Livingston County NY

[w2csx]

So has anyone figured what needs to be down to settings to listen to Livingston county?

 

[chrisdenker]

I've had mixed results, but getting better, using a Uniden bcd436HP, and an external antenna; the best change made was setting the P25 Threshold to Manual, and Level to 7 (thanks to whoever suggested that).

What have you tried and what equipment?

 

[hfd26]

Chris what kind of external antenna you using. Are you scanning other systems or anything else from full data base? I have found with my 436 I can't always get livingston if I scan from my favorite list with 1 other system. After I analyze livingston system and hold on it it works great.

 

[DaveNF2G]

Livingston County was never that busy when I lived in the area (a little more than 16 years ago). Maybe the lack of reception is due to lack of activity?

 

[N0BDW]

Livingston County was never that busy when I lived in the area (a little more than 16 years ago). Maybe the lack of reception is due to lack of activity?

If you're listening to TG 1 (LE dispatch) and TG 95 (Fire & EMS dispatch) there is very frequent activity. If you're going more than 5 minutes without hearing anything on either of those TGs at any given time you're probably not receiving the system. During busy times they'll both be lit up constantly.

Edit: You can also verify by listening to 151.055 on a second radio. If you're hearing things on that and NOT on TG 95 then you are not receiving the system as those are patched.

Could you elaborate? Capabilities and limitations to the patched talkgroups?

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question, but I'll try to answer what I think you are asking.

TG 95 on the system is linked to the 151.055 repeater.
TG 95 is the Fire & EMS Dispatch talk group
151.055 is what is programmed into pagers (Minitor VI units)
(151.055 was previously the county-wide highway repeater fwiw)
This is a full duplex patch so users can talk on either the analog or digital side with users on the other.

The other channels I mentioned are not patched or repeated. They are programmed into our APX 4000 radios as analog conventional channels. They are fire ground channels. They are intended to be used for short distance but mission critical communications, such as interior operations.

All of this has been added to the database.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question, but I'll try to answer what I think you are asking.

TG 95 on the system is linked to the 151.055 repeater.
TG 95 is the Fire & EMS Dispatch talk group
151.055 is what is programmed into pagers (Minitor VI units)
(151.055 was previously the county-wide highway repeater fwiw)
This is a full duplex patch so users can talk on either the analog or digital side with users on the other.

The other channels I mentioned are not patched or repeated. They are programmed into our APX 4000 radios as analog conventional channels. They are fire ground channels. They are intended to be used for short distance but mission critical communications, such as interior operations.

All of this has been added to the database.

That answered my question. I wasn't sure how your patches were set-up.

So, 151.055 is a fixed bidirectional patch with TG95? No other fixed TG>Conventional patches?

Also, you use simplex analog for fireground communications at a tactical level?

Thanks,

 

[GTR8000]

The other channels I mentioned are not patched or repeated. They are programmed into our APX 4000 radios as analog conventional channels. They are fire ground channels. They are intended to be used for short distance but mission critical communications, such as interior operations.

All of this has been added to the database.

Also, you use simplex analog for fireground communications at a tactical level?

Already answered. The database is up to date, and shows the three simplex analog fireground frequencies.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

Easy there... this isn't a courtroom last I checked... but I can clarify the questions for you...:

- The 151.055 is a static patch to TG95, with no other intention to patch a different or simultaneous talkgroup to it for fireground updates to voice pagers?
- Is the simplex tactical frequency(s) used as the primary communications for fireground operations or on a case-by-case basis? (On vs off network fireground operational question)

Hopefully that satisfies the question police...

 

[GTR8000]

Easy there yourself, no one was playing "question police". I was merely trying to inform you that the question of whether there are analog simplex fireground frequencies in use was already answered, and the info is in the database. It seems that your questions weren't specific or clear, which is why you didn't get the answers you were looking for the first two times you asked.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

I purposely leave the questions vague to begin with. The answer will gauge how well the person knows the topic in the first place and also how likely they will know the answer to more specific follow-up questions.

That's the hard part of a message board, everyone is an expert...

 

[GTR8000]

Sure, whatever works for you. :roll:

 

[ThePagerGeek]

Also, he DID answer the question the first (and only) time. I expanded on it for the second question, to which he has not answered yet.

So yeah,... the questions are working...

I appreciate your concern and comments. :roll:

 

[N0BDW]

That answered my question. I wasn't sure how your patches were set-up.

Cool.

So, 151.055 is a fixed bidirectional patch with TG95?

Correct.

No other fixed TG>Conventional patches?

I do believe that there are two others: one for the jail, and one for Dansville PD. I don't have any details beyond those than that, though, sorry.

Also, you use simplex analog for fireground communications at a tactical level?

Our department is only using it for interior operations or if we have to go off system for some other reason (out of range). Other departments may use it differently, or not at all. There is no county-wide policy on channel usage. It is entirely up to the incident commander to negotiate which channels will be used how on a per-incident basis.

- The 151.055 is a static patch to TG95, with no other intention to patch a different or simultaneous talkgroup to it for fireground updates to voice pagers?

I'm not aware of any plans to link the ops TGs to the 151.055 repeater. Obviously paging is mission critical and so has to be the priority. Important communications that happen on an ops TG that need to go out over pagers can be relayed by a dispatcher.

This is not to say that it won't ever happen but as far as I'm aware there has been minimal discussion around it.

- Is the simplex tactical frequency(s) used as the primary communications for fireground operations or on a case-by-case basis? (On vs off network fireground operational question)

At least in my dept it is not the primary working channel. We do not expect the dispatcher to follow us there. We'll use an ops (on-system) channel as the primary, and an FG channel for interior ops. All of our officers carry two radios (APX 4000 and CP185) so both can be monitored simultaneously. Things like talking to incoming equipment, taking to dispatch to request resources, etc will all happen on system.

Fire Police are also going to use the FG channels, at least in my dept, and we've designated FG 11 as the default for them. Many other agencies do not have radios available for fire police or use other services such as FRS (I'm aware of the difficulties with that which is why I've pushed to issue CP185s for ours).

 

[ThePagerGeek]

Thanks very much

 

[N0BDW]

Sure thing!

 

[chrisdenker]

Chris what kind of external antenna you using. Are you scanning other systems or anything else from full data base? I have found with my 436 I can't always get livingston if I scan from my favorite list with 1 other system. After I analyze livingston system and hold on it it works great.

I'm using an omnidirectional antenna, I think I'll try a yagi for the new system if I can't get consistent results with the omni.

My trials mirror yours, if I'm monitoring Livingston, works pretty good (some dropouts and underwater sounds though) , if I want Monroe/Ontario at the same time, Livingston seems to go silent, Monroe comes in very clear.

 

[k2hz]

Whistler just released software and firmware upgrades to their Phase 2 capable scanners to correct a problem with tracking VHF systems.

I found that my TRX-1 would not track the Livingston County system which I attributed to the LSM phasing interference issue. I tried reception near the Caledonia tower to eliminate this issue and it still would not track the voice channels even with pro96com showing 100% reception of the CC data.

I submitted logs to Whistler to supplement bug reports from others also reporting an issue with VHF Phase II system reception. Whistler found a problem with their handling of multi block PDU data which has been resolved in this upgrade.

My scanner now does attempt to track the voice channels. Reception is broken up at my home location due to the out of phase reception from multiple sites but reception should be good now in a good signal area.

 

[N0BDW]

Now that the system is pretty well established I've had good luck listening to it with both BCD536HP and BCD996P2 units with omni antennas (even the stock antennas). The 536 does need a firmware update (last I checked it was in beta) in order to receive the system without having to run the analyze function.