Local Calgary systems vanishing!

[Jay911]

Hey all,

I've been trying to monitor PDL Mobility 6e03 for several days and got nothing but silence. So I figure the system has gone püf. No idea if it's on purpose or not - surely by this time if it had been a simple failure, something temporary would have been put in place.

Something odd happened this morning. The control channel for the city's EDACS system seems to have disappeared, unless for some reason I can not pick it up from here at work (which I think is an unlikely possibility, since I can get the smaller "backup" EDACS system (which broadcasts off the Petro Canada tower downtown) loud & clear. AVC396 caught a tiny fragment of a radio call on the previously mentioned 15-011 tech/test talkgroup - enough to log but not enough to record audio - just before the site went down. At this point I'm considering this a downing for maintenance, since I have heard city streets & roads crews still using agency 04 as recently as yesterday.

 

[DX-300]

Yeah, I've checked it out and it is down alright, funny because I was monitoring it abit too on saturday and a little yesterday just to see if streets or recycling trucks might be active. (we must have scared it away lol j/k*)

 

[SCPD]

Hey all,

I've been trying to monitor PDL Mobility 6e03 for several days and got nothing but silence. So I figure the system has gone püf. No idea if it's on purpose or not - surely by this time if it had been a simple failure, something temporary would have been put in place.

Something odd happened this morning. The control channel for the city's EDACS system seems to have disappeared, unless for some reason I can not pick it up from here at work (which I think is an unlikely possibility, since I can get the smaller "backup" EDACS system (which broadcasts off the Petro Canada tower downtown) loud & clear. AVC396 caught a tiny fragment of a radio call on the previously mentioned 15-011 tech/test talkgroup - enough to log but not enough to record audio - just before the site went down. At this point I'm considering this a downing for maintenance, since I have heard city streets & roads crews still using agency 04 as recently as yesterday.

Although the source is good, I would consider this a rumor, a rumor for now. The Calgary EDACS system is being parted out in bits and pieces and may of been sold in whole or in-part

I suspect you will hear the EDACS control channel on a new frequency in the near future.

 

[DX-300]

Hmm interesting, though I do remember this happening before in not the last but more previous winter where I found the cc was gone, then a day or two went by and it was back up. Who knows what this is now though, I guess time will tell.

 

[Jay911]

DX, I think brechtd's info is probably pretty reliable. Like he says, though, it would be best to consider it a rumor until proven otherwise. Some of the elements are surely gone now - for example, the tower at the Sarcee Yard is history, as was the Sarcee Yard, ever since Westhills was built!.. All the towers at hospitals and EMS locations are long since obsolete. It would be far from surprising to learn that other city works services were moving on to other systems or methods of comms. I heard a couple of years ago from someone who was, if I recall correctly, a former Animal Services employee - who told me that a number of like services were evaluating iDEN/MiKE radios, as with the Transit service's current system. ENMAX is, of course, gone, and frankly Roads and Waterworks & Wastewater are about the only two agencies still even using the system. Even Parking Authority, which owns the sole remaining license for the "small" 4-freq EDACS system (that used to be used as the 'backup' for the main EDACS system) are using conventional repeaters. Wouldn't surprise me that if the remaining EDACS users with the City intend to stay with that system, that they would move to the smaller system, which is probably more suited for the size and capacity required nowadays.

If the main EDACS system does go away at this point, I wonder if the City will finally update/upgrade its license information with Industry Canada... EMS is still shown as being licensed to use the EDACS system (which they abandoned 10 years ago), and Fire is still licensed for their 400mhz system as well as the VHF voice paging they used for administrative purposes (LONG since abandoned in favor of the POCSAG pagers run by the police).

 

[DX-300]

Yes, agreed; I'm pretty sure that animal services is using iDEN as their tg has been silent for a long time now, and I know for sure that parking control is using iDEN, seems to be a favorite for the city as even the City Hall security use it.

 

[Jay911]

Ok, updates.

PDL is gonzo. No activity noted since I forget how long ago the control channel dropped.

City EDACS seems to be gone the same way. If I can get reception, I plan to park a scanner and Etrunker on the smaller system for a day or two solid and see if I get any traffic on it.

For what it's worth, I did a quick band scan in the 800s and 900s today and found nothing we don't already know about (i.e. no systems have moved to other freqs/bands). Other than 753f Site 6 is c/c'ing on 866.8125 now not .3125, and I think that's been going on for a while.

I have figured out the wacky bandplan for Comms Grp Calgary's MPT system and confirmed at least Laidlaw bus lines as well as what might be a trucking outfit called LMS.

More as time goes on..

 

[SCPD]

From what I understand they are preparing for the new provincial system coming soon. I had heard that this new Edacs system would allow interop with the other systems of the province quite nicely.

 

[Jay911]

From what I understand they are preparing for the new provincial system coming soon. I had heard that this new Edacs system would allow interop with the other systems of the province quite nicely.

With respect, I don't know where your information comes from, but the provincial system isn't coming soon, as evidenced by other posts and proof from other folk on these boards. Furthermore, an EDACS system won't be interoperable with the existing Motorola and conventional networks in the province; only Edmonton and Lethbridge are on EDACS.

Lastly, the Calgary EDACS system that was recently downed, and the Motorola IIi system from Page-Direct (PDL Mobility) that also disappeared, are both non-public-safety systems. The one was strictly for commercial (rent-a-radio, etc) and the other was a system being used less and less originally for city public works, which have all moved to iDEN, and Smartzone network systems.

 

[Jay911]

Update: The other Calgary EDACS system has disappeared as well. We'll see what crops up from this.