MARCS system switched to Phase 2?

[booger2012]

I have a Pro 197 and need to switch from 800 MHz band to 700 MHz band for new frequencies how do I go about this? It is P25 system.

 

[N8IAA]

I have a Pro 197 and need to switch from 800 MHz band to 700 MHz band for new frequencies how do I go about this? It is P25 system.

First, ask the mods to move this post to the Ohio state forum.

Second, since you don't say where you are in OH, I'll presume that you are in an area that isn't using X-TDMA, or Phase II TGID's.

There are many TG's that are Phase I. Not everyone has switched to the new system. Plenty are on the old system. Brought my 396XT and PSR-800 on a recent trip back to Cleveland. Used my 396 for most of my monitoring for that week.
Larry

 

[booger2012]

yes it is phase 2 and I am in S.E. Ohio 45640 zip code

 

[booger2012]

Mods please move to Ohio forum

 

[booger2012]

Mods please move to Ohio forum

 

[fredva]

Switching from the 800 Mhz MARCS system to the 700 Mhz MARCS-IP system is not a switch to Phase II. Phase II is something that may happen later on the MARCS-IP system, but there are no reports of Phase II being used now.

Do you have software for programming your PRO-197, such as WIN96, ARC96, or PSREDIT?

 

[N8IAA]

Switching from the 800 Mhz MARCS system to the 700 Mhz MARCS-IP system is not a switch to Phase II. Phase II is something that may happen later on the MARCS-IP system, but there are no reports of Phase II being used now.

Do you have software for programming your PRO-197, such as WIN96, ARC96, or PSREDIT?

fredva, I'm sure you meant Win500, and Arc500. There is some X-TDMA TGID's on the new MARCS P-25 Phase II system. But, there is still a great amount just Phase I Digital.
Larry

 

[N8IAA]

Booger2012, just to point out a few things, Jackson county is on the OLD MARCS system. The new P-25 is Phase I with X2-TDMA TGID's on some, but not all, state, county, and city. I was in OH a couple of weeks ago, and used a 396XT and a PSR-800. The 396XT was what I used the most.
Hopefully, you'll get some other responders when the thread is moved.
HTH,
Larry

 

[W8RMH]

There is no Phase II on MARCS-IP whatsoever at this time. It has the capability to be upgraded but will not even be considered until everyone is on it and the old system is depreciated.

MARCS (the old system is still in use) and the new MARCS-IP system are two separate systems. You will need to program MARCS-IP as a new system seperate from MARCS. Eventually all agencies using MARCS will switch over and MARCS will be turned off.

Jackson County Sheriff, EMS dispatch, and Wellston PD are on the IP / P25 system at this time.

There is a MARCS-IP thread for these types of questions in the Ohio forum where you can get correct information from experts "in Ohio".

To move a thread you will need to click on the red and white triangle in the upper right corner of your first post.

 

[booger2012]

So you are saying phase I is 700mhz capable? How do I program my scanner to it? I have Butel software that came with scanner.

 

[mikewazowski]

Thread moved to Ohio forum.

 

[budevans]

So you are saying phase I is 700mhz capable? How do I program my scanner to it? I have Butel software that came with scanner.

Just an FYI, Phase 1 or Phase II has nothing to do with the Frequency.

Your scanner is capable of scanning a Project 25 Trunk system and it's also capable of scanning trunk systems on 700 Mhz frequency's. So you just need to create the new MARCS-IP system.

The legacy MARCS system is a Motorola Type II Trunk system. The new MARCS-IP is a Project 25 Trunk system.

Project 25 Trunk systems are programmed almost exactly the same way as a Moto Type II system, with one obvious exception. You select P25 Auto for a Project 25 System (MARCS-IP).

FYI: For legacy MARCS Moto Type II Trunk system would have entered Moto 800/900 as the Trunk system Type.

Before your create your new MARCS-IP system, open your software and look at your current MARCS programming. Find the field with the Moto 800/900 entry. That's the field where you will need to enter or select P25 Auto (for MARCS-IP).

After that you just enter the tower(s) control channel(s) and then enter your Wild Card Groups or Talk Groups (TG's), again just like the legacy MARCS.

One last item. The MARCS-IP Talk Groups won't be the same (numbers) as the legacy MARCS Talk Groups. Check out the RR database for your county to see what Talk Groups have been identified.

 

[booger2012]

Thank that is exactly what I needed to know

 

[booger2012]

Set up P25 Auto and loaded control frequencies from RR database. Still don't receive anything. What did I do wrong?

 

[budevans]

Set up P25 Auto and loaded control frequencies from RR database. Still don't receive anything. What did I do wrong?

Maybe nothing. It might be that there isn't much traffic on the sites (towers) you are monitoring.

Per your zip code, here are the sites (towers) and control freq's I see listed for Jackson County.

Jackson - Jackson
771.68125 (alternate)
774.53125 (control)

Pyro Oak Hill - Jackson
769.45625 (alternate)
769.70625 (control)

Carmel Church - Jackson
773.18125 (alternate)
774.38125 (control)

I only see the following four Talk Groups listed.

TG26002 Wellston PD - Wellston PD Dispatch
TG26004 XEMS40DSP - Jackson County EMS Dispatch
TG54570 XSO-40 - Jackson County Statewide Interop
TG54812 XSO40DSP - Jackson County Sheriff Dispatch

But, I would expect that Wellston PD, County EMS and the County Sheriff Dispatch to have some traffic.

On to the trouble shooting. I have a couple of questions with comments.

1. When monitoring MARCS-IP (Jackson County Sites) how many Signal Bars are showing? Even if no one is talking your scanner should still show Signal Bars for the Control Channels. If no bars are showing then either you're not in range of a tower or there is an error in your setup.

2. Did you put MARCS-IP in it's own scanlist? If no, then I'd suggest you put it in it's own scanlist and then monitor that scanlist exclusively for a while.

Just for grins I checked the surrounding counties, Pike - Ross - Vinton - Gallia - Lawrence - Scioto. They all have just one Interop Statewide TG listed, so I doubt if they would have any significant MARCS-IP traffic.

Review the above, make any changes needed and post your findings.

 

[bigbud42010]

You need custom rebanded trunking tables for MARCS 800Mhz system i have a pro-197 and a pro-106 and they both need tables before it will pick up a TGRP.
Now the 700Mhz IP system does not require tables just program the system, control channel set to P25 auto and boom it should work!

 

[booger2012]

yes I have 800/900 rebanded and they worked fine until switch to 700s. I isolated Marcs-IP to a separate scanlist and have4-5 bars on signal. imanually scrolled thru freqs. and they are there but I still hear nothing. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[budevans]

yes I have 800/900 rebanded and they worked fine until switch to 700s. I isolated Marcs-IP to a separate scanlist and have4-5 bars on signal. imanually scrolled thru freqs. and they are there but I still hear nothing. Any ideas would be appreciated

As bigbud42010 said, MARCS-IP (Project 25 System) does not require (use) rebanded tables. Sorry I forgot to mention that.

One thing I'm not clear on, you said you manually scrolled thru the freqs. When you setup a Trunk System (TSYS) you can't manually scroll thru the freq's. The Control Channel tells your scanner what freq to use for each transmission.

Did you create a separate Conventional (CONV) scan list and enter all of the towers frequency's (like the old VHF, UHF or Aircraft band systems)?

I'm running out of idea's. As bigbud42010 said, for MARCS-IP (Project 25 Systems) you just create a TSYS, select P25 Auto, enter the control channel freqs, enter the Talk Groups (TG) then assign each TG to a scanlist. You should be good to go.

FYI, I don't use the Butel software. I have a copy but found it difficult to figure out. I'd like to suggest that you might consider downloading WIN500. That way if you download and install WIN500 you can download you current scanner setup, take a screen print and post it here. There's a 30 day user trial period with WIN500. If you find it useful you can then decided if you want to pay the $35 to keep it active.

Here's a screen shot of the TSYS (Trunk Group Systems Screen) from my copy. You will see the Cuyahoga County MARCS-IP 700 Mhz system highlited in blue. It's easy to see and set all of the setting on this one screen.

 

[drummondjustin]

Just to confirm, all Jackson County public safety agencies (except for state agencies) are now on MARCS-IP. Most agencies are in the database except for Jackson Police, EMA, Health Dept.

 

[fredva]

fredva, I'm sure you meant Win500, and Arc500. There is some X-TDMA TGID's on the new MARCS P-25 Phase II system. But, there is still a great amount just Phase I Digital.
Larry

Yes, that's what I meant. I had just been reprogramming my Dad's PRO-2096, which Win96 and Arc96 supports, and that was the software that was in my head. Sorry for any confusion.