EBRCS Question Thread

[Raider510]

Has anyone had trouble monitoring Fremont, Union City, and Newark? I'm in the market for possibly getting the 996 or 396 and I'm just curious as to any issues that have come up for you when scanning because of the switching to EBRCS. Any help is appreciated!

 

[inigo88]

HFD's incident is on their channel "Fire Command 3". ALCO was telling it's personnal to switch to "Command 13" for HFD's incident. I then heard the chief talking to the ENGs that if they have the old radios, go tune into "B group, VHF Channel 1". A few seconds later, he added that the new radio's would be group "Zone D".

Very helpful, thanks for the update. It sounds like ALCO was patching a VHF conventional channel (maybe the old mutual aid red channel was renamed "VHF Ch 1" ?) to their EBRCS Command 13 (which is likely TG 2673, if it follows the existing pattern).

EBRCS: East Bay Regional Communications System (EBRCS) Trunking System, Multiple, California - Scanner Frequencies

I've never heard of a Hayward Fire Command 3, and I haven't heard any reports of Hayward FD on EBRCS yet but it could be a new talkgroup there. It could also be related to this old thread, where they refer to a talkgroup reserved for Hayward FD on the ALCO system: http://forums.radioreference.com/sa...ion/237977-hayward-fire-new-channel-blue.html

I no longer live in the area and am unable to confirm, so take that all for what it's worth.

 

[korpseofdeath]

reply to Raider510: I live Hayward, and I have a BCD396XT & 996XT. I can listen to EBRCS effortlessly on the SW site.

reply to inigo88: Thanks for your input. Yes I also haven't heard of a HFD Command 3 either. I just noticed this morning ACSO switched over to EBRCS. No more Motorola Trunked for them. I have to get home and fix my scanner for my ACSO feed and switch it to the EBRCS.

 

[rooivalk]

Monitoring the COCO Central site on my Pro-106 with the RS 800MHZ antenna. I have great signal strength, but the radio is having difficulty decoding the P25, so the audio is really choppy.

Is there any settings that I can tweek to make the audio better?
Current settings are:
Digital AGC: ON
Supertrack: ON
Multi-Site: ROAM
Threshold HI: 95
Threshold LO: 75
T Tables: DEFAULT.

thanks.

 

[kma371]

Monitoring the COCO Central site on my Pro-106 with the RS 800MHZ antenna. I have great signal strength, but the radio is having difficulty decoding the P25, so the audio is really choppy.

Is there any settings that I can tweek to make the audio better?
Current settings are:
Digital AGC: ON
Supertrack: ON
Multi-Site: ROAM
Threshold HI: 95
Threshold LO: 75
T Tables: DEFAULT.

thanks.

Your location in the east bay would be helpful

I turn the AGC off but I have a 996

 

[rooivalk]

Your location in the east bay would be helpful

I turn the AGC off but I have a 996

Walnut Creek, southwest of YVB.

 

[kma371]

Walnut Creek, southwest of YVB.

So are you more 680/24? YVB stretches quite a bit to the east so you could be Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville?

That's kind of a dead spot for scanning in general I've noticed when I used to commute up and down 680. Once I hit Main Street or Treat Blvd things opened up a bit. They are supposed to be installing a new tower, if everything goes as planned, at the current BART tower. That's at the NW corner of the 680/24 interchange just north of the BART tracks. That should improve things, but it might be a little while.

Other than that, I'd say try a better antenna or something directional. Everyone has a problem with these simulcast systems, especially on Unidens, but it's better on the GRE's.

 

[rooivalk]

So are you more 680/24? YVB stretches quite a bit to the east so you could be Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Danville?

That's kind of a dead spot for scanning in general I've noticed when I used to commute up and down 680. Once I hit Main Street or Treat Blvd things opened up a bit. They are supposed to be installing a new tower, if everything goes as planned, at the current BART tower. That's at the NW corner of the 680/24 interchange just north of the BART tracks. That should improve things, but it might be a little while.

Other than that, I'd say try a better antenna or something directional. Everyone has a problem with these simulcast systems, especially on Unidens, but it's better on the GRE's.

Largest intersection would be Bancroft and Ygnacio Valley.

Thanks...Technology can be a pain, I guess.

 

[Raider510]

reply to Raider510: I live Hayward, and I have a BCD396XT & 996XT. I can listen to EBRCS effortlessly on the SW site.

Thanks, do you prefer the 396XT or the 996XT? Or are they both pretty much the same?

 

[mibzzer15]

Thanks, do you prefer the 396XT or the 996XT? Or are they both pretty much the same?

The same, one is handheld, one is a base station,

 

[Raider510]

The same, one is handheld, one is a base station,

For the handheld, do you use the rubber antenna or upgrade to a better one?

 

[mibzzer15]

I am using my 800mhz antenna. GRE 800 MHz Rubber Antenna

 

[inigo88]

Has anyone seen a copy of the EBRCS Fire/EMS channel fleetmap(s) yet? Care to share?

Usually they aren't kept all that confidential for large regional systems like this. Unlike law enforcement, the fire service relies heavily on day to day mutual aid between agencies, so it seems reasonable and prudent to ensure easy access to this resource (and many fire departments actually do publish their radio channel plans online).

 

[WayneH]

I think it's too early to see any finalized documentation. There are no doubt spreadsheets with fleetmaps but there're more or less used for assignment and much less distribution to the field.

For ALCO Fire they're pretty easy to figure out since they (CMDs, then TACs) are all in sequence and aliased likewise. There are a few EMS that haven't seen the light yet.

 

[kingpewpew]

Phase 2 P25

While browsing the EBRCS site I ran across this > http://www.ebrcsa.org/SitePDFs/Adm Policy 10-02 P25 Subscriber Units.pdf
It mentions all radios be P25 phase 2 ready, in your guys opinion do you think they'll switch to Phase 2 as early as soon as they say they will?
Honestly I'm glad now I've got my PSR800 if they do.

 

[kma371]

While browsing the EBRCS site I ran across this > http://www.ebrcsa.org/SitePDFs/Adm Policy 10-02 P25 Subscriber Units.pdf
It mentions all radios be P25 phase 2 ready, in your guys opinion do you think they'll switch to Phase 2 as early as soon as they say they will?
Honestly I'm glad now I've got my PSR800 if they do.

If they do, I think it will be at least another two years. The system is just coming to completion and they may still need to work out bugs before they start upgrading things all over again.

 

[mibzzer15]

What does Phase 2 mean to us? Will a 996xt/396XT still be able to pick it up, and what is the difference?

 

[Radiobern]

What does Phase 2 mean to us? Will a 996xt/396XT still be able to pick it up, and what is the difference?

See the Wiki for details on differences between Phase 1 and Phase II: APCO Project 25 - The RadioReference Wiki. They can double capacity with Phase II.

Only the PSR-800 is capable of picking up Phase II at this time. Your BCD396XT and BCD99XT will not support Phase II. It is a hardware issue that cannot be upgraded via a firmware/software update.

 

[WayneH]

If they do, I think it will be at least another two years. The system is just coming to completion and they may still need to work out bugs before they start upgrading things all over again.

This. Unless they built out the infrastructure for Phase II operation it would be a bad time to start now. It's not as easily turned on as one might think.

The areas where it is being deployed it's taking some work to get it to work, if it indeed does properly.

 

[silagi]

Any rumors as to when ALCO Fire/EMS are planning to switch over to EBRCS? Once the SO switched I figured they would soon follow but so far nothing.