I-Call repeater stuck open in Ottawa

[ocscan]

I-Call frequency of 866.0125mhz [156.7] is constantly transmitting today in the west end of Ottawa, just dead air. Transmitting with the CTCSS tone.

2:02pm Issue fixed, but new repeater confirmed and submitted to Database.

 

[DaveH]

Guess I missed it on the way to work that morning, as I keep it
in conventional scan. It was gone by the time I got home.

This is not a new repeater...been around almost if not as long
as the EDACS system. It's been used sporadically large events
such as G8/G20 summits,; GWB visit I seem to recall? One or
two of the ITACS also got used.

Several years back, some may have heard it themselves, Ottawa
PD started using it regularly for what was likely morality/vice. This
went on for weeks, then suddenly vanished, probably when someone
informed them that they were being heard all over town in the clear.

I also wonder if Ottawa/Gatineau could use it for interop, being as
they both have 850MHz systems with radios capable of conventional
mode; except for the language barrier. Ottawa FD has been across the
river at least twice that I know in the last few years, a new paradigm,
but sounded like interop was handled by dispatchers at each end
and through their respective systems.

Dave

 

[ocscan]

Can you confirm if all the I-TAC repeaters have been heard in Ottawa? Also any luck with the OFD Simplex Freqs? I have just more or less permanently moved back to Ottawa area and am confirming/programming up my radios for the Ottawa region.

 

[DaveH]

Can you confirm if all the I-TAC repeaters have been heard in Ottawa? Also any luck with the OFD Simplex Freqs? I have just more or less permanently moved back to Ottawa area and am confirming/programming up my radios for the Ottawa region.

Going back four years, I heard some activity on ITAC1 and ITAC3 (GWB) and last
year a bit on ITAC1. Both were event-related so not known if they are temporary
setups.

I've been searching on and off over the last five years for OFS simplex and
VR, but found nothing. VRs are turned on only sometimes, and you have to be
near to have any chance of catching it. My hope was that on-scene people
without EDACS scanners could catch some action. Simplex seems to be used
rarely, and I've never been near enough to catch it. Searching 851-866 is an
ordeal, due to the number of iDEN signals to dodge, or lock out if the scanner
allows. I've resorted to searching 1-2MHz at a time, which lowers the chance
of catching something.

Last fall with the Canadian dollar at $1.05US I grabbed a cheap BC92XLT refurb
with CloseCall. I tried it at a highrise incident recently, but didn't catch any VRs. I
did see a hit on 420.6875, which seemed to come from a vehicle, which is odd
because it's the dispatch side of the CAD.

A VR exercise was held months ago at Place de Ville. I heard the tail end of it
but again did not catch anything.

Unrelated, but when searching 868-869, found two P25 signals on 868.1875 and
868.2125 which are not listed. May be related to Gatineau system, or something
else.

Dave