Hillsborough County (EDACS and P25 32D.1E306)

[zlandmedia]

Does anybody know what's going on with the Hillsborough County EDACS west site? I'm out here in Thonotosassa and I have not been able to receive it as clearly as I used to for the past several weeks. Did they lower its power, or is something malfunctioning with it?

Thanks,

Zach

 

[Bolt21]

I have not noticed any difference, FWIW.

 

[zlandmedia]

I have not noticed any difference, FWIW.

I thought it might have been a new wireless router from Frontier I installed recently, but having turned it off the signal was still weak.

On my Pro-164 I would consistently get 88-99% on the control channel, now I'm lucky if it's 49% at best.

TRX-1 is the same. 4-5 bars now maybe 1-2

Just moved my Pro-164 to a different spot on my desk and it seems to have improved. But until those few weeks ago, it had sat in the same spot for years without issue. 🤔

 

[jeffdafoe]

If you have the time, grab a $20 USB SDR dongle and fire up one of the SDR softwares and see if some big signal is near. If you like to play around with stuff like that, it's well worth the small price.

 

[zlandmedia]

If you have the time, grab a $20 USB SDR dongle and fire up one of the SDR softwares and see if some big signal is near. If you like to play around with stuff like that, it's well worth the small price.

Not a bad idea, but the problem has affected all 20 frequencies on the system for me. :/

 

[tpredmore]

Any chance that one of the towers is getting worked on in prep for P25?

 

[tampabaynews]

I’ve noticed the same. I’m told the switch for P25 for several agencies is very close.

 

[mitbr]

I’ve noticed the same. I’m told the switch for P25 for several agencies is very close.

Can you share any more info on this... days,weeks,months,years and what agencies?
Tim

 

[commo2000]

Certainly seems to me like something suddenly changed today. I live in south Tampa. I'm no longer receiving any Police or Fire transmissions on the Hillsborough West site using a BCD996XT, a BCD325P2, or a HomePatrol-2. Those were all working fine yesterday.

 

[commo2000]

Certainly seems to me like something suddenly changed today. I live in south Tampa. I'm no longer receiving any Police or Fire transmissions on the Hillsborough West site using a BCD996XT, a BCD325P2, or a HomePatrol-2. Those were all working fine yesterday.

Belay my last. For the first time in the past few hours, I just picked up a transmission around 1949 local on Tampa Police D1A Dispatch. Traffic is significantly reduced from yesterday.

 

[zlandmedia]

Anybody have some inside knowledge or an update on this? It's still the same where the West System EDACS is still barely coming in where I am here in Thonotosassa off of US-301.

 

[tampabaynews]

Reception hasn't been as great for the past couple months for sure. Lots of noise on my end and on the subscriber end as well. I was told some sites were taken offline for the P25 transition. This is a huge system and these things take time. I've heard most agencies would be migrated prior to Super Bowl and someone else said they were ahead of schedule and gave me a date which has come and gone. Keep in mind the Thonotosassa area runs off the east system so quite frankly, not being able to receive the west from there is not really a system issue, but a bummer nonetheless.

 

[mitbr]

Reception hasn't been as great for the past couple months for sure. Lots of noise on my end and on the subscriber end as well. I was told some sites were taken offline for the P25 transition. This is a huge system and these things take time. I've heard most agencies would be migrated prior to Super Bowl and someone else said they were ahead of schedule and gave me a date which has come and gone. Keep in mind the Thonotosassa area runs off the east system so quite frankly, not being able to receive the west from there is not really a system issue, but a bummer nonetheless.

Thanks for giving an updated timeline.Hope the transition is soon my g5 cant wait!
Tim

 

[AESFTW]

I’ve noticed the same. I’m told the switch for P25 for several agencies is very close.

Right around the corner!

 

[zlandmedia]

Reception hasn't been as great for the past couple months for sure. Lots of noise on my end and on the subscriber end as well. I was told some sites were taken offline for the P25 transition. This is a huge system and these things take time. I've heard most agencies would be migrated prior to Super Bowl and someone else said they were ahead of schedule and gave me a date which has come and gone. Keep in mind the Thonotosassa area runs off the east system so quite frankly, not being able to receive the west from there is not really a system issue, but a bummer nonetheless.

I moved my scanner to a spot on my desk that actually seems to work more often than not, so I guess that's an improvement.

However, how does reception work in the New Tampa area northeast of I-75 and especially around Cross Creek? They're further away from the west site towers than I am, and TFR #23 is right there on the county line as well.

 

[tampabaynews]

There's a west tower site on Bruce B Downs south of I-75, only 5 miles line-of-sight to Tampa Fire #23.

 

[AESFTW]

They are working on getting more subscriber units out in the field. AFAIK, purchasing has been slowed due to the counties recent purchase of body cameras. Hopefully by superbowl, HCSO and others will switch over. I'm sure Chad has some play in who gets to switch and when. Also, if you have ever drove by the west site on E Hanna Ave and looked up, you may understand why the west edacs side sounds like garbage.

 

[zlandmedia]

There's a west tower site on Bruce B Downs south of I-75, only 5 miles line-of-sight to Tampa Fire #23.

Wow, can't believe I forgot about that tower, and I literally just drove by it yesterday. 😳

Distance-wise, it's only 5.5 miles from my house. Is there any map that shows the direction in which it transmits, or is it not a far distance?

 

[zlandmedia]

Also, if you have ever drove by the west site on E Hanna Ave and looked up, you may understand why the west edacs side sounds like garbage.

I think I know where you're talking about, but I wasn't aware that was part of the west site. It's not listed as a location for WPDV262 in the FCC database, which is why I wasn't aware of its existence.

 

[CanesFan95]

Post a video recording of the repeated transmissions.