Erie County P25 System

[n3obl]

Not sure what scanner you are using but i would check service type if used to make sure you have hospital turned on.

 

[scnrfrq]

OK...now I'm hearing activity. I'll have to check my settings because I haven't avoided them, but they aren't picking up on scan...time to dig into my settings some more...

I've been hearing them right along.

 

[chuck043rr]

So what do people think of the quality of audio on the system? I have the 436/536, and I'm curious about those listeners with the 996p2 and SDS100/200 scanners. What scanner seems to be doing the best?

I have an SDS100 and had to program specifically a P25/2 system for it to work at all. Reception is real good, but I don't get any transmission from TG 201/209 Erie/Millcreek PD. Is it encrypted? I don't receive any garbled transmission, so maybe it's a mismatch or programming issue.

 

[maus92]

I have an SDS100 and had to program specifically a P25/2 system for it to work at all. Reception is real good, but I don't get any transmission from TG 201/209 Erie/Millcreek PD. Is it encrypted? I don't receive any garbled transmission, so maybe it's a mismatch or programming issue.

All PD is apparently encrypted, except for mutual aid / interop police TGs. The SDS series Uniden radios skip encrypted traffic, so you won't even hear hash (P25 / AES encryption won't sound garbled, it will sound like digital "noise," and nothing like speech) most of the time. Note that SDS series radios should be programmed to "P25 Trunk" to receive this system. Looking back at the program's history, several press articles mentioned / raised the issue of encryption, but apparently the appointed / elected officials fell back to the usual - and unsubstantiated - arguments for encryption. Elect new leadership.

 

[scnrfrq]

, all PD is encrypted
All PD is apparently encrypted, except for mutual aid / interop police TGs. The SDS series Uniden radios skip encrypted traffic, so you won't even hear hash (P25 / AES encryption won't sound garbled, it will sound like digital "noise," and nothing like speech) most of the time. Note that SDS series radios should be programmed to "P25 Standard" to receive this system. Looking back at the program's history, several press articles mentioned / raised the issue of encryption, but apparently the appointed / elected officials fell back to the usual - and unsubstantiated - arguments for encryption. Elect new leadership.

I totally agree! PD in the clear is a good thing for everyone - transparency is what we need. All PD is now encrypted, even after Millcreek saying for a year they would stay in the clear with their own dispatch. They did keep their dispatch, but went encrypted. I just avoided TG's 201-236 on my 436/536 so I wouldn't have to be reminded and bothered. I even suggested to Millcreek sups that they put the feed on their own website, just delay it a minute or so. This works real well for Akron PD. I got no response to my suggestion.

 

[chuck043rr]

All PD is apparently encrypted, except for mutual aid / interop police TGs. The SDS series Uniden radios skip encrypted traffic, so you won't even hear hash (P25 / AES encryption won't sound garbled, it will sound like digital "noise," and nothing like speech) most of the time. Note that SDS series radios should be programmed to "P25 Trunk" to receive this system. Looking back at the program's history, several press articles mentioned / raised the issue of encryption, but apparently the appointed / elected officials fell back to the usual - and unsubstantiated - arguments for encryption. Elect new leadership.

Downloading from Radioreference gives a 'P25 Trunk' system but I never received any transmissions on that. I programmed my own 'P25 X2 TDMA' system and it works. Yes, it's a shame that someone thinks encryption is necessary.

 

[maus92]

Downloading from Radioreference gives a 'P25 Trunk' system but I never received any transmissions on that. I programmed my own 'P25 X2 TDMA' system and it works. Yes, it's a shame that someone thinks encryption is necessary.

That is interesting. X2 TDMA was a Motorola proprietary implementation of Phase 2 before a final APCO standard was adopted. "P25 Trunk" is the preferred system type when programming by hand. I wonder if EFJohnson's implementation varies somewhat from the adopted standard?

 

[terryho]

I was getting good reception of Erie fire when they first came on and only had trouble with tac1 , but lately they’re so garbled I can’t hear them. Tried different threshold settings , antennas, inside and out and everything else I can think of and still no luck. The county sounds great most of the time but city gives me problems....

 

[maus92]

I was getting good reception of Erie fire when they first came on and only had trouble with tac1 , but lately they’re so garbled I can’t hear them. Tried different threshold settings , antennas, inside and out and everything else I can think of and still no luck. The county sounds great most of the time but city gives me problems....

If you are monitoring from your location noted in your signature, your reception issues with the Urban Simulcast does make some sense. All the towers associated with that site are roughly the same azimuth and distance from your location - a classic setup for simulcast distortion. Changing antennas probably won't help much. What you need to do is limit reception to one tower site, and that will be difficult from your location.

 

[scnrfrq]

Anyone else hearing that really annoying interference on County Paging today, 453.950? Comes and goes every few minutes and lasts for a couple seconds. Sounds kinda shrieky....

 

[jonwienke]

That's what pager data signals usually sound like.

 

[scnrfrq]

That's what pager data signals usually sound like.

Heard today for the first time. What do they use data signals for? Can they be filtered out?

 

[jonwienke]

The data signal is the recipient and text of the page.

 

[scnrfrq]

The data signal is the recipient and text of the page.

Why would that just start today? I don't hear it on the Millcreek page channel.

 

[jonwienke]

Even if the channel does voice pages, there will typically be tones or data before the voice message to indicate the recipient.

It's also possible a new data paging transmitter has popped up on a nearby freq, and you're hearing bleedover. Try activating IFX for the freq and see if the noise goes away.

 

[scnrfrq]

Even if the channel does voice pages, there will typically be tones or data before the voice message to indicate the recipient.

It's also possible a new data paging transmitter has popped up on a nearby freq, and you're hearing bleedover. Try activating IFX for the freq and see if the noise goes away.

Nope - IFX didn't do it.

 

[jonwienke]

Try programming the freqs on each side of the noise to see if it gets louder in one direction--confirm whether the noise is on that freq or a nearby one.

 

[scnrfrq]

TG 231 is active now. It is shown as EFD Special Events 1 in the database. But it sounds like a traffic setup for speeders. Also, all the county FD's Special Events TG's are shown in the 200's. Seems like it doesn't fit, since all 200's were thought to be encrypted PD's?

 

[chuck043rr]

I've heard some non-scrambled in the 200's also on SDS100. It would be nice if I could select only certain TG's like (now) old-fashioned scanners, maybe that's coming.

 

[u2brent]

Downloading from Radioreference gives a 'P25 Trunk' system but I never received any transmissions on that. I programmed my own 'P25 X2 TDMA' system and it works. Yes, it's a shame that someone thinks encryption is necessary.

Programing a P25 Phase 2 system as a P25 X2 in sentinel negates the use of NAC's in the site details.
Perhaps the NAC in the RR DB is wrong therefore no signal using an SDS100, The x36HP can't/don't use this feature..