Cochrane, AB - MPT1327 system ending Monday

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
Feed Provider
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
9,378
Location
Bragg Creek, Alberta
The radio techs have begun converting radios at Cochrane Fire EMS to conventional mode. This will be completed, including the repeater sites, by 23:59 Monday night. At that point, the MPT1327 system will cease to exist, and the frequencies will be recycled into the analog conventional channels shown here.

One exception is the EMS SOUTH channel, which I do not think is active yet - the repeater is yet to be installed in the south end of Rockyview (to my knowledge, it's still up in Waiparous).

Coverage seems great... a fire truck in the fire hall in Cochrane can hit the RMES R2 repeater and talk to a portable radio in West Bragg Creek. :D
 
Last edited:

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
Feed Provider
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
9,378
Location
Bragg Creek, Alberta
As you can tell, if you're listening, the changeover has begun. EMS A1 and CFD C16 have been temporarily patched in to the new Cochrane EMS and Cochrane Fire conventional channels, courtesy of ARES, to allow for comms while the link sites at Big Hill Springs and COP are being reprogrammed.

I'm not sure why the buzzing is going on, on Cochrane EMS City (what used to be the CC for Cochrane/COP). That's supposed to be a backup link for the EMS Town channel in case the Big Hill Springs link goes down. So it should repeat what is heard on EMS Town.
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
yes i'm having a listen right now sounds very lossy from where I am about 20km from where you live Jay.
 

masonb

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
224
Location
Canada
Out near Calaway park I cannot seem to get very good coverage with neither one of my VHF (hi and low) antennas, the 800MHz (usually gets the 400MHz range) or my combo antenna. I know what setup works the best and right now, and thats the new weird 800MHz (curly looking but dont know who makes it). It can get Alpha 5 & 6 in the skirts of the city with 1 or 2 bars of reception, so I know it works fairly well. Seems to outdo my VHF whips for the RCMP 155 series. They can still gets alpha 5 & 6 but with no bars of reception. Anyhow I got off on a tangent, I cannot seem to get that system clearly. When I do get it, it cuts in and out (might be the hills?). I drove through Cochrane today & got the system fine, but as soon as I get about a 15 mile radius away in one direction it seems to loose its power. Jay911 your out in Bragg Creek area are you not? & you can get a decent signal? Could it be the direction of the transmitted wave (possible concentrated into the Bragg area). Im still to fool around with it more, I can make it work somehow. Funny thing is I can get almost everything else but that. The Calgary Digital Radio system with my current set up I can get in Bragg with control 868.2125 or better yet 868.2625 without a scratch. Even Chestermere fire sometimes if its a nice day all the way across Calgary.

Anyway thats my rant about the new system.... even though I could not monitor the old
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
Feed Provider
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
9,378
Location
Bragg Creek, Alberta
The new conventional channels for Cochrane were being fiddled around with today in terms of power, tuning, and direction. It should be pretty much complete now - I'm on rural fire tonight, and talked with Cochrane crews a couple of times where it sounded half-decent.

I don't know where the antennas are pointed right now, but originally, they were directed so that their signals were strongest towards Calgary, particularly the Foothills Hospital, and to Morley, to cover the areas Cochrane most often serves and/or transports to.

The EMS SOUTH channel is not operational yet, as I think I mentioned earlier - it is expected to be up in a week or two.

I am indeed in Bragg Creek. I have an MCS2000 UHF mobile with a base station power supply and a magmount UHF whip stuck to my deep-freezer lid for a ground plane. With this, I can not only hear all of the Cochrane channels and transmit on most of them, but also get CFD Voice Alerts and most of the Rockyview fire stations, including Chestermere.

By "Alpha 5 & 6" what do you mean - the trunk system (Calgary Digital Radio)? On my BCD396T scanner, I can get it reliably out to about the Redwood firehall - dropping off there because of going behind the hill on the Tsuu T'ina Nation and getting into the forested area of Bragg Creek. In Bragg Creek itself, the signal is very spotty, even on my handheld MTS2000 portable issued by the department - there is a stretch on Center Av near the bridge which is guaranteed good, and the hill at the transfer station (dump) is very good, but everywhere else in the hamlet is awful. At my house, I can find tiny pockets of signal that result in a 98-99% decode on Unitrunker on the Spy Hill tower (868.2125). Oddly enough, going into Kananaskis East, down the 66, Fish Creek (866.1375) just BOOMS in - must have a clear line of sight from the south end of the city.

The RCMP repeaters might be failing in power and amplification. A lot of people are reporting shortened range on many RCMP channels. It could be that they're failing, or, the RCMP could be turning the power down to conserve the equipment since it will have to last a few more years until AFRRCS comes online. That may be why they've added these extra repeaters covering the same area previously handled by one (Cochrane, formerly covering all of its area by 155.55/B2, now has 155.625/B10 for areas west into Morley, and 154.83/A15 for areas south into Bragg Creek).

I wouldn't consider Cochrane's new configuration done at this point. They're going to have to tweak the settings until things work properly for them, and it may take a few days (or weeks). This equipment is the same stuff that was running the MPT1327 trunk yesterday, just reflashed to do conventional operation. It will work, it'll just take time to make perfect.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top