Mercer County TRS traffic

[ctrabs74]

Brought over from another thread...

... mercer county has a new digital trunking system also and just the other day i heard the first chatter on it. 00016, sounded like OEM testing out the system.

1. Were you able to hear it in the clear or was it ENC traffic?

2. Is this a 9600 baud TRS?

I have a 396, and I can't remember whether I should program this as a P25 or MOT system.

 

[robbinsj2]

1. Were you able to hear it in the clear or was it ENC traffic?

At least some traffic has been clear; I don't know whether there was some encrypted in addition. And this isn't to say that what has been clear (only a bit of testing and BSing that I've heard so far) will never become encrypted.

2. Is this a 9600 baud TRS?

The database is accurate. Program it as P25.

Jim

 

[elias1988]

Can someone please run Pro96com on it and see what comes up?If someone does please post the files on the Pro96com Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PRO96COM/

 

[robbinsj2]

Can someone please run Pro96com on it and see what comes up?

What, specifically, are you seeking? I stopped using Pro96Com once I got Unitrunker working; the database entry here was developed with data from both.

 

[elias1988]

What, specifically, are you seeking?

Radio IDs, talkgroups and affililations.

 

[ampulman]

How appropriate

I was going to start a thread about Mercer Cnty, but lo and behold, one was already started.

My question is: Is this system operational? I have programmed it into my 396 (as a P25 system) and since I live in Voorhees Twp (Camden County), I cannot pick it up, but have attempted to monitor it on several occasions while driving through the area.

Today, I was traversing I-295 to Rt 31 and stopped at Starbucks (Pennington) and tried to see what was doing with this system. I had 5 bars, but could not lock onto a control channel.

Repeated cycles of search/hold did not yield any active voice or control channels.

In another forum today, I read that Apco 25 systems are not correctly named as Motorola P25 systems. As such, is it necessary to program all frequencies, and not just the CCs? I did. I also checked the band plans and they seem to be correct.

Hope someone can shed some light on this. Very frustrating, since this is the only P25 exclusive system in my area and have nto had problems programming EDACS, Mots, and LTR systems.

AM

 

[jamesk65]

Hey all,
The chatter i heard was totally in the clear not encripted. Like i said all i heard was oem people doing a radio check on 00016. About a week ago i was talking to someone at a amateur radio meeting and they said that oem in the near future would be doing alot of testing. Not sure if it is true but i've been monitoeing the system anyway. I have a pro-96 that i programmed the system in and have the system open so i can hear any transmission on any talkgroup. Yes it is a 9600 baud CC system. I programmed my radio with the info from this website and now that i've heard a voice transmission on it i know it works. If any hear any more chatter and talkgroup ids i will post them for all, but for the most part havent heard i thing.

 

[robbinsj2]

"Command" was heard on 00019 earlier today. I believe it was traffic and/or crowd control during the David Kelty visitation. Based on that I would think chances are the system will be used again during his full fire department funeral on Saturday.

ampulman, there are fine points to it but to simplify, P-25 is an APCO standard which addresses both digital modulation and trunking. P-25 modulation can be used on a conventional channel or a Motorola trunked system (3600-baud control channel) or a P-25 trunked system (9600-baud control channel). "Motorola P-25" isn't a system type, unless you want to include a P-25 system whose components happen to be manufactured by Motorola, but that wouldn't matter to scanner owners.

That said, if anyone's scanner distinguishes between Motorola 3600 systems and APCO P-25 trunked systems then the Mercer County system should be programmed as the latter. The Pro-96 and Pro-2096 don't make this distinction but do require the bases/offsets/steps be programmed in via software; I'm told the BCD396T and BCD996T do make this distinction and do not require the bases/offsets/steps be programmed in (it can grab them off the control channel). In the case of both the Radio Shack and the Uniden scanners, you should only have to program in the control channels to hear everything. And if you don't have a digital scanner, don't bother programming anything in because this system (as all P-25 TRS) will be all-digital.

I hope I haven't confused anyone further.

Jim

 

[ctrabs74]

That said, if anyone's scanner distinguishes between Motorola 3600 systems and APCO P-25 trunked systems then the Mercer County system should be programmed as the latter. The Pro-96 and Pro-2096 don't make this distinction but do require the bases/offsets/steps be programmed in via software; I'm told the BCD396T and BCD996T do make this distinction and do not require the bases/offsets/steps be programmed in (it can grab them off the control channel). In the case of both the Radio Shack and the Uniden scanners, you should only have to program in the control channels to hear everything. And if you don't have a digital scanner, don't bother programming anything in because this system (as all P-25 TRS) will be all-digital.

I hope I haven't confused anyone further.

In my case, you actually cleared that up quite nicely. At least this system will be a lot easier to program than Burlington County's TRS...

 

[robbinsj2]

Mercer Cty NJ TRS update

00016 and 00017 are OEM talkgroups, clear. There is a weekly roll call of most municipalities (no Hopewell or Pennington Boroughs, for obvious reasons) plus LifeCom and the Sheriff on 00016 on Tuesdays at 10:00. This has been submitted to the database.

The weekly test of the (conventional) Crime Alert channel has moved from Tuesdays to Wednesdays at 10:00.

Jim

 

[ampulman]

I was going to start a thread about Mercer Cnty, but lo and behold, one was already started.

My question is: Is this system operational? I have programmed it into my 396 (as a P25 system) and since I live in Voorhees Twp (Camden County), I cannot pick it up, but have attempted to monitor it on several occasions while driving through the area.

Today, I was traversing I-295 to Rt 31 and stopped at Starbucks (Pennington) and tried to see what was doing with this system. I had 5 bars, but could not lock onto a control channel.

Repeated cycles of search/hold did not yield any active voice or control channels.

In another forum today, I read that Apco 25 systems are not correctly named as Motorola P25 systems. As such, is it necessary to program all frequencies, and not just the CCs? I did. I also checked the band plans and they seem to be correct.

Hope someone can shed some light on this. Very frustrating, since this is the only P25 exclusive system in my area and have nto had problems programming EDACS, Mots, and LTR systems.

AM

Very interesting....quoting myself. But seriously, today I happened to be riding up I-295 on my way to Rt 202 and tried it again.

I locked onto the control channel and the Sys-ID was displayed. 5 bars on the signal, but nothing received. Also, when locking on the CC, no sound is heard, unlike when doing so with a Motorola or EDACS system. Having never monitored a Project-25 system previously, I don't know if this behavior is normal.

The system has been programmed in my BCD396T as a P25 system which is listed in this radio under Motorola. I have entered the 3 frequency tables but don't seem to receive anything.

Is this system active, and as a 396 owner, am I missing something?

AM

 

[robbinsj2]

I don't have a 396 (or any Uniden digital scanner for that matter) but I just skimmed the manual. It sounds to me like you have everything programmed correctly, provided you either turned on Control Channel Only mode or programmed in all the frequencies. You have monitored the control channel in manual mode to decode the system ID and you show 5 bars on the S-meter when scanning it, so it sounds to me like it is decoding okay.

You might try setting all the frequencies to NFM, if the 396 didn't default to that during initial programming.

I didn't see any mention of frequency tables in the manual, either under P-25 systems or UHF Motorola systems, so I'm not clear on whether or not they are really needed. I've been told by others that the 396 and 996 will grab the tables off the P25 control channel data stream so it isn't necessary to program them in.

Is this system active, and as a 396 owner, am I missing something?

Yes, the system is active as far as being up and running. It is not busy, however -- I routinely monitor it from work and catch only a couple transmissions in a typical day. Your best bet to test your setup would be to be within reception of it from 9:45-10:30 on a Tuesday morning (the test isn't always exactly at 10:00).

I'd also suggest you program in the 7 frequencies as a conventional system. Lock out the current control channel and scan that system at the same time as the trunked system; if you hear something as conventional and hit scan again and it doesn't pick up a talkgroup, then either it is encrypted or the trunked system isn't programmed in properly.

Finally, regarding your question about it being normal for the 396 to mute the control channel "noise" when you're sitting on it in manual mode, if you don't get an answer here you might try posting that question in the Uniden forum here on Radioreference.com.

Jim

 

[ampulman]

I don't have a 396 (or any Uniden digital scanner for that matter) but I just skimmed the manual. It sounds to me like you have everything programmed correctly, provided you either turned on Control Channel Only mode or programmed in all the frequencies. You have monitored the control channel in manual mode to decode the system ID and you show 5 bars on the S-meter when scanning it, so it sounds to me like it is decoding okay.

You might try setting all the frequencies to NFM, if the 396 didn't default to that during initial programming.

I didn't see any mention of frequency tables in the manual, either under P-25 systems or UHF Motorola systems, so I'm not clear on whether or not they are really needed. I've been told by others that the 396 and 996 will grab the tables off the P25 control channel data stream so it isn't necessary to program them in.


Yes, the system is active as far as being up and running. It is not busy, however -- I routinely monitor it from work and catch only a couple transmissions in a typical day. Your best bet to test your setup would be to be within reception of it from 9:45-10:30 on a Tuesday morning (the test isn't always exactly at 10:00).

I'd also suggest you program in the 7 frequencies as a conventional system. Lock out the current control channel and scan that system at the same time as the trunked system; if you hear something as conventional and hit scan again and it doesn't pick up a talkgroup, then either it is encrypted or the trunked system isn't programmed in properly.

Finally, regarding your question about it being normal for the 396 to mute the control channel "noise" when you're sitting on it in manual mode, if you don't get an answer here you might try posting that question in the Uniden forum here on Radioreference.com.

Jim

Well, here I go again. Was up in the I-295 corridor today and couldn't get anything, voice that is. Five bars as usual. When I got to my destination, I tried an experiment. I did a quick search on the control channels and immediately I heard the CC. It sounded like a MOT CC. So yes, the CC is not muted.

I quickly added a new system (MOT UHF). Entered the active CC, tried to enter the frequency tables, but the values found on the RR database were invalid. The system will not work as a MOT.

I then went back to my original Mercer system to check it out. All of the frequencies were entered, the modulation (auto) defaulted to NFM. When I tried to review my frequency table info, I could only see the frequency and the step, but not the offset. Does anyone know if there is a way to scroll this information so that the offset can be seen. And while you're at it, are there any 396 owners monitoring this system, who can tell me what the secret is?

AM

 

[W2SJW]

I programed the system using Butel ARC396. I haven't been in the area for long enough to hear anything yet, but my CC is muted, just as it does when I'm listening to the Manchester Twp. system.

When I pause on the CC frequency, I can hold the FUNC button in and see the WACN code as well.

I have the system set as a P25 system - not as a Mot Type-II UHF or any of the other settings.
I was not asked to enter anything in the program for base or offset data.

When looking at the 'band plan' setting directly through the scanner menu, it returns this:

0:500.45000/12.5
1:506.30000/12.5
2:508.48750/12.5

I'm assuming the software set that data when it wrote the system into the radio. I only have the 4 frequencies from the database here that have been witnessed to carry CC data.

I'll be more than happy to send you a MEM file for the system - even if you don't own the ARC396 software, you can use the demo mode to at least load the system.

Let me know...

 

[ctrabs74]

I quickly added a new system (MOT UHF). Entered the active CC, tried to enter the frequency tables, but the values found on the RR database were invalid. The system will not work as a MOT.

Yes it will. On the 396, you have to enter it as a MOT/P25 system, not a MOT/UHF system (as you would for Bucks County, Burlington County, or Ocean County). You do not need to add the freq tables for the Mercer County system on a 396.