Delaware P25 Fire/Ems Live Feed

[SShuster221]

Hello,

I wanted to provide an update regarding the Delaware P25 live feed that I broadcast from the new Motorola radio system. Over the past few months, I’ve received several reports concerning audio quality issues. Please know that I am actively working to improve this and truly appreciate your patience.

Currently, the feed is transmitted from a 300-foot elevation on an Ocean City, MD high-rise. While the system generally receives well on my Kraken SDR, there are frequent instances where the control channel (CC) unexpectedly drops out, even with a strong signal. This issue has persisted despite trying multiple SDR units. Additionally, my testing of the Sussex P25 system using a Unication pager shows similar challenges—coverage is simply not the strongest, even with professional-grade equipment.

I understand that the feed can be difficult to listen to at times, though there are also many nights when the audio comes through perfectly clear. Please bear with me as I continue to work on refining the setup.

For anyone interested, you can monitor the feed, especially during tonight’s inclement weather, using the following links:

• Regular Live Feed on Broadcastify
• Broadcastify Calls - Node 4244: State of Delaware P25

This remains a work in progress, and I sincerely appreciate your understanding and support.



Thank you,

Scott

 

[policefreak]

Thanks for the update. Are there cell towers or sites up on that high rise or on an adjacent high rise? That would cause a rise in signal strength with poor audio quality and CC dropouts if not complete loss of system.

 

[maus92]

Yea, you should be receiving the Sussex site with no issues. I can receive it at ground level at 65th Street with an SDS100. Could be the steel in the building or other RF interference.

 

[maus92]

Following up, the signal from Delaware's P25 system gets spotty south of the Route 90 Bridge along Coastal Hwy. North of the bridge along Coastal was receivable this afternoon. Note that there are cell system panel antennas on the 9400 building and the Antigua at 8500 Coastal Hwy.

 

[maus92]

Second follow up. I took the G5 to work this morning and could receive the Sussex site with no issues coming into town from the Rt 90 bridge.

 

[PtBreak]

Following up, the signal from Delaware's P25 system gets spotty south of the Route 90 Bridge along Coastal Hwy. North of the bridge along Coastal was receivable this afternoon. Note that there are cell system panel antennas on the 9400 building and the Antigua at 8500 Coastal Hwy.

9400 is Verizon w/ C Band n77

 

[SShuster221]

So there is nothing that I can see on the roof that is close providing cellular activity. From what I am able to see the signal was way too hot. So I knocked it down with a 15db attenuation over the weekend. Sounds a bit better but not great. I am using a Kraken SDR this also pick up Worcester & Ocean City EMS. Open to SDR Trunk Suggestions. I have been trying for days to find something that works right.

 

[magiclightman]

So there is nothing that I can see on the roof that is close providing cellular activity. From what I am able to see the signal was way too hot. So I knocked it down with a 15db attenuation over the weekend. Sounds a bit better but not great. I am using a Kraken SDR this also pick up Worcester & Ocean City EMS. Open to SDR Trunk Suggestions. I have been trying for days to find something that works right.

I provide the feeds for NCC and Kent- using NooElec SDR Smartee v5. I found that adding some heatsinks (found a kit on amazon for like $20) to the dongles, as well as using properly tuned high gain 700/800 mhz antennas (Laird TE Connectivity QW8063 806-866 MHz Mobile Antenna NMO Two Way Radio with Larsen NMOSMAFITMB - NMO Bracket Mounts with SMA) allowed me to lower my gain on the SDR that I was using, and was able to obtain much higher receive quality.

Another thing that I do is have all of the channels running at the same time so that even if my control channel loses sync, SDR Trunk will still decode any other voice calls that pop up on the other channels:

 

[maus92]

Just some notes on the above config: the only possible control channels are 853.350 (which is the primary); 851.100, 853.1125, and 853.5875 are the secondaries. The rest are traffic channels exclusively. Moto system typically have four possible control channels, some systems only configure two. I understand why you've set up SDRT the way you have, but I'm still cringing, lol. The RRDB listing is incorrect wrt to this system as it is showing all the Sussex site frequencies as possible control channels, which they are not. If this were a L3Harris system or perhaps an EFJ/Kenwood Atlas system, the listing would be correct. I'll submit a change notice to the RRDB and hopefully it will be corrected.

 

[jblackst]

I provide the feeds for NCC and Kent- using NooElec SDR Smartee v5. I found that adding some heatsinks (found a kit on amazon for like $20) to the dongles, as well as using properly tuned high gain 700/800 mhz antennas (Laird TE Connectivity QW8063 806-866 MHz Mobile Antenna NMO Two Way Radio with Larsen NMOSMAFITMB - NMO Bracket Mounts with SMA) allowed me to lower my gain on the SDR that I was using, and was able to obtain much higher receive quality.

Another thing that I do is have all of the channels running at the same time so that even if my control channel loses sync, SDR Trunk will still decode any other voice calls that pop up on the other channels: View attachment 188889

Couldn't you just build one system entry and then add multiple control channels? Under 'Source', just keep adding the CCs, and then set a Frequency Rotation Delay around 1500-2000 ms. (Ignore the C4FM / LSM settings, SOD isn't a simulcast system)

 

[magiclightman]

Couldn't you just build one system entry and then add multiple control channels? Under 'Source', just keep adding the CCs, and then set a Frequency Rotation Delay around 1500-2000 ms. (Ignore the C4FM / LSM settings, SOD isn't a simulcast system)View attachment 188901

Probably, the logic I was following behind setting it up this way was that it appears that by entering the VCs in as P25 Phase 1 entries, if there's any activity, SDR Trunk will start decoding it as phase 2 regardless of CC lock or not.

Just some notes on the above config: the only possible control channels are 853.350 (which is the primary); 851.100, 853.1125, and 853.5875 are the secondaries. The rest are traffic channels exclusively. Moto system typically have four possible control channels, some systems only configure two. I understand why you've set up SDRT the way you have, but I'm still cringing, lol. The RRDB listing is incorrect wrt to this system as it is showing all the Sussex site frequencies as possible control channels, which they are not. If this were a L3Harris system or perhaps an EFJ/Kenwood Atlas system, the listing would be correct. I'll submit a change notice to the RRDB and hopefully it will be corrected.

Definitely makes me cringe too, the downfall of running both dongles 24/7 is that they definitely burn up after a bit of time. Learned after the past 4 years to put the heatsinks on it to try to cool them down but it still gets rough lol.