New Bath/Copley/Fairlawn/Norton System

[davef1982]

Does anyone know what type of radios were ordered for their new system that will go into affect this year? I currently monitor the Summit County System with an XTS5000, and was wondering if I will have to upgrade to an APX series radio to listen to them once they switch. All of the articles I read in the paper just refer to the new system as P25. I couldn't find anything about radio types or if its a TDMA system. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[davef1982]

I just spoke to Copley Fire Chief Michael Benson a few minutes ago. He was very knowledgeable, and extremely friendly. He spent nearly 30 minutes explaining everything to me. Here is exactly what he said about their switch to the new P25 system. They will be keeping the same radios they are currently using (XTS5000 and XTL5000). The only change will be to the tower. Beginning in July, Bath/Copley/Fairlawn/Norton will change their talkgroup ID's only. At the end of 2011, those agencies will go through the rebanding process. At that time, the frequencies will change, but the talkgroup ID's will remain the same. The Summit County 800 System will do their rebanding at the end of 2011. It will only affect the MERC and MAC talkgroup ID's. Sometime in 2012, the talkgroup ID's for the rest of the Summit County 800 System will change.

 

[85chevy4x4]

I'm pretty new to scanning so I have a few questions. What is rebanding and how does it affect scanners? How will we get the talkgroup ID's once they change for the Summit and Bath system? Just listen to a wildcard for those systems and figure it out by listening? I have a Pro-106 if it matters.

 

[radioscan]

I'm pretty new to scanning so I have a few questions. What is rebanding and how does it affect scanners? How will we get the talkgroup ID's once they change for the Summit and Bath system? Just listen to a wildcard for those systems and figure it out by listening? I have a Pro-106 if it matters.

You can read all about rebanding in the Wiki here.

In most cases TGIDs should not change. If they do then it will be up to members like yourself to listen and deduce.
Having a Wildcard for the system is excellent tool for this purpose.

 

[KWs]

I believe the talkgroup IDs that may change are the MAC / MERC interoperabillty channels that will being going digital or a combination of new analog and digital TGs after rebanding.

 

[davef1982]

I hope that information helped everyone on here. I am far from an expert when it comes to this stuff, but I do know the basics. The things I mentioned in the previous post were direct quotes from the Copley Fire Chief. It's nice to have all the good people on here because I don't have a scanner anymore to pull these talk groups from. If I talk to Mr. Benson again and get any new info, I will be sure to post it on here right away.

 

[steve0711]

I just bought a BC 346XT yesterday and it appears I am unable to pick up these departments. Is that due to this change or am I just doing something wrong?

 

[fpo701]

I would be interesting to know exactly what "talkgroups IDs won't change means". Bath/Copley/Fairlawn PD (at least) radios have both the Summit County and Bath systems being used. I'm assuming that since the system that is going P25 is the "old" Bath one, then those are the ones that he's referring to.

One thing they could do, is just move the radios to the back over to Bath, using the Summit Talkgroups. That would allow the rest of the county to build off Bath in the future. Everyone would end up staying on the same talkgroups, and the only thing that changes is an additional "site" to trunk against. Think of it like MARCS or Stark County (before consolidating sites).

Of course, only time will tell.

Frank

 

[davef1982]

I just bought a BC 346XT yesterday and it appears I am unable to pick up these departments. Is that due to this change or am I just doing something wrong?

The change hasn't taken place yet so as long as that's scanner is capable of monitoring this system, I would have to say you are entering something wrong.

 

[davef1982]

Frank,

The way he explained it to me is that when they go P25 in July, their talkgroup id's will change. Then at the end of 2011, they will reband. At that time their frequencies will change, but the id's they switched to in July will remain the same. I too believe they were just changing the old Bath system over to P25. This is just what he told me, and he appeared to know what he was talikng about. You are right when you said that only time will tell. I am just glad that they didn't decide to switch to a TDMA system!!!

 

[fpo701]

Steve,

Sadly you are probably out of luck. The Bath system in RRDB is pretty silent right now, with the exception of Service/Road crews.

Bath/Copley/Fairlawn/Norton Police and Fire are currently using the Summit County 800 system. This system is digital and its audio cannot be decoded by the 346XT.

The "new" system we are discussing here is expected to replace the existing Bath system. It will be P25, which also is digital.

Frank

 

[steve0711]

Steve,

Sadly you are probably out of luck. The Bath system in RRDB is pretty silent right now, with the exception of Service/Road crews.

Bath/Copley/Fairlawn/Norton Police and Fire are currently using the Summit County 800 system. This system is digital and its audio cannot be decoded by the 346XT.

The "new" system we are discussing here is expected to replace the existing Bath system. It will be P25, which also is digital.

Frank

Thank you Frank. I returned the Uniden and purchased a digital reciever. Can you direct me on how to pick up B,C,F and N on the Summit 800 system as I can now recieve that. Thank you .

 

[fpo701]

Steve,

Go here:
Summit County Regional 800 Radio Trunking System, Various, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies

Program in the frequencies in Red and Blue at the top. Then scroll down to the sections for Suburb Police and Suburb Fire. In there are the talkgroups you'll want for B/C/F/N.

PM me if you get stuck. I'll see if I can help you out.

 

[steve0711]

Thank you. It took me some time but I think I figured it.

 

[wa8pyr]

Does anyone know what type of radios were ordered for their new system that will go into affect this year? I currently monitor the Summit County System with an XTS5000, and was wondering if I will have to upgrade to an APX series radio to listen to them once they switch. All of the articles I read in the paper just refer to the new system as P25. I couldn't find anything about radio types or if its a TDMA system. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

If they eventually migrate to a TDMA-capable Motorola system, your XTS5000 will still work. The system has the capability of recognizing a non-TDMA-capable radio and changing the modulation on a given talkgroup accordingly. So, if all the radios affiliated with a given talkgroup at Site A are TDMA-capable, the transmissions will be TDMA; if even one non-TDMA-capable radio joins the talkgroup at that site, it will revert to normal.