Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

[kd7rto]

I've been getting familiar with the Trunkview program, now it's doing a flawless job tracking UP&L with my IC-R8500. Many other radios are also supported, and it can be configured to follow MPT-1327 conversations in either a one radio or a two radio (control/voice) setup. One nice thing to note is that if you find a voice channel, and do not know which system it is part of, Trunkview will display from the data bursts on it it's LCN, and the LCN of it's control channel. At the clear-down of a voice channel, a "return to control channel xxx" is decoded, and the receiver tunes back to it.

The first order of business was associating frequencies with LCN's. Unlike UTA, which uses the same formula across the band, UP&L requires a custom channels table. You'll probably still need to calculate the formula, as my setup has had some difficulty finding it's way back to the control channel if base and step are left blank.

I've associated enough LCN's with frequencies that any new once I find should be easily determined. For some reason, their table repeats itself.

152.03 through 152.24, in 15 kHz steps, are LCN's 1 - 15. They can also be assigned as 179 - 192.

152.51 through 152.84, in 15 kHz steps, are LCN's 17 - 39. They can also be assigned as 194 - 216.

I still have some things to figure out about 161.8 through 162.0. Here's what I do know:

161.8 = LCN 160
161.875 = LCN 166
161.925 = LCN 170
161.94 = LCN 171 Note that this last one deviates from the 25 kHz steps used when this range was in service for ship-shore telephone patches.

Control channels don't seem to rotate with voice channels on any regular basis.

To conclude, here are the two strongest control channels into my QTH in Bountiful. Most traffic has been units calling into the Salt Lake Service Center, ID 6046. Other service centers appear in the 60xx range...more info to be provided as I figure it out.

System 4899
188 152.18 control
200 152.6 (I observed control switch to this channel in one instance)
213 152.795
412 153.56

System 48B1
13 152.21
26 152.645
39 152.84
171 161.94 control

 

[kd7rto]

The next challenge will be to determine site locations. The licenses are unfortunately market wide, not site specific, so reading cw id's is not of much help (though I'd be happy to share the ones I've jotted down). Your suggestions on how to accomplish this would be most welcome.

Your observations of system ID's, signal strengths, frequencies, LCN's, ID's of dispatch centers, and other useful information would also be appreciated. Hopefully we'll have enough soon to start a listing in the RR database.

I can reliably decode several other control channels, I'll post their info here as I determine it.

 

[bbrasmussen]

Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

Cool stuff Gary. I'm interested in what you find. I'll have to download Trunkview and see what I can hear from Woods Cross.

 

[kd7rto]

Thanks Brandon. How strong are you receiving the control channels on 152.63 (LCN 202, Site ID 48C1), 161.8 (LCN 160, Site ID 48E1), and 161.925 (LCN 170, Site ID 48D9)? Those ones are a little too weak at my location.

Adding to what I posted earlier:

Site 4991 appears still under construction. No voice traffic for several days.
LCN 20 = 152.555
LCN 33 = 152.75
LCN 182 = 152.09 control

Site 4889 contains units calling into ID 6038. I have not yet determined which dispatch location 6038 is.
LCN 24 = 152.615
LCN 187 = 152.165 control

After 1 more day logging site 4889 I will be tracking 161.875 (48A1), 152.06 (48E9), and 152.69 (48B9).

 

[enosjones]

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I have not looked into this as good as I should have for my area, although I have site id's I don't have the other stuff figured out...

 

[kd7rto]

Enos, from the thread you started back in 2010, I see you've tried both unitrunker and trunkview on your local UP&L system:

http://forums.radioreference.com/ut...picking-up-mpt-1327-control-like-channel.html

Trunkview I can definitely help you with. Unitrunker doesn't play well with the computers I have here in the shack. It worked great with a laptop issued by a former employer, unfortunately I had to give that back. Any updated info would be very helpful, including any info you get from checking the ajacent sites button.

My latest finding in my monitoring project is that LCN 403 = 153.695, and that LCN 412 = 153.56. From this I can extrapolate 153.41 - 153.725 are LCN's 422 - 401. Note descending order.

 

[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

Can you decode or read into anything if I send you the image files? I can only hear 2 from my house strong the other 2 are much weaker..

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[bbrasmussen]

Here's what I've found so far from my QTH in Woods Cross.

152.63:
Strongest Beam Headings: 40, 180, 270
Signal Strength from a J-pole antenna into a Yaesu FT-857: S3

161.8
Strongest Beam Headings: 05, 150, 215(nearly full quieting), 305
Signal strength from a J-pole antenna into a Yaesu FT-857: S6

161.925 (Received full quieting S9++ as 161.935 not .925)
Strongest Beam Headings: 025 (Signal was full quieiting and strong in all directions. With Attenuator on 025 was about 2 S units stronger)
Signal strength from a J-pole antenna into a Yaesu FT-857: S9++

-----------

152.18 is S9++
161.94 is S9++

 

[bbrasmussen]

161.925 (Received full quieting S9++ as 161.935 not .925)
Strongest Beam Headings: 025 (Signal was full quieiting and strong in all directions. With Attenuator on 025 was about 2 S units stronger)
Signal strength from a J-pole antenna into a Yaesu FT-857: S9++

OK. I realized after I posted this that I was really picking up 48B1 161.940 with no copy of 48D9 on 161.925. Sorry for the confusion.

I ran UniTrunker on 48B1 last night and this morning. I've logged a few affiliations and a few calls. I have site logs and system logs if you're interested.

I exported the peers data which is showing another system, 48B9 with an LCN of 206 which I didn't see you mention yet. You're ahead of me in figuring out LCN and channel pairs, so I'm not sure what frequency LCN 206 corresponds to.

Here's the peers table that UniTrunker came up with:

id, LCN, CChannel
4889,187,152.165
4899,188,152.180
48B1,171,161.940
48B9,206,
48D9,170,161.925

 

[kd7rto]

Any speculations from those beam headings as to which sites they point to?

As for site 48B9, I set up logging last Wednesday. The control channel, LCN 206, is 152.69. I've logged one voice channel, LCN 403, 153.695. Most traffic shows target 6046, Salt Lake dispatch.

On Friday I found that the control for 48A1 had switched from LCN 166, 161.875, to 152.825, LCN unknown, probably 38 or 215. Trunkview produced a long list of idents logged, but saw no voice traffic all day.

 

[bbrasmussen]

I'll have to map the PacificCorp sites in the area, so not sure now where the headings are pointing to as yet.

I'll add LCN 206's control channel to my list. Thanks. I'm getting a fair number of calls on 48B1. I'm actually using a RTLSDR dongle and SDR# to feed both UniTrunker and Trunkview simulataneously via VAC. Seem to be working fairly well so far. Once we get more frequencies to correspond to LCNs I'm curious to set up voice following and have a listen.

 

[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

I don't know how to beacon or point access the area where my signals are coming from, I have been running trunk view today and can send the images to u if they will help.. also I need to know how to tell the base frequency.. and to get this to at least to where I know where it is coming from.... all I know for my area is the carbon or emery power plant uses the system as well as rocky mountain power.. formally up&l.... I haven't messed with it for a while so I need to refresh my memory on some stuff.....

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[kd7rto]

Enos, here's the formula and an example:

control - (step * LCN) = base frequency

152.165 - (.015 * 187) = 149.36

Under the trunkview Adjacent sites button, ID's and LCN's show up quickly. A day of monitoring should give you a good list under the Voice channels button. I look forward to hearing what you have found.

 

[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

I'm having trouble with it lining up right... I tried the .015 x 347 and 337 for the LCN it ... idk just doesn't line up... we have 3 I can decode from my house... 2 that's strong..1 that's iffy but there... 152.090. 161.800 and 161.925
it don't get the voice channel frequencies right.. its off by a bit....

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[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

I thought it was step x LCN? If that's the case 152.090 is in 25 steps as well as 161.800... whereas 161.925 says its 12.5 steps.. am I missing something here?

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[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

I'm guessing star* is multiply and not divide....

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[kd7rto]

What do you show for site id and adjacent sites (ID: and Ch: ) when you decode the control channels on 152.090, 161.800, and 161.925?

 

[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

On 152.090 for reference it sometimes switches to 152.630 but is the same site ID is 4A89, I have named this "site 1" since I don't have a location but its very strong. Also I set the base freq on 146.885 but before I did that it said the channel was 347.. site 2 is 161.800 an adjacent site to site one and is 4AA9 in that list it says its ch 337 strong signal from my house too. 3rd site is weak is 4AB9 is 161.925 claims its also ch 347 its the one with 12.5 step the others were 25 step...
Other adjacent sites are 4AE1, ch 161.. 4AE9 ch 162 and 4AF1 ch 344 although I can't hear these this is only 152.090 adjecent sites.....

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[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

The 2nd site I have uses more voice channels that are decoded... this one is the 2nd site on 161.800 its 4AA9. Its says its channel 202 but I'm thinking that's cuz of my base channel setting is at 156.745... I think the channel on this one is 337...adjacent sites are 4A89 claims its now ch 182 this is my site 1... site 4A99 says ch 206.. 4AB9 my site 3 that's weak it says channel 347 in the list.. Site 4AE1 ch 161 and site ID 4AF1 channel 344..
This is all the adjacent sites for site 2 161.800.... listed above...

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[enosjones]

Re: Mapping the UP&L MPT-1327 Network

Site 3 which is the weak one I don't know if I can get adjacent sites from... these all if they have talk on them is mostly from the power plant although RMP (UP&L) uses it I hear more from the control room and stuff like that at the power plant

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