MontCo upgrades

[maus92]

Concur. The high cost of simply keeping it running, much less fixing what breaks, means it's fiscally unsound to keep the old system running.

I briefly thought about keeping our old system running in a scaled-down form as a backup. . . briefly. It was mainly a pipe dream, especially after I worked the numbers.

On the Maryland Eastern Shore, a tri-county consortium continues to keep alive their legacy Smartzone system even though public safety and some local government agencies migrated to the state's P25P2 system several years ago. One of the justifications for moving to the state's system were EOL issues for SmartZone equipment, yet one of the member counties has allocated $24M to keep it alive as a back up (unclear if they are actually spending those funds.) Part of motivation is Eastern Shore politics - aka distrust of the state government - but it would work as a limited backup scheme as the subscribers do have SmartZone options installed. In Maryland, there is no charge to use the statewide infrastructure, but jurisdictions have to purchase subscribers and whatever equipment necessary to link their ECCs to the system - and pay for additional channel resources and sites if required.

 

[hippieman556]

will the homepatrol 2 scanner work on this system or is the sds100 the only radio that will work ? because according to the wiki page under apco project 25 both radios should work is that still true

 

[maus92]

will the homepatrol 2 scanner work on this system or is the sds100 the only radio that will work ? because according to the wiki page under apco project 25 both radios should work is that still true

The HP2 will technically work with Phase 2, but unlikely it will be satisfactory. It was not specifically designed to work with P25P2 simulcast systems, which is the system design for MontCo. IMO - and my direct experience with a HP2 - it would be a waste of money. Get an SDS or Unication and save yourself from disappointment and headaches.

 

[hippieman556]

The HP2 will technically work with Phase 2, but unlikely it will be satisfactory. It was not specifically designed to work with P25P2 simulcast systems, which is the system design for MontCo. IMO - and my direct experience with a HP2 - it would be a waste of money. Get an SDS or Unication and save yourself from disappointment and headaches.

is the sds100 easy to setup like the hp2 is

 

[maus92]

is the sds100 easy to setup like the hp2 is

It uses essentially the same software, but probably requires a bit more study on the user's part to exploit all its capabilities.

 

[hippieman556]

thanks for the reply

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

is the sds100 easy to setup like the hp2 is

There's a bit of a learning curve to it. I'd suggest looking through the easier to read manual here

 

[HM1529]

Based on checking today's logs, I suspect 2197 is the new PD East channel. That channel is third in the lineup in east zone police radios. During affiliations (or channel changes), the 2197 often showed up right after PD # Dispatch and Region # as channels were changed. Following the existing talkgroup logic, that would put 2195 as PD West. I have no logs on a 2195. But, I cannot get a good read on the west zone to gather info. So, for anyone watching the west zone, have you seen 2195 and not 2197? I'm pretty certain 2199 is "Sheriff".

 

[cavmedic]

Based on checking today's logs, I suspect 2197 is the new PD East channel. That channel is third in the lineup in east zone police radios. During affiliations (or channel changes), the 2197 often showed up right after PD # Dispatch and Region # as channels were changed. Following the existing talkgroup logic, that would put 2195 as PD West. I have no logs on a 2195. But, I cannot get a good read on the west zone to gather info. So, for anyone watching the west zone, have you seen 2195 and not 2197? I'm pretty certain 2199 is "Sheriff".

I’ll see if I can get uni trunker to run on one of my old Rapi’s tonight or tomorrow and see if it works, and get you some logging data

 

[Septa3371CSX1]

Monitoring Tuesday and Wednesday on my G5 from outside the county at first some of the audio was a bit garbled but yesterday it sounded much better. One time on Tuesday the dispatcher was keying up on the EMS Hail talkgroup (new system) and there was several seconds of just background noise before the dispatcher spoke - not sure if he keyed up before he was ready to speak or what. Otherwise everything is sounding good on the G5 but haven't gotten it to work on my APX yet - the channel names are flashing on the screen but nothing is coming across (and that happened a few times on the G5 as well so I can identify those as random keyups).

 

[cavmedic]

Monitoring Tuesday and Wednesday on my G5 from outside the county at first some of the audio was a bit garbled but yesterday it sounded much better. One time on Tuesday the dispatcher was keying up on the EMS Hail talkgroup (new system) and there was several seconds of just background noise before the dispatcher spoke - not sure if he keyed up before he was ready to speak or what. Otherwise everything is sounding good on the G5 but haven't gotten it to work on my APX yet - the channel names are flashing on the screen but nothing is coming across (and that happened a few times on the G5 as well so I can identify those as random keyups).

Stupid question, but those random key ups you say , were they On any of the ENC TG’s?
I’ve been seeing a bunch of fire/ems keyups which is probably whacker factor of the field operators or someone bumping the mic on their shoulder strap. The APX seems to be super sensitive where you touch the PTT , it keys whereas the older xtl’s you had to hold them in for a bit before you got the tone chirp to talk.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

whacker factor

HAHA I like that one

 

[maus92]

delete - I was thinking xts... lol

 

[cavmedic]

delete - I was thinking xts... lol

I should have said APEX

 

[RES27CUE]

Has anyone had issues receiving the west zone i'm a few miles from the EOC? I get east 100% but nothing out of west, I've had issues in the past listening to some stuff on the smartzone/P1 system for west but was still able to hear some of it as neighboring towns are on west. I'm on the boarder of the east/west line and monitoring on a G5 i have all appropriate control channels and all the TDMA open TG's for the system listed so far and double checked them today any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

[cavmedic]

Has anyone had issues receiving the west zone i'm a few miles from the EOC? I get east 100% but nothing out of west, I've had issues in the past listening to some stuff on the smartzone/P1 system for west but was still able to hear some of it as neighboring towns are on west. I'm on the boarder of the east/west line and monitoring on a G5 i have all appropriate control channels and all the TDMA open TG's for the system listed so far and double checked them today any help would be appreciated thanks.

If you want to listen to an individual
Zone , you will have to separate the tower frequencies in the site area as it will lock onto the closest one for you, and this system does not simulcast every talk groups across east and west.
So for
West , you will have to create a west only p25 site , and knob selector with only
West talk groups.

So create an east site , west site and a both in one for “ roaming” if you will.

 

[RES27CUE]

Makes total sense thanks for the help

 

[cavmedic]

Makes total sense thanks for the help

rumors of multi system monitor for future firmware, but I haven’t seen an actual confirmation anywhere yet of a release date.

 

[HM1529]

If you want to listen to an individual
Zone , you will have to separate the tower frequencies in the site area as it will lock onto the closest one for you, and this system does not simulcast every talk groups across east and west.
So for
West , you will have to create a west only p25 site , and knob selector with only
West talk groups.

So create an east site , west site and a both in one for “ roaming” if you will.

My G5 was originally programmed with the idea that they'd carry all talkgroups on both zones (silly me). In the Norristown area, my G5 will not unsee the east zone (there are three east zone towers less than 5 miles away), so I have not heard a peep from the west zone. I haven't had a chance to take a ride toward Pottstown to see if/when the G5 would actually latch onto the west zone. I need to find a few minutes to reprogram the thing so I can have a west knob position that is only set to see the west zone.

 

[cavmedic]

I’m on my 13th adjustment in two days. I keep making changes. I’m fortunate enough that the 800 foot hill behind me blocks the East system, so that’s not an issue for me and I really never go east of here beyond Rofo for the most part.