Lexington Scanning and radio questions

[hundley206]

Ok I live in Richmond (near Gipson bay and the Robert R. Martin bypass) so Im pretty close to Lexington. I can here LPD VHF clear as a bell but the trucking system for Lexington while clear the data channel fads in and out some time’s. What if anything can I do about this? And is Lexington fire adding new frequency’s to the system or just new channels? Also is there any plan’s on LPD changing there system any time soon and if so will they join the trucking system or go digital or a mix of both? Ok last thing is there any plans for a joint dispatch center in Lexington any time soon? Ok that’s all Iv got thanks for your help guys.

 

[unitcharlie]

> Middle question first: There is a listing in the data base for the New Lexington Public Safety trunked system.... it is operational but don't know that it is fully on line as of this writing.... reportedly the same talk groups will be used on both the old and new systems; the new system features more freqs and better coverage....
> Don't think there will be a joint dispatch center any time soon...
> Rumor has it Lex PD won't be on the new trunked system... Haven't heard any plans for a change in their current radio system in the near future.... I can't find my list of HB226 requests so I can't say be sure about their future plans....
> If you aren't using an external antenna from your location you will experience some lose of signal at times on the Lexington system....

 

[jerk]

> Middle question first: There is a listing in the data base for the New Lexington Public Safety trunked system.... it is operational but don't know that it is fully on line as of this writing.... reportedly the same talk groups will be used on both the old and new systems; the new system features more freqs and better coverage....
> Don't think there will be a joint dispatch center any time soon...
> Rumor has it Lex PD won't be on the new trunked system... Haven't heard any plans for a change in their current radio system in the near future.... I can't find my list of HB226 requests so I can't say be sure about their future plans....
> If you aren't using an external antenna from your location you will experience some lose of signal at times on the Lexington system....

Has anybody tracked this system or it's frequncies.
call sign: WPTL247
It's listed in the FCC database as Police trunked. I can't monitor it, and I don't have time to run down and cross check the frequncies. So I thought I would post it here.

AL

 

[N4JNW]

I'm in Irvine right now, for the weekend, and I have my Pro-97 with me. I can't get ANY of Lexington's EDACS system. Only thing I can get is the VHF-Hi, which booms in pretty good.

Is their EDACS system just wimpy? Or maybe I have programming wrong? I took special care to program the frequencies in in LCN. Used Win97 software to program..

 

[unitcharlie]

Hi Alan:
A multi-faceted answer here:

WPTL247, although identified as a trunked system, is actually used by the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government as their Mobile Data Computer system. The four sites assure good coverage within most of the more populated parts of the county, this system is also used by neighboring jurisdictions as part of the statewide mobile data system. If there is a need to add this system to the database I will do so, just haven't had many questions about it....

The old Lexington Public Safety base is WPKW522 (Expired)--this portion of the partnered system is licensed to Lexington-Fayette Urban Co. Government... Sites 002, 003 and 004 are licensed to WPKW522. The LFUCG TRS and the University of Kentucky TRS, WPEE674, merged. The two Patterson Office Tower sites are part of the two systems...

The new Lexington Public Safety base is WQCJ588, licensed to LFUCG... the first three sites of the New Lexington TRS are the three fixed sites from this system. Site 004 is the University of Kentucky TRS, WPEE674, atop Patterson Office Tower... I have both systems programmed in two different scanners, both carry the same amount of traffic, the New TRS is on line but the other hasn't been off-lined... As I understand it, the hundreds of radios are being reprogrammed and the simultaneous broadcasts insure everyone can communicate regardless of their radio's status. When the switch was made a number of years ago--from the conventional freqs to the Old TRS there was a public announcement that it would happen, then announcements as the traffic was reduced and ultimately discontinued on the conventional freqs.... The new TRS, thus far, has better coverage than the old TRS based up on my monitoring in many parts of the county....

collier

 

[jerk]

Hi Alan:
--SNIP--

The new Lexington Public Safety base is WQCJ588, licensed to LFUCG... the first three sites of the New Lexington TRS are the three fixed sites from this system. Site 004 is the University of Kentucky TRS, WPEE674, atop Patterson Office Tower... I have both systems programmed in two different scanners, both carry the same amount of traffic, the New TRS is on line but the other hasn't been off-lined... As I understand it, the hundreds of radios are being reprogrammed and the simultaneous broadcasts insure everyone can communicate regardless of their radio's status. When the switch was made a number of years ago--from the conventional freqs to the Old TRS there was a public announcement that it would happen, then announcements as the traffic was reduced and ultimately discontinued on the conventional freqs.... The new TRS, thus far, has better coverage than the old TRS based up on my monitoring in many parts of the county....

collier

I was in Jessamine County Sunday and Monday, however I could not figure out what and how to program the multi-sites. (I do now as I did some research on EDACS so the next time I'll be ready). I did a quick CC scan with the BCD396 to see what happens, nothing on EDACS, though I did receive Madison County with excellent signal strength. And I forgot my print outs with all the Lexington frequencies.

It is an interesting system, and I found a MA/Comm channels magazine article about when they first switched over. Search Google for Lexington and EDACS and it'll show up.

AL

 

[unitcharlie]

I have the whole thing (the new Lex TRS) programmed into one bank and it works like a charm, each of the sites will have a different control channel and the coverage areas will overlap so there will be no break in service....

Madison County is working on their system as well.... rumor is they are going P-25 in the near fduture, but at the very least they are tweaking their outputs....

 

[N4JNW]

I have the whole thing (the new Lex TRS) programmed into one bank and it works like a charm, each of the sites will have a different control channel and the coverage areas will overlap so there will be no break in service....

Madison County is working on their system as well.... rumor is they are going P-25 in the near fduture, but at the very least they are tweaking their outputs....

Oh great... Guess it's time to buy some digital scanners now... LOL..

 

[jerk]

I have the whole thing (the new Lex TRS) programmed into one bank and it works like a charm, each of the sites will have a different control channel and the coverage areas will overlap so there will be no break in service....

---Snip---/QUOTE]

Is that with the BCD396 or Radio Shack. I have the BCD396 so it's systems and groups for me.
I wondered about that; as a download of the files gave me two options, each site as a system or each as one sire with several LCN order 1234, 1234, 1234 which I'm not sure would work so I didn't use either one. I thinking each site as a system would have been the right way to go.

It would be easier if I could monitor the system for testing, that's one thing I like about Motorola, I know how it should work and can make adjustments or a single site EDACS which I've had no problems setting one up in advance.

AL

 

[unitcharlie]

Actually, I have the system in a 396, 96 and 97...the 97 tracks it as one system... sometimes the 396 doesn't decode the control channel and I get noise, but it works most of the time... I seldom listen to it on the 96 because it is committed to "work" monitoring.... The only problem I am havingat this point (with the New TRS) is figuring out the LCN for Site Four.... with one exception, all of these freqs are also active in the old TRS... time to fiddle I reckon. Check your PMs...

 

[kyparamedic]

Madison County is doing a $12 million dollar upgrade to make their system P-25.

 

[N4JNW]

Madison County is doing a $12 million dollar upgrade to make their system P-25.

Yes they are... Thanks to UnitCharlie for the heads up. I have contacted Madion Co. Police, via myspace (yes, they're on my friends list) and they have confirmed, Madison Co IS going P25.

That's one of the reasons behind my buying of a Pro96..

 

[kyparamedic]

Madison County Police? You mean Sheriff's Office?

 

[N4JNW]

No, I mean EVERYTHING in Madison County that is trunked, and them some probably..

 

[kyparamedic]

From the database, it doesn't look like Madison County has enough frequencies for all the radio traffic since every agency in the county is on the system. I'll have to ask my friend if they ever run into a problem with there not being a channel available, especially during major events such as storms.

 

[hundley206]

From the database, it doesn't look like Madison County has enough frequencies for all the radio traffic since every agency in the county is on the system. I'll have to ask my friend if they ever run into a problem with there not being a channel available, especially during major events such as storms.

Well from what I can tell by scanning RPD and most other departments in the county have several channels RPD has ch 1 for calls to officers ch 2 for traffic stops and ch 3 for car to car and many others including ch 5 ERT and a special events channel for events like the 4th of July at Gipson bay. Never seem to have any problems the departments with the less channels are RFD with only 2 and EKUPD with only 2

 

[kyparamedic]

I'm not talking about all the talkgroups they have, which really doesn't matter unless they are in use. EKUPD could have 50 but they will probably only be using 1. What I'm saying is that with 10 frequenices available, one as control channel, it seems that with all the agencies it wouldn't be hard to use all 10 simultaneously, I guess not if they don't have any problems.

 

[N4JNW]

Yeah, UnitCharlie (shoutout again), informed me that Madison County could only have 7 radio's (I think) transmitting at once, due to limitations of their system.

Richmond is growing, fast. My fiancee, and I have both agreed, Richmond is highly overpopulated for it's size. To think, we were looking at apartments there. Glad I've decided to move to Irvine.