Memphis/Shelby County APCO-25 Update

[tspainiv]

I'm still not happy with the audio quality. Varies depending on precinct and I can't say if I have noticed a real pattern. Garbled, underwater quality.

Using a PRO-96.

Anyone else of the same opinion?

It really matters on reception like ke4ppj said. The weaker the signal on any frequency in the system, the worse it sounds. When I take my handheld around with my 800Mhz antenna, it sounds absolutely wonderful. The signal I get from my roof mount antenna is a little weaker, don't know why, but it makes a difference.

It just depends on how close you are to a transmitting tower. And the type of antenna you have.

 

[ronmicha]

MPD Car Codes

Lawenforcer--You're a step ahead of me. I was getting ready to ask about the Traffic Units which used to be 700 cars and had their own dispatcher. It appears they've changed numbering and now are a "talkgroup". I've got an old, old list of car codes that is broken down to the Mayor, All the chiefs, etc. that I'll scan in an make available to anyone who wants it as a PDF attachment send to private mail. I'm sure it's changed a lot but it's almost got a lot of the same stuff--I can tell just by listening over the past week or so. Also, back in the day each precinct had it's own felony response detectives. Appears that's changed also. I'll let you know when the list is ready. It's about 5 or 6 pages long and might be a "kick" for you to see.
Ron

 

[matthewtomek]

Department-wide memo issued today states the the fire department cut-over to the new system will happen Wednesday, May 10th, at 2400hrs.

Hopefully, everything will go ok between now and then and it will happen as planned.:roll:

 

[ke4ppj]

How willl MFD use the "talkgroup" system on the new radios? Now I know with the old system when they dispatch folks they use alpha-9 talkgroups...and so on......so they can communicate directly with eachother.

Is that even something that we will be able to monitor on the new system? Or will it even exist anymore? I didn't see anything like that on the RR databse. I did see where there was like 30 fireground channels.

Thanks for the help!

-Josh

 

[tspainiv]

They will still have those "alpha 9" talkgroups. That's the channel name they have in their radios. They correlate to the fireground channels. I don't know which is which though. We'll just have to do a lot of listening to figure it out.

matthewtomek may have that information though.

 

[ke4ppj]

OK thanks. I didn't realize that those talkgroups (alpha 9) related to those fireground channels.

 

[tspainiv]

Yeah, they have I think two knobs on the radio and when they tell them to go to talkgroup alpha 1 they turn the first one to the letter A and the second to the number 1. And so on....

 

[matthewtomek]

How willl MFD use the "talkgroup" system on the new radios? Now I know with the old system when they dispatch folks they use alpha-9 talkgroups...and so on......so they can communicate directly with eachother.

Is that even something that we will be able to monitor on the new system? Or will it even exist anymore? I didn't see anything like that on the RR databse. I did see where there was like 30 fireground channels.

Thanks for the help!

-Josh

We pretty much only use the zone designation of the radio itself, not the name of the talkgroup. We don't call Fireground One fireground one, we will call it Alpha 5 because that's where it is on the radio. The CAD system automatically assigns a talkgroup to each run where mutliple companies are responding. It may be any of the 30 fireground talkgroups, but we'll always call it was its designation is on the radio layout, not the name of the talkgroup itself.

Another example, we'll have three special events talkgroups. Its not called events1, events2, etc. It will be B-?,B-?, and B-? (I forgot where in the B zone it is.)


I know this may sound confusing, but it works out pretty well for us and the folks in the field. Its easier to tell someone in the field to swap to talkgroup D-12 instead of Firegeound 30. It may take someone in the field a while to hunt down where ground 30 actually is, because they are not in exact order. See what I mean?? So you'll hear a bunch of radio zone designations, not the actual name of the talkgroup. All fire dept radios are set up up the same, some just won't have as many talkgroups programmed. Like the apparatus won't have the police talkgroups, but units will, that kind of stuff.

 

[matthewtomek]

Well, some bad news. The word today is that the fire department will not swap over tomorrow as expected. There are some more issues that are being worked out. I think they're shooting for next week now for the swap-over.

 

[Gatorman]

Thanks for the update on MFD. Question.....I am listening to the system for the first time in a couple of months on my Uniden 396. The audio is terrible. SCSO is not sounding much better. As I recall, the TGs were patched via the internet from the VSLP system?????? Is this still the case? For both MPD and SCSO? Also, if anyone is using a 396, I suspect I possibly could have set some parameters for the APCO-25 reception. Just guessing due to increase in unintelligibility.

Does anyone know how to reset these on this radio????? Manual barely touches on this function of the radio.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tspainiv]

I haven't heard any problems with the audio. I'm using a Pro-96 though. I don't really know much about the Unidens. I believe there are settings for the P-25 decode but I'm not sure. Neal may be able to help more. He's a wiz with the Unidens.

Everything that is being broadcasted right now should be from the new system. Since they are bringing more precincts online so quickly, they are installing and programming all the radios first, then telling everyone to switch to their new radios. You will still hear some from the old system for precincts that haven't switched over yet.

Try and talk with Neal, he should be able to help you out more!

 

[tafische]

matthewtomek - thx for sharing the info with the group.

The only bad thing about the way you guys use the talk groups is not all the radios are configured the same. I use an XTS5000 that is configured with the WMD config (Police/EMA/Fire/I-Tac). The fireground talkgroups are on zones C and D I think. I have to carry a piece of paper if I want to map them back. Not the greatest way to do it, but folks are so used to it there is no way to fix it now....

 

[SCANFANATICA]

North, South, Northeast,and Southeast?

Are They All Up For Monitoring? What Are The Cc? Thanks...

 

[matthewtomek]

matthewtomek - thx for sharing the info with the group.

The only bad thing about the way you guys use the talk groups is not all the radios are configured the same. I use an XTS5000 that is configured with the WMD config (Police/EMA/Fire/I-Tac). The fireground talkgroups are on zones C and D I think. I have to carry a piece of paper if I want to map them back. Not the greatest way to do it, but folks are so used to it there is no way to fix it now....

Actually, fire department radios are in fact programmed the same for the most part. Some just don't have all the available talkgroups where some do. Chiefs will have all the talkgroups in their radios where apparatus radios will only have the essential talkgroups. The fireground talkgroups start on the A-Zone and end on the D-Zone. Fireground One is A-5 and Fireground 30 is D-12. There are some other talkgroups in between, like Fie One is the first talkgroup on every zone. But no matter who in the fire department is talking to who, if you tell someone to go to whatever Memphis Fire Department Talkgroup, both parties (or all parties) will all go to the same zone and and talkgroup in that zone. What it boils down to, is that all fire department radios are programmed the same, some just don't have all the talkgroups.

 

[matthewtomek]

When more than one piece of equipment is assigned to a run, our CAD system talks to the trunking system and has all the portables of the equipment assigned to that incident automatically regrouped to the same talkgroup, one of the firegrounds to be exact. Once all of the companies have cleared the call, the CAD releases the talkgroup and allows it to be assigned to another incident. When a piece of equipment is put in service from a run, the portable radio (four per apparatus) is released from the regroup channel and it reverts back to Fire -1.

 

[matthewtomek]

matthewtomek - thx for sharing the info with the group.

The only bad thing about the way you guys use the talk groups is not all the radios are configured the same. I use an XTS5000 that is configured with the WMD config (Police/EMA/Fire/I-Tac). The fireground talkgroups are on zones C and D I think. I have to carry a piece of paper if I want to map them back. Not the greatest way to do it, but folks are so used to it there is no way to fix it now....

What agency do you work for? Your radio will be programmed to the way your agency wants it, which may put MFD talkgroups on the Z zone, don't know. I can only talk about the way MFD has its radios programmed.

 

[tspainiv]

Central Precinct is now up and running...mark another one off the list!!!!

 

[jalexand69]

the same system we must have a unique number I'll try to cind out more if there any questions PM me and I will fill any one in on the numbering scheme It woudl be great if someone could come up with a map of city wide wards. It would make things easier to understand.

I've been working on making a detailed map from GIS. For a map showing the MAJOR streets and ward boundaries, though, I found one in the MPD annual report and the Shelby County District Attorney's report. Both are available from the MPD and SCDAG's websites, respectively. j c

 

[ronmicha]

Have Control Channels Changed?

I'm using the Uniden 796D. Have any of the MPD/SCSO/MFD control channels changed in the last few days? I programmed the ones in the RR database and the ones listed in this forum but am not getting anything. I am receiving on 867.4125 and 856.7125 including activity IDs. I found this by going into ID Search mode. I had been in ID Scan mode when I wasn't receiving. I'm picking up Desoto County and some of the other suburbs okay including activity IDs. I know I'm not receiving also because I'm listening to Thomas' feed at the same time. I have trunking "on". Any clues on what I could be doing wrong? Just when I think I'm understanding--I run into another problem.
Thanks.
Ron

 

[tspainiv]

Ron,

No, the control channels are still the same. As what's listed under the Memphis/SC system page here http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=4361

You should have 859.46250 as primary and 860.23750 secondary as control channels for MPD/SCSO. Memphis Fire and SCFD will have 860.9375 as primary and 860.96250 as secondary.

Make sure you have the talkgroups programmed in that you want to listen too and set the scanner to control channel mode and put it in ID SCAN mode. You should hear every talkgroup you have programmed in, given that it is active.

If you need any more help I'll try and see what I can do. If we still can't figure it out, we can chat with Neal and he should be able to set us in the right direction. He really knows his stuff about the Unidens.

Hope this helps out a little. Let me know.