

We the taxpayers have the right to be able to listen to our law enforcement over the air. After all, who do they work for? And correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this a government by the people, for the people? Has ANYONE even bothered to ask "the people" what they want? Or are we considered too stupid to understand? How can local governments justify spending millions on these radio systems when people are still loosing their jobs and homes, not to mention the dismal conditions of our roads and bridges? What about spending some of OUR money on education or on programs for all these kids out there who have nothing to do. I still can't believe after all these years being away in the military that the tricounty area (Berks/Chester/MontCo) still is as boring with even less to do as before (can you say budget cuts). But somehow the powers that be can hoodwink the population in believing that we absolutely need a $30-40 million radio system. I smell kickbacks somewhere.

People, do not allow the powers that be try to bullsh*t you. We, the people, the ones who have to shoulder the bills for these new systems need to stand up and say enough is enough. This is our money you're wasting. The people's money, a government by the people for the people still equals the people's money.

Brandon, ND3U
A proud 26 year combat vet who shed blood for this country.

 

[RichardKramer]

Scratching my head

First of all THANKS for your service to our Country Brandon. I've been listening to radio comms since I was 10 years old when I got my first 11mtr cb. My dad was a Deputy Sheriff in Cecil Co. MD through the 70's/80's. He helped to manage a beach along the Elk river which was located outside of the town of Cecilton. We were kind of isolated on that side of the county and it took awhile for MSP to respond. A lot of people had scanners and would call in tips which greatly assisted the law enforcement agencies with their calls. By these agencies encrypting their calls; I don't think they realize how many extra eyes and ears they are tuning out. Now, figure this one out: The City of Reading encrypts all their regular dispatches. However, on TG Tac 2 where a lot of surveillance and special ops take place, these comms go out in the clear - dah, shouldn't it be the other way around? The best comms I've heard on Berks on their single inversion scrambles was from Muhlenberg Twp PD. They would go on their local freq and go on scramble to give their sandwich orders! It's interesting to note on PA's Open Junk - I mean Open Sky system that the Reading Troop L officers are checking in on their old VHF CH E repeater because of poor radio comms on the OS system. 500 million dollars spent on this system and it still AIN't working right. And the other kicker is after the crime happens, the Reading Eagle newspaper will put a request in for the public to help with info on the crime - well guess what - don't you think by letting the law abiding public listen in, maybe we could give tips right after the fact. Here is another reason for not using encryption for regular dispatches; I work in security for Boscov's Distribution along Rte 422. Last week there was a possible burglary call right behind the warehouse early in the am. I was at home and heard the description of the actor. I called the guard on duty and let him know what was going on so he could watch for anyone suspicious so that he could call the police. If this call was encrypted, I would have not known what was going on and if the actor did go through the property, the guard probably would not have took any action.There were many other calls that I've heard over the years near our stores that I relayed the info to security to keep a watch out - now all that will not happen with the new radio system. I just hope no one gets hurt or killed by not knowing what's going on. It's really a shame that the powers that be are so stupid and ignorant of people like us who want to help out.

Rich - N3VMY/ KPA3CI / KAG 0096

 

[n3ouc]

Berks P25 system and the BCD536

I have been trying to monitor this new system and I have excellent signals. Has anyone successfully been able to set up their 536 to listen to this system? I have tried multiple threshold level combinations and have been able to hear very garbled transmission on levels 8 and 9. Nothing on any other level. I have let it sit in the P25 adjustment mode with error percentages never getting any better than 90%. I know I must not have the right combination somehow..

Thank You,
Mike

 

[sibbley]

I have been trying to monitor this new system and I have excellent signals. Has anyone successfully been able to set up their 536 to listen to this system? I have tried multiple threshold level combinations and have been able to hear very garbled transmission on levels 8 and 9. Nothing on any other level. I have let it sit in the P25 adjustment mode with error percentages never getting any better than 90%. I know I must not have the right combination somehow..

Thank You,
Mike

I've only been able to monitor testing on this system using the PSR-800. Oddly enough, the only place I can get signal is in my garage. I don't even get signal outside. I'm in Northampton County.

I have not heard a single word with my 436HP. It's completely deaf on this system from my home in Northampton County. I have not gone into Berks yet to monitor. I know the 436 does do Phase ll, I listen to the New Jersey 700 system all the time.

I was told early on that the Berks system would be hard to monitor outside the Berks county lines.

 

[n3ouc]

Sibbley,
I live in western lehigh county near Macungie. I hear them all the time now for about the past month but never clearly. Full bars on the scanner which is a 536 and it does come up as PT0 which says its Phase II. Just cannot seem to clean up the audio to a point you can undersatnd it.. Its not the police deptartments or anything besides fire and EMS which are not supposed to be scrambled..Just very aggrivating but hope someone has been able to set their radio/ 436 or 536 to be able to work with this system..

Thank You,
Mike

 

[n3ouc]

BCD536 and the Berks County Trunked System

I finally sorted this out and am receiving everything loud and clear. First, Sentinel has this system as a P25 Standard. I had to change it to X2TDMA and the only way I could figure out how to do that was through ARC. Once I did that, I am hearing everything perfectly. I also had to fiddle with the threshold level, Auto 8 just didn't cut it but after a few hours of playing around I comes in great with the mode set to manual and the level set to 10.

Mike

 

[sibbley]

I finally sorted this out and am receiving everything loud and clear. First, Sentinel has this system as a P25 Standard. I had to change it to X2TDMA and the only way I could figure out how to do that was through ARC. Once I did that, I am hearing everything perfectly. I also had to fiddle with the threshold level, Auto 8 just didn't cut it but after a few hours of playing around I comes in great with the mode set to manual and the level set to 10.

Mike

Awesome. Glad to hear you got it worked out. I'll have to try these changes when I get home today.

 

[sibbley]

I don't hear much anymore. There for a while I was hearing comms everyday. Is the system still undergoing testing?

 

[bgottschallberks]

I don't hear much anymore. There for a while I was hearing comms everyday. Is the system still undergoing testing?

System is under "radio quiet" at the moment while final optimization is undertaken. First step of cutover is scheduled 10/27. APPROX. 2 weeks in advance of cutover, the usage ban will be lifted to allow for a "refamiliarization" period.

I doubt you will hear much before that time.

 

[n3ouc]

BCD536 and the Berks County Trunked System

I was wondering what was going on. I too have heard nothing in a week or so. Thank you bgotshallberks for the information.

Take Care,
Mike

 

[sibbley]

System is under "radio quiet" at the moment while final optimization is undertaken. First step of cutover is scheduled 10/27. APPROX. 2 weeks in advance of cutover, the usage ban will be lifted to allow for a "refamiliarization" period.

I doubt you will hear much before that time.

Sounded really great from what I was able to hear from Northampton County.