Erie County P25 System

[terryho]

Guess I’m not around radio enough to catch their chatter.

 

[maus92]

For anyone who is technically oriented, what waveform is being used on the simulcast sites? EFJohnson states that their P25 simulcast infrastructure uses / can use C4FM - which is a bit non-standard for those of use familiar with Motorola and Harris systems.

 

[stevecast2024]

For anyone who is technically oriented, what waveform is being used on the simulcast sites? EFJohnson states that their P25 simulcast infrastructure uses / can use C4FM - which is a bit non-standard for those of use familiar with Motorola and Harris systems.

I believe the C4FM modulation is only when the system operates on P25 Phase 1 mode, at least for subscriber units. When in phase 2 it is H-CPM modulation. Since this is a Phase 2 only system I'm guessing you wouldn't see any C4FM modulation.

I haven't seen much technical talk about the system in this forum, but worth mentioning is that what EFJ and Kenwood have done is essentially take all of the stand alone parts and designed a system that no longer needs a "Core" or "redundant core". With networking evolving the way that it has over the last several years, Kenwood has leveraged the technology and come up with a system that can heal itself through several link failures. At each site is at least one site controller. This controller also acts as a software defined comparitor. In the event that one of these site controllers fail, another site controller at a completely different site can take over for both sites. There is no relying on 1 or 2 cores to do all of the work. This is all made possible with software defined logic and networking. Really neat technology that EFJ and Kenwood have deployed.

 

[maus92]

I'm interested in what the infrastructure (tower sites) are using vs. the subscriber units. EFJohnson made a big deal about using C4FM in P25 simulcast systems (as a way to save money by spreading out tower sites beyond the industry accepted 12 miles and carefully engineering siting and timing.) I'm wondering if they are using a similar tower spacing with whatever waveform the are using for Phase 2. Ideally, somebody either knows for sure, or can run Unitrunker 2 or OP25 and can grab screenshot of a constellation or eye diagram of a signal.

 

[scnrfrq]

This forum got real quiet in a hurry! Now that the system has been in operation for a few weeks, I was wondering what people thought about it in general. Are you having pretty good luck listening to it? What scanners are working the best? Any antenna hints for other listeners? Differences in reception between the urban site and countywide site?

 

[stevecast2024]

Im very interested in what people think of the system as well. Responders and listeners. I was surprised this thread died off. It was very active.

 

[scnrfrq]

This forum got real quiet in a hurry! Now that the system has been in operation for a few weeks, I was wondering what people thought about it in general. Are you having pretty good luck listening to it? What scanners are working the best? Any antenna hints for other listeners? Differences in reception between the urban site and countywide site?

For my own two cents, I have 3 BCD536's. I ended up using the telescoping antenna's that came with them. I have them fully collapsed and about 45 degrees up. I started with better antennas, but got too much distortion. I'm near 38th and Asbury, and reception is pretty good now. My BCD436 also seems to work well wherever I am so far.

I like how the system TG's are organized and consistent. I do miss all the PD's, but what can you do? I also like being able to hear all the Fire/EMS TG's for the whole county too. We do need to complete the list of TG's for the database, and figure out what some of the specialty TG's will be used for too. I've heard some of he Special Event TG's used, like for the parade downtown on Saturday. Not sure if I've heard any unencrypted PD TG's being patched in yet. They do have the capability to patch in PSP, any local PD's, and DCNR on the peninsula from what I understand.

 

[WB3DYE]

I'm embarrassed to even ask this question. I know what simulcast means n commercial broadcast but what will one hear on a trunked system?

 

[n3obl]

Simulcast is multiple tower sites transmitting the same signal at the same time. They use GPS signals to sync the signals together. This is where scanners have issues vs a real commercial system radio.

 

[u2brent]

I'm embarrassed to even ask this question. I know what simulcast means n commercial broadcast but what will one hear on a trunked system?

Simulcast - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[maus92]

For my own two cents, I have 3 BCD536's. I ended up using the telescoping antenna's that came with them. I have them fully collapsed and about 45 degrees up. I started with better antennas, but got too much distortion. I'm near 38th and Asbury, and reception is pretty good now. My BCD436 also seems to work well wherever I am so far.

I like how the system TG's are organized and consistent. I do miss all the PD's, but what can you do? I also like being able to hear all the Fire/EMS TG's for the whole county too. We do need to complete the list of TG's for the database, and figure out what some of the specialty TG's will be used for too. I've heard some of he Special Event TG's used, like for the parade downtown on Saturday. Not sure if I've heard any unencrypted PD TG's being patched in yet. They do have the capability to patch in PSP, any local PD's, and DCNR on the peninsula from what I understand.

One of the hardest things to get people to understand about monitoring simulcast systems is that you don't need a "big" antenna to receive them from within their design footprint. They are (usually) designed to enable portable on-street on-hip reception at a minimum. Newer P25P2 systems designed for counties or cities typically enhance their system design (more / closely spaced towers) to enable in-building coverage in homes and light commercial buildings (more substantial buildings may require BDAs to attain in-building coverage.) . So, yea glad that you found a solution for your 536s. BTW, I monitor our statewide Motorola ASTRO P25P2 TDMA system with my 536 from my office with a cheap antenna I got from an RTL device; but I need the SDS200 with a low profile roof mount antenna for decent mobile reception of the system.

 

[nwa032]

what's the best scanner to purchase to receive erie pd freq's only ? thanks in advance !!!

 

[scnrfrq]

what's the best scanner to purchase to receive erie pd freq's only ? thanks in advance !!!

Well, you can save your money. You are SOL, since the County made the very unpopular (and unnecessary) decision to encrypt ALL PD. You'll have to get used to listening to just Fire/EMS.

 

[nwa032]

i thought the bcd996p2 or bcd325p2 receivers could be used to receive their freq's ? i guess i'm still living in the stone age ?

 

[jonwienke]

No scanner can receive encrypted transmissions.

 

[nwa032]

thanks for clearing that up !!!

 

[W3IAX]

Is the Radio Shack pro-652 (Whistler) compatible with Erie County Next Gen APCO-25 ? Anyone try the City and County Dispatch?

 

[GTR8000]

Is the Radio Shack pro-652 (Whistler) compatible with Erie County Next Gen APCO-25 ? Anyone try the City and County Dispatch?

Negative, the PRO-652 and related models are not TDMA capable.

 

[IStebleton]

Is anybody still scanning 155.220MHz? If so, I was wondering if you still hear MedEvac 17 get dispatched on it.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

From what I understand, the only units active on that frequency are the EmergyCare WCVs.