MotorolaDave
Member
Mike,
You are correct. All radios on this system are phase 2, so every TG should be marked "T".
You are correct. All radios on this system are phase 2, so every TG should be marked "T".
Medina County 700 MHz P25 TRS
- Thread starter Thunderbolt
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Are you referring to just the Medina Simulcast? Or are you referring to across-the-board 1-001, 2-002, 10-010 and 20-020 ? It wouldn't surprise me if Brooklyn Heights and Medina Co were Phase II TDMA only. After all, they have very few frequencies and would significantly benefit from the additional talkpaths available using TDMA. But what about the big simulcasts of Ottawa / Parma ?
And forgive me, but I personally am not used to doing anything with Phase II systems in the DB. I just happened to tune to the Medina Co Simulcast today for the first time and observed the TDMA activity. If it turns out that all talkgroups across all four locations are TDMA, please [you or somebody else] make a submission to the DB so that the appropriate person can make the updates.
Tnx
MotorolaDave
Member
Mike,
Just Medina. I should have been more clear. And I made a submission recently with tons of new TG's.
Just Medina. I should have been more clear. And I made a submission recently with tons of new TG's.
Thank you, Dave. I'll update that remaining Medina talkgroup in the DB
Just an FYI -- I think the submissions are being held until at least some proof of activity on some of the talkgroups is received. I don't think we want to add a slew of talkgroups to the DB that have never been keyed up on or affiliated with yet. I can see your submission (which someone else is holding), and I'm sure that once you or anyone else starts reporting activity on some of those talkgroups they will then be added.
W8SQY
Member
I am using a BCD996P2 programmed with FreeScan v2.19. I'm getting lots of hits in the log but no RIDs.
W8SQY
Member
I was looking for at least a comment here if not an answer.
I don't know if this is a scanner problem, a programming problem, or a system problem. Or maybe something I am doing wrong. I notice now I am getting>some< RIDs but a lot of times not - even when I'm watching the scanner display - no RID. Maybe this should be posted elsewhere.
I don't know if this is a scanner problem, a programming problem, or a system problem. Or maybe something I am doing wrong. I notice now I am getting>some< RIDs but a lot of times not - even when I'm watching the scanner display - no RID. Maybe this should be posted elsewhere.
The Medina/Ottawa/Parma System is a Harris system. It is very, very quirky system. That could be part of the reason for the inconsistent RID's.
One way to check is to program a MARCS site and watch the RID's. If you get good RID's then it's the system causing the issue and not your scanner.
I was at the Chevy dealer on the north side of Medina and with my TRX-1 had solid calls and radio Id's the whole hour i was on site.
W8SQY
Member
I don't see this problem anywhere else, MARCS, GCRCN or Parma (local) so I guess it may be related only to the Medina site and maybe weaker signals.
MotorolaDave
Member
There have been activity on several of them. Many are used full time and others are still being used for testing. I guess I just don't understand the reason to withhold info when the point of RadioReference is a shared database. I have never submitted incorrect info and only do a submission when the details I have are confirmed. I figured it would be better to have the info posted instead of folks speculating who a TG belongs to. I'm not a moderator (and have no desire to be), so I won't try to tell anyone how to do their job. I will just refrain from submitting info in the future.
Dave,
The issue is that we (and I personally) have seen countless times were radio codeplugs have talkgroups / names listed, but the talkgroups have never been used [and may not even be configured for use on the system]. So we want to make sure they are actively in use before listing them, especially if they are for agencies that historically were on conventional frequencies before. Otherwise, if we end up listing those agencies on the trunked system when they aren't confirmed active yet, some users will end up programming those talkgroups in and removing old conventional frequencies with the thought that the agency has moved to the trunked system -- and then they don't hear anything because the agency hasn't actually moved over to the trunked system.
It's easy enough for anyone to report a new talkgroup in use via a forum thread, and then for an admin to see it's been active and add it to the DB.
However. . . while an administrator seeing a forum post and adding the information to the database works, experience has shown that with so much information to sift through, it's easy for a logging mentioned in the forum to be missed and never make it to the database. So, we prefer that a submission be made via the "Submit" tab on the page of the system in question so we can make sure it's added.
Yet, in this case the talkgroups we are referring to have already been submitted. So, are you saying somebody who knows what the talkgroups are (from reliable sources, codeplugs, or whatever) should just sit on them (not submit them) until they personally confirm that they are active -- and then submit them?
My argument would be that a submitter who is forced to wait until talkgroups are confirmed active before submitting them might end up meeting and untimely demise before they can personally verify them active. And then they take that information to the grave with them. Not sure that makes a whole lotta sense heh.
I purposefully suggested posting them to the forum because I have a feeling those guys who previously submitted talkgroups which have yet to be added are not going to want to resubmit again when they verify them active -- with the idea that they already submitted them once.
I have no problem with lists of talkgroups being submitted when they're found, but RadioReference policy has always been that information needs to be confirmed by monitoring before it can go into the database, so that we can ensure it's active and we're not just packing the database.
Accuracy is the watchword. . .
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KD8TWH
Member
Gents,
Just thought I would add my 2 cents to this forum.
My fire department jumped on the system early on, in fact one of the first fire departments to use the system on Harris portables/mobiles. (without a grant from MARCS or having a tie into the MARCS system)
Most of the issues we face are users not waiting to speak after keying up, 2-Tone activation (pager function on the Harris portables) and coverage in the schools.
Other than that no issues with coverage, performance, etc.
Well I do have one gripe, the sheriffs office tightly controls who can program the devices. I would much like to bring the programming in house and just work with said company and/or radio admin at the sheriffs office.
Just thought I would add my 2 cents to this forum.
My fire department jumped on the system early on, in fact one of the first fire departments to use the system on Harris portables/mobiles. (without a grant from MARCS or having a tie into the MARCS system)
Most of the issues we face are users not waiting to speak after keying up, 2-Tone activation (pager function on the Harris portables) and coverage in the schools.
Other than that no issues with coverage, performance, etc.
Well I do have one gripe, the sheriffs office tightly controls who can program the devices. I would much like to bring the programming in house and just work with said company and/or radio admin at the sheriffs office.
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Who can program radios isn't the SO speaking, it's the system owner. If Parma (the system owner) doesn't want someone programming radios on the system, that's it. They would probably solicit opinions from the SO to get a feel for reliability and so on, but these days getting programming access to a trunked system is tightly controlled for security reasons, and rightly so.
I am curious as to what issues you're having with 2-tone activation on Harris radios; we're having some issues in Pickaway County as well.
KD8TWH
Member
We outsource the programming to a vendor (Chosen by the SO), who isn't the worlds greatest and is very expensive for even the slightest changes. I understand why they do this, to control access to this sensitive information. To my knowledge its not Parma that is particular about who can get the information to program and recommend tweaks (obviously for the system admins to actually implement and for Medina/Parma to approve), its Medina. Also I am just saying that there are "radio nerds" on a few departments who would love the opportunity to custom tailor the portables, mobiles, etc. to the department needs without spending a small fortune and being at the mercy of the vendor.
As for the 2-tone issue, the vendor can't figure out how to approach the request we made to enable the 2-tone decode and have the unit alert.
I recently got myself a Unication G5, and the ting works without a hitch (With 2-tone over P25 as well as 2-tone over the old UHF system)
Interesting. We had no trouble at all getting 2-tone decode to work (although Harris does things kind of screwy); our issues are mainly related to false (or no) activations.
I concur on the G5 however. I have one and love it. The only issue I'm having is getting it to alert over P25; if the radio at the dispatch point has AGC enabled and the first tone "fades in" even slightly the pager won't decode reliably over P25. But since we're alerting over 800 MHz conventional analog it's a moot point, and if I could get those for every agency in the county I'd do it in a heartbeat.
MotorolaDave
Member
Users not waiting to speak after keying up is something they will get used to. Happens often when switching to a trunking system.
The paging and coverage issue is on the folks who designed the system. This system works great for Medina City because its simulcast, and they are surrounded by towers. Agencies not surrounded by towers will have issues. Radios not working in schools is a BIG problem.
As for the programming of radios, Cleveland Communications holds the system key. They will not share the key, and charge 50 bucks to program each radio. That $50 includes even making one small change to the codeplug. That and coverage issues are the reason Brunswick City and Brunswick Hills went with MARCS.
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