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

zlandmedia

not that florida man
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Feb 10, 2012
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Hillsborough County, FL
Not quite sure how to do a wild card talkgroup with my Uniden BCD436HP. I haven't had the need to even setup a talkgroup until now, so I'll have to finally learn how to do it.
Just an FYI but on this scanner the equivalent to "Wildcard" on Whistler/GRE scanners is "ID search" for Unidens.
 

kbrkr

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Feb 28, 2015
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I have monitoring Hillsborough P25 Talkgroups and only get very sporadic, GARBLED, audio on TG 11153 and 11154. Obviously I'm not setting up my scanner correctly. I just downloaded the latest database as of today, and still no luck .
 

zlandmedia

not that florida man
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
399
Location
Hillsborough County, FL
I have monitoring Hillsborough P25 Talkgroups and only get very sporadic, GARBLED, audio on TG 11153 and 11154. Obviously I'm not setting up my scanner correctly. I just downloaded the latest database as of today, and still no luck .
Sadly these systems are not as easy to scan and depending on where you are in the county, reception may be spotty.

I can never get clear transmissions on the West system.
 

CanesFan95

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I have monitoring Hillsborough P25 Talkgroups and only get very sporadic, GARBLED, audio on TG 11153 and 11154. Obviously I'm not setting up my scanner correctly. I just downloaded the latest database as of today, and still no luck .

Only the SDS scanners and Unication pagers properly decode simulcast P25 systems like Hillsborough. If you're using any other kind of scanner, you will likely get missed or garbled transmissions.
 

CanesFan95

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There's some word semantics as they claim to decode P25. But then they claim, oh, we never said it did simulcast. LOL. But the truth is, they do a poor to non-existent job of it if the system is simulcast (and Hillsborough is). Whistler scanners have the exact same flaw. This is an issue that has been lamented about for many years on the forums.
 
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kbrkr

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Feb 28, 2015
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Florida
I have been in discovery mode on Hillsborough P25 East Simulcast and I'm not getting much traffic at all. From time to time; maybe 1 or two times in two hours, I get activity on TG 11153 or 11160. This does not sound like Plant City Police Dispatch activity which was highly active prior to February. Is something else going on? Do I need a new Scanner like an SDS100? I thought I had a TOL scanner in the Uniden BCD436HP.
 

kbrkr

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What is interesting is Plant City Fire is still broadcasting on Hillsborough County EDACS??? Shouldn't they both be on P25 if they moved?

I'm so confused...LOL
 

CanesFan95

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Not sure what a "TOL" scanner is, but the OP25 freeware with a dongle would be a cheaper option than an SDS (but it's a steep learning curve). The SDSs are reported to be much better at decoding simulcast than the 436/536s. But thye're expensive and buggy.

When agencies are in the process of switching to a new radio system, it's not unusual for talk groups to be patched on both systems. But sometimes the patches are turned off and then they'll only be on one system. Hillsborough has been "upgrading" to P25 for like 3 years now. It's gotta be one of the slowest upgrades ever anywhere.
 

kbrkr

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TOL = Top of Line. Or TOTL Top of the Line. What I dont understand is All Plant City Police has disappeared from my scanner; even in discovery mode. Where the heck did it go? No action on the talkgroups; not even garbled noise. But I am getting Plant City Fire. It seems like I have wrong frequencies.
 

zlandmedia

not that florida man
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Hillsborough County, FL
As I mentioned already, Plant City PD has moved onto the P25 East system. I can definitely confirm it's them because I have heard mentions of Thonotosassa Road and "Plant City alpha" on these transmissions.

Additionally, they are no longer on the EDACS system. I listened for a few hours last week on a Pro-164 with their EDACS talkgroups locked in, alongside having my TRX-1 tuned to the P25 system; they only came through on the P25 system. That, and the similarity in the talkgroups, is what leads me to believe it is for sure Plant City PD I am hearing.

If you think you have the wrong frequencies, then just make sure they match what's in the database, as listed here:
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7236
 

CanesFan95

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Sometimes, the older non-simulcast-capable scanners do not even stop when there's an active P25 talk group keyed up. The scanner will literally sit there and say ID SEARCH or ID SCAN when there's someone keyed up and talking. This is another flaw of the scanners that don't do simulcast. In fact, sometimes the scanner won't even lock on to the control channel.
 

zlandmedia

not that florida man
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Feb 10, 2012
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Hillsborough County, FL
I am not hearing the east tower on the p25 system could someone tell me the current data channel freq ///
Read my post above, it has the link to the P25 system, which lists the frequencies.

It's best to have all the frequencies programmed in, as the control channel on these sites do, in fact, jump around.
 

mitbr

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Read my post above, it has the link to the P25 system, which lists the frequencies.

It's best to have all the frequencies programmed in, as the control channel on these sites do, in fact, jump around.
Thanks for the quick reply!! I have all freqs programmed into my g5 on 24 element yagi aimed at tampa still says out of range
west system is loud and clear
 

kbrkr

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Florida
I'm getting sporadic chat on P25 East, but not nearly as much as I used to get on East EDACS. Someone mentioned it could be because it's in P25 Project Simulcast transition??? Could that be?
 

zlandmedia

not that florida man
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
399
Location
Hillsborough County, FL
I'm getting sporadic chat on P25 East, but not nearly as much as I used to get on East EDACS. Someone mentioned it could be because it's in P25 Project Simulcast transition??? Could that be?
The EDACS system is very much alive and well. What you are describing is nothing new.
 

CanesFan95

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I'm getting sporadic chat on P25 East, but not nearly as much as I used to get on East EDACS. Someone mentioned it could be because it's in P25 Project Simulcast transition??? Could that be?

Maybe, but the reason isn't necessarily because of a transition. Using a non-simulcast capable scanner will almost surely result in missed transmissions on a P25 simulcast system.
 
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