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

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
I started out with an SDS100 but hated the audio quality. Switched over to the Unication G4.
BIG improvement!.
Having said that, I will also say I only listen to one district. The G4 programming was a bit challenging but most venders (Rays Pagers) should be happy to help you get setup and running. I now have y G4 set up almost exactly the same as my old M/A Com which makes my life very easy.
I've always used commercial equipment, and the SDS100 just didn't feel like it was built as tough as the G4 so that was another consideration for me.
Best of luck!
When you say you can only listen to one district, are you referring to one site? So multiple talk groups on the site? Or just one talk group?

Thanks for sharing your experience.
 

pandel

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2005
Messages
133
When you say you can only listen to one district, are you referring to one site? So multiple talk groups on the site? Or just one talk group?

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Specifically, I'm listening to one district with their Main, Info, and several other talk groups such as Air and Countywide. You can mix and match anything you like here as long as they are on the same site. Which in this case they are. I'm listening to the WEST Site.
If you're really interested, there is a Unication subgroup here on RR.
 

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
A single dongle only has a usable window of 2.4 MHz at a given time, which is not enough to cover an entire site. With TDMA, you can hear two simultaneous calls per site.

For the SDRs, I say four because you would need at least two to fully scan the west site and another two for the east site. Otherwise, calls would go missed.

I have started with two SDRs. I have given them each a unique serial number and they each show in SDRTrunk. I'm in Carrolwood so I've started with the West site. I am decoding TGs but as expected it is very infrequent.

How do you have SDRTrunk use two SDRs to fully scan one site. Since there are 10 frequencies, should I set up an Alias List to scan 5 frequencies using one SDR and another Alias List to scan the other 5 using the second SDR? If so, which frequencies go to SDR1 and which go to SDR2? And in this case, which do I designate as the control channel in the second SDR/Alias List?

Another question, if I'm only interested in HCSO D1 Main & Info, do I necessarily need to monitor the East site and/or will I miss calls if I only scan the West site?
 

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
I believe I've answered my own question regarding using two SDRs on one site in SDRTrunk. It seems to be automatic. During my initial "Create Channel Configuration" of the Hillsborough County (P25) West site, I selected the default for Configuration which was Control. This configuration did not work well. I was only receiving/decoding a few times over a several minute period.

Since the frequencies are all either Control or Alt Control, I eventually deleted my initial created channel and then recreated the channel configuration using "Control & Alternatives" for Frequencies. I then imported all talk group aliases to the alias list and muted everything except D1 Main and D1 Info.

At this point I was able to hear a fairly constant stream of D1 Main but it was also peppered with transmissions from a handful of TGs that were not in the RR database. So these "unknown" TGs were not being muted. I manually added these TGs into my alias list and muted them. I am now able to listen to D1 Main and D1 Info. I suspect adding + muting unknown TGs will be an iterative process as they get used and/or added to the system.

FWIW, SDRTrunk seems to bounce between my two SDR dongles. Also, I am using a Stridsberg MCA804/B multicoupler to (temporarily) feed one set of rabbit ear antennas that came with the RTLSDR kits into two SDR dongles.

Hope this helps others...
 
Last edited:

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
I've discovered it's even easier to decode only the TGs you want than I initially thought. In SDRTrunk, all you need is to add an alias with a TG range of 0-65535 and then mute it. Then add the TGs that you're interested in. In my case this is HCSO D1 Main and D-1 INFO. My playlist looks like this:
1674611876959.png
 

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
I know it's not a simulcast friendly radio, but does anyone have a Pro-668 receiving anything on either of the Hillsborough County P25 systems?

I am not able to receive anything at all. 100% quiet.
 

byron

K4SIP
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Ooltewah, TN
I know it's not a simulcast friendly radio, but does anyone have a Pro-668 receiving anything on either of the Hillsborough County P25 systems?

I am not able to receive anything at all. 100% quiet.


Yes. I have the post-Whistler-upgraded version of your radio. It is possible..but annoyingly painful.

The trick is using an antenna that is directional and isn't optimized for decent receive. i.e.. use a racetrack stubby and orient towards the direction of the towers closest to you. This of course assumes you're close enough to said tower to where you can get by with a stubby not optimized for 800.

This gives (me at least) a decent signal from only one spot. And the antenna is so pathetic it's not susceptible to the other simulcasted paths. But even this doesn't work 100% of the time.

You could also do it better with a directional yagi positioned just right. But if you're expecting either the scanner or you to just sit in one spot and monitor, don't count on it.

Byron
 
Last edited:

axmeone

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
19
Location
Hillsborough County, Florida
Yes. I have the Whister-upgraded version of your radio. It is possible..but annoying painful.

The trick is using an antenna that is directional and isn't optimized for decent receive. i.e.. use a racetrack stubby and orient towards the direction of the towers closest to you. This of course assumes you're close enough to said tower to where you can get by with a stubby not optimized for 800.

This gives (me at least) a decent signal from only one spot.

You could also do it better with a directional yagi positioned just right. But if you're expecting either the scanner or you to just sit in one spot and monitor, don't count on it.

Byron


I have tried several antennas including the original stubbies. I have not been able to receive anything on any of the P25 systems. That being said, I've only tested from home (Carrollwood) which is where I'd ever be running it from.

I almost wonder if something was broken during my recent Legacy Whistler upgrade, but that's unlikely since I can still receive the remaining talk groups on the EDACS site.

I could take it for a spin in the car but really suspect I've got something misconfigured.

Might you be willing to share a backup of your current configuration using the Whistler Scanner Programming app?

1674861989150.png
 

tampabaynews

Keeping your PIO busy
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
1,344
Location
Tampa, FL
65000's are on-demand temporary patches. ID's are reused for other purposes when the patch is dropped (kind of like trying to ID individual frequencies on a trunked system). They shouldn't be submitted.

The activity is on ISSI 1 to ISSI 15 which are in the database. Actually referred to as HIL 1 to HIL 15. Busiest channels are HIL 5 (patched to 8TAC92) and HIL 6 (patched to 8TAC93).

EDIT: The parade organizers should be on rental radios running on BCI's MotoTrbo system.

Screen Shot 2023-01-28 at 1.57.17 PM.png
 
Last edited:

tampabaynews

Keeping your PIO busy
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
1,344
Location
Tampa, FL
Medical appears to mostly be using INTRA CO WEST groups on EDACS. ISSI/HIL on P25 for law enforcement.
 
Top