Chesapeake Trunked System

Larry51

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In searching the FCC database for the City of Chesapeake, I came across a trunked system in the 800 MHz band - not the 700 MHz P25 system that’s currently being used by the city government. The callsign is WPMA403. It’s not in the RR database.

Does anyone know what it’s being used for? Is it the predecessor of the 700 MHz system? I’m curious because the license was recently renewed, and it has active control channels. I emailed the city's point of contact listed on the license and he came back with a vague answer that didn't answer my question.
 

vavolff

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Chesapeake jumped from their crumbling VHF system and right into a Phase 1 digital TRS quite a while ago, I can't remember. I looked it up on the ULC, notes say its for public safety coordination. Maybe an expansion or something to do with ORION? That's about all that comes to mind at the moment, I'll have to plug in some of the frequencies and give it an extended listen.
 

Larry51

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For clarification, the callsign WPMA4903 is listed in the FCC ULC database as a Public Safety Trunked System (YE) with many frequencies, both rptr and input. Of those, two of the frequencies (852.6750 and 852.9250) are listed on RR as Chesapeake fire and police talk-around (conventional) channels. I'm not sure why RR lists it like that, unless it's an old listing left over from the pre-700 MHz days. Interestingly, those two frequencies only appear in the FCC database on one transmit site.

I sent a second email to my contact at the city asking which departments use that system. All he would say was "The 800 MHz system can be used by any of the departments of the City."
 

clbsquared

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From what little bit of google searching I just did, that call sign goes back to 2013 and is listed in Radio Shacks Trunking publication. I’m going to assume it’s associated with their old Phase I trunking system.
 

Larry51

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From what little bit of google searching I just did, that call sign goes back to 2013 and is listed in Radio Shacks Trunking publication. I’m going to assume it’s associated with their old Phase I trunking system.
I think you're right, but they just renewed the license last month, and the control channels are active. And the gentleman from the city said the system was "available" to all departments. I'll try some monitoring.
 

vavolff

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I think you're right, but they just renewed the license last month, and the control channels are active. And the gentleman from the city said the system was "available" to all departments. I'll try some monitoring.
That makes sense, couldn't pull out the old Phase I system out of my head for anything! What frequencies are you getting the CC? I'll give it a listen and try to get things logged via laptop.
 

Larry51

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That makes sense, couldn't pull out the old Phase I system out of my head for anything! What frequencies are you getting the CC? I'll give it a listen and try to get things logged via laptop.
That would be great if you could figure that out. Of the 18 frequencies that are listed as FB2, I get control channel signals on:

852.6250
852.8250
853.3000
853.4625
853.7250
 

vavolff

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That would be great if you could figure that out. Of the 18 frequencies that are listed as FB2, I get control channel signals on:

852.6250
852.8250
853.3000
853.4625
853.7250
I'm on it! I'll set up ProScan and let it run for a few days and see what it snags. Thanks for the frequencies! If anything changes, lemme know!
 

MotoTRK

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I bet this is their old Moto Type II that carried most of the traffic in ASTRO format. I would have to dig up a very old file to confirm if this is the case.
 

Larry51

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I think it is the old system, but... they just renewed the license last month, and the control channels are active. And the gentleman from the city who oversees frequency management said the system was "available" to all city departments. Interesting.
 

FJB2022

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The old Type 2 system was removed years ago. Those aren't currently being used as control channels, if you try running them on PRO96COM or Unitrunker you won't get anything.
 

Larry51

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Here are the two vague responses I received from the city's public safety IT guy:

"This is an existing system used by the City for radio communications. We are not replacing the 700 MHz system."

"The 800 MHz system can be used by any of the departments of the City."


Of the dozen or so FB2 frequencies in the system, there are 4 or 5 that sound identical to control channels when listened to individually. My guess is that it's the old 800 MHz trunked system that's available for use but not currently being used.

Question for FJB2022: When loading a control channel's frequency into Pro96com, will it still decode the control channel's information even if no one is actively using the system?
 

FJB2022

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Here are the two vague responses I received from the city's public safety IT guy:

"This is an existing system used by the City for radio communications. We are not replacing the 700 MHz system."

"The 800 MHz system can be used by any of the departments of the City."


Of the dozen or so FB2 frequencies in the system, there are 4 or 5 that sound identical to control channels when listened to individually. My guess is that it's the old 800 MHz trunked system that's available for use but not currently being used.

Question for FJB2022: When loading a control channel's frequency into Pro96com, will it still decode the control channel's information even if no one is actively using the system?
There isn't a second system, just the current ones that use the 700mhz freqs.

When using Pro96com it doesn't decode anything on any of the 800mhz freqs which is why I stated they're not control channels.
 
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