Hoosier SAFE-T thread 2020-

[INDY72]

The XTS is a discontinued, and no longer supported radio series. The newest ASTRO-25 firmwares, and other updates would require special flashing for an XTS, and with TDMA just around the corner, you will find those XTS's on ebay before too long. And from the acceptable equipment page at the IPSC site -

• XTS1500, XTS2500, XTS5000 / Portables (Be aware of end of life/support)
• XTL1500, XTS2500, XTL5000 / Mobile (Be aware of end of life/support)

As these devices are officially EOL/EOS now, YMMV, but the funeral bells started ringing on these a couple of years ago.

 

[INDY72]

Every TG I used was digital, from when the system rolled out in the northern part of the start. Originally we got EFJ's because we could outfit almost everyone in the county, including many of the volunteer FDs trucks and personnel. Thinking back to that time, were the regional MA and SWMA TGs, or maybe INDOT originally analog? I seem to recall hearing analog on my scanner, but I can't recall ever using analog on my radio.

Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T (Motorola) Trunking System, Northeast Indiana, Indiana - Scanner Frequencies Original System pre P25 conversion. A lot of the county data was marked deprecated as the conversions happened, and our new system deletes all deprecated TG/Freqs after 30 days... Just not the TRS as a whole.

 

[west-pac]

The XTS is a discontinued, and no longer supported radio series. The newest ASTRO-25 firmwares, and other updates would require special flashing for an XTS, and with TDMA just around the corner, you will find those XTS's on ebay before too long. And from the acceptable equipment page at the IPSC site -

• XTS1500, XTS2500, XTS5000 / Portables (Be aware of end of life/support)
• XTL1500, XTS2500, XTL5000 / Mobile (Be aware of end of life/support)

As these devices are officially EOL/EOS now, YMMV, but the funeral bells started ringing on these a couple of years ago.

I knew the XTS/XTL and even some APX's are in EOL, but I'm curious if IPSC would still issue RIDs for them; or if at some point prior to TDMA if they would kick them off the system.

 

[west-pac]

On a different note, I'm wondering why site (1)52 (Monroe, Adams county), is currently labeled as being in Monroe, when the FCC license, GPS coordinates, IPSC site map, and the old Motorola system all say Decatur.

 

[INDY72]

On a different note, I'm wondering why site (1)52 (Monroe, Adams county), is currently labeled as being in Monroe, when the FCC license, GPS coordinates, IPSC site map, and the old Motorola system all say Decatur.

It's IPSC's Name for the site, and back on the analog system, it was the site alias broadcast by it.

 

[INDY72]

I knew the XTS/XTL and even some APX's are in EOL, but I'm curious if IPSC would still issue RIDs for them; or if at some point prior to TDMA if they would kick them off the system.

I believe IPSC has told users of EOL/EOS equipment they must be upgrading to new equipment, and advised to make sure it is TDMA capable. IPSC has NOT mandated yet that, just made advisories. But as for EOL/EOS radios, these agencies know they need to upgrade, and they know that they need to start replacement cycles in next couple of years. I would also hazard a guess that the NEXT version of ASTRO-25 will be the final nail in the coffin for old radios, and that will probably be in final stages of pre release in the 2 to 4 year area. This release first got announced in late 2016 if I recall, and full release was in 2018/2019. Pretty much ever ASTRO-25 system is /has undergone upgrades. Should all be done by 2022 at the latest?

 

[west-pac]

This top frequency showed up today on the Marion, Grant county site (Site 1.54). When I went to the event log I see "2020/09/22 10:37:36 Private call; tgt=29-818 Ch=851.10625 Pri0" and "2020/09/27 19:03:03 Group call; TG 23-1312 Ch=851.10625"

Can anyone explain what these are? I searched the 851.10625 frequency, but that frequency doesn't show that it's licensed to anyone in Indiana.

 

[west-pac]

Under what circumstance is an ACC used as a voice channel? Is it only used as a last resort, as the only remaining voice channel on a tower?

 

[INDY72]

Alternates can switch to an VC when the Primary CC rotates. Its rarely for very long. Most times on Motorola ASTRO-25 systems it only rotates when they need to make changes to the system. (On a single site system that has 4 total CC's they may still have the old rotation scheme in place, though it is much rarer now to see this. On Harris P25ip's every single freq is an ACC and you can have non stop rotation going on.) With EFJ/Kenwood P25's it is similar to the Motorola format of CC rotation, but I have been told its more like the SmartZone/SmartNet style of rotation. I am too far away from the Lafayette system to monitor it for how it rotates if it does. That is the closest EFJ/Kenwood I know of to me. As far as for it just going to an VC without any other changes, it could be set to be a last resort overflow in the newest Firmware, but I have not heard of this, or seen this on any of the sites I monitor.

 

[cubn]

TG 21159 may be Clifty Falls State Park.

The only DNR talkgroups I heard while visiting the park were 21156 DNR South and 21159.

 

[west-pac]

TG 21159 may be Clifty Falls State Park.

The only DNR talkgroups I heard while visiting the park were 21156 DNR South and 21159.

21159 is for all DNR parks in district 9.

 

[INDY72]

21159 is for all DNR parks in district 9.

Correct, IDNR has 2 LE primary TG's, a Tactical TG for each district, a rarely used Statewide ICO dispatch, then a Parks TG for each district. One does wonder if there are more Forestry TG's out there though.

 

[FrostTheFox]

Looks like the Elkhart county simulcast is active now. I hadn't been looking at its frequencies, but the previous site frequencies went dead this morning, and just by a quick search from the license, I found the CC @ 772.93125. Reporting as site 9, which I believe lines up. It's coming in quite nicely even in less than ideal indoor conditions. Will gather more info later today.

 

[kd9jay]

I'm getting site 9 also on op25 raspberry pi and driving around elkhart county for most of the day never lost coverage and op25 does well on simulcast no distortion. The secondary control channel is 772.55625. Talked to fire personnel yesterday and was informed that county wide is making the switch on 11/10/2020. County fire is still going too page on vhf and talk on 700 mhz like Lagrange county does

 

[FrostTheFox]

I'm getting site 9 also on op25 raspberry pi and driving around elkhart county for most of the day never lost coverage and op25 does well on simulcast no distortion. The secondary control channel is 772.55625. Talked to fire personnel yesterday and was informed that county wide is making the switch on 11/10/2020. County fire is still going too page on vhf and talk on 700 mhz like Lagrange county does

Thanks for that info, have seen some county units use dispatch on SAFE-T for a while but not much so that’s interesting.

 

[west-pac]

Thanks for that info, have seen some county units use dispatch on SAFE-T for a while but not much so that’s interesting.

For you guys near Elkhart county, could you possibly check 854.2125Mhz, looking for System: 1F5, Site 30 or 30.30. That is Indiana & Michigan Power (AEP)'s Elkhart county P25 tower. I've logged and submitted the rest of AEP's system in Indiana and Michigan, but that one and site 25 (856.5125Mhz) in Michigan were offline when I was in that area. I don't think I'll be able to receive those two with any tropo reception either, as I have other P25 systems on those frequencies locally. Any help with those 2 sites would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[FrostTheFox]

For you guys near Elkhart county, could you possibly check 854.2125Mhz, looking for System: 1F5, Site 30 or 30.30. That is Indiana & Michigan Power (AEP)'s Elkhart county P25 tower. I've logged and submitted the rest of AEP's system in Indiana and Michigan, but that one and site 25 (856.5125Mhz) in Michigan were offline when I was in that area. I don't think I'll be able to receive those two with any tropo reception either, as I have other P25 systems on those frequencies locally. Any help with those 2 sites would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I can’t look extensively (both my SDRs are being used for broadcastify), but a quick test I saw nothing at 854.2125. 854.1125 had a CC but it was site 35 which already seems to be in the database so probably not what you’re looking for. FWIW, the site neighbors on there don’t show a site 30 nor any site bearing that control channel.

 

[west-pac]

I can’t look extensively (both my SDRs are being used for broadcastify), but a quick test I saw nothing at 854.2125. 854.1125 had a CC but it was site 35 which already seems to be in the database so probably not what you’re looking for. FWIW, the site neighbors on there don’t show a site 30 nor any site bearing that control channel.

Correct, none of the sites in the DB show site 30 as a neighbor because site 30 wasn't online when I got the neighbor lists for all of the surrounding towers. Later on, after my 2 trips around northern Indiana and Michigan, I received site 28 on a tropo opening, which showed site 30 as a neighbor (meaning it was online at that time) and that's where the 854.2125 frequency came from. The control channel for site 30 may have rotated by now. Every frequency on the AEP towers are an ACC/SCC. If you get another chance to use DSD+, or maybe OP25 (I'm not familiar), look at site 35 again, it will load a neighbor list with the neighbor's current control channel frequency. Site 30, if online, should be a neighbor of site 35.

 

[FrostTheFox]

Correct, none of the sites in the DB show site 30 as a neighbor because site 30 wasn't online when I got the neighbor lists for all of the surrounding towers. Later on, after my 2 trips around northern Indiana and Michigan, I received site 28 on a tropo opening, which showed site 30 as a neighbor (meaning it was online at that time) and that's where the 854.2125 frequency came from. The control channel for site 30 may have rotated by now. Every frequency on the AEP towers are an ACC/SCC. If you get another chance to use DSD+, or maybe OP25 (I'm not familiar), look at site 35 again, it will load a neighbor list with the neighbor's current control channel frequency. Site 30, if online, should be a neighbor of site 35.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, I wasn't looking at the database, I was looking at the neighbor list being broadcasted by site 35, there is no site 30 as a neighbor. There's a site 34 though in the neighbor list that isn't in the DB, but its CC isn't showing as anything (might be a bad decode from SDRTrunk but the rest of the info looks pretty clean so possibly not).

Do you have a suspected license for the site? I can take a look and see if I can find the control channel.

 

[west-pac]

Perhaps I wasn't clear, I wasn't looking at the database, I was looking at the neighbor list being broadcasted by site 35, there is no site 30 as a neighbor. There's a site 34 though in the neighbor list that isn't in the DB, but its CC isn't showing as anything (might be a bad decode from SDRTrunk but the rest of the info looks pretty clean so possibly not).

Do you have a suspected license for the site? I can take a look and see if I can find the control channel.

My apologies, on multiple fronts, Site 34 is what I'm looking for, and it's been earmarked as being in Mishawaka due to multiple factors. I also can't find a suitable P25 license for it at this current moment. In the Multi-state Radio Network forum, there is a thread for this nationwide AEP system. Tom, an admin from Ohio, has tons of data on this AEP system, and could probably answer any questions you had within minutes.

My apologies to the SAFE-T thread/admins as well.