Lancaster County - P25 System (Was OpenSky System Dumped)

[thecanman]

I haven't picked up any talk groups with the pre-recorded phrases being broadcast. No idea if this is a temporary setup for range and voice quality testing in general, or if this frequency will end up being used as a dedicated non-trunked repeater and/or simplex voice frequency.

You're correct. I did not hear those messages on a talkgroup. I heard them exactly as you described. I meant to say I heard real people testing on TG 102. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[chankel]

I wasn't confused, I was just wondering why they had things set up the way they do.

 

[jimsmowin]

i have been hearing them fo a couple dayus now off columbia tower. listened to a portable talking from lititz to lancaster on thursday, have herd them on and off today so far

 

[chankel]

After reviewing audio logs captured by the PSR-800, I found that on 7/22/14 testing was conducted with pre-recorded voice phrases on TG 100 off the sites I have marked as Terre Hill (set up with the frequencies listed in the FCC DB for the Terre Hill site), Ephrata Mountain,

Recorded conversations indicate that testers have operated outside of LanCo from 1/2 mile across the Rte 30 bridge into York County, "2 miles outside York", Atglen, Christiana, Jennersville Hospital parking lot, Octoraro Reservoir, Nine Points, and from Elverson in Chester County. Signal quality on the recordings was good.

Unfortunately the PSR-800 logger does not record frequencies, only TG ID, TG name, and unit ID's with a date and time stamp.

Reference was made at one point to programming "the VHF direct frequency they're gonna use into one of the radios." Unknown if this means the techs are also programming some local agency VHF radios, or if they are also setting up multiband radios such as a Liberty or Unity.

Talkgroup 100 is encryption capable, as the PSR-800 recorded the "busy signal" tone that I have it set to record to cover unintelligible encrypted signals. Unit ID 1015 was transmitting an encrypted signal.

 

[RLNOLT]

I programed Reinhold's 49 frequencies into my Pro 2096. I got a recording of sounded a repeating story on 476.725 and 477.3625. My scanner displayed DG with it programed for MOT. Is there any thing wrong? Here is the list


476.0500
476.0125
476.0875
476.1250
476.1625
476.2000
476.2375
476.2750
476.3125
476.3500
476.3875
476.4250
476.4625
476.5000
476.5375
476.5750
476.6125
476.6500
476.6875
476.7250
476.7625
476.8000
476.8375
476.8750
476.9125
477.0250
477.0625
477.1000
477.1375
477.1750
477.2125
477.2500
477.2875
477.3250
477.3625
477.4000
477.4375
477.4750c
477.5125
477.5500
477.5875
477.6250
477.6625
477.7000
477.7375
477.7750
477.8125c
477.8500
477.8875
477.9250

 

[chankel]

I put up a temporary outdoor antenna, but it is not at significant elevation. The BCD-996XT now shows the following information:

477.475 = 101
477.85 = 102 Ephrata Mountain, very close to my home
477.8625 = 103
477.8125 = 104

 

[mlmummert]

So what happens when T band goes away?

 

[Subliminal87]

So what happens when T band goes away?

I am curious about this too. Maybe another system? All the radios coming in do Phase 2, so maybe that will be there reason to use it?


Also, is there a channel line up yet with how the system is/will be set up?

 

[R8000]

There was a comment awhile back about 800 MHZ and why it's used when VHF is a better choice. What we are experiencing here in the upper midwest is the lack of VHF channels. It's easy to sit back in your chair and say "why don't they go to VHF??". Remember, licensing a VHF trunked channel is much different then licensing a conventional VHF channel. Many counties here are hopping on the VHF trunking bandwagon only to find the lack of channels, and clean channels. Sooooo much interference here during even a slight band opening and it's chaos. The State of Wisconsin has a VHF trunked system, and to get enough channels had to run some 139 MHZ and old 152 MHZ paging channels just to get things to work.

Counties here in WI that are hopping on the VHF trunking bandwagon are finding that frequency neighbors that have to approve or sign off on a trunked neighbor coming online always gets the denial. A few systems I take care of got letters from trunking neighbors asking for permission for P25 trunking on adjacent channel basis and were always denied. No analog users want to hear P25 data when there is a minor band opening.

700/800 MHZ will work fine if the system is engineered properly. UHF is also a great choice. Sadly for us VHF is so crowded to the point nobody is going to get a clean trunked frequency pair these days.

 

[HM1529]

478.862500 has full signal on my BCD436 in Mount Joy.

Heading west on the turnpike this morning, I copied the following control channels:

477.2125 R001, S001
477.8500 R001, S002
478.7875 R001, S003
477.9250 R001, S004

I also copied an automated voice testing loop on three frequencies with a NAC of 293: 476.6125, 476.6875, and 478.150.

 

[chankel]

476.6125 and 478.15 voice loops are still playing this morning with a strong signal from my location.

 

[Subliminal87]

Someone said either fish and game or just game commissioners are going to be using the system within the next few weeks, is that correct? I guess it is getting closer to the to live date right?

Would it be of use to do a request to get plan details of the system? Like channel layout, what channels will have encryption and so on?

 

[chankel]

Voice loops have been running on 476.6125, 476.6875, and 478.15 since yesterday. NAC 293 on all frequencies.

 

[W3DMV]

Thanks for all the updates. That's going to be a big pile of paper work. It's going
to take some time to finish all those sites and come to a final configuration....

Good luck.

 

[Subliminal87]

Someone told me that fish and game or just game are now online, as of today. And local municipal workers are online. Is this correct? I have no way to confirm it. My 436 is on the way.

 

[NodrogCop]

Someone told me that fish and game or just game are now online, as of today. And local municipal workers are online. Is this correct? I have no way to confirm it. My 436 is on the way.

That is probably NOT correct. I'm hearing - pretty reliably - that testing is slightly behind. The loading of users is still targeted to start around October 1st though.

Gordon

 

[Subliminal87]

That is probably NOT correct. I'm hearing - pretty reliably - that testing is slightly behind. The loading of users is still targeted to start around October 1st though.

Gordon

Thanks, I'm curious what they were talking about then. All three of them are users of the system and they sounded pretty confident.

 

[MisterPixel]

I heard a lot of testing today. A mobile or portable calling "Dispatch" reporting locations and successful or acceptable (I forget the term they used) page. They were west of the city and in the Clay/Ephrata area. I got a BCD436hp yesterday and programmed a P25 system using the City, Ephrata, and Northwest site control channels from the RR Database. It sounded good.

 

[Subliminal87]

Here is a new news article about it.

Lancaster County tuning up for improved emergency services - LancasterOnline: Local News


One thing of note:
"While coverage is a big issue, Oettel said the new system will be a great improvement in two other ways: the new digital system’s greater capacity, 508 talk groups vs. the 16 channels now available, will mean less waiting for an opening to communicate; and the ability to communicate with others responding to the same emergency."


508 Talk groups. Is that just listed that high because that's what a P25 system can do, or are we really getting that many TG's?

 

[Septa3371CSX1]

Here is a new news article about it.

Lancaster County tuning up for improved emergency services - LancasterOnline: Local News


One thing of note:
"While coverage is a big issue, Oettel said the new system will be a great improvement in two other ways: the new digital system’s greater capacity, 508 talk groups vs. the 16 channels now available, will mean less waiting for an opening to communicate; and the ability to communicate with others responding to the same emergency."


508 Talk groups. Is that just listed that high because that's what a P25 system can do, or are we really getting that many TG's?

Seems a little high to me but I'm guessing that would be the system's capacity. I don't see Lanco needing more than 100 talk groups - and that is a stretch IMO.