Delaware County Pa New System

[Whiskey3JMC]

Should be solid now.

EUREKA! There she is in all her glory

 

[stevecast2024]

EUREKA! There she is in all her g

EUREKA! There she is in all her glory

lory

 

[stevecast2024]

Well it's fair to say that is a strong signal and the TX you hear so well is at the Upper Darby site.

The Fitz Hospital P25 is also now online.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Thanks Steve, S5's loud and clear with no scratch once again from all the way up here in Montco

Well it's fair to say that is a strong signal and the TX you hear so well is at the Upper Darby site

Always been my favorite site, got a clear line of site on it from my dad's house

 

[W3AWF]

Let’s do it again tomorrow

🤣

Absolutely! I'm down!

 

[cavmedic]

Absolutely! I'm down!

keep flying the bat wings and you will be banned from those parts.

 

[policefreak]

Wow. I am seeing a major weakening of the P25 system here to the east in Philly and NJ. I am guessing power was cut to each site again when the Fitz site came up. At this rate my only hope will be when the Bartram Ave site comes online. But then when all the other sites come power will get cut again. So it looks I may be out for now.

 

[stevecast2024]

Wow. I am seeing a major weakening of the P25 system here to the east in Philly and NJ. I am guessing power was cut to each site again when the Fitz site came up. At this rate my only hope will be when the Bartram Ave site comes online. But then when all the other sites come power will get cut again. So it looks I may be out for now.

Surprising. Fitz would boom to the east. Rose Tree is off but that shouldn't effect you east.

 

[policefreak]

Yup. And we may be getting ducting tonight because the new Delaware P25 system is bombing in down here tonight. I'll do the same trip tomorrow morning with 2 different devices and see what happens. Also, was there a control channel timing issue or something before? Because from a lot of places my devices (2 radios for rx only and a unication would not stay locked on a control channel, even with good raw reception and no similar issues on other systems with control channels in that 770 range at similar strength. Other people have mentioned it too.

 

[stevecast2024]

Yup. And we may be getting ducting tonight because the new Delaware P25 system is bombing in down here tonight. I'll do the same trip tomorrow morning with 2 different devices and see what happens. Also, was there a control channel timing issue or something before? Because from a lot of places my devices (2 radios for rx only and a unication would not stay locked on a control channel, even with good raw reception and no similar issues on other systems with control channels in that 770 range at similar strength. Other people have mentioned it too.

Timing is not set yet. Out of sync is absolutely likely and occurring right now depending on location. So you are currently east of delco and you aren't getting anything on the control channel? Any chance there is signal on the control channel but simulcast distortion is causing you not to decode the control channel? Would you be able to remove the antenna on the receiver or replace it with something very minimal like a paper clip? Is this an SDR?

 

[policefreak]

Timing is not set yet. Out of sync is absolutely likely and occurring right now depending on location. So you are currently east of delco and you aren't getting anything on the control channel? Any chance there is signal on the control channel but simulcast distortion is causing you not to decode the control channel? Would you be able to remove the antenna on the receiver or replace it with something very minimal like a paper clip? Is this an SDR?

For reference, I am located in Berlin, NJ approximately 22 miles Southeast of Mercy Fitzgerald and even a little further from Clifton Heights, Rose Tree and Lima. I have a Unication G5 and a BKR9000 which is made to be a receive only radio. At my location with either device I barely receive Philly from just a few sweet spots in the house. Except for one spot, I dont receive Montco. Anywhere west of my location those two come in well. Anywhere east of me they don't come in at all. The current Delco channels come in scratchy but OK in spots (S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, Fire 10, Fire 1).
Currently with my Unication moving it around the house at best I get RSSI values around -115 and frame error consistently over 4%, so not great raw signal strength. I even hooked it up to a yagi pointed NW towards Philly Airport which is how I hear Philly. Moving my BK radio around just tuned to receive only on the Control channel, I can hear it in spots but very weak. If I switch to the system (again this is receive only) it may come up briefly before displaying Out of Range. No transmissions were heard tonight.
Before tonight there were several spots in my house the Unication would lock onto control and most transmissions would come in, though some would break up or drop altogether. P1 audio actually sounds worse than P2 on a Unication I think, so no surprise. The RSSIs would be around -110 or maybe a bit better. Tonight those spots are gone. Again, I know we are in a band opening, so I'll check tomorrow.
I work in NE Philly around the Burholme area. My commute from home takes me west into more open areas where the system is usually stronger. Then as I head north I lose it again. Gradually my road turns more Northwesterly and opens up and it comes back. My workplace is up on a big hill. Previously the BKR9000 was locking onto control channel most of the time with some dropouts and a strong raw signal. The Unication would go in and Out of Range and miss transmissions even with high RSSI values. I believe that is the timing issue. Tonight my BK radio was hardly locking onto control channel, so I wondered if something was up. I will look for any changes tomorrow when I make the trip.

 

[stevecast2024]

For reference, I am located in Berlin, NJ approximately 22 miles Southeast of Mercy Fitzgerald and even a little further from Clifton Heights, Rose Tree and Lima. I have a Unication G5 and a BKR9000 which is made to be a receive only radio. At my location with either device I barely receive Philly from just a few sweet spots in the house. Except for one spot, I dont receive Montco. Anywhere west of my location those two come in well. Anywhere east of me they don't come in at all. The current Delco channels come in scratchy but OK in spots (S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, Fire 10, Fire 1).
Currently with my Unication moving it around the house at best I get RSSI values around -115 and frame error consistently over 4%, so not great raw signal strength. I even hooked it up to a yagi pointed NW towards Philly Airport which is how I hear Philly. Moving my BK radio around just tuned to receive only on the Control channel, I can hear it in spots but very weak. If I switch to the system (again this is receive only) it may come up briefly before displaying Out of Range. No transmissions were heard tonight.
Before tonight there were several spots in my house the Unication would lock onto control and most transmissions would come in, though some would break up or drop altogether. P1 audio actually sounds worse than P2 on a Unication I think, so no surprise. The RSSIs would be around -110 or maybe a bit better. Tonight those spots are gone. Again, I know we are in a band opening, so I'll check tomorrow.
I work in NE Philly around the Burholme area. My commute from home takes me west into more open areas where the system is usually stronger. Then as I head north I lose it again. Gradually my road turns more Northwesterly and opens up and it comes back. My workplace is up on a big hill. Previously the BKR9000 was locking onto control channel most of the time with some dropouts and a strong raw signal. The Unication would go in and Out of Range and miss transmissions even with high RSSI values. I believe that is the timing issue. Tonight my BK radio was hardly locking onto control channel, so I wondered if something was up. I will look for any changes tomorrow when I make the trip.

Got it. You are a bit further east then I had thought. However, once everything is up and running and we go to the permanent output power at each site I think you will be in good shape.

As for the simulcast delay issues, you will see that work itself out as the timing is set over the coming weeks.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Something up with Lima? Waveform is visible on my SDR & seeing signal bars on my SDS100 but am no longer getting a data link. Ya'll playing games with me?

 

[rgchristy]

Yup. And we may be getting ducting tonight because the new Delaware P25 system is bombing in down here tonight. I'll do the same trip tomorrow morning with 2 different devices and see what happens. Also, was there a control channel timing issue or something before? Because from a lot of places my devices (2 radios for rx only and a unication would not stay locked on a control channel, even with good raw reception and no similar issues on other systems with control channels in that 770 range at similar strength. Other people have mentioned it too.

A handy tool for the toolshed...

https://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

Just click on the map for each time progression.

 

[stevecast2024]

We also use this as its real time... it's VHF but UHF is not far behind when the band opens.

VHF Real Time Propagation

An interactive map that shows real time, worldwide VHF activity highlighting enhaned propagation typical to tropospheric ducting.

vhf.dxview.org

 

[rgchristy]

We also use this as its real time... it's VHF but UHF is not far behind when the band opens.

VHF Real Time Propagation

An interactive map that shows real time, worldwide VHF activity highlighting enhaned propagation typical to tropospheric ducting.

vhf.dxview.org

Thanks Steve! You can never have too many tools in the old toolshed...

 

[shirsch101]

Just asking for an update, how locations are now on line?
Thanks
Steve

 

[rgchristy]

Bunch of Fire Station Test Events going on now. They seem to be on the new system only and not being dispatched on the old system.

They're saying "A testing only, please ignore".

 

[stevecast2024]

Bunch of Fire Station Test Events going on now. They seem to be on the new system only and not being dispatched on the old system.

They're saying "A testing only, please ignore".

Just doing some late night configuring.

 

[rgchristy]

You're going to wind up in the dog house... Go to bed or something...

Although I have no room to talk. This is what life was like at SEPTA...