Montgomery County, PA New P25 System - Scanner Settings / Discussion

[phillydjdan]

The system is designed for the best performance for the subscriber units (cops, firefighters, medics) and not scanner listeners. That's why the other regions are not simulcasted.

 

[Septa3371CSX1]

I am a little surprised Region 3 isn't simulcast on both since like Region 4 it borders the two system zones.

 

[cavmedic]

I am a little surprised Region 3 isn't simulcast on both since like Region 4 it borders the two system zones.

The ops channels are simulcasted, so that eliminates the need to do it for the regional channels

 

[maus92]

What is the operational purpose of Regional channels? Are the for minor incidents / local alarms?

 

[cavmedic]

Run of the mill calls, if anything bigger, move to an ops channel where all units on the assignment can possibly be on the the same page.

 

[hippieman556]

can someone help me program the sds100

 

[superdutyf250]

The system is designed for the best performance for the subscriber units (cops, firefighters, medics) and not scanner listeners. That's why the other regions are not simulcasted.

When units in surrounding twp cant here each other because they are on 2 separate systems like the old system. Why the change. It didnt solve a thing. Still dead spots to be exspected. You say performance. Philly comes in better.

 

[phillydjdan]

When units in surrounding twp cant here each other because they are on 2 separate systems like the old system. Why the change. It didnt solve a thing. Still dead spots to be exspected. You say performance. Philly comes in better.

Are you using a subscriber radio on the system?

 

[cavmedic]

When units in surrounding twp cant here each other because they are on 2 separate systems like the old system. Why the change. It didnt solve a thing. Still dead spots to be exspected. You say performance. Philly comes in better.

If I am going from region 2, to a call in region 1, I will switch to region 1 for my response and operation or vs versa or until told to switch to an ops or event talk group.

If I’m working EMS, I’m already using County Wide Talk Groups.

If it’s a larger incident that requires units from multiple regions , there will be an ops talk group assigned that is ( wait for it ............) COUNTY WIDE.

There is no need to waste time slots on simulcasting regional talk groups.

The system upgrade wasn’t to eliminate a East/west system , the upgrade was to replace 25 plus year old equipment that was failing.

 

[maus92]

From an outsider's POV, it seems to me that the new MontCoPA system is adequately resourced to provide situational awareness throughout the county. OTOH, you can save money on site equipment if you don't try to support every tg throughout the county. It comes down to money: spend money on increasing site density to improve (indoor) coverage, or spend money to support every tg on the system - it's a balance.

 

[phillydjdan]

Philly comes in better.

Philly is also a third the square miles...

 

[ceb515]

Hey all,
I'm setting up the new montco system in my APX, and I am running into a strange issue. It seems the radio is scanning to the talkgroup fine but I am not getting any audio. It looks similar to bucks county when they switched police to encrypted, but I have not entered any of the encrypted talkgroups from the system into the radio. My guess is I have entered either control channels or channel ID's incorrectly. I put screenshots below of my current settings. Any input?

 

[maus92]

I'd review your channel spacing.

 

[ceb515]

I'd review your channel spacing.

I'm not sure what other spacing to use, as these are the same settings I have for philadelphia and bucks. Do you have a suggestion?

 

[maus92]

I'm not sure what other spacing to use, as these are the same settings I have for philadelphia and bucks. Do you have a suggestion?

Yea, I looked at it again - it appears correct. I don't have access to MontCo PA band plan data atm, but yours does look standard / similar to what I see on other systems. Interestingly, there is someone trying to monitor Maryland FIRST with an APX, and he is having similar issues. I think he has an extra channel ID entry for the 900 band which *might* be his issue.

 

[ceb515]

I wonder if this may be the issue, I have bucks county as CQPSK and Philadelphia as C4FM, not sure why the difference but both are working. Ill switch to CQPSK and see if this fixes anything.

 

[ceb515]

Nope, that changed nothing with the issue.. time to keep digging.

 

[ceb515]

Nope, that changed nothing with the issue.. time to keep digging.

Found my issue, attempted recopying my bucks cty system to a second montco system... I forgot the WACN ID. I would have expected it to not decode the control channel, but oh well we live and learn I guess.

 

[maus92]

Found my issue, attempted recopying my bucks cty system to a second montco system... I forgot the WACN ID.

That would do it - did you leave the cqpsk setting?

 

[ceb515]

That would do it - did you leave the cqpsk setting?

CQPSK in the trunk system, its C4FM in the conventional personalities but I dont believe that matters.