Digital Voice?

[Bobwarn]

Does anyone know what the Bedford Police in Lawrence county have done on their conventional freq? It sounds like digital transmission. Does anyone know what it is and can it be decoded? I have a PSR- 500 and have tried everything I know to pick it up.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MTRFD]

I know they were in the process of purchasing digital vhf equipment to replace the old gear that was not narrowband capable. I'm sure you were aware they were not happy with 800 and wanted a more reliable system. I was not aware that it was already in service, as I don’t monitor their traffic.

I’m still kind of new to the digital scanning, so I can’t provide input on that.

 

[jamesa53]

From the RR DB it shows Bedford Police are on SAFE-T, but bad news is their talkgroups are "E" or encrypted. Cant listen to them. Not even with a PSR-500.

 

[Bobwarn]

Thanks for your response!!

Yeah I knew they were going to vhf digital but I have no idea of the format, it appears they have done it much sooner than I thought they would. I knew they weren't happy with the 800 and had went back to vhf. I'm new to the digital world too and was wondering if anyone knew if there was anything I could do to receive digital vhf?

 

[Bobwarn]

Thanks Jamesa53!

They didn't like the 800 Safe-t and had went back to conventional but now they seem to have went digital on the vhf, I don't know what the format is or even if it is possible to recieve it.

 

[jamesa53]

Are you saying that when you go to one of their former VHF frequencies you get the "motorboating" noise associated with the control channel for a trunked radio system?

 

[Bobwarn]

Yes, but only when they talk.... It sounds like the digital sound on motorola type I or II trunk control channel, not the sharp sawtooth type tone... I went through the wave page for the different CC's to match the sound. I don't have the experiance and I can't seem to find enough information to figure out if I'm dealing with something than can even be coverted to analog.

 

[usswood]

you guys need to find there CC in the VHF range...then you should be able to Trunk the system

 

[rdale]

you guys need to find there CC in the VHF range...then you should be able to Trunk the system

No. As he noted, they are conventional. So either they are digital - or encrypted. Or possibly both.

But NOT trunked.

 

[usswood]

Does anyone know what the Bedford Police in Lawrence county have done on their conventional freq? It sounds like digital transmission. Does anyone know what it is and can it be decoded? I have a PSR- 500 and have tried everything I know to pick it up.

Thanks in advance!

did you do the VHF in P25 mode on the 500...if not try that

 

[usswood]

No. As he noted, they are conventional. So either they are digital - or encrypted. Or possibly both.

But NOT trunked.

I think he is not sure what is going on...thats why I wanted him to scan VHF for a possible VHF CC...they might have a new independent system they are using

BTW: thx for the great useful information you added to the discussion RDale....I see you help a lot of different forums out on RR this way <wink> <wink>

 

[rdale]

I think he is not sure what is going on...thats why I wanted him to scan VHF for a possible VHF CC...

You wouldn't use a trunked system for just one channel.

did you do the VHF in P25 mode on the 500

You don't need to set the PSR500 to any sort of "mode" to hear digital audio. It's automatic.

The point is - if he has a PSR500 and they are transmitting in P25, he doesn't need to do anything to hear it.

BTW: thx for the great useful information you added to the discussion RDale

No problem. I appreciate you trying, but I know the PSR500 can be confusing to a lot of people so I help out when wrong things are posted.

 

[Bobwarn]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am open to anything at this point.... I have even went so far as to add this freq as a CC and run unitrunker on it... It doesn't know what it is either. I have an inside track so hopefully they can tell me what the system is and I'll post it here.

Yes the PSR500 is very confusing, it's a very powerful scanner and does LOTS of things but I'm afraid I've exhasted my options for what I know how to do. I appreciate any help I can get!!!

I have set it to P25 / search and it picks up nothing, you name it I'm sure I've tried and if I haven't I will. The only time I pick up the digital audio is when they transmit and I'm on full search (which I think it only opens the freq if there is no squelch type).

Thanks again, if anyone has any ideas I'm willing to try it... That's the way I learn by trial and error and I still have lots to learn about digital and this scanner.

 

[Bobwarn]

BTW I did look for a CC in the VHF band and there's not one.

 

[rdale]

You've confirmed that it is encrypted. There's nothing more to do.

If you manually go to a frequency that has P25 audio on it, the PSR500 will automatically convert it to regular audio. No need for search settings, or a control channel, or anything. Since you've done that, you've discovered that their comms are encrypted.

 

[Bobwarn]

Ok thanks... I just don't understand the need to encrypt for a small city police daily operation, It's not like we are the crime capital of the world.. I do see that encryption has a useful purpose in limited situations but I also see a huge disadvantage using it for everyday operations.. Maybe they have something to hide?

 

[jamesa53]

We in Terre Haute wonder the same thing about our PD....EDACS ProVoice

LOL.

 

[rdale]

It's not that they are hiding anything... Just bought the salesman's koolaid ("you need it")

 

[mckeeb]

I've also heard this in Bedford

As best as I recall, they use basic inversion scrambling (I think Orange County uses the same thing).

Easily monitored if you go to Ramsey Electronics' website:
SS70C - Speech Scrambler/Descrambler Kit - Ramsey Electronics

KD4YGG posted that in a threat I brought up on the matter. Being on a conventional channel, I believe that is what you are talking about. They turn it on and off as they wish. Very annoying. I have not ordered and tried the above, but it is tempting. Hope this helps!

 

[Bobwarn]

Thanks McKeeb,

The county PD uses this, thanks for the link!! You did give me an idea, what if the local PD were using something like this by inverting the digital, I don't think the scanner would know what to do with it then.. Food for thought, thanks!!