Erie County P25 System

[scnrfrq]

News on East Erie County Dispatch changes, before joining the new county system:
East Erie County on cusp of switch from dispatching to ambulance service - News - GoErie.com - Erie, PA

 

[scnrfrq]

News on East Erie County Dispatch changes, before joining the new county system:
East Erie County on cusp of switch from dispatching to ambulance service - News - GoErie.com - Erie, PA

Anyone know if there are new frequencies as of today for this change? I assume this will change to talkgroups under the new system in a couple months.

 

[N3KGD]

Anyone know if there are new frequencies as of today for this change? I assume this will change to talkgroups under the new system in a couple months.

All of the standard analog frequencies remain the same. The only changes here are that Erie County is now dispatching and receiving all emergency and non-emergency calls for all East County police and fire agencies (Lawrence Park, Wesleyville, Harborcreek, North East).

Lawrence Park/Wesleyville PD remains on: 460.150 MHz; 186.2 PL
North East PD remains on: 453.300 MHz; 125 DPL
East County Fire Departments on the Countywide Low-Band System: 33.980, 33.960, 33.880, 33.940 (plus any local area frequencies licensed to individual fire stations).; CSQ.

Obviously there will be talkgroups assigned for the new police/fire agencies onboarding into the new system.

 

[scnrfrq]

So far I'm not seeing or hearing anything on TG's 1 and 2.

Is anyone hearing testing on the 2 TG's? I'm just trying to make sure my scanners are set up correctly.

 

[MarkPalmer]

I just set my HP-2 up tonight for the radio testing and simulcast frequencies on the P25 system. First time I ran in to the dreaded "SD card file error" problem with my HP-2 when uploading the new database, but managed to format a new 16GB card and get the thing going again. I'll post something once I hear activity on the P25 system, I live on the east side of Millcreek. Now they are saying it won't be until March until the system is fully operational, the delays have made this system one long strange trip.

 

[scnrfrq]

I just set my HP-2 up tonight for the radio testing and simulcast frequencies on the P25 system. First time I ran in to the dreaded "SD card file error" problem with my HP-2 when uploading the new database, but managed to format a new 16GB card and get the thing going again. I'll post something once I hear activity on the P25 system, I live on the east side of Millcreek. Now they are saying it won't be until March until the system is fully operational, the delays have made this system one long strange trip.

I'm on the west side of Millcreek, and will also report anything I hear (I have a 436 and 536). The delays on this system have been unbelievable. They were still building towers a couple weeks ago. I'm still hearing nothing. They will have to really starrt moving to get it all operational by March. Since I'm in between the Fairview and Presque Isle towers, my main concern is how well the scanners will work with the simulcasting. Also how well will they work in my car? Anyway, things should start picking up in the next couple weeks I would think.

 

[MarkPalmer]

More time, more money… and on it goes. Grappy promised Senate committees the P25 system would be fully operational by December 31, 2018. And here we go yet again, another time extension until March. Crazy.

 

[radio3353]

More time, more money… and on it goes. Grappy promised Senate committees the P25 system would be fully operational by December 31, 2018. And here we go yet again, another time extension until March. Crazy.

Agreed. I can't think of any system in my area that has not lived on extensions. (Talking to you Montco. )

 

[N3KGD]

If you read the Public Safety Committee Reports, they blame Mobilcom for the delays.

 

[scnrfrq]

How do you access those reports?

 

[N3KGD]

https://www.eriecountypa.gov/county-services/safety-law/erie-county-department-of-public-safety/advisory-committee/minutes.aspx

 

[MarkPalmer]

MCM didn't state any reasoning for delays in their report back in mid October. The only thing that looked to be awaiting completion was the final tower for Union City PENNDOT, and some co-locations on existing towers. At that time 90% of subscriber radio and control station installations were done according to the report. So the first phase of site acceptance testing should be coming next week???

 

[scnrfrq]

https://www.eriecountypa.gov/county-services/safety-law/erie-county-department-of-public-safety/advisory-committee/minutes.aspx

Interesting reading - shows how the dates keep sliding. Any idea why August is the last meeting listed? Seems strange.....

 

[scnrfrq]

Still haven't heard any testing. Can someone explain the setup of the 2 simulcast cells? Does that mean Simulcast Cell A (Urban) wil broadcast on different frequencies than Simulcast Cell B? So the broadcasting of the agencies located within the Urban cell (i.e., Erie PD, Erie Fire, etc.) will not interefere with the broadcasting of all the other agencies in the county in Cell B?

Since I'm located between the Presque Isle (Cell A) and Fairview (Cell B) towers, maybe I won't have to deal with the typical simulcast interference issues using my 436 and 536?

 

[N3KGD]

Interesting reading - shows how the dates keep sliding. Any idea why August is the last meeting listed? Seems strange.....

I'm not sure. Perhaps they haven't had a meeting due to the holidays or just haven't gotten around to updating the website.

 

[ekim223]

On Friday, 1/4/19 around 5:30 pm I logged a transmission from the Albion site with talk group 9003. It was just dead air.
I also was getting quite a bit of skip on the Crawford County UHF channels at the same time, so I am not sure if it was really Erie County or someone else using the same freqs.

 

[N3KGD]

On Friday, 1/4/19 around 5:30 pm I logged a transmission from the Albion site with talk group 9003. It was just dead air.
I also was getting quite a bit of skip on the Crawford County UHF channels at the same time, so I am not sure if it was really Erie County or someone else using the same freqs.

Band conditions were phenomenal over the weekend. I picked up several transmissions from as far west as Toledo, OH and as far south as Youngstown, OH on my VHF base station. Bearing in mind, I was able to transmit back to those stations as well. Very doubtful it was the Erie County system.

 

[N3KGD]

Well, some people that I know are now carrying the new portable radios. I can confirm that even the small town police departments (boroughs) will be encrypted.

 

[scnrfrq]

Well, some people that I know are now carrying the new portable radios. I can confirm that even the small town police departments (boroughs) will be encrypted.

Have you heard that all PD's will be encrypted in the entire county, or will some be in the clear? I still don't see how the system can be operational in March with no testing started as of now?

 

[N3KGD]

Have you heard that all PD's will be encrypted in the entire county, or will some be in the clear? I still don't see how the system can be operational in March with no testing started as of now?

scnfrq, I cannot confirm if ALL law agencies will be encrypted. But so far, I can confirm five who are going to be. So, if I had to take bets, it sounds like all law traffic will be encrypted completely. All Fire/EMS agencies will be in the clear. The County radios I've played around with (non-law enforcement radios) do not have the capabilities to monitor law enforcement, as the law talk groups are not programmed in. As such, even fire departments or EMS will not be able to monitor law enforcement. There are however talk groups for interop that police, fire and EMS will be able to switch to if needed to communicate with one another at the scene of an incident. The whole system was touted for "interoperability", but doesn't seem like it's so interoperable. I mean, if fire chief needed to communicate with his law enforcement, he'd have to radio the dispatcher and the dispatcher would have to inform the law agency to switch to "xx interop talkgroup" to communicate. I can't name my sources for privacy reasons, but my information is coming from official channels. ...and like I said, I've had the privilege to play around with a few of the mobiles and portables.