Fairfax County FD P-25

[RS8]

Is Fairfax County FD fully operational on the P-25 system?

 

[freqhopping]

I still hear them on the older system.

 

[steve888]

I haven't heard a single call on any of the Fire/EMS dispatch or response channels for more than a day (4A, 4B, 4D, 4J...)

Does anyone know if they switched over to a new system in the last day or so?

 

[brownlab]

I am getting the new systems now...........

 

[Virginia1]

Fx switched to the P25 system weeks ago. I had no issues hearing with the previous system's programming until the last few days. Now I don't hear fire. PD is fine though. Not sure what the deal is....

 

[steve888]

Still Nothing From Fire or EMS

It's going on three days now with no Fire or EMS calls for me. I'm getting all the police channels just fine, however.

I updated my library to the latest release (141; released on 6/23/12) and I'm using a PSR-800.

Today I did hear two calls from radio techs who were troubleshooting some radios on Fire channels 4B and 4J but that's been it...not a single dispatch call at all.

 

[brownlab]

It's going on three days now with no Fire or EMS calls for me. I'm getting all the police channels just fine, however.

I updated my library to the latest release (141; released on 6/23/12) and I'm using a PSR-800.

Today I heard two calls from radio techs who were troubleshooting some radios on 4B and 4J but that's been it...not a single dispatch call at all.

Totally believe something is or was going on but I was out of Fairfax until today. Also I have noticed that some EMS calls still show up under the Radio Tech (or is it test) heading. However I am running both old and new concurrently on my 996XT and it appears all is on the new system.

 

[steve888]

Thanks!

Totally believe something is or was going on but I was out of Fairfax until today. Also I have noticed that some EMS calls still show up under the Radio Tech (or is it test) heading. However I am running both old and new concurrently on my 996XT and it appears all is on the new system.

Well, the latest library update is only from 6/23 and I didn't notice the problem until Monday (6/25) so, hopefully, the next update or two will fix everything.

Not the end of the world! I know the folks who manage the RR databases are very good so I don't mind waiting a bit.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[mikev]

The last update to the Fairfax County P25 system in the DB was 6/21... if there haven't been any updates since you started experiencing problems, then it's not likely that the next update to the files will fix your problem... unless there's an update submitted to the DB before Saturday (which is when GRE updates their files).

I'm going to bring my scanner to work tomorrow and do some control channel monitoring on the P25 system so I can see what's going on.

 

[steve888]

Cool, thanks...

The last update to the Fairfax County P25 system in the DB was 6/21... if there haven't been any updates since you started experiencing problems, then it's not likely that the next update to the files will fix your problem... unless there's an update submitted to the DB before Saturday (which is when GRE updates their files).

I'm going to bring my scanner to work tomorrow and do some control channel monitoring on the P25 system so I can see what's going on.

Still nothing on any of the Fire/EMS channels this morning and I have every single one of them loaded into a new scanlist from the 141 update to the RR database (the latest one). I'm not just monitoring the dispatch channels...I'm scanning every single one available...can't hear a thing.

Hope you can figure out what's going on...I'll be trying on my end as well.

 

[steve888]

I heard some traffic today on the "49B IFH" fire channel (just one transmission) but it sounded like a training call from a response unit back to the dispatch center. Nothing on any other channels all day so far...

 

[reconrider8]

do you by chance have your scanner closed to just what you put in or set to where it scans just the cc and picks up everything?

 

[steve888]

I'm Scanning Everything

do you by chance have your scanner closed to just what you put in or set to where it scans just the cc and picks up everything?

I'm using a PSR-800 and when I first bought it a few months ago, I only programmed in the dispatch and response channels for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue (that was one scanlist anyway...I have several other scanlists that have various other departments I listen to). I heard all of these channels without any problems for months.

When I started having problems earlier this week and couldn't hear any of the Fire/EMS calls, I updated my library using the EZ Scan software (it says the latest update is #141 released on 6/23/12). I was running update #139 at the time. However, this time I loaded every single Fire/EMS channel into a scanlist (not just the dispatch and response channels). So far, in the last four days, this is all I've heard:

Two days ago: A radio tech on 4B and 4J was troubleshooting a radio.

Today: A single transmission on "49B IFH" from a response unit to a dispatcher that sounded like a training drill.

Three calls in 4 days...not good!!

 

[mikev]

Ok... even just for the past few minutes, I've seen more than a little FCFD traffic... 4A looks to be on 1519, with no patch to 1101, so make sure you have 1519 programmed in. 4B (1103), 4C (1105), and 4D (1107) also active this morning so far. Also saw a little traffic earlier on 49B.

Additional note... I can't vouch for the radio traffic on these TGs... I'm only monitoring the control channel.

 

[mikev]

Lots of FCFD traffic according to the control channel... and a few TGs that need to be added to the DB for the P25 system... I'll send those in later today, I'm keeping a list as they show up (more than just FCFD).

Seeing traffic on 4A, 4B both rather active... 4D was active earlier this morning... a couple of training TGs, especially 46D... saw traffic on a HazMat TG earlier (that needs to be added to the DB for this system), and the TG labeled as a patch to Charles County FD in the Motorola system (which also needs to be added to this system)...

 

[steve888]

Thanks Mike!

Thanks a lot for all the info. I've only been scanning for a few months so I haven't figured out how to program individual channels like the ones you mentioned (1519, 1103, 1105, 1107). I just keep the library up to date by using the EZ Scan software that came with the PSR-800.

It sounds like you'll be sending these changes in so the DB can be updated, so thanks a bunch for doing that! In the meantime, I'll figure out how to program these individual channels.

Thanks again for your time and assistance...I really appreciate it!

 

[mikev]

Unfortunately, individual channels can't be programmed on the PSR-800 itself without using the library (and it is possible to program individual talkgroups through the library, but it takes some patience scrolling through the lists!)...

The EZ-Scan software on the computer is the best way for manually managing individual Talkgroups, and also letting you see the talkgroup ID numbers for them... you'll probably find that from your library import, you should already have some of these programmed in. Those TG ID numbers that I gave have been in the database for a while.

 

[reconrider8]

o ok thats where i got confused then i know thats the 106 has a setting where you can either scan what you program in or you can open scan thats what i was talking about open scanning and making sure you had the right tgids and what not programmed in

 

[mikev]

o ok thats where i got confused then i know thats the 106 has a setting where you can either scan what you program in or you can open scan thats what i was talking about open scanning and making sure you had the right tgids and what not programmed in

GRE calls it "wildcard" scanning on their models, but you don't HAVE to set up a wildcard for every system programmed... basically it will monitor the system for ANY talkgroups, programmed or not, that appear on the system... but doing this will get you anything on the system... police, fire, sheriff, etc.

 

[reconrider8]

yea and thats the point of the whole thing to let it scan the system and see if maybe the tgids changed so you can get the new ids and submit them and what not