Help Monitoring The JCC Trunk

[fmon]

I just got off the phone with a person in Williamsburg who has a 996 and he states set to P25 and let her run.

 

[dtscho]

Yes, I can confirm that with the 396T/396XT/996, etc. you don't need to enter a band plan. Just put the control channel in, and the scanner will do the rest. The scanner will read the band plan from the control channel.

Dave

 

[rk911]

Yes, I can confirm that with the 396T/396XT/996, etc. you don't need to enter a band plan. Just put the control channel in, and the scanner will do the rest. The scanner will read the band plan from the control channel.

Dave
____________________________________

I just got off the phone with a person in Williamsburg who has a 996 and he states set to P25 and let her run.

[/QUOTE

hi, guys.

i've done that. the radio has been scanning the STARS system for a couple of hours as a P25 system. i loaded ALL of the control channels and ALL of the TGs. not hearing anything. i AM hearing traffic on the old conventional system freq of 159.16 (i have that programmed as a separate system in the radio). and i know the radio is working since i'm hearing that and all sorts of other traffic on the other systems that i've programmed. just nothing on the STARS system.

so...if i was troubleshooting this back when i was working i would conclude that either i'm not within range of a STARS transmit point, there is something physically wrong with the radio or i have something set wrong in the radio.

the RV park we're in is basically at the SR 607 off of exit 234 of I-64. another poster mentioned yesterday that a STARS transmit point is just a few miles away. even though i'm in an RV using a handheld radio i should be able to hear something from that tower. i'm hearing transmissions from the LTR system in Colonial Williamsburg and that's a bit farther away so i don't think thats the problem.

i don't think anything is wrong with the radio since i'm hearing other traffic so i must have something set incorrectly in the radio itself.

- the attenuator is OFF
- trunk mode is AUTO
- APCO25 threshold is set to AUTO
- status bit is IGNORE
- set end code is YES
- digital end code is IGNORE

those are all default settings. i'll play with those a bit and see what happens. beyond that i'm at a loss.

frank..thanks very much for making that call. dave, appreciate your jumping in also. there's gotta be a simple solution.

73
rich, n9dko

 

[dtscho]

Well, if you think maybe you are out of range, see if you can hear the control channel, which is usually 152.0675. From where you are, however, I don't think you should have any problem.

Dave

 

[rk911]

Well, if you think maybe you are out of range, see if you can hear the control channel, which is usually 152.0675. From where you are, however, I don't think you should have any problem.

Dave

ok. i AM hearing static bursts on 152.0675. so it would appear that i'm in range.

and to prove whether or not the radio has an issue with P25 systems i programmed in the entire JCC trunk system and i am hearing traffic...although some of it is encryted or garbled. so it appears that there is no issue with the radio listening to a P25 system. that would seem to leave a configuration issue with the programmed system.

73
rich, n9dko

 

[trainman111]

Rich,
Are you at either the Williamsburg KOA or the American Heritage RV Park? If so, you should have no problem listening to STARS. I camp at those RV parks quite often and I'm able to listen to STARS from both of the campgrounds just fine. Is it possible that the the Primary CC isn't active, but instead one of the Alt. CC is?

Nick

 

[kd4eaq]

Scan STARS in ID Search mode, instead of ID Scan. Agencies, other than State PD, are active. I have 996T & listen to CR, Va Port Auth, Dept of Corrections, Marine Resources, etc. on Hampton site. I programmed band plan information in 1-7 manually, & with latest firmware update, I have no issues listening to transmissions. Hope this helps.

 

[rk911]

Rich,
Are you at either the Williamsburg KOA or the American Heritage RV Park? If so, you should have no problem listening to STARS. I camp at those RV parks quite often and I'm able to listen to STARS from both of the campgrounds just fine. Is it possible that the the Primary CC isn't active, but instead one of the Alt. CC is?

Nick

good morning, nick. yup...we're at the American Heritage RV park and a soggy RV park it is this morning. is it *ever* gonna stop raining?? <grin>

last night i decided to go back to square one and approach this problem from an RF perspective instead of from a software, configuration or programming perspective. quite a few people on this forum and some other sources i tapped were telling me that i shouldn't have to make any manual band plan changes in my 396T and that i should easily be able to hear STARS from our location.

on several occasions i posted that the solution had to be a simple one...and that turned out to be the case. i changed antennas. i pulled off the stock ducky antenna that came with the 396T and tried my 2m/440 HT antenna. as soon as i did that the radio, which was scanning the 5 frequencies (as a conventional system) assigned to the Williamsburg STARS sight, immediately locked onto the control channel and stayed there. i swapped antennas back and forth a couple of times and each time the stock was used the lock on the control channel was flimsy and each time i used the HT gain antenna the lock was solid. when i unlocked the STARS system i was able to hear it just fine. there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity on it but that's a totally different issue. so the answer was simple and i'm a bit chagrined that i didn't think of it earlier. with all of our technology we use and enjoyi think it's easy to sometimes get bogged down looking for solutions in that techology.

so i want to express my sincere thanks to everyone on the forum who posted and offered suggestions. you guys were great! i'll be shopping either for a new HT antenna or a good, gain antenna to use on the scanner in the motorhome.

'73
rich, n9dko

 

[rk911]

Scan STARS in ID Search mode, instead of ID Scan. Agencies, other than State PD, are active. I have 996T & listen to CR, Va Port Auth, Dept of Corrections, Marine Resources, etc. on Hampton site. I programmed band plan information in 1-7 manually, & with latest firmware update, I have no issues listening to transmissions. Hope this helps.

morning, john. thanks for the suggestion.

73
rich, n9dko

 

[bobmintern]

Rich,

You will find that most of the JCC side is encrypted. Dispatch for Police/Fire is 100% encrypted now. You may find a few portable/mobile units that have no encryption on right now, but they will be few and far between. As a user of the system I can also tell you that once rebanding is completed, they are looking at an option that from the moment you turn on your portable/mobile radio, it switches to encrypted mode.

You best bet at this point is to listen to the VHF reboradcasts of the Fire/EMS side of JCC/WBG/York right now. I'm not sure how much longer it will be before the encryption becomes 100% on all units on the 800 system.

It's sad too that the system is encrypted, not only because you can't listen to the system, but because in some cases the VHF reception is very poor, espically inside your home. I can understand the police being encrypted, but is it really necessary that the people driving the transit busses and cleaning the sewers be encrypted? I completly agree that listening to the 800 JCC/York system has really become very unenjoyable.

 

[rk911]

Rich,

You will find that most of the JCC side is encrypted. Dispatch for Police/Fire is 100% encrypted now. You may find a few portable/mobile units that have no encryption on right now, but they will be few and far between. As a user of the system I can also tell you that once rebanding is completed, they are looking at an option that from the moment you turn on your portable/mobile radio, it switches to encrypted mode.

You best bet at this point is to listen to the VHF reboradcasts of the Fire/EMS side of JCC/WBG/York right now. I'm not sure how much longer it will be before the encryption becomes 100% on all units on the 800 system.

It's sad too that the system is encrypted, not only because you can't listen to the system, but because in some cases the VHF reception is very poor, espically inside your home. I can understand the police being encrypted, but is it really necessary that the people driving the transit busses and cleaning the sewers be encrypted? I completly agree that listening to the 800 JCC/York system has really become very unenjoyable.

morning, bob. that's a real shame. i'm a retired 9-1-1 regional call center administrator and i can well understand the need to encrypt tactical frequencies but i see no practical reason for encrypting day-to-day operations, especially on fire/EMS. on the rare occasion we needed to transmit sensitive information such as the name of a DOA victim for family notification over one of our fire channels we just turned off the repeater. that kept everyone except those in range of the officer's handie-talkie from hearing anything. but i can count on one hand the number of times we would do that in any given year. most of the time that sort of information was passed to our dispatchers via cell phone.

i've been listening to these VHF frequencies i found in the RR database:

154.2350, 154.3550, 453.2500, 453.1000, 460.1750, 453.8000, 39.5400, 453.3500

if those are wrong or the list is incomplete please set me straight. i know some of the above are old law frequencies but i put them in the scanner cuz you just never know.

i'm also hearing traffic on the state PD VHF freq. of 159.165. RR has that as one of the old VHF freqs. for Division 5. i'm wondering how that division divides their comms between the trunk and old VHF system. what units are on the trunk and what units are on VHF? or is it a matter of geograhical location?

thanks again, bob.

73
rich, n9dko

 

[fmon]

i'm also hearing traffic on the state PD VHF freq. of 159.165. RR has that as one of the old VHF freqs. for Division 5. i'm wondering how that division divides their comms between the trunk and old VHF system. what units are on the trunk and what units are on VHF? or is it a matter of geograhical location?

73
rich, n9dko

Only Div 5 and Div 1 are fully active so legacy frequencies in those two are simulcast. Div 2 is currently getting ready to get busy on STARS.
Following are state legacy frequencies.
Division 1 "Richmond"
1. 159.000 167.9
2. 158.985 127.3

Division 2 "Culpeper"
3. 159.165 127.3
11. 158.985 167.9

Division 3 "Appomattox"
5. 159.165 192.8
6. 159.135 192.8

Division 4 "Wytheville"
7. 159.000 127.3
8. 159.165 167.9

Division 5 "Chesapeake"
9. 159.165 146.2
10. 159.135 127.3

Division 6 "Salem"
11. 158.985 167.9
12. 159.000 127.3

Division 7 "Fairfax"
4. 159.135 167.9
7. 159.000 127.3

The numbers on the left (1 -12) are what the state uses for channel numbers. You are actually in channel 9 number but should be able to hear channel 10 also as both are broadcast from Chesapeake. You may hear 159.0000 Richmond channel 1 also from your location.

BTW, channel 9 legacy is broadcast with Chesapeake STARS talkgroup 49 while Chesapeake STARS talkgroup 51 is simulcast with legacy channel 10.

 

[bobmintern]

The VHF/UHF you have listed are some of the ones that are still used. All Primary dispatch channels for FD are simulcast in VHF, mostly for Motorola Minitor use.

154.355 James City
154.400 York County
154.145 City of Williamsburg
154.310 Gloucester County

Also the local HAM radio 2m group is pretty active
146.760

Those one's there will come in real clear from where you are at. Hope this helps!

morning, bob. that's a real shame. i'm a retired 9-1-1 regional call center administrator and i can well understand the need to encrypt tactical frequencies but i see no practical reason for encrypting day-to-day operations, especially on fire/EMS. on the rare occasion we needed to transmit sensitive information such as the name of a DOA victim for family notification over one of our fire channels we just turned off the repeater. that kept everyone except those in range of the officer's handie-talkie from hearing anything. but i can count on one hand the number of times we would do that in any given year. most of the time that sort of information was passed to our dispatchers via cell phone.

i've been listening to these VHF frequencies i found in the RR database:

154.2350, 154.3550, 453.2500, 453.1000, 460.1750, 453.8000, 39.5400, 453.3500

if those are wrong or the list is incomplete please set me straight. i know some of the above are old law frequencies but i put them in the scanner cuz you just never know.

i'm also hearing traffic on the state PD VHF freq. of 159.165. RR has that as one of the old VHF freqs. for Division 5. i'm wondering how that division divides their comms between the trunk and old VHF system. what units are on the trunk and what units are on VHF? or is it a matter of geograhical location?

thanks again, bob.

73
rich, n9dko