Livingston County NY

[GTR8000]

The only people who seem to be bellyaching about Livingston's system aren't even in the county...go figure! :roll:

 

[ak716]

I'm not complaining. And I didn't say the system is garbage. In fact as a subscriber I'm quite happy with it. I'm not thrilled with scanner manufacturers for having not kept up with the technology as well as they arguably should have, but that in no way reflects poorly on the system itself.

And yes TDMA does make infinite sense for Livingston Co. Once you've decided to go P25 trunking the choice between FDMA and TDMA... TDMA makes a lot of sense when you have to coordinate every frequency through Canada.

Sorry, my bad, I wasn't paying attention to who said what really. I just lumped everything into one as my reply to yours.

From my point of view, it would make sense for the either a, Livingston Co to create patch talkgroups to cross that gap between the 700/800 TRS and your VHF-Hi system, if your range from the towers would allow you to still have the proper talk back to your TRS while in their county, or b, spend the extra money and buy dual band radios. Cross-band interoperability is an definitely an major issue, especially if your departments run a lot of mutual aid. You are surrounded by 700/800 TRS systems, or a VHF-Hi system, which your now on.... so dual band may be the way to go....

 

[N0BDW]

Sorry, my bad, I wasn't paying attention to who said what really. I just lumped everything into one as my reply to yours.

From my point of view, it would make sense for the either a, Livingston Co to create patch talkgroups to cross that gap between the 700/800 TRS and your VHF-Hi system, if your range from the towers would allow you to still have the proper talk back to your TRS while in their county, or b, spend the extra money and buy dual band radios. Cross-band interoperability is an definitely an major issue, especially if your departments run a lot of mutual aid. You are surrounded by 700/800 TRS systems, or a VHF-Hi system, which your now on.... so dual band may be the way to go....

No worries.

There has been talk of trying to create a patch to Ontario. Our radios work pretty well into our system from the areas over there we are likely to go mutual aid.

Monroe is going to be a different story. We don't have coverage, even on mobiles, at the Monroe County hospitals. I'm told this may improve as reflectors are adjusted/removed and power outputs are bumped up.

Dual band radios would be a huge help, but are cost prohibitive for individual departments to buy more than a handful of. For my department we tried to push for two dual band radios and were turned down. We may try again now that the system switchover is much closer.

 

[chrisdenker]

What is the scheduled cutover?

 

[N0BDW]

What is the scheduled cutover?

The honest answer is that there isn't one. They've thrown around a few timeframes that have all passed at this point. The latest guesstimate is mid-January.


Highway is already on it. LE will be next followed by fire & EMS. But when that will happen, beyond "soon"... your guess is as good as mine at this point.

 

[chrisdenker]

any idea if the 436hp needs any special settings? Looks like its in the database, after updating, but havent heard any traffic, I do see LNK and DAT occasionally but not often. I'm using the stock antenna in Caledonia, I do have an outdoor antenna I plan to try but hoping I'm in coverage area for a mobile. I can get Monroe.

 

[hfd26]

Chris have u tried to analyze the system?if not try that and hold on the system, that seems to be the only way it will pick up. I can't get my 436 to keep good quality while scanning other systems. If u can't get good signal and quality with the stock antenna try an outdoor one after u have analize the system. U should b able to pick it up with one of the towers located on lacey rd. There's not much traffic on the system except local and county highway. The plan for fire/ems and LE is Feb 1st to go live. Hope this helps

 

[DaveNF2G]

One a somewhat related note, my 436 seems to perform better on LSM systems in ID Search mode than it does in ID Scan mode. It doesn't seem logical, but it has been my observation locally.

 

[DecAnt21]

As a student in Livingston County, I don't think I'll be able to afford to buy a P25 Phase II scanner. I'm just glad I can still here dispatch.

 

[N0BDW]

DecAnt21,

Fire & EMS dispatch, yes. Law enforcement dispatch, no.

 

[OzzyFD14]

Ontario has a 700 to 400 patch for the dispatch channel that allows for use of 400mhz radios and pagers with the 700mhz system. Does Livingston use something similar, like a P25 patched to a non-P25 VHF Hi channel? Sorry for my lack of proper radio terminology, I'm just a consumer...lol. Our Livingston County mutual aid can use the 400 patch to communicate with us without spending thousands of dollars on radios and I was hoping to be able to do the same.

 

[chrisdenker]

Any reports from the front lines on how the cutover has been gone? I hear lots of requests for retransmits, or no response, and lots of static on the new analog Fire/EMS frequencies. Still tuning my digital setup.

 

[jim202]

No worries.

There has been talk of trying to create a patch to Ontario. Our radios work pretty well into our system from the areas over there we are likely to go mutual aid.

Monroe is going to be a different story. We don't have coverage, even on mobiles, at the Monroe County hospitals. I'm told this may improve as reflectors are adjusted/removed and power outputs are bumped up.

Dual band radios would be a huge help, but are cost prohibitive for individual departments to buy more than a handful of. For my department we tried to push for two dual band radios and were turned down. We may try again now that the system switchover is much closer.

Let me point out a very important point that many agencies over look and the radio vendors are not clear on telling agencies looking to purchase them. In these dual band radios, you only have one receiver path. So if your using the VHF portion and there is activity on the receiver, your NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO HEAR THE 700/800 CONVERSATIONS AT THE SAME TIME. Until the VHF traffic stops and the squelch closes, the scan function will lock on the active channel. If it it important to hear both sides (VHF and 700/800) at the same time, you had better have 2 radios.

This is an issue with these expensive toys that only make the radio vendors a fat bank account and leave the users holding a radio that doesn't meet their requirements. If your only needing one band at a time, then yes, these dual band radios will function for you. But you can probably be better off money wise with 2 different radios if you only need one band at a time.

 

[N0BDW]

Let me point out a very important point that many agencies over look and the radio vendors are not clear on telling agencies looking to purchase them. In these dual band radios, you only have one receiver path. So if your using the VHF portion and there is activity on the receiver, your NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO HEAR THE 700/800 CONVERSATIONS AT THE SAME TIME. Until the VHF traffic stops and the squelch closes, the scan function will lock on the active channel. If it it important to hear both sides (VHF and 700/800) at the same time, you had better have 2 radios.

This is an issue with these expensive toys that only make the radio vendors a fat bank account and leave the users holding a radio that doesn't meet their requirements. If your only needing one band at a time, then yes, these dual band radios will function for you. But you can probably be better off money wise with 2 different radios if you only need one band at a time.

Our officers are already carrying two radios... If I insisted they add a 3rd I might be run out of town.

Any reports from the front lines on how the cutover has been gone? I hear lots of requests for retransmits, or no response, and lots of static on the new analog Fire/EMS frequencies. Still tuning my digital setup.

Working well.

Ontario has a 700 to 400 patch for the dispatch channel that allows for use of 400mhz radios and pagers with the 700mhz system. Does Livingston use something similar, like a P25 patched to a non-P25 VHF Hi channel? Sorry for my lack of proper radio terminology, I'm just a consumer...lol. Our Livingston County mutual aid can use the 400 patch to communicate with us without spending thousands of dollars on radios and I was hoping to be able to do the same.

Yes. Our analog paging channel is linked to the P25 Fire/EMS Dispatch talkgroup.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1850

You can get paging, FG 8, 9, and 11, as well as FAST. You will not be able to get the ops talkgroups which are on system and not repeated back to off-system channels.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

You can get paging, FG 8, 9, and 11, as well as FAST. You will not be able to get the ops talkgroups which are on system and not repeated back to off-system channels.

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

 

[DecAnt21]

Hey, I just purchased a Phase II scanner, I am extremely tech savy but I have not been able to get my scanner to monitor the new system. Has anyone had any luck with this? I'm using a Whistler WS1088, I found if brand new for 375$

 

[SteveC0625]

Hey, I just purchased a Phase II scanner, I am extremely tech savy but I have not been able to get my scanner to monitor the new system. Has anyone had any luck with this? I'm using a Whistler WS1088, I found if brand new for 375$

Your location says you are in Watertown, NY. It is highly unlikely that you'll hear anything of the Livingston County system at that distance.

 

[DecAnt21]

I'm from Watertown. I'm in the area for school.

 

[hfd26]

DecAnt21 I don't know much about the whisler scanners but do they have an analyze mode? If so try to analyze the system. It seems with the 536hp and 436hp u have to analyze the system first and monitor/hold only that system.

 

[DecAnt21]

I believe I have it on analyze. The scanner analyzes the system but I never here anything. I programmed the frequencies, P25, the site, and then a few TGIDs and it won't pick anything up.