Metro police switchover?

[mlevin]

Did metro police switchover to the new system yet?I was in the D.C. area yesterday, fired up the v-scanner files on my pro 96, and I could only get voice activity on some of the freqs supplied in the folder.The rest of the freqs sounded like control channel activity.

 

[dtscho]

Yes, MPD has switched over to the trunked system. All seven police districts are using the system for primary operations. There are already several encrypted talkgroups, and several talkgroups that are probably some sort of Tac channels.

Dave

 

[mlevin]

Thanks for the info I guess I'll have to change the v-folder.

Just wondering why they didn't put fire and police on the same system.Wouldn't that save money and a whole lot of hassle.

 

[blantonl]

Wowy Zowy!

That was a quick switch!

From what I understand the two Smartzone Controllers for the 800 Fire system and the 460 system are both connected, meaning that users can talk to each other cross-band. Pretty cool!

Lindsay

 

[dtscho]

Yes, that's correct about talking to each other cross-band. Two radio techs were testing the performance of the system yesterday by talking from a 460 MHz radio to an 800 MHz radio and vice versa. Results seemed to be fairly good.

Dave

 

[dc2wheel]

So now that the switchover is done...

So has anyone monitored DC Police's new digital transmissions
with the Pro-96? I just found out about the switch to digital this
morning when I turned on my cheap little BC-350A and heard
nothing but DATA on district 1-7's dispatch channels. I'm also
interested if anyone knows which channels are encrypted & if
MPD [dc police] plan on making their whole network encrypted.
Thanks,
-dc2wheel

 

[Roxie2401]

Has anyone progammed this UHF system into a Uniden scanner? I see the database has the BASE & Step but not SPACE indicated. Is Space required on the BC250/296? I'm getting some pretty weird results and am not sure if I've programmed it correctly since this is my first UHF system.

Thanks

 

[TinEar]

The step and spacing are the same thing. What you're missing is the "offset" and that should be set to 380 for the MPDC system.

 

[milligandw]

TinEar or anybody,

When programming the 400 MHz trunck frequecies for MPDC, should the Mode be set at "NFM" or does it matter?

I ask because in the software dropdown list, I don't see a "UHF" option. At present, I'm able to pick up tranmissions, but they tend to be "garbled". Is "garbled" normal?

David

 

[mlevin]

Keep it at NFM. UHF just refers to the frequency band, while NFM refers to the type of modulation used. You need to have the modulation type correct so the scanner can correctly demodulate the transmission.

 

[milligandw]

Thanks Mo,

One more question though. Is the occasional "garbled" speech simply something that occurs with digital transmissions?

David

 

[mlevin]

That's the equivlent to static on an analog system. When digital comms break up, they either get garbled or drop off completely. Kinda like your digital cell phone. This is either because you're a bit out of range, or the person transmitting is in a bad spot. Try turning the squelch down when this happens, that usually clears it up for me.

 

[milligandw]

I suspected as much, since I'm located about 90 miles from DC on the Eastern Shore on Mayland - Cambridge to be precise. Actually, I'm surprised that I'm picking them up at all!

I will give the squelch adjustments a try...David

 

[ka3jjz]

Yes, MPD has switched over to the trunked system. All seven police districts are using the system for primary operations. There are already several encrypted talkgroups, and several talkgroups that are probably some sort of Tac channels.

Dave

Actually I thought that was already the case, and had been for about a year or so; unless we're talking about a different division or unit? Or am I mixing up DC city and metro being 2 different entities? There are so many special 'police' forces that it's hard sometimes to keep track.

73s Mike

 

[catronl]

You quoted a message that was posted on 10-02-2003, so it did happen over a year ago.

 

[mlevin]

I suspected as much, since I'm located about 90 miles from DC on the Eastern Shore on Mayland - Cambridge to be precise. Actually, I'm surprised that I'm picking them up at all!

I will give the squelch adjustments a try...David

Wow Eastern Shore! No wonder it's garbled

 

[doctordave]

Mo, You'd actually be surprised at the reception on the Shore....since the terrain is so flat and the Bay is un-obstructed, it is a scanning enthusiast's dream......a far cry from being situated in a congested metro area. At my mid-Shore house, I can copy PA, VA, DC, WVA, DE, NJ clearly w/ just a rooftop omni-dir antenna. Pretty amazing.

 

[milligandw]

For sure!

Interesting story, I just returned from a 3 day training stay in Fairfax, Va and I took my new digital scanner along, pre-programmed for DC PD, hoping to be entertained in the late evening hours, and much to my surprise, I couldn't pick-up anything!

David