Futronics UHF Connect Plus

[AtlasFBG2]

I used one of my pro 668 scanners with the dsd+

I set my ws1095 to record the frequencies listed in the license.

I have not used dsd+ before so its new to me. If I compare the dsd+ with the recordings on the ws1095. Would this work to find the lcn order?

 

[mtindor]

I used one of my pro 668 scanners with the dsd+

I set my ws1095 to record the frequencies listed in the license.

I have not used dsd+ before so its new to me. If I compare the dsd+ with the recordings on the ws1095. Would this work to find the lcn order?

Usually you have to do it in realtime, simply because timing is important to make sure you associate the active LCN in DSDPlus with the frequency that you are hearing the traffic (or digital TRBO signal) on.

Presumably, if your PC has proper time set and your scanner has very accurate time set, then I suppose you could look at the time of a particular frequencie's recording, check the DSDPlus event window and log, and see if there was an LCN active on the site at the time the particular audio was recorded on the ws1095. Hmm, so the ws1095 is DMR capable with the right firmware. And I'm guessing you must have that firmware installed and thus can actually play the decoded audio? That's very nice.

Yes, it should all work as you plan as long as your DSDPlus is keeping a good log history. If you "lose" the control channel for a length of time and then it comes back, it erases your visible log and you'd have to check in the written logs. Plus I'm not sure that you can scroll up in DSDPlus to see past log in the window [it would be nice, but I have never figured out how to do it if possible].

Anyway, I'm known for rambling. Yes, if you have DSDPlus running and are getting good event logs written to the filesystem, then you can go back and look at those event logs and match up entries in the log for an active LCN with the time/datestamp on the recorded audio. That definitely should do the trick.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

I used one of my pro 668 scanners with the dsd+

I set my ws1095 to record the frequencies listed in the license.

I have not used dsd+ before so its new to me. If I compare the dsd+ with the recordings on the ws1095. Would this work to find the lcn order?

Another note... on your PRO-668, I'm not sure if it has the ability to turn a broadcast screen on/off. Uniden calls it broadcast screen,so I'm guessing the GRE guys call it something different. On a Uniden, broadcast screen ON means it will skip over paging spectrum (and some other spectrum I guess). So you'll want to make sure that when you scan 454-455 mhz, that it is actually scanning the full spectrum rather than just skipping over it.

May not really be relevant in your case if you don't scan 454-455. But, if you don't, there are probably things to find in that spectrum -- not only Futronics DMR, but DMR from other systems in your neck of the woods as well as potentially some NXDN stuff.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

I used one of my pro 668 scanners with the dsd+

I set my ws1095 to record the frequencies listed in the license.

I have not used dsd+ before so its new to me. If I compare the dsd+ with the recordings on the ws1095. Would this work to find the lcn order?

Here is what you would see in your DSDPlus.Event file (in the same directory that you run DSDPlus from) - -open it in Notepad or Wordpad

2016/06/15 12:57:24 Group call; TG=30100 RID=30118 Ch=5 5s
2016/06/15 13:10:39 Group call; TG=30100 RID=30117 Ch=6 9s
2016/06/15 13:13:47 Group call; TG=30350 RID=30352 Ch=4 13s
2016/06/15 13:23:59 Group call; TG=30350 RID=30352 Ch=5 9s
2016/06/15 13:24:09 Group call; TG=30350 RID=30351 Ch=4 11s
2016/06/15 13:24:21 Group call; TG=30350 RID=30351 Ch=5 8s
2016/06/15 13:41:59 Group call; TG=30100 RID=30117 Ch=6 7s
2016/06/15 13:42:20 Group call; TG=30100 RID=30115 Ch=4 8s
2016/06/15 13:48:33 Group call; TG=30100 RID=30114 Ch=5 9s


In the sample above, the ch= are not LCNs but LSNs (or timeslots on a particular LCN).

Ch.1 = LSN 1 = LCN 1
Ch.2 = LSN 2 = LCN 1
Ch.3 = LSN 3 = LCN 2
Ch.4 = LSN 4 = LCN 2
Ch.5 = LSN 5 = LCN 3
Ch.6 = LSN 6 = LCN 3
Ch.7 = LSN 7 = LCN 4
Ch.8 = LSN 8 = LCN 4
etc

So, on the site I was monitoring there, two frequencies were active with voice during that timeframe, the frequencies associated with LCN 2 and LCN 3.

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

I am not home during the day so this was what I came up with. Didn't know if it will work or not. Usually after 5-6pm there is nothing on the dmr except Madison Motors towing once in awhile.

Yes the ws1095 does dmr. I have been running a limit search on it for a couple weeks. The recordings will show if its a dmr freq but does not show slot or color code. It does show dmr talk group and radio id. The recordings will also show conventional freqs and the squelch code.

 

[mtindor]

I am not home during the day so this was what I came up with. Didn't know if it will work or not. Usually after 5-6pm there is nothing on the dmr except Madison Motors towing once in awhile.

Yes the ws1095 does dmr. I have been running a limit search on it for a couple weeks. The recordings will show if its a dmr freq but does not show slot or color code. The recordings will also show conventional freqs and the squelch code.

I think you're on the right track man. I would have never thought of doing what you are doing. I think it'll work out fine [and allow you to figure things out as if you were actually monitoring them during business hours]. Can't beat that.

I could do something like that on my setup (I have a Uniden 436 and an Airspy that I use with SDR), but when it comes to doing anything with the 436 as far as loading in frequencies, I throw my hands up. I'm too old for the newfangled stuff. I know how to do it. I'm lazy and lacking ambition.

Good luck. I'm sure your efforts will prove to be fruitful.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

We really need some interested parties in Lake / Cuyahoga / Geauga to hop on board and participate. That could really help us to pinpoint some of the questionable locations.

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

Well didnt work out that great. After about 7:15am looks like the signal was fading in and out.

Looks like i need to get a t adapter to split a base antenna to both scanners to hold signal.

Dsd+ shows ch 2 - ch 8 So it looks like it will have 4 lcns.

The scanner recorded on 452.575 451.225 464.0625 The time stamps was not close enough to dsd+ times.

I am going to stop by Radio Shack and see if they got a t adapter and try this again. If i can get a beter signal off a base antenna it might work.

 

[Davey1]

Yesterday for a few hours I ran DSD+ on the newly discovered Clyde site, 182-27. I saw the 4 channels as being active. However, from my location in southern Wood County I only had one antenna that could hear this site. Therefore, I couldn't hear it on my DMR radio. I was curious so I looked at the licenses for both Clyde and Castalia since I always have a good copy on the Castalia site. It turns out that Clyde is only 50 watts, but Castalia is 250 watts, so that's a big difference. Unless I get a better second antenna, guess I'm not close enough to be able to decode the Clyle site.

From what I did see, talk groups 8000 [Cyclone Services] and 21100 [Concrete Material & Supply] were used, so those would be businesses that are local to the Clyde area.

 

[mtindor]

Well didnt work out that great. After about 7:15am looks like the signal was fading in and out.

Looks like i need to get a t adapter to split a base antenna to both scanners to hold signal.

Dsd+ shows ch 2 - ch 8 So it looks like it will have 4 lcns.

The scanner recorded on 452.575 451.225 464.0625 The time stamps was not close enough to dsd+ times.

I am going to stop by Radio Shack and see if they got a t adapter and try this again. If i can get a beter signal off a base antenna it might work.

The last couple of days had been days with good tropo enhancement. Should be returning to normal now [and thus why you are all the sudden having difficult copying sites that you were copying fine before]].

Watch if you get an "adapter" -- if you don't do it right you will lose a considerable amount of signal off of each one [for instance, if you just used an ordinary splitter to split the signal from the two]. A more costly approach would be something like a Stridsberg multicoupler. They are designed to maintain the signal on every output.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

From what I did see, talk groups 8000 [Cyclone Services] and 21100 [Concrete Material & Supply] were used, so those would be businesses that are local to the Clyde area.

I'm glad to hear the talkgroup activity matches up with Clyde. Wasn't 100% certain on that one, although I thought it was a good gamble.

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

Radio Shack didnt have any t adapters so i am still using back of set antennas near the window.

I set the scanner clock to match the computer clock and had better results today.

Signal still fades in and out but i did manage to figure some out.

452.575 shows up as channel 2 and times match the scanner recording time stamps.
451.225 shows up as channel 3 and 4 and match recording time stamps.

Hopefully thur and fri i can get a stable enough signal to get ch 5-8 freqs.

 

[AtlasFBG2]

Over Thur and Fri I was able to match up 464.0625 to ch5 and ch6.

I was not able to match up ch7 and ch8 to anything. Would it be safe to assume 461.6125 is ch7 and ch8 or could it be another freq?

TG 14500 is Clyde/Greensprings schools transportation. Submitted it to DB.

With a better antenna looks like i would be able to get info on 6 of the sites. As i can get 1-2 signal bars on them on my handheld antenna but its not strong enough to get data from dsd+ I might order a yagi this weekend.

 

[mtindor]

Over Thur and Fri I was able to match up 464.0625 to ch5 and ch6.

Awesome. I'll update the DB. Thanks.

I was not able to match up ch7 and ch8 to anything. Would it be safe to assume 461.6125 is ch7 and ch8 or could it be another freq?

No, we better not assume. Now, if 461.6125 is active and you've seen it claim to be part of 182-27, then it's safe to assume it is ch.7/8 even without matching it up to timestamps between the scanner and DSD+. But we wouldn't want to just assume that 461.6125 is 7/8 based purely on that frequency being part of the license.

TG 14500 is Clyde/Greensprings schools transportation. Submitted it to DB.

Added. thanks!

With a better antenna looks like i would be able to get info on 6 of the sites. As i can get 1-2 signal bars on them on my handheld antenna but its not strong enough to get data from dsd+ I might order a yagi this weekend.

Good deal. That's what I like to hear!

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

424.4 site 182-3

Neighbors 1,10,19,20,25

I cant get a signal on the 454.125c witch is listed for this site in the db but i get 3-4 bars on the 424.4

I did a fcc license lookup for 424.4 and it shows up as WPWK630 5460 Cedar Point Rd Oregon, OH LUCAS County

 

[mtindor]

424.4 site 182-3

Neighbors 1,10,19,20,25

I cant get a signal on the 454.125c witch is listed for this site in the db but i get 3-4 bars on the 424.4

I did a fcc license lookup for 424.4 and it shows up as WPWK630 5460 Cedar Point Rd Oregon, OH LUCAS County

When you sit on the CC, please get the LCN. Youll know the LCN because it'll show one of the Ch.# as "CC", actually I think "cc". Anyway, wherever you see "cc" next to it in DSDPlus, convert that Ch.# to an LCN.

454.125 was indeed LCN 1 way back when it was logged. But it looks like Futronics might be swapping out some of the 454 control channels for actual licensed frequencies, based not only on your current report of 424.4 but also the recent addition of 422.2625 for Site 6.

At any rate, the reason why I want the LCN is because the LCN for 454.125 was LCN 1. If 424.400 shows as LCN 1 now, then 454.125 is likely no longer on the system. But if 424.400 is some LCN other than 1, then 454.125 is probably still active as LCN 1 but just happens to not be the CC right now.

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

In dsd+ 424.4 shows up as CC It also shows as slot=2 and ch2

The site shows ch2-ch6 I put the other freqs of the license in but dont receive anything on them. I then put the freqs from the license in the db in also and still nothing received when dsd+ is showing activity on ch3-ch6.

With the strong signal i get on this site figured it would be easy to decode. Guess i will try limit search on the ws1095 and see if anything matches the time dsd+ is showing activity.

 

[mtindor]

In dsd+ 424.4 shows up as CC It also shows as slot=2 and ch2

The site shows ch2-ch6 I put the other freqs of the license in but dont receive anything on them. I then put the freqs from the license in the db in also and still nothing received when dsd+ is showing activity on ch3-ch6.

With the strong signal i get on this site figured it would be easy to decode. Guess i will try limit search on the ws1095 and see if anything matches the time dsd+ is showing activity.

There are many Futronics licenses for the Oregon site. Might have to check more than one.

WRJ939
======
461.475
461.65
461.7
461.725
461.775
461.825
462.075
462.1
463.375
463.4
463.425
463.575
463.725
463.95
464.25

WPMV792
=======
422.2
422.4
422.6
422.8

WPWK630
=======
422.5
424.4
424.425
424.5


WQIT684
=======
461.475
463.4

WNNC320
=======
425.0000

Ok, if 424.4 is showing as Ch.2 then it is LCN 1. I'm going to replace the 454 mhz freq in the DB with it. I might have to hold off -- the site is generating 503 errors often for me.

Mike

 

[AtlasFBG2]

I already had everything in there except
WPMV792
=======
422.2
422.4
422.6
422.8

I just added those.

The site is still active with traffic showing 13501 and 13500 talk groups on dsd+

 

[Davey1]

From what I've been able to see on the Oregon site 182-3, using DSD+ with scanner and a DMR radio, I find that 462.075 still remains as LCN 2, and 461.475 still remains as LCN 3. The only change I note is the control channel going from 454.125 to 424.400.