Baltimore County is upgrading to an Astro 7.x system, which is pure 9600bps and does not support analog voice traffic. It will be digital. No two ways about it. You're making a safe bet with the PSR-800, especially since it will track FDMA systems too.
New Baltimore County P-25 System
- Thread starter Dispatcher308
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Baltimore County is upgrading to an Astro 7.x system, which is pure 9600bps and does not support analog voice traffic. It will be digital. No two ways about it. You're making a safe bet with the PSR-800, especially since it will track FDMA systems too.
I heard testing today on TG 9600.
Also there are two seperate zones up and running.
Also there are two seperate zones up and running.
troymail
Silent Key
Didn't start listening until late in the day and I'm probably not getting much down here below BWI Airport but I did get hits on TGIDs 9601, 9602, and 9871 in the 5-6pm timeframe. No actual voice
CC: 854.0375 (Site 102?) and one or two locks on 856.6875 which looks like Site 101.
I'm guessing Site 102 is South....
CC: 854.0375 (Site 102?) and one or two locks on 856.6875 which looks like Site 101.
I'm guessing Site 102 is South....
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CC right now is 856.2125. Definitely a lot more activity...I'll try to keep Pro96Com running as long as I can and maybe save some logs this time...
troymail
Silent Key
Since the new P25 system isn't listed as a system yet, I created a Wiki page under the existing Baltimore County Public Safety system (Baltimore County Public Safety - The RadioReference Wiki) to track what we're learning.
Feel free to update it!
Feel free to update it!
troymail (or anyone inclined), feel free to pull any info out this Pro96Com information/logs for posting to the new wiki....I only understand about 75% of what I see in a Pro96Com capture, I don't want to mis-translate anything..
If I get dispatched today, I'll try to leave Pro96Com running while I'm out if for no other reason to see if anything changes drastically...and if I get stuck in the office, I'll try to check out the ULS info for ocguard...
If I get dispatched today, I'll try to leave Pro96Com running while I'm out if for no other reason to see if anything changes drastically...and if I get stuck in the office, I'll try to check out the ULS info for ocguard...
troymail
Silent Key
Given the activity we're now seeing, I have my Pro96Com running full time now on my laptop -- reception isn't as good as I'd like (sign of what's to come y'all).... but I'll report what I can get.
Yes, the more the merrier....this latest control channel change has dropped my decoding percentage from 95% to about 75%...
BTW, any preliminary idea what the Band Plan, Multi-Site, and Trunking Tables settings might be?
BTW, any preliminary idea what the Band Plan, Multi-Site, and Trunking Tables settings might be?
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troymail
Silent Key
Control on the south side seems to have changes again tonight sometime between 1630 and 1800 or so...
Pro96Com captured 43 talkgroups and 32 radio IDs today.
Pro96Com captured 43 talkgroups and 32 radio IDs today.
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Band Plan and Trunking Tables will come right off the control channel stream. For modern scanners, they will grab the data. For the Pro-96, you may have to make custom tables (since it includes a 700mhz plan for some reason).
Multi-site settings will ultimately depend on how talk groups are set up and how you want to monitor the system. I'm going to assume that talk groups will be activated on one zone or another based on subscriber affiliation. Most of the "big" talk groups (fire dispatch) will probably always be active on both zones. If you're mobile and want your scanner to chose the better zone, chose ROAM. If you want your scanner to check both zones, chose STAT. As for threshold settings, have to wait and see what signal looks like when the system is running at full power with all transmission sites online.
Multi-site settings will ultimately depend on how talk groups are set up and how you want to monitor the system. I'm going to assume that talk groups will be activated on one zone or another based on subscriber affiliation. Most of the "big" talk groups (fire dispatch) will probably always be active on both zones. If you're mobile and want your scanner to chose the better zone, chose ROAM. If you want your scanner to check both zones, chose STAT. As for threshold settings, have to wait and see what signal looks like when the system is running at full power with all transmission sites online.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
That might be an issue for PRO-96/2096 owners, since neither of these scanners supports 700 mhz trunking, so how would it know how to read a 700 mhz bandplan?...best regards...Mike
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Not too sure. I know there aren't actually going to BE 700mhz frequencies in the system, but I guess all new P25 800mhz systems from Moto also send 700mhz plans in the CC stream for possible future upgrades.
As for upgrading, any common BCo scanner enthusiast should seriously consider an upgrade this holiday season (from a Pro-96 or similar). BCo will now certainly have two "zones" so the multi-site features of the Pro-106/PSR500 and the BC396XT will help alot. I prefer the Pro-106/PSR500's multi-site feature because it will roam, whereas the 396XT has a manual multi-site switch feature. I can verify that the roam feature works well because we've had multi-site in York County for almost 4 years.
troymail
Silent Key
I'd only be concerned with one zone or the other if I was moving around between them. For example, I'm north of Prince George County and can barely receive the North Zone of that system. I cannot receive the South Zone at all unless I drive half way down into Prince George County (Upper Marlboro on the east side). In fact, I have a VFolder programmed with the South site locked out since the reception is so bad from outside the county (I even have all but the known/standard control channel on the North site locked out as well).
If you're interested in listening to this system, personally, I'd wait to purchase a new radio.
I would not be suprised when Baltimore County's new system comes up live as a TDMA system (in fact I expect it).
The only scanner/radio capable that comes close right now is the GRE PSR-800 which is able to receive the pre-Phase II/full TDMA version being called X2-TDMA. It isn't known yet if it will handle full Phase II TDMA (but I've got my fingered crossed!).
No other current radio has been identified as capable of even being upgraded to be able to handle Phase II TDMA. Uniden has already said that the HP-1 cannot be upgraded to handle TDMA so I would not expect that anything older than the HP-1 would either (the 396 arrived long before the HP-1).
I recommend proceeding with caution -- wait and watch for new radios (or potential future firmware upgrades for the PSR-800) to be announced - at least until more is known about this system.
If you're interested in listening to this system, personally, I'd wait to purchase a new radio.
I would not be suprised when Baltimore County's new system comes up live as a TDMA system (in fact I expect it).
The only scanner/radio capable that comes close right now is the GRE PSR-800 which is able to receive the pre-Phase II/full TDMA version being called X2-TDMA. It isn't known yet if it will handle full Phase II TDMA (but I've got my fingered crossed!).
No other current radio has been identified as capable of even being upgraded to be able to handle Phase II TDMA. Uniden has already said that the HP-1 cannot be upgraded to handle TDMA so I would not expect that anything older than the HP-1 would either (the 396 arrived long before the HP-1).
I recommend proceeding with caution -- wait and watch for new radios (or potential future firmware upgrades for the PSR-800) to be announced - at least until more is known about this system.
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Troymail,
That sounds like very good advice to me.
Baltimore County is my main point of interest. Without that, I'd be pretty much out of the sport.
Darn shame if the 106 will not be able to monitor it. I have TWO of them that I'd have to try to sell.
It's a wait and see game now.
That sounds like very good advice to me.
Baltimore County is my main point of interest. Without that, I'd be pretty much out of the sport.
Darn shame if the 106 will not be able to monitor it. I have TWO of them that I'd have to try to sell.
It's a wait and see game now.
troymail
Silent Key
If you really "got the itch" (and the $$$), my bet would be on the PSR-800..... Buying scanners is pretty much the only gambling I do (it's like playing in the stock market -- where is it going? Idunno). In this case - someone knows what will happen in Baltimore County - but they ain't talking (yet) :lol:
Uniden is making some noise about upcoming "announcements" soon - but who knows what that will be... could be a scanner alarm clock for all we know.
There is ALWAYS going to be something new - and we hobbyists are always going to be chasing after it.
Uniden is making some noise about upcoming "announcements" soon - but who knows what that will be... could be a scanner alarm clock for all we know.
There is ALWAYS going to be something new - and we hobbyists are always going to be chasing after it.
Baltimore County fire is almost 100% subscriber-ready for P25 PHASE 1 as they are all using XTS5000 portables and XTL5000 mobiles. In order for fire to go Phase 2, they would have to replace THOUSANDS of subscriber units with APX suite units. Just don't see it happening.
Phase 1 P25 only not Phase 2 TDMA for Baltimore County.
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