Brevard County P25 (00A.92077)

[ElroyJetson]

Cocoa replaced its radios a few years ago. I know, I had a few dozen P7300s with Cocoa property tags on them to sell, and declined to sell them for the seller for...reasons. But even they had P25 phase 1 in them. The stupid part is, upgrading to Phase 2 would have been far cheaper than buying new radios. But I guess they're using XG-75Ps today, which as far as I can tell are only an upgrade over the P7300 because it has a more modern but still black and white dot matrix LCD display on it. Oh, and if it's the Pe model, the AB switch is now an ABC switch. That's a big deal? Worth spending something around 3700 dollars per radio to upgrade?

 

[batdude]

as of today, Cocoa PD remains unencrypted. Time will tell.

4 more EDACS LCNs were removed from the north system - so expect them to be rolled over to the P25 system sooner or later. I do not really use Unitrunker so inputs on the EDACS system status are much appreciated.

 

[KI4LIV]

as of today, Cocoa PD remains unencrypted. Time will tell.

4 more EDACS LCNs were removed from the north system - so expect them to be rolled over to the P25 system sooner or later. I do not really use Unitrunker so inputs on the EDACS system status are much appreciated.

Cocoa PD dispatch is all I'm hearing (off the South tower) - no field units.

 

[TDR-94]

as of today, Cocoa PD remains unencrypted. Time will tell.

Only dispatch is in the clear. They can't remain that way because Brevard is citing the misinterpreted DOJ requirements and losing certification, if they don't encrypt all LE talkgroups.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I hear Cocoa PD, dispatch and units, on the north tower. And some hospital traffic, too. On the EDACS system.
I should have programmed in the CI radio tech's talkgroups to listen in on months or years ago. I might have learned a lot from their conversations.

 

[W1SPG]

The fact that all of the working fire talk groups are encrypted make me wonder if they have any idea what they are doing

 

[ElroyJetson]

Ever heard the audio quality they had to deal with when using their SCBA gear with in-mask microphones?
You never heard "Say again, you are unreadable" in your life. And that was back when they were fully analog EDACS.
I'd say that was unacceptable for safety of life applications, end of story,
and adding the audio degradation of going to digital has to make things NOT better. At this point it has to be so bad that encryption is necessary so nobody not "in the know" has any clue of how absolutely scary bad that mask audio really is.

I view it as their dirty little secret and encryption just lets them cover it up. Until somebody DIES because communications became impossible due to performance problems. THEN it'll become big news.

 

[ElroyJetson]

That didn't come out right. You never heard that phrase, "say again, you're unreadable" that OFTEN in your life before. It was appalling that anybody would accept such low quality audio for a critical safety application.

 

[TDR-94]

The fact that all of the working fire talk groups are encrypted make me wonder if they have any idea what they are doing

It's Brevard. You would be surprised of the incompetence that makes decisions.

 

[batdude]

It's Brevard. You would be surprised of the incompetence that makes decisions.

I am going to disagree with this statement if you are discussing the radio system changeover. I think it went extremely well all things considered.

the intelligibility issues that Elroy pointed out are well known. Coming off a wide band analog system to TDMA is a big jump. it takes time to get used to the audio.

 

[TDR-94]

I am going to disagree with this statement if you are discussing the radio system changeover. I think it went extremely well all things considered.

the intelligibility issues that Elroy pointed out are well known. Coming off a wide band analog system to TDMA is a big jump. it takes time to get used to the audio.

That's fine. I can just tell you that the "brightest bulbs" are not the ones making the decisions.

 

[ElroyJetson]

It wasn't even necessary to go to Phase 2 TDMA. Most P25 systems are in Phase 1 in FL, at least the ones that I hear in my travels, in the central part of the state, and their audio quality is really pretty good. Seems that Phase 2 further compromises audio quality in the quest for spectral efficiency, but the 800 MHz spectrum in Brevard isn't so congested that the bandwidth savings is really necessary.
They could drop back to Phase 1 and gain intelligibility improvements.

 

[TDR-94]

Phase 2 was the only current P25 option.Had the transition happened back in 2017 then P25 Phase 1 would have been an option. P25 Phase 2 and LTE are all that is being offered now in the piblic safety sector involving Federal grant funding. P25 Phase 3 morphed into pre-existing LTE standards.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Remind me, what was the official date of end of support for EDACS trunking?
Oh yeah...December 31, 2017.

The county is to be commended for having acquired enough spares to keep the system operating this far past EOL, and the CI techs as well.
It's kind of amazing they kept this large trunked system running very well for almost eight years after factory support ended.

 

[KR4BFV_motorola_guy]

Remind me, what was the official date of end of support for EDACS trunking?
Oh yeah...December 31, 2017.

The county is to be commended for having acquired enough spares to keep the system operating this far past EOL, and the CI techs as well.
It's kind of amazing they kept this large trunked system running very well for almost eight years after factory support ended.

“If you take care of the equipment it will take care of you”
- every mechanic that ever lived

 

[seagravebuff60]

The fact that all of the working fire talk groups are encrypted make me wonder if they have any idea what they are doing

I have to agree with this statement. Sometimes, many decisions regarding these systems are made by totally incompetent people; it's not just Brevard. It's like asking my Eye Doctor to perform surgery on my broken leg. I, for one, think encrypting Fire/EMS is ridiculous. Also, I don't think P25 Trunk is the best option for Firegrounds and on-scene communications. In my Opinion, Alnolog simplex is the best for that.

the intelligibility issues that Elroy pointed out are well known. Coming off a wide band analog system to TDMA is a big jump. it takes time to get used to the audio.

I also agree. Analog audio to digital audio is a big jump. And proper radio training is needed for the transition, as digital is much different from analog.

I can also say that there is a particular degradation in audio quality within the EDACS Migration gateway. I would expect the gateway to still be in use, as EDACS is still in use. However, it seems that a lot more native P25 radios are on the air.

P25 Phase 2 is the latest P25 standard out there now.. Counties in North Central Florida that have P25 Phase 1 systems have been around for a long time, longer than Brevard, Volusia, Flagler, or Putnam, which are all Phase 2.

 

[W1SPG]

Looks like Cocoa and Countywide both went encrypted today

 

[KI4LIV]

Anyone wanna buy some scanners, fairly cheap? LOL Not worth much to me anymore...

 

[ElroyJetson]

Put up a better antenna and listen to other counties.

 

[KI4LIV]

Put up a better antenna and listen to other counties.

Nah... if it's not local it's not worth listening to for me.